something more fun

whoa, sorry for the downer dudes. i feel like i'm going to have to take that post down at some point, so get it while it's sad.

anyway, i'm having overwhelming 90s nostalgia, as my team is in the stanley cup finals for the first time since 1994. yes, this is incredible for many reasons, least of which is that i was well into my teens back then. judging by the comments on that youtube video, clearly i'm not the only one who loves this song. (e.g., "best nba theme EVER. it defined an era," "i still get goosebumps everytime i hear this song.")

what can be more 90s than tesh + vest + goatee + theme to NBA on NBC?

and as my friend tyler pointed out: invisible basketball dribbling! for more on the theme's resurgence, see here.

memo(u)ries

so...i went to a caps game over the weekend. yes, this is a hockey reference. no, i will not talk about just hockey this entire post (party poopers), except to say that there were no less than four fights in the last five minutes of the game and that i somehow got free box seats. who knew that working at a nonprofit would yield such rewards? anyway, being at the game reminded me that i sometimes miss canada and maybe even canadians.

for example, ever hear of "men with brooms"? actual plot summary:

Paul Gross stars as the leader of a recently reunited curling team from a small Canadian town. This offbeat comedy follows the team as they work through their respective life issues and struggle to win the championship for the sake of their late coach.

who's paul gross? and how can this not mention leslie nielson, Hilarious Canadian?

tagline? "a comedy that will sweep you off your feet!" laughing out loud.

second, "battle of the blades." think dancing with the stars, except hockey players, figure skaters, and, of course, ice. Rectangular Shoe Aficionado dick button was a judge in the first season, and they've now enlisted jeremy roenick, Major Whiner and Non-Canadian.

theme song? "there will never be another tonight" by bryan adams. laughing out louder.

you know, the internet continues to enlighten. the above youtube ad features bob probert and tie domi, whose best known collaboration prior to the above gathering was this.

this blog post is so symmetrical. circle of life and the wheel of fortune.

pavement/lcd soundsystem

so i went to a free outdoor festival over the weekend. pretty good lineup: matt & kim, joan jett, omg pavement and lcd soundsystem. at a different stage, luda and M.I.A. performed. i'm probably missing some others, but anyway.

i'd say the vast majority of attendees were in the early-to-mid 20s range. most were unfailingly polite, managing to not step on your blanket or other personal items when ambling drunkenly across the grass field where we were all seated.

the new york times was totally right, btw. the elaine benes look is back, full force. a sizable portion of the young girls there were wearing tiny floral prints and/or rompers. some looked adorable, while anyone weighing over 100 lbs looked a little...compromised.

here is the setlist for pavement. and lcd's setlist. i can't believe there's an entire wiki site devoted to just setlists. man, you don't have to remember anything anymore.

anyway, pavement were pretty solid, although they still couldn't help but bicker. scott kannberg, aka spiral stairs, looked old and kind of beer-bloated. they played several favorites, including summer babe, trigger cut and starlings of the slipstream. it was like riding a bike, y'all. only if remembering anything about the law were as easy.

but you know, LCD were just awesome. their music was meant to be heard in a huge outdoor pavillion. your fancy stereo and/or headphones just do not do justice to the sound.

dream a little dream

c4ts failed to breaking news text me yet again. boner stabone and now corey haim. i suppose you can call them washed up has-beens who've not been able to contend with their new reality, but this shit is just sad, yo. it's not like you actually think about any of these people on a regular basis (except for matthew modine--what are you up to? forealz). still, you kind of expect them to just move on with their lives and i dunno, star in weird movies about the rapture. at least he's found something else to do with himself, y'know?

anyway, if you want to really spook yourself, check out this slideshow of former child stars. yay for drew barrymore?

checking in with stevie Y

how did i miss this? yzerman was inducted into the hockey hall of fame! along with pretty boy luc robitaille and snoozefest defenseman brian leetch. oh yeah, brett hull, blahblahblah. lamoriello looks a little stunned to find himself on that poster, btw.

livin' in the 90s

i'm sure i've done a "livin' in the 90s" post before, so sorry about the repetition. i can't help it if it was the greatest CD compilation ever. (extra 90s nostalgia: it's available in CASSETTE!)

what up with all of the 90s revivals of late? aside from my alicia silverstone sighting, i mean. (what about ed begley, you ask? i think he's pretty timeless, no?). plaid shirts are everywhere! have you noticed this? i suppose they're not as ill-fitting as they were in their first iteration, but i still wouldn't call them exactly flattering. also, c4ts i think went to some yo la tengo/flaming lips concert--not in 1995, but like last weekend. and finally, my friend just informed me of this.

[insert a totally 90s expression of surprise here]

the last time i saw superchunk they gave a really awkward concert at my college with nas. yes, kelis's ex-husband nas. i think it was raining that day and superchunk were kind of low-ish energy, then nas rolled up in a huge tour bus with the requisite number of video hos. or perhaps an inadequate number, since he proceeded to call up more hos from the audience. good times.

oh yes, in other 90s revival news: pavement are reuniting. setting aside the fact that tickets are sold out and of course i completely forgot to get some, i think it would be nice to go to a concert where i don't feel ancient. (for instance, can i really go to CMJ in good conscience?) then again, i don't know whether being surrounded by a bunch of olds would be all that fun. oh well.

omg i finally have another chance to use our balki bartokamous tag! have you read this interview? i know, it's more 80s than 90s, but hilarious is hilarious.

don't stop thinking about tomorrow

a little more girth, a little less hair, a lot more gray...but they're back! nostalgia ensues...

picture it, you're 14 and kicking back a crystal pepsi in vancouver. some chubby southern guy running for president decides to don sunglasses and play the saxophone on arsenio hall. yes indeed, black people who are not the president are featured regularly on television during this crazy time. your school plays "smells like teen spirit" during the winter dance (the "snow ball") and all the plaid-clad white kids start screaming and smashing into one another while most of the asian kids decide to sit this one out. you don't know what to do, so you start bumping into other kids, too, despite lacking the requisite outfit and, erm, pigmentation.

oooooooooooh don't you look baaaaaack...

depressing news of the day

i have to confess that i listen to "wait wait don't tell me" every week. i know, can you believe that isn't the depressing news of the day?

in case you don't prefer to learn about the news in a nerdy quiz show format, wait wait don't tell me is...well, a news show in a nerdy quiz format. to give you an idea of how nerdy, you don't win money or even an npr tote bag--you get an answering machine message recorded by carl kasell. each week they also invite a famous (or not so famous, in the case of stefan fatsis--who? yeah, c4ts, you've read his last 5 books. i know) guest, and this week was kim deal. whoa.

well, this confirmed that i am probably not their only listener under the age of 50, much to my relief. but the interview was so depressing. first, she revealed that she lives with her parents in dayton, ohio. ok, so according to her wiki entry she's taking care of her mom, who has alzheimers. yes, that is admirable. no, that doesn't make it any less depressing. second, she tried to make some joke about how nobody wants to see an old rock star...haha...ugh...

wow, geez, let me try to make it up to you. how about...this? or this?

gocanada

two big canadian events today:

1) the greatest hockey player ever (at least to me) retired. this guy was my idol growing up - he wasn't the flashiest or the most dominant, but he always gave it his all. this was especially evident in the 7th game of the '94 stackley cup playoffs, when flash-in-the-pan pavel bure (who inexplicable beat out nicklas lidstrom for the calder trophy) completely choked while trevor linden scored 2 goals.

trevor, thanks for 20 years. you make me feel very old.

2) in a monumental move, canadian prime minister stephen harper apologized to the first nations people of canada. i wrote a very shoddy paper on this subject in law school. yeah yeah, i also submitted the paper 2 years after the deadline. that's not the focus here.

essentially, the canadian government, in conjunction with the anglican church, removed first nations (native) children from their homes and put them in "residential schools" in rural areas all across canada all for the the goal of assimilating or, to put it less politely, "kill[ing] the indian in the child." most of the children were sexually and/or physically abused. even those who somehow managed to escape such abuse were hardly educated, and forced into hard labor in these cold rural schools. if i remember my research correctly, i believe the last school was closed some time in the 1970s.

yes, the 1970s.

unfortunately, there has been some "residential school" fatigue among canadians since this has been in the news for decades now. nonetheless, the government created a compensation fund for the victims and a truth and reconciliation commission will conduct further studies on the lasting impact of these schools. now only if the japanese would issue a proper apology and some fracking compensation to the comfort women...

HUNCKLEYTOWN!

oh detroit, how you've been forgotten. your basketball team doesn't even play in your city.

in any case, the great game of hockey concluded its season today, with the always likable red wings emerging as the victors. well, aside from chris chelios, who is the dirtiest player pretty much ever.

anyway, here's to you, stevie yzerman. i know you're no longer even in the game, but as a certain michigander said, i'm sure you're out there being tough and handsome.

maybe someone's gonna save me

oh sweet nostalgia, please tell me this is true.

finally, the realization of my greatest fantasy...and c4ts' nightmare.

the boundless power of the O

is it 80s tv sitcom reunion month? alas, oprah and her genie wish-granting abilities reunited the cosby kids on a very special episode of oprah. this is way better than idiot gayle being serenaded by josh groban. turns out even oprah couldn't get lisa bonet to show up. here's the clip.

there are too many good episodes of the cosby show, but here are some memorable ones:

1) cliff and clare decide to give theo a lesson on "real life" by taking away all his furniture and making him earn his money (monopoly money, that is) and charging him for food from their fridge.
2) clare freaks out on vanessa when the latter lies and goes to an out-of-town concert with her friends. clare repeatedly asks her, "oh so was it BIG FUN?"
3) the kids create a slideshow for cliff's (50th? 60th?) birthday called "things that are older than dad". typical slide: "fire is older than dad".
4) theo and cockroach try out for a dance competition. this was my first lesson in negotiation and friendship. there was only one slot left for a dancer and after the two politely told the other to take it, cockroach finally decided to accept. theo felt betrayed by this, to which cockroach replied, "then why did you tell me to go on the show?" theo says, "because you were supposed to say you couldn't possibly do it, then tell me to go on!" anyway, don't say shit you don't mean, kids, bc it will come back to burn you. lesson learned.

oh yeah, i ran into raven-simone whatsherface at a street fair in atlanta once.

sha na na naaaa

why didn't i hear about this sooner? the cast of the greatest tv show ever reunited on the today show. okay, so minus brian bonsall, who apparently is suffering from some typical child actor issues. the show was totally genius and taught me a lot about reaganomics. let's take a minute to reminisce - my favorite moments of family ties (no googling went into this list, but you can consult a more authoritative source if you wish):

1) alex p. keaton and his girlfriend dancing to billy vera and the beaters at the train station before she's about to leave him. sob!
2) tom hanks as the keatons' crazy alcoholic uncle.
3) alex p. keaton mourning his friend's death (it may be his uncle's death. i may have to google this one). i think that one was a two-parter.
4) jennifer wanting to join the popular girls and constantly repeating, "like hi, okay?"
5) alex p. keaton takes speed or caffeine pills or some type of drugs to help him through finals. i believe this was the inspiration behind the infamous saved by the bell episode.

can we discuss the gimongous crush i had on michael j. fox? sigh.

the way we were

as i mentioned in a previous post, i've been rather out of the music scene of late. i'm just kind of bored by it. my chief complaint is that these new bands don't seem very consistent. case in point - tapes n tapes. their first album was great. then i went to see them in concert and yeah, maybe it was the fact that i was one of the only people over 25, but it kind of blew. so badly that i had to leave in the middle. they tried songs off their new album and it was some horrifying hybrid of sublime and, hmmm, live. yeah. that sounds about right. maybe i'm just getting old and i need to revive my rick astley collection or something? hey rick, turns out i won't ever give you up.

stay with me here, but what's fred armisen all about? where did this dude come from? how did he end up creating this new site with one of the sleater kinneys? anyway, i started listening to the woods this morning and it made me wish for a giant reunion tour--sleater-kinney and pavement. i'll throw built to spill in there, too, although i'm pretty sure they're still together. i'll pretend i'm still 20 and afraid to go to alphabet city.

what's that you say, sasha frere jones?

btw, c4ts - why do magazines in asia always have white women (and blondes, at that) on the cover? shit makes me ill.

A Misspent Youth

Here's the first photo from the Indiana Jones 4 set. This is the moment where my level of excitement begins its Kilimanjaro-high trek to fever pitch. Yeah, I use mixed metaphors--jealous? Obviously, the movie will be a spectacular turd, but unjustified, unreasonable hope springs eternal, or at least until the Transformers movie comes out, and said hope starts flatlining. And then I'll watch the the live action Thundercats movie and that'll suck, and I'll accept finally and forever that I am but a consumer and Hollywood will stop at nothing to make the joys of my youth fodder for its shit-mills--granted, the mixed metaphor there doesn't make much sense, but you know what I'm saying.

and we ride on them things like everyday

tyler recently informed me that mayor shirley franklin of phatlanta proposed a $1 billion revitalization of peachtree street (not to be confused with peachtree avenue, circle, boulevard, post, etc.). the most intriguing part of this proposal to me, aside from the bike lanes, is that atlanta will be getting a streetcar line.

a streetcar! along one of the wealthiest and, let's face it, whitest neighborhoods in atlanta? racial integration on public transit isn't exactly atlanta's strongsuit. hello marta. as a pseudo-communist from canada, i was shocked to find that people disagreed on the necessity of public infrastructure, like, uh, sidewalks. i can't imagine that atlantans will be rushing to pay for this with their tax dollars, but that remains to be seen.

anyway, mayor franklin, i salute your efforts. traffic congestion in your city is ungodly and, not to mention, un-al gore. but please propose a superior slogan to "itsmarta."

on an unrelated note, i'm gonna don my flannel and go see sebadoh this weekend. long live the early to mid-90s!

because i could

speaking of pimps, any man who can transition from this to this deserves to be called pimp of the week. we salute you, bill!

of course, which do i prefer? i haven't been this conflicted since the fat vs. thin elvis debate of the 90s.