All About My Lists

jenny lewis

2008-04-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

my latest music obsession is the jenny lewis album, "rabbit fur coat." yesterday, my favorite song was the title song, but today it's "born secular." i realize that jenny's gone on and made quite a name for herself as a singer, and she's pretty damned awesome, but i still can't see her face without thinking of the movie The Wizard, which is definitely the best movie about nintendo obsession. i miss the days where the original nintendo ruled the video game universe.

when i was ten or so, i beat The Legend of Zelda from start to finish in one day. i was a nintendo god.

8 things about the gym

2008-04-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

1. i'm such a bad blogger.

2. sorry.

3. my new play opens in three weeks, and i joined the gym, so i've been busy.

4. i get intimidated by the fact that everyone at the gym seems to totally know what they're doing, and i can barely even figure out the buttons on the damned stationary bike. and everyone's so serious. sometimes i want to laugh because i feel really goofy on those machines and i find them funny. but no one else laughs at the machines, so i started bringing a book so that i won't look like a crazy person laughing at the eliptical machines. but i'm reading She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb (actually, i finished it tonight, and damn it's a good book), and yesterday i was on the bike and i got to a really emotional part of the book and it made me cry, so i didn't really succeed in the whole try-to-not-look-crazy-at-the-gym thing because there i was riding the stationary book and CRYING.

5. but back to the buttons on the damned bike because they seriously don't make any sense. that's all i have to say about that. they just don't make sense. but i finally figured out that i can just hit "quick start" and pedal and be in business, so it's okay.

6. no one has facial hair at the gym i go to. it makes me feel like a grizzly bear.

7. i only do the bike. wednesday for thirty minutes, thursday for thirty minutes, friday for thirty minutes, and then today for forty-five minutes (!)

8. my legs were like jell-o from those extra fifteen minutes.

50 Accents from 50 States -- a response to Amy Walker's "21 Accents" video

2008-03-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

Watch Amy Walker's original video first, if you haven't seen already seen it:

And then here's my response:

If Erica Had a Donor...

2008-03-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

I've been really stressed the last few days about a bunch of various things, and then I just got home and read my friend Erica's blog and it really hit me how trivial all of the stupid little things I've been stressing over are. Erica's fighting leukemia, and she recently had a relapse, and she needs a bone marrow transplant -- she had one, but they fell through. It's especially tough for her to find one because she's of mixed race, which means her donor has to be too, and less than 3% of donors are minorities. Erica and her sister Jaci posted a video of them singing about their need for a donor and I can't figure out how to grab the video and post it here, so please go to Erica's blog and watch her video, and join the donor registry at http://www.marrow.org/. Especially if you're mixed race. You might save a life, maybe Erica's. And if you know anyone who's of mixed race, please pass on the word that Erica's looking for a donor, and show them Erica's video. Thanks. CLICK HERE TO GO TO ERICA'S BLOG.

update: I found the video on youtube, so I can upload it here now. But you should still go to Erica's blog.

free rice

2008-03-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

procrastinate while building your vocabulary AND feeding the hungry by CLICKING HERE.

(this post sounds like such an advertisement) (sorry about that) (i'm sitting on the couch in my underwear, watching I LOVE LUCY--the episode where Lucy comes up with a get-rich-quick-by-selling-salad-dressing scheme, so funny--and i'm making free rice pop up on my computer, so my apartment is procrastination central right now)

quotidian things i did today:

2008-03-14T22:44:00.000-07:00

1. saw Step Up 2 the Streets. loved it more than i probably should have. i think i cried three times. each time during dance scenes, the dancing was great. i'm in love with robert hoffman. besides being super hot (natch), he's a great dancer AND a choreographer. woof, woof. (and am i crazy or does he both look and sound like jay mohr's younger handsomer brother??? someone should seriously cast them as brothers, like, soon.) the whole final dance sequence takes place in the rain, which was a nice touch (though it took me out of things for a moment when i realized that, in order for the stepper uppers to face the camera during the final number, they were dancing with their backs to the entire crowd the whole time--but whatevs, they had good moves).

2. started reading Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. Choice quote: "The midnight disease is a kind of emotional insomnia; at every conscious moment its victim--even if he or she writes at dawn, or in the middle of the afternoon--feels like a person lying in a sweltering bedroom, with the window thrown open, looking up at a sky filled with stars and airplanes, listening to the narrative of a rattling blind, an ambulance, a fly trapped in a Coke bottle, while all around him the neighbors soundly sleep. This is in my opinion why writers--like insomniacs--are so accident-prone, so obsessed with the calculus of bad luck and missed opportunities, so liable to rumination and a concomitant inability to let go of a subject, even when urged repeatedly to do so."

3. looked up the word "concomitant": existing or occurring with something else, often in a lesser way; accompanying; concurrent

4. wrote at the library with sian (the librarian, with her deep, braying voice, started announcing that "the library is closing soon" at 5:30, a good thirty minutes before the library actually closed; she made these announcements every five minutes until closing time at 6 p.m. are library lurkers really such a terrible, terrible hassle that they need a thirty minute warning so they can get out of there in time?)

5. had dinner at the california pizza kitchen with jesse; ate the mango chicken pizza; wished i'd ordered the thai chicken.

mtv's gauntlet ramblings

2008-03-12T23:21:00.000-07:00

okay, how amazingly hardcore have the challenges been this season on MTV's Gauntlet Real World/Road Rules Challenge??? the buried-alive challenge was intense, but tonight's ice challenge takes the cake. Did you see the look on Diem's face as she came out of the water during the crazy ice challenge? I mean, all of their faces looked awful...oh my god, and then Robin's face, ack! (I'm live-blogging this apparently). I really want the Rookie's to win this because I don't agree with throwing challenges on principle. Wow, wow, wow, this is too intense, I keep expecting someone to freeze to death. Danny is a rockstar at this. I wonder if he actually has principles and also doesn't agree with throwing missions??? Why is everyone shunning him now???? They're all douches, I love them. I love the drama. I'm not really recapping this at all, I'm sure none of what I'm writing makes any sense unless you're sitting here watching this with me. Frank is the cutest douchebag on TV. I miss Casey, why'd she have to get kicked off last week? Girl had spunk. Holy crap, the rookie team is so tiny. There's only six of them left? Total decimation. okay, no more live-blogging, i need to focus on watching katie kick paula's ass in the gauntlet, so that she can come back and throw the guy's mission. (fingers crossed!)

update: dammit, katie lost the gauntlet. i really wanted the girls to throw the guys gauntlet. am i the only one who thinks danny looks like an elf in santa's workshop when he wears that little beanie cap?

flickr searches

2008-03-11T23:34:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I find this so fascinating. It's the obsessive compulsive in me. I just found out that flickr has a stats page where you can see all of the flickr searches that led people to individual photos on your flickr photostream. Here's the list of searches that have led people to my flickr:

(1) writers strike
(2) captain planet
(3) wga strike
(4) writers strike 2007
(5) speech therapy
(6) holding hands
(7) the writers strike
(8) water bottles
(9) physical therapy
(10) writers on strike
(11) hilary swank
(12) jennifer aniston
(13) drew barrymore
(14) plankton
(15) hardwood floors
(16) writers guild of america strike
(17) icu
(18) bottles of water
(19) cement wall
(20) recycle cans
(21) no cell phone
(22) grandchildren
(23) texting
(24) ashlee simpson
(25) no cell phones
(26) jennifer evans
(27) uma
(28) please recycle
(29) writers' strike
(30) diary of anne frank play
(31) winter formal
(32) captain
(33) green hair
(34) beautiful life
(35) britney's
(36) valentine's hearts
(37) skiiing
(38) wga strike pictures
(39) sissy
(40) cell phones
(41) the cherry orchard
(42) high school winter formal
(43) wga
(44) anna marie
(45) school vandalism
(46) ian mckellan
(47) lara flynn boyle
(48) cadbury chocolates
(49) kung fu
(50) anne frank play
(51) anton chekhov
(52) 2007 writers strike
(53) shunt
(54) air ambulance
(55) vandalism in school
(56) ashlee simpson new
(57) twenty dollar bill
(58) the diary of anne frank play
(59) wiggy
(60) staple center seats
(61) andrew jackson
(62) scott caan
(63) sultry
(64) yellow phone
(65) chloe sevigny
(66) six feet under
(67) college graduation
(68) rollerskates
(69) making dinner
(70) angiogram
(71) high school friends photo
(72) nadine hurley
(73) bates motel
(74) michael stipe
(75) water bottle
(76) demolished cake
(77) charlie's angels
(78) wga strike photos
(79) fruit salad
(80) carie
(81) head shunt
(82) tom martini
(83) fay kato
(84) nikki liberty
(85) speech therapy
(86) recreational therapy
(87) 2007 wga strike
(88) pictures of basketballs
(89) marie
(90) hilary swank boys don
(91) bands braces
(92) harold and maude
(93) anna marie
(94) "captain planet"
(95) incredible hulk
(96) chocolates, cadbury
(97) cardboard boxes
(98) mcdreamy
(99) mega millions
(100) twin peaks nadine
(101) photo booth photos
(102) mike stipe
(103) st vincent's hospital nyc
(104) peace scarves
(105) rubber bands on braces
(106) water in bottles
(107) edendale grill
(108) planet earth pictures
(109) mandy freund
(110) "jennifer evans"
(111) chloe sevigny boys don't cry
(112) the diary of anne frank + play
(113) mount fiji
(114) scary beard [this is my favorite search]
(115) her cast
(116) john wayne family
(117) palm of the hand
(118) barrymore
(119) braces rubber bands
(120) marshmallow fruit salad
(121) donettes
(122) christopher neiman
(123) shunt scar
(124) basketballs
(125) baby matt
(126) kyle gass
(127) paunched
(128) ambulance
(129) angles
(130) holding hands
(131) pics of holding hands
(132) writers union strike
(133) peace sign
(134) dancing in chair
(135) hilary
(136) writers guild strike
(137) dark catholic
(138) erik fox
(139) poker superstars 3
(140) on strike wga
(141) john
(142) grandpa get well
(143) spongebob plankton
(144) reading a note
(145) golden globes
(146) sevigny chloe
(147) john vincent
(148) hilary swank and chloé sevigny
(149) step up
(150) britneys secret
(151) strike wga
(152) jamie marie
(153) elman
(154) wearing cast
(155) beard party
(156) st.vincent's hospital nyc
(157) sharia
(158) cool patio
(159) fu
(160) the golden compass
(161) school disco
(162) physical stretches
(163) marker face
(164) wga on strike
(165) richard brautigan
(166) braces with bands
(167) 12th street
(168) marie vincent
(169) don't take no
(170) model underwear
(171) jello
(172) new york times
(173) party balloons
(174) angel figurine
(175) jessica bates
(176) high school friends
(177) instinct party
(178) captain planet
(179) model men underwear
(180) green hearts
(181) penny lane almost famous
(182) recycle please
(183) harold maude
(184) george bush is a lizard
(185) angel family
(186) chateau, kitchen
(187) aida (f:)
(188) colleen marie
(189) diary anne frank play
(190) jesses
(191) palm hand
(192) carrie bradshaw
(193) britney´s
(194) green valentine's pictures
(195) reading magazine
(196) recycle
(197) writing my face
(198) palm tree hawaii
(199) dork
(200) tripoly
(201) friends high school

People in Laughlin are concerned

2008-03-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

I'm in Laughlin for the weekend. Jessica and I drove up to help her parents move (they just bought a house here), and we thought we'd use it as an excuse to get away for the weekend and hole up in a hotel and get some work done, and we've been really productive. Anyway, we got a lot of work done yesterday, and then last night we decided to do a little gambling (while in Rome...) and I called it quits after about fifteen minutes (I'm a terrible gambler, so I just played penny slots, while Jessica played blackjack and three card poker). While I was waiting for Jessica, I decided to run through this pitch that we have next week, and so I sat over next to a slot machine that wasn't occupied and I started talking to myself, and apparently I looked completely insane because about 10 minutes later, two really scary looking security dudes came up to me and asked me what I was doing:

SECURITY DUDE: Excuse me, sir?

ME: Yes?

SECURITY DUDE: What are you doing?

ME: Oh, sorry, am I bothering anyone? I'm just running through a story, I'm a writer, it's a pitch I'm working on --

SECURITY DUDE: People are concerned that you look crazy.

ME: Sorry. I'm not.

SECURITY DUDE: People are concerned.

ME: I'm just waiting for my friend. I was getting some work done.

SECURITY DUDE: I can see that you're not crazy, but you can understand why people were concerned?

ME: Yes, I'm sorry.

SECURITY DUDE: Several people complained, that's all.

ME: Okay, thanks. I'll stop.

SECURITY DUDE: Have a good evening.

And then they walked away, and I felt self-conscious, so I joined Jessica at the three card poker table, where I won 40 bucks.

Uma update 2.25.08

2008-03-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

This is not a list.

I had John and Uma over for dinner last night, and Uma actually allowed me to take photos of her because I tricked her by saying I wanted to practice my photography skills. (Eat that, Ums.) She's doing so incredibly well, her speech continues to improve, and she's driving now, which is amazing.

I want to post john's most recent Uma update, from a couple of weeks ago. Since I used to post the updates on my other blog, I thought I should post them here too, for people who miss getting them. (If you don't know about Uma's journey over the last 13 months, you can read it about it HERE, but click through to the beginning to get the story in chronological order.)

2/25/08 update FROM JOHN:

Hello everyone,

I wanted to tell you about our trip to NY last
week.....

We left for NY the day after the Joan Rivers show
opened successfully at the Geffen Playhouse.
Originally we were going to leave on the same flight
and on the same day that Uma used an exact year after
her aneurysm but Uma didn’t want me to jeopardize my
job at the thteatre by leaving in the middle of the
week of technical rehearsals so we left on Valentine’s
day. It felt like an almost-free trip to me since I
had the plane tickets on hold for almost a year.

We took a taxi from JFK to the Blakely hotel. Up to
this point Uma has maintained that she has no memory
of NY other than the air ambulance, but she remembered
a little bit of the outside of the hotel and the books
on the shelf of the lobby. For me, walking through
the front doors into that lobby was like walking
through some invisible barrier. It was hard to do and
I realized right away that I needed to check in and
get to the room quickly - I began to cry on the
elevator up to the 9th floor. (We actually stayed in
1003 in ‘07 but they were renovating that floor so we
opted for 903 - pretty much an exact replica of
1003...too exact).

We got in, got settled, and I began to answer Uma’s
questions: where did I fall down? what did I look
like? what did I say? what happened when the
ambulance and police arrived? etc.
Some people have asked me to tell what that whole day
was like. It’s pretty gruesome....I’ve decided to
write it all out and send it to people who ask me for
it in an email. Let’s face it - not everyone wants to
know everything - nor should they I guess.

...anyway - more tears for me in the room for awhile -
some very difficult memories and replaying of my
actions (could I have done something better, more
quickly, noticed something sooner) but there’s nothing
for it.....this return to the room, to the city is as
far ‘back’ as I could physically go and mentally I can
only return to a memory which has limits both in terms
of accuracy and healing.

We slept until we woke up i.e. no alarm clock, no
schedule. After ‘breakfast’ we took a subway to St.
Vincent’s. It took a minute to get my bearings but
then I fell into the pattern of last year. The thing
that was missing was Uma in a bed on the 11th floor
and the constant inner dialogue of whether she’ll live
or how she’ll be in the future. We ‘signed in’ with
security and went up to the Neurosurgical Intensive
Care Unit, 11th floor. First thing I did was take her
to the waiting room. On this day there was only one
woman in there - she had papers and forms spread out
all over her lap and around the couch and she looked
exhausted and worried. I felt neither of those things
but my heart went out to her (I wonder what I looked
like in there last year). The place has not changed
at all....same pictures and notices on the wall, same
furniture, paint, etc and the same TV on too loud that
I would always unplug whenever I could.

We then walked down the hall 20 feet to the ICU room.
I stood in the doorway with Uma a little bit behind
me. The nurse at the desk inside the room looked up.
I recognized her immediately as she said, “May I help
you?”
“Do you remember me?”
“JOHN!”
And at that point she walked towards me and was able
to see around the doorway to look at Uma. I thought
she was happy to see ME but her reaction to Uma was
worth every effort in coming to that place. She came
up to Uma and hugged her and then turned quickly back
to get another nurse who was on break behind the desk.
She told the other nurse she has a surprise.....they
both walked back over, saw Uma, and yelled out her
name, got the evil eye from the charge nurse a bit
down the hall, pointed at Uma to the charge nurse who
then changed her evil eye and cam e over with another
nurse who tended to Uma when she had been moved to the
‘regular’ room. The reunion was beautiful. Cecilia,
the first nurse, said they always love it when people
come back because so few make it out of that room.
Then Uma said, in various words, that she rememberd
these two nurses...that she remembered their faces. I
was really amazed at that. We all laughed when Uma
said she had no memory of me being there but “THIS!
and THIS!....” (pointing to each nurse)...” I have
‘rellection’!” The odd and wonderful thing was that
those two ICU nurses that just happened to be on duty
that day at that hour, Cecilia and Emily, were easily
the best nurses she had (Fernando and Chris
notwithstanding!)

This renunion went on for awhile - me answering
questions about how she is doing, what she is doing,
what we’re doing and me asking if any of the other
nurses were there etc. There comes a point when you
realize you’ve said all you can say comfortably in a
new and unexpected context, so I found a way for us to
gratefully leave there. We headed for the pastoral
counselor’s office (remember this is a catholic
hospital). Gina was a great help to me in that place
and we visited with her for a little over an hour.
Speaking with her and hearing her take on what was
going on lalst year was a powerful thing for me. She
was and is a great reality check for me and she
reminded me of things that I forgot. It feels like
those memories reside in an actual physical place in
me and being reminded of them is like having someone
touch a limb that has been numb for so long you forgot
it existed. It hurst but it’s good to know you’re
whole.

We left the hospital and I took Uma to The Original
Sandwich Shop where we ate and ordered so many meals.
Afterwards we walked to the Mail Boxes Etc. in SOHO
where the old guy that owns the place gave me such a
great deal on a mailbox and other services. HE was
there, too, and took only a couple of seconds to
recognize me. Big smile - which got bigger when he met
Uma. I thanked him again and we walked to the
apartment I borrowed for most of the time I was there.
We couldn’t get in, of course, but we did manage to
get a coffee at a little place two doors down from
there that I always wanted to go to but never had the
time. We sat outside of that little joint drinking
espresso and watching the world. This is what I
wanted to do last year with Uma - take in the city in
the moment and plan for the future. .....just another
transcendant moment I’ll probably never forget.

The rest of the trip was good, too. We did a lot of
relaxing, a lot of sleeping late, easy walks (it was
colder in Los Angeles that in Manhattan that week),
good meals....we saw a play, went up the Empire State
building, had dinner with my friends Kevin and Iza and
came home.

I see now that, while it was really great for Uma to
go there, I truly needed to go. The time spent there
was heavy for me - it was so unexpected, violent, and
uncertain - and seemed to be waiting for me both in my
past and in my future. I feel that whole experience is
closer to where it belongs now - the past.

I hope you are all well and thank you for all your
help for me and Uma.

Peace,
john

4 friends on youtube

2008-03-07T17:53:00.000-08:00

(1) MO and MO:

(2) dank and nank:

(3) andrea:

(4) my brothers:

my ipod is not very gay

2008-03-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

I already know my Tivo is gay (hello season passes to Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, and According to Jim), but what about my ipod? Some Australian website I never heard of before this morning has a list of the 50 gayest songs of all time, according to their readers (via EW), and I decided to put my ipod to the test.

(If you feel like putting your ipod to the test too, let me know if your ipod is more gay than mine or less.)

(oh, and speaking of America's Next Top Model, before we get to the song list, did you notice that freaky moment on last night's episode, about four minutes in, when the doorbell rang and all of the girls started to scream like crazy lunatics BEFORE they even knew what was on the other side of the door??? it was like: doorbell = pavlovian response of batshit craziness. and then it was just a bunch of purses waiting for them on the other side of the door, and some free clothes. if i was one of those girls, i'd be like: we're all screaming for purses? i could understand that kind of screaming if it was, say, Michael J. Fox on the other side of the door, covered in whip cream. but purses?)

Back to the purported list of gayest songs of all time:

50. Elton John and George Michael “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”

This song is not on my ipod. I've never even heard this song before. I'm 0 for 1 right now. I just listened to it on youtube and the lyrics to the song don't seem particularly "gay" to me. Is it supposed to be the 50th gayest song of all time just because it's Elton John duetting with George Michael??? Because, come on, people, that's just lazy. I've only heard this song once, now, but I don't like it. It's boring, boring, boring. I'm not adding it to my pod.

49. Dead or Alive “You Spin Me (Like A Record)”

Okay, yes, absolutely, I've always thought this song was gay, gay, gay, and the video is even gayer. It's not on my ipod, though, so I'm 0 for 2 right now.

48. Pet Shop Boys “New York City Boy”

Apparently I'm a really bad gay because I didn't know this song either (it's not in my ipod, so I'm currently 0 for 3), but I think it should be higher on this list than slot #48. Watching the video totally reminded me of the feeling I had when I moved to London and started going out to nightclubs for the first time. My favorite club was Popstarz because they played Radiohead and there were lots of punks there, it felt very Sid and Nancy.

47. Diana Ross “Chain Reaction”

Not on my ipod. I'm 0 for 4. Who made this list??? Diana Ross totally has gayer songs.

46. Deborah Harry “I Want That Man”

I think the only reason this song is on this list is because it's called I Want That Man, which, again, feels lazy. This song is so not gay enough for this list. "Heart of Glass" is way gayer (and way better, too). It's not in my ipod, I'm 0 for 5.

45. Cher “Strong Enough”

Okay, this song, and the video, are hella gay. But it's not on my ipod, so I'm 0 for 6.

44. RuPaul “Supermodel (You Better Work)”

I thought this one would be on my ipod, but it isn't (0 for 7). The only Supermodel on my ipod is the Jill Sobule one. My ipod so SO BUTCH.

43. KD Lang “Constant Craving”

This is the first song on the list that's actually in my ipod. Maybe I'm a lesbian? 1 for 8!!!

42. Culture Club “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me”

Now we're talking, now I'm 2 for 9. When I was a kid, my neighbor Katie (she was the Angela Chase to my Brian Krakow) was so obsessed with Culture Club that she actually had Boy George Dolls. The hair was attached to the hat, so that when you removed the hat you removed the hair too. I always wondered if it was like that in real life, too.

41. Chaka Khan “I’m Every Woman”

This is the gayest song on the list so far, and yes, it's on my ipod. I'm 3 for 10.

40. Wham “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”

I've always thought this song was hecka annoying, and I'm sad to report that it's on my ipod (4 for 11). Randy Jackson was right when he called the song corny. Bad song choice for Luke Menard this week.

39. Paul Lekakis “Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room)

How do I have 5000 songs on my ipod and I've never even heard of so many of these songs? Suffice it to say, this song is not on my ipod (4 for 12), but it's an AWESOME AND UNBELIEVABLY CHEESY SONG, and I'm totally singing it the next time I karaoke. I've already memorized all of the lyrics.

38. Kym Mazelle “Young Hearts Run Free”

The only reason this song is on my ipod is because it was on the soundtrack for Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet. That doesn't mean it's not perfectly appropriate for this list, I'm just saying that I had never heard of Kym Mazelle until I typed her name into my itunes search bar and saw it there. All of that being said, if I was going to choose a song from that soundtrack for this list, it would be Kissing You by Des'ree. (5 for 13)

37. George Michael “Outside”

Obviously gay, but not on my ipod. (5 for 14)

36. Donna Summer “I Feel Love”
35. Dannii Minogue “This Is It”
34. Belinda Carlisle “Summer Rain”
33. Peter Allen “I Go To Rio”
32. Sylvester “You Make Me Feel Mighty Real”
31. Heather Small “Proud"
30. CeCe Peniston “Finally”

I'm starting to get tired of this list because none of the above seven songs are on my ipod. Which means I'm 5 for 21. I don't know any of these songs. This list is totally getting me to question my sexuality. Maybe I'm straight?

29. Madonna “Express Yourself”

Not my first Madonna choice, but okay. Now I'm 6 for 22.

28. Cyndi Lauper “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”

Why are all the "gay" songs about girls? (Not that girls aren't gay.) If I had written this list, I would have acknowledged that Cyndi deserves to be on it, but I would have chosen Goonies 'R' Good Enough, an awesomely more gay song than Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. When they shot the sequence towards the end where the Goonies slide down into the part of the cave where the big pirate ship is, Richard Donner and Steven Spielberg wanted genuine reactions from the kids, so they didn't show the pirate/cave set to any of the actors...the first time they all saw the pirate ship was live on camera...but the kids were so awed by the huge pirate ship that they all started cursing in amazement, and so they couldn't use a lot of that footage (and keep their PG rating). Now I'm 7 for 23.

27. Charlene “I’ve Never Been To Me”

Don't know it. 7 for 24.

26. Tim Curry “Sweet Transvestite”

I fully support this song being on the list. Though my favorite song from Rocky Horror is Science Fiction Double Feature. Now I'm 8 for 25.

25. Barry Manilow “Copacabana”

I don't get it, but I've got it. 9 for 26.

24. Barbara Streisand and Donna Summer “No More Tears”

Don't know it. 9 for 27.

23. Whitney Houston “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”

I love '80s Whitney Houston. I'm gay again. (10 for 28)

22. Sister Sledge “We Are Family”
21. Queen “I Want To Break Free”
20. Dolly Parton “9 to 5”
19. Coming Out Crew “Free, Gay and Happy”
18. Village People “In the Navy”
17. Frankie Goes To Hollywood “Relax”
16. Village People “Macho Man”
15. Judy Garland “Over The Rainbow”
14. Bronski Beat “Smalltown Boy”
13. Diana Ross “I’m Coming Out”
12. Cher “Believe”
11. Gloria Gaynor “I Am What I Am”

My ipod just got way more gay. It has #22, #20, #18, #17, #16, #15, and #12. The only thing I have to say about any of these songs is that "Believe" was really big in Europe the semester I was abroad in London, and I had no idea it was Cher, and then I came back to America, and I was like, "there's this great new song by this great new artist," and people were like, "um, you mean Cher?" Which was almost like the time in high school when I heard The Smiths for the first time and I was really amazed by how much the leader singer sounded like Morrissey. (17 for 40)

10. Alicia Bridges “I Love The Nightlife”
9. Madonna “Vogue”
8. Olivia Netwon-John “Xanadu”
7. Kylie Minogue “Better The Devil You Know”
6. Pet Shop Boys “Go West”
5. Kylie Minogue “Your Disco Needs You”
4. The Weathergirls “It’s Raining Men”
3. Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive”
2. Village People “YMCA”
1. ABBA “Dancing Queen”

Okay, of the top 10 gayest songs of all time, I only have #9 and then #4 through #1 on my ipod, and the only song I really have a problem with is "YMCA" because I'd like to argue that "YMCA" has been so appropriated by things like baseball games that it isn't really gay anymore, or at the very least it's definitely NOT so gay as to be worthy of a #2 ranking. What do you think, am I totally off-base? Or is "YMCA" not very gay anymore?

Anyway, my ipod ended up being 22 for 50, which means my ipod is only 44% gay. That's so much less gay than I thought it was gonna be! Now, if only the list had some Scissor Sisters on it, and I think the list should have had some songs from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical too. But that's just me.

Clear eyes, full hearts, FNL IS RENEWED!

2008-03-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

i'm so fucking excited i can't stand it. Friday Night Lights is coming back for a third season. if you aren't a fan, you're missing out on the best show on tv, and i implore you to start watching when it comes back for its third season so that viewership will finally be up and then we'll get a fourth season. (am i being a greedy little pig to already want a fourth season when the third hasn't even started?)

someone who's never seen the show recently emailed me and asked me why i watch it, and this is what i sent him back:

1. some of the best acting, writing, and directing on tv.

2. i don't particularly like football, or even really understand the game, but they get you so invested in the characters that by the end of game episodes you're jumping out of your seat, rooting for the home team to win.

3. the relationship between kyle chandler and connie britton as the coach and his wife -- it's the most real relationship i've seen on tv in a long time.

4. sexy dudes.

5. hot chicks (if you're into that sorta thing).

6. funny + it pulls at the heart strings like nobody's business (i usually cry at least once an ep).

7. great high school drama AND great adult drama. (i feel like most shows that dip their toes in both worlds usually do one better than the other. like take My So-Called Life: the teen storylines are great, while the parent subplots are usually really annoying.)

8. it's actually about something, it deals with ethics and race and sex and religion, and it doesn't feel preachy.

9. so much heart.

new blog

2008-03-05T20:24:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my new blog.

I'm calling the new blog "All About My Lists" because I am completely obsessive compulsive about lists. I have a journal that is dedicated to nothing but "things to do" and when I've done those things I scratch them off my list to the point of annihilation (see photos above and below). When I go back and look at the list, I don't want to be reminded of what the thing was that I got done, I just want to know that I did it. It, anything, whatever it is: it's been done.

This one time when I was a kid I grabbed my mom's copy of Anna Karenina off the book shelf and started reading (I was in high school and I didn't pick up the book again, just that one time) and a thin piece of paper fell out of the book. It was a "To Do" list that my mom had written when she was in high school reading the book. (I don't know what happened to that list, I wish I still had it.) Proof that she was a list-maker when she was a kid too. Which means I come from a long line of list-makers. List-making is in my blood.

But back to the whole "hello I have a new blog" thing. I know, I know, I said I was done blogging. But I just ran out of steam with My Year of New Things, and I knew that if I ever came back, it'd have to be with something else. (OMG, this blog post is so boring, why do I feel the need to explain all of this blardy blar?) While a part of me thinks it's really stupid to start up a new blog and have it be a totally different website because who knows if the people who used to read the old blog will ever find this one, another part of me is like: (oh my god, seriously, so boring) this is the only fucking way you're ever gonna get back into the blogging game, erik. (i'm sorry, i wrote this the other day and then didn't post it and now i'm re-reading it, and i should just cut this paragraph, but i'm leaving it here because it reminds me of my bad journals from high school and i think it's proof that i'm still pretty much the exact same dork i was back then)

Because here's the thing: the other day (two days ago, to be exact) [okay, now it was a week ago, that's how long ago I wrote this post and didn't post it] Sheila mentioned that she missed my blog. (And she's my favorite blogger out there, so a little comment from Sheila saying that she misses my blog holds a lot of weight.) And then (again, two days ago) [um, again, more than two days ago, actually] I met Peter (who I went to college with but didn't know in college) online, and Peter said that he used to read my blog, and I was like: that's weird, my damned blog keeps coming up. And then a few days before that, I saw Steve, and he was like "blog." And, anyway, I was starting to feel like maybe the universe was trying to tell me something. It was telling me to fucking blog again. (Okay, actually, I don't really think the universe cares whether I blog or not, I think I just miss rambling incoherently all over the internets.) (And I miss the whole comments community thing.)

So I'm back. And this is just me saying I'm back. And I have no idea what this blog is gonna be, other than it's gonna have lists, and it's gonna let me let loose all of my obsessive compulsive anal retentive tendencies onto the world once again (hallelujah).

THINGS I DID TODAY: (and when I say "today," i actually mean last week, because that's when i actually wrote this, but didn't post)

1. Had lunch with my ex-strike captain, and a whole group of writers I used to picket with. It was weird to see these people without picket signs. I felt really gawky without my picket sign armor. And the people who I really bonded with on the picket line were all the way on the other side of the table, so it kind of felt like I was on a really awkward second date. (The people I ended up sitting with actually turned out to be a lot of fun, but that's a boring story. Okay, a better story: so there was this guy who was on my strike team, I'll call him Quiet Guy because we never talked to each other. We picketed together dozens of times. We passed each other on the picket line, like, several hundreds of times, at least. But we never said a single word to each other. Whatever, we were doing our own thing. Anyway, flash forward to the big meeting at the Shrine. The strike is over. Afterwards, I head over to FUBAR for a drink with some friends. It's really crowded. I'm walking through the throngs of people and see this guy walking towards me, in my path. It's Quiet Guy. We both see each other, and I'm sure the first thoughts in both of our heads is, "oh, he's gay," and then as we cross paths, I say "hi," and then Quiet Guy says "hi" and then we both continue on our way across the room. I just thought it was so funny and absurd that the first time we said a word to each other was the first time we saw each other OFF the picket line, and then it was literally only a word--a one syllable word no less. Okay, that's not a very good story. This blog is really starting off gang-busters, isn't it?)

2. Had a poop that was really difficult to push out, one of those poops that you expect is gonna be really big and impressive, and then you look into the bowl at it and you're like: "really? that's all?" It looked like a tiny little worm. Sad poop.

3. Laughed my ass off at this website called Garfield Minus Garfield. It's totally fucking brilliant and hilarious. I was laughing so hard I started to cry and I think my abs actually got a slight amount of definition.

4. (this is where I stopped writing this post last week) (i typed the "4" and then I think I was disgusted with myself and just abandoned all hope that this blog was gonna happen) (but whatever, i'm hitting "publish" now)