extra pickles

oh and look, a new toy to play with on my trip. peace out...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:00:10 -0500

oh and look, a new toy to play with on my trip. peace out 7-year-old dell.

tomorrow begins my extended thanksgiving break. oh the spoils...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:12:33 -0500

tomorrow begins my extended thanksgiving break. oh the spoils of unemployment! philly for four days, boston for seven, then back to DC on december 1. i’m a little peeved that my train ticket from philly to boston cost more than my plane ticket from boston to DC—why is amtrak always so damn expensive?

brad lives in philly these days. funny, isn’t it, that he, obinger and i are on a little rotation with the cities we live in—it used to be brad in NYC and adam in DC and me in philly, and now it’s adam in NYC and me in DC and brad in philly. jason will be joining us on the east coast—the four of us haven’t gotten together in a while, and it’ll presumably be as ridiculous a weekend as ever. i can already taste the primo.

my brother moved to boston about six months ago. his fiancee is originally from there, so he’s more or less assured to be in bean town the rest of his life. my parents flew out there today, and i’ll join them on tuesday. i haven’t been to boston since maybe middle school, so that should also be fun. i’ve got a mixed bag of friends in boston and perhaps i’ll try to meet up with some of them, too.

it all begins on a shoddy chinatown bus tomorrow afternoon. wish me luck…

from my parents’ visit last month. that quiff almost...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:41:18 -0500

from my parents’ visit last month. that quiff almost looks airbrushed.

speaking of japanese (i think my last post referenced japanese...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:20:32 -0500

speaking of japanese (i think my last post referenced japanese and not chinese, right?), the song and video for capsule’s “jumper” is mesmerizing. really, really weird. but also mesmerizing. thanks (again) ryan.

i suggest ignoring the lyrics, as their nonsensical nature sort of ruins everything else:

ankles strapped and secrets they watch
break you, wake up, feels just like you’re
leaving nothing, freely speed up
landing, stepping, jumping, jumper

but the tune is pretty awesome. this fan art interpretation is sort of cool, too.

and as i type this, adam and staples are en route to japan! by plane, not kayak (see steps #33 and #49).

nph is on twitter. and he’s pretty funny. and i bet he...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:27:30 -0500

nph is on twitter. and he’s pretty funny. and i bet he doesn’t have friends who complain about his long tweets…

the national gallery’s rotunda is especially impressive...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:31:00 -0500

the national gallery’s rotunda is especially impressive when the fountain is surrounded by seasonal plants.

i went there this past friday to (gasp) see a movie. i say “(gasp)” because my college and post-college friends think i have a disdain for movies. sure, usually i don’t want to spend my weekend evenings or $10.75 seeing one, but i don’t hate them. the national gallery has a free afternoon film program, so this past friday i saw a movie from 1950 called “seven days to noon.” it was about a nuclear scientist threatening to blow up london by noon on sunday unless britain agrees to stop all atomic weapons research. it won an oscar for its writing and i also thought it was good.

as if seeing one movie this weekend wasn’t surprising enough, i saw three movies on sunday. “empire records,” “2012,” and “death becomes her.” three.

so take that, friends—i do enjoy movies.

and really, check out the national gallery’s rotunda. it’s aesthetically stunning.

i’m not too versed in either of them, but thanks to the...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:13:00 -0500

i’m not too versed in either of them, but thanks to the internet i’ve discovered that alphabeat has some cool songs and frankmusik also has some cool songs. so obviously this frankmusik remix of alphabeat’s “fascination” will rock your weekend.

(thanks ryan.)

there’s a club in DC called ziegfeld’s/secrets. ...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:09:00 -0500

there’s a club in DC called ziegfeld’s/secrets. i’ve never been (hard to believe, right?) but my understanding is that the ziegfeld’s side is more about drag shows and the secrets side is more about strippers.

i never understood the name ziegfeld’s until i took a stroll through the national portrait gallery and happened upon a bust of a fellow named florenz ziegfeld. its plaque reads:

“Master showman Florenz Ziegfeld brought a razzle-dazzle to live performance that signaled a new era in mass entertainment at the turn of the twentieth century—the production of grand-scale extravaganzas glittering with spectacle and opulence that ‘glorified the American girl.’ … For the first three decades of the twentieth century, Ziegfeld’s Follies characterized American popular culture at its glitziest.”

who knew strip clubs could be so witty?

and what’s more, who knew museums could also have a sense of humor? viewed from the right angle, behind ziegfeld’s bust appears a scantily clothed sculpture of raquel welch.

what’s this? a new tumblr feature? the ability to...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:52:00 -0500

what’s this? a new tumblr feature? the ability to “say” mini comments on posts?

i wish everyone would integrate full-blown disqus comments into their tumblrs. but, knowing full well that tumblr staff isn’t too keen on that idea, i think i’d appreciate and be half-satisfied if this new “say” feature were rolled out to the masses.

see what i mean?

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:24:00 -0500

see what i mean?

something i didn’t know before getting laid off was that...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:31:22 -0500

something i didn’t know before getting laid off was that unemployment benefits vary a ton from state to state. there was an article in forbes a few months ago about it. DC, where the maximum weekly benefit is $359, ranked as the 5th worst city. philly, where i previously lived, came in as the 6th best.

thankfully for me, your weekly benefit determination takes into account your past 18 months of earnings, and since i worked in philly for 6 of those 18 months, i was able to file in PA.

the whole concept is a bit amusing (and obviously also really nice), that every two weeks i “make” some money by logging into a website and taking two five-item questionnaires. unemployment still sucks, though—make no mistake about that.

as i had mentioned, dragonette came to DC9 this past friday. ...

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:27:35 -0500

as i had mentioned, dragonette came to DC9 this past friday. they were pretty awesome. i can’t find any pictures yet from the show, but here are some recent ones from LA. the lead singer is gorgeous (aside from her hairy pits) and cutely coy and can really sing—even their silly “big sunglasses” song was good. and they had these cool vertical lights on stage that added a fun effect.

so why, then, am i posting “remedy” by little boots? because DC9 was playing the video before dragonette came on and i had never heard it before (even though a quick tumblr search reveals that it’s been previously posted by several people i follow [whoops]). and it’s great. if you’re as behind the times as me (i didn’t know she was a singer past that sweet youtube video where she covers hot chip on her tenori-on), put this one on repeat for the day.

oh right, halloween was last saturday. time to get rid of this...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:35:00 -0500

oh right, halloween was last saturday. time to get rid of this goofy-turned-rotten thing.

i went to the prince of petworth’s 3-year anniversary...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:15:00 -0500

i went to the prince of petworth’s 3-year anniversary party last night, partially because it’s a great blog and partially because i can never resist an invitation to wonderland. amelia made the observation that (to use everyone’s favorite ambiguous adjective) it’s interesting that so many people would come together to celebrate that they simply read the same web page every day. oh the power of community blogging!

and the power of a can of pbr and a shot of jim. the combination may have made philly great (bob & barbara’s, anyone?), but it’s also making this ~~morning~~ afternoon miserable. (wonderland serves bottles of pbr, though. DC is so soft.)

the national gallery’s sculpture garden is a great DC...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:46:00 -0500

the national gallery’s sculpture garden is a great DC spot. next to its “jazz in the park” series during the summer (a largely misnomered event), my favorite thing about it is roy lichtenstein’s illusionary house I. from the front it looks either flat or as if the midpoint (where the two sides and the roof meet) sticks out towards you. but actually, the whole thing is concave and that midpoint is the farthest thing away. it’s also cool to view it from angles where certain sides completely disappear.

i took a long DC stroll on tuesday, snapped some shots of the house, and made this animated gif. hopefully it displays properly for you—tumblr was being fussy.

for a few weeks prior i figured that i’d spend my 5th...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:56:00 -0500

for a few weeks prior i figured that i’d spend my 5th halloween dressed as a red jaguar from nickelodeon’s “legends of the hidden temple.” on friday afternoon, though, having an excuse to wear my child-sized dennis rodman jersey proved too hard to resist.

after seeing them on tumblr, i went out and bought these shorts. man, are they short. i picked up a pair of knee-high red socks at american apparel, as well as a second pair of shorts that i ultimately opted to wear out because they showed a little less thigh. (sidenote: did you know you can’t return stuff to american apparel? you can only get store credit? isn’t that a little ridiculous?)

for house parties, this wasn’t the best outfit—“oh, so.. you’re a.. basketball player. sweet.” in past years people definitely got more kicks from my red jaguar costume than they did this year from whatever you want to call this outfit.

dancing while wearing this was great, though—it’s pretty liberating to dance (and a lot less disgusting to get sweaty) in scanty clothing. also, my walk home on friday night was amazing. i walked from black cat across U street and then up 18th street to the mcdonald’s at the end of adams morgan, and i swear i got no less than 25 hollers for wearing a rodman jersey. there were several “the rest of your outfit doesn’t look like him, so why are you wearing a rodman jersey?” comments, but the majority were positive. i even got into a game of imaginary basketball (i’m a pro at boxing out).

overall, i was pleased.

(vaughn is dressed as a hipster, by the way. yes, it’s just a costume.)

a spammer took over dave’s girlfriend’s twitter...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:09:47 -0500

a spammer took over dave’s girlfriend’s twitter account (it’s since been deleted so i had to recreate this screen capture) and these are the two direct messages she sent me. she thinks i’m fat and poor. great, just great. i’m not denying either, but still, come on.

oh hello again, tens of readers. i still exist, i’m still...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:38:23 -0500

oh hello again, tens of readers. i still exist, i’m still wearing gingham, and i’m still looking for an appropriately (or at least fittingly) smug tumblr icon picture.

this picture was snapped two saturdays ago at a restaurant called urbana. its $11 bottomless bellini deal makes it the only place that i know of in DC that rivals red rocks’ $9 bottomless mimosa brunch. the place was empty during our entire 11am to 3pm stay, which i was surprised by—aside from a truly horrible waiter and a bit of an uppity vibe, urbana is great. check it out.

later that day we went to another fun place that i had never been to, comet ping pong. it was filled with kids. lindsey and i befriend a fourth-grader named jake. he and his twin third-grader siblings were highly amused by tales of my own fourth-grade teacher, ms. moon. they were in town visiting their 29-year-old brother and were actually from the north shore ‘burbs of chicago. lindsey and i were excited to reminisce with them about the 4 years we spent in the same area, but apparently elementary school kids aren’t ones to indulge nostalgic talk. anyway, comet ping pong—a place with ping pong tables and cans of old chub is always worth checking out.

after spending that saturday at these two unique DC gems, jason will be proud to know that on sunday i somehow allowed myself to be convinced to go to an olive garden. whoops.

old texts

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:50:20 -0400

i think my beloved pebl is officially dead, so i’m temporarily using my really old phone. it still has a bunch of text messages saved on it that bring back fun memories…

from dennis, 6/13/04, 6:19pm:

“Top doggg”

from an unknown number, 9/10/05, 2:00am:

“BRAD AND I ON L.. FROM JOES..DRUNK!!!!!”

from jake, 2/3/06, 1:37am:

“can a [inappropriate word] get a table dance?”

from dottie, 4/26/06, 1:38pm:

“I met venus williams and 2 nba players at a bar last night”

from danny, 5/6/06, 5:27am:

“Go the fuck home”

from jason, 2/25/07, 5:08pm:

“I think we could all go for an HPD right now”

i think i’m going to buy an iphone today. i’m still wavering a bit—i take little pleasure in spending money, and i’m also worried i won’t like carrying something of that size around in my pocket—but i think i’m going to do it. ugh, i should be more excited about this right? i’m not. maybe once i get it…

it’s your inner chemist’s favorite day of the year:...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:49:07 -0400

it’s your inner chemist’s favorite day of the year: national mole day. to refresh, a mole is a unit of 6.02 x 10^23 atoms or molecules. so, from 6:02am to 6:02pm on 10/23, kooks all over the country celebrate.

my high school chemistry teacher gave us pocket periodic tables to mark mole day 2000. she was pretty eccentric and mole-obsessed (see her piece titled “beyond tradition: a chemistry teacher and her mole fetishes”), and many students probably don’t care to remember her. she was undeniably passionate about chemistry, though, and especially in hindsight i think i really valued that. so 9 years later, even though it has come in handy on far fewer occasions than she claimed it would, ms. phillips’s pocket periodic table still has a nostalgic place in my wallet.