Sunday, September 21, 2008

Roger Spacey


Ok, so I haven't been around here much lately...but this is important. A really great guy (and a Chelsea fan) was killed in the L.A. train collision on September 12, 2008. I had the pleasure of meeting Roger Spacey only once, but I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation which involved two of my favorite topics...Jose Mourinho and pie-in-the-skying about opening a soccer pub in Northwest Arkansas. He is certainly missed by his family, his many friends, and all those that knew him; I regret being denied the opportunity to visit with him some more at Lucky Baldwin's.



Left to Right: Roger Spacey, Baker, and me.
May 13, 2006 FA Cup Final

Half-time at Lucky Baldwin's in Pasadena, CA.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Audacity of Hopelessness

Occasionally, I freelance over on gclark's blog. Here is my Chelsea-centric recap of last night's Champions League Final.

The Audacity of Hopelessness

…Or, reflections after Wednesday’s Champions League Final.

gclark and I watched the game delayed, after a day of much anticipation and considerable anxiety on my part. The only inklings I had about the game seemed to indicate that we were going to have to endure penalty kicks, so I was considerably worked up by game time. I sure didn’t have a good feeling about it and I guess it’s nothing but masochism that makes me watch with our resident Chelsea-hater. You can bet he was warned, though. If at any point the Gooner felt the need to be smug, he was cautioned to ponder how his team went Arse up and didn’t even manage to stay in contention for ANYTHING after such a fabulous start to the season. Yeah, I talked entirely too much smack; even threatened bodily harm if Chelsea lost, the likes of which could be compared to a Scotsman without his Big Screen. I feel bad about it, and much like the Scots…I blame the bourbon.

My hopelessness was not unfounded. What the hell was that with Drogba’s (deserved) red card? What was he thinking bitch-slappin’ folks like there was a four-day vacation riding on it? I’ve defended and sympathized with Drogba time and time again, mostly because he may be the only person on the planet with a bigger crush on Jose than me…but damn, I was embarrassed for him. What a way to go out.

Poor, poor John Terry. I don’t care who you are or what you think about him, you couldn’t help but feel simply awful about him missing the game winning PK because he SLIPPED! That is stuff of which nightmares are made. I hope he was able to drink himself into oblivion last night and put it behind him this morning.

There were a few highlights from the game. I was absolutely thrilled that the first half was commentated by Clarence Seedorf. How awesome is that? I’ll tell ya, the kind of awesomeness that could only be matched by Cristiano Ronaldo making a complete ass of himself during his penalty kick…and not in a sympathetic way like JT, but in a way that he fully deserved. And I can’t help but be pleased for and proud of Scholes and Giggs, even if all that was somewhat under my radar in the midst of my own angst.

I gotta say…the worst part of last night’s game was the nagging thought in the back of my mind that I was witnessing the end of an era, the end of the only Chelsea I have ever known. There is a damn good chance that many on the team will spend Thursday getting their shit together to go elsewhere next season. We can only hope they will all soon be reunited again with Jose in that big football league in the sky, Serie A. My preference? AC Milan.

Oh, and happy belated birthday, KFB. Hope you had a good one, in spite of it all. I feel your pain.

Monday, May 12, 2008

123rd page, 5th sentence.

Suckers always get tagged. Here's the latest.

1) Pick up the nearest book.
2) Open to page 123.
3) Locate the fifth sentence.
4) Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing…
5) Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Here's mine:

"He does for I heard him do it. We cut a parcel of crazy pilgrims down off the Llano and the old man in the lead of them he spoke right up in dutch like we were all of us in dutchland and the judge give him right back. Glanton come near fallin off his horse."


From Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy. Consider yourselves lucky, you had a 9 out of 10 chance of getting a passage about scalping, bloody human body parts, dried human body parts, or viscera of some sort. He’s fond of the viscera.

Me and a buncha other MyFootballClub.co.uk members are reading Blood Meridian in our “MyBookClub.” You may ask yourself...isn't there anything I can't nerd-up? No, no there isn't.

Gclark is the responsible party. He says he didn't formally tag anyone, but he's a liar, don't believe him. I'm really not going to tag anyone...because all my friends are illiterate.

Monday, April 28, 2008

More Sonic Youth

Possum (gclark, my fiance, whatever) did a much better review of the show here.


Sunday, April 27, 2008

I went to a concert...



Sonic Youth was awesome! Didn't make it to see Blind Melon because I was old and drunk. Had a great time anyway.


Saturday, April 26, 2008

Sonic Youth @ Dickson Street Music Festival!



Tonite's the nite! Can you believe it's Sonic Youth's first time to perform in Arkansas? Hard to imagine, ain't it? They will be playing at the Dickson Street Music Festival/Springfest tonight. As Pitchfork pointed out, it is a rather...uhm, eclectic lineup. Little sumptin sumptin for everyone, I suppose. I'll probably just head on over to George's afterwards, catch a little Blind Melon, and pretend like it is still the 90s.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Our Town

The Fayetteville Panorama Project

These are some really cool photos of Fayetteville by Steve Moore. This area is growing so rapidly, it's good to see that someone is documenting the development.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Watch The Football!

Massively mattering to someone, presumably. Hail yeah!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Observations

1. Yesterday, I saw jonquils coming up in one of the flowerbeds down by the Square! I was so excited...I mean a visceral, spring-feverish, type excited...even before my brain had fully processed what it was I was seeing. I'm just gonna hold on to the thought that spring is right around the corner.

2. Why do people get louder when they are leave-taking? Notice it? Folks coming out of doctor's exam rooms or ending a cell phone call, their volume goes way up. Why is that?

3. I still REALLY like Vampire Weekend. This is a little strange, because I am fully aware of the potential to be annoying. So far, I'm still OK with it.

4. The incongruity of these preppy white boys singing African music reminded me of MY album cover. "You're album cover?" you are probably asking yourself. Why, yes! It's this little bit of interweb fun that I meant to share a couple of months ago, but was too busy making up album covers to ever get around to it. Here's what you need to do to create your own.

  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
    (The first article title on the page is the name of your band.)

  2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
    (The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.)

  3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
    The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Use the graphics program of your choice to throw them together and then share the results here! It'll be fun!



So, yeah, if ever this white girl wants to start singing ethnically incongruous music...I'm all set! Hey, it's working for Jamie T and Vampire Weekend!

C'mon! Now show me yours!

*Note: that is not me nor my engagement ring pictured above. I couldn't get my camera to work properly. Maybe one day I will manage to take pictures of my own damn hand and post them. Altho, I would much rather show y'all in person!

EDIT: See...fun and addictive! I got this one just checking to make sure my links worked!




Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Fleet, Vampire Weekend, and a Proposal

OK, so, just because I don't blog doesn't mean that there is nothing going on...there it too damn much going on. Man, y'all sure are missing out on a lot of bitching about my chemistry class and a lot of cussing about my hard-headed nine year old that's giving me absolute fits. (Except for Possum, he gets daily doses.) To top it all off, in a stunning display of complete self-unawareness, I decided to give up dranking for Lent. If ever I ever needed to be besotted...it's now.

Here's the interesting parts:

Today is THE DAY! MyFootballClub + Ebbsfleet United = Done Deal! I am now officially a joint owner of Ebbsfleet United football club; me and over 28,250 MyFootballClub members own a 75% stake in the football club. Now the fun really begins! (It's not too late to join, if'n you're interested!)

Possum's New Year Resolution this year is to watch 200 movies that he has never seen before. So, I have/will see(n) a few, I won't see all 200, I just don't have as much time to waste as he does. Anyway, I had hoped to kinda keep up with them too, kinda like a Siskel and Ebert thang. I haven't managed that so far, but maybe one day I'll be able to catch up. So far, I think my favorites have been This Is England and Juno.

***New Favorite Band ALERT***

Vampire Weekend....these guys are awesome. Their songs are just so doggone happy. It just tickles me to no end to hear these preppy Cape Cod-type boys referencing Lil Jon's Get Low in one of my favorite songs, Oxford Comma. That's worth the price of admission right there...but I've yet to dislike any of their other songs either.

Also, the Juno soundtrack is packed with a lot of sweet little songs (sweet in the traditional sense, not "sweet soundtrack, dude"...ya know what I mean?) I like it, even if it did make me feel old. I realized all those kids I used to babysit that drove me crazy with Wee Sing Silly Songs are now old enough to be writing songs of there own. And I mean that in the best possible way; I love the soundtrack, it's just that the similarities in style are uncanny. Best part ever? There are two...count 'em TWO!...Belle and Sebastian songs on there!

Speaking of feeling old, I had a birthday back at the end of January. It was really fun and low key, not my usual birthday shenanigans. Possum and I spent the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend at the lake. It was cold and dreary and lovely, because we had a fireplace to sit by and plenty of wine and vodka drinks. I'm pleased with the fact that I didn't wear shoes for the entire 3 days. On my actual birthday, we went to Taste of Thai and I had some yummy Duck Curry and then we went to see Atonement at the new theater. It was good, it "looked" just like the novel, but I enjoyed the book better. Probably because I don't like Keira Knightley much.

Valentine's Day was fun, for a Thursday. I met some of the old Charismatic Rats pack at U.S. Pizza. We were a relatively subdued group, no beer. I gave it up for Lent, remember? See? I AM being good! And Zenedrine is doing the whole "bun in the oven" thing. Dr. Performance (who needs a new name) just drank Diet Coke and chastised us for being no fun.

But wait, that's not all! As if pizza, water, and an upbraiding from Dr. Performance wasn't enough V-Day fun...Possum asked me to marry him! Yay!!! And I even got a real purty ring for saying yes. :-) I promised Marisa pictures, I'll try to do that while it is all shiny and new looking. David Adams designed it, based on our vague suggestions, and he did a fabulous job. Don't rush out to Dillard's to buy a blender quite yet, though. It's going to be a very looong engagement; we're planning a honeymoon in England...just as soon as The Fleet are playing in the Premier League! ;-)

Monday, January 07, 2008

Jon & Stephen!

They're back! They're back! I've missed them sooo. The "Daily Show" and the "Colbert Report" return tonight! It's about time. I've been adrift without them. How is a busy, young, liberal-leaning, quasi-aware chick supposed to know what to think, what to believe??? It's high time I started forming some opinions and regurgitating some pithy remarks about this here...whatchamacallit...Presidential Election.

Either that, or maybe everyone else should just say screw it and do what I have been doing for the last couple of months...memorizing all the words to "The Soup Song".

Soup Soup, a tasty Soup Soup
A spicy Carrot and Coriander
CHILI CHOWDER
Crouton Crouton
Crunchy friends in a liquid broth
I am Gazpacho...ooh
I am a summer soup...mmm
Miso Miso
Fighting in the dojo
Miso Miso
Oriental Prince in the Land of Soup!


Now, if Jon and Stephen suck...sans-writers...there is always "The Bouncy Castle Crimp".

Please help me, Jon and Stephen.


Monday, December 17, 2007

Happy 2008

Hey diddly ho, neglectorinos!

I fully intended to do a comprehensive review of 2007 but indicative of the entire year I failed to find the time or the inclination. So here is just a breakdown of the things that I liked and the things that sucked about the previous year.

2007 Good Things

Music: Jamie T's "Panic Prevention" was my fav. I also enjoyed The View, The Kooks, Arctic Monkeys, Travis, The Bees, Amy Winehouse, The Fratellis...oh, just check out the sidebar for a more comprehensive list. Or, lookie here...last.fm.

Movies: Pan's Labyrinth and The Darjeeling Limited

Books: Check out Goodreads; and for God's sake, if you are a reader and so inclined, add me as a friend. I ain't got none. Disturbingly, I have discovered that all of Possum's friends hate me.

TeeVee: The writer's strike sucks for the writer's and all, but man, oh man, there is no end of the goodness of to be found in the UK... particularly, The Mighty Boosh! I lurv Vince Noir! I wanna be a crimpologist! "Where can't you go with crimping?"

Ed-juh-muh-cation: I took two classes this past semester! I made "A"s!!! My Lit II teacher said that nobody has ever scored as high as I did in his 20+ years of teaching! Just in case any of you needed any confirmation of my brilliance. Lord have mercy, I sure needed the reassurance. I hadn't taken a class in over a decade and I was afraid my brain was fulled-up on random sh*t like The Mighty Boosh. In all honesty, my academic success probably had more to do with my paranoid overkill than anything else. That's my advice for the year...write lots, kids. You get "A"s when your teacher gets tired of reading.

Sports: Arkansas beating LSU, the FA Cup Final, discovering MyFootballClub.co.uk. Seriously, MyFC has been a blast; I've "met" lots of cool folks and we almost have a really cool team. Up the Fleet! I can't wait to go to a game!

Boyfriend: I have the best. Most all the good stuff wouldn't be possible without him and the bad stuff would suck much worse.

The Bestest: One of my bestest friends Marisa had a baby! Congratulations, girlie! You are going to be a great mama and I can't wait to see the little darling! He's the closest thing to a nephew I may ever have!

2007 Things that Sucked

Employment: All the drama at my old job...I'm glad that's all behind me now. Sooo, I guess this should really be in the above category. Although, I do dearly miss my regular visits with all the Charismatic Rats.

Sports: By far the worst was when Jose Mourinho left Chelsea. I still can't talk about it.

The Worstest: Saying goodbye to my grandmother, E.


So there ya go, folks. 2007. I'm sure I left out lots, but that's all the looking back I'm prepared to do. It's 2008! Hope that it's the best ever for all of you.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Happy Repeal Day!

Now, excuse me while I go get drunk.

You should too! If you don't...then that means you hate America.











Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Drumroll, Please...

Ebbsfleet United!!!

If I wasn't so sleepy, I would write more. I'm tickled pink!

www.myfootballclub.co.uk

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Food, Critters, and More!

Or, A Few Reasons This Weekend Rocked

  • Possum
  • Lake House
  • Deck Overlooking Lake at Said Lake House
  • An Extra Hour
  • Fried Catfish and BBQ Chicken
  • Gas Fireplace
  • Arsenal V Manchester United and Egg Sandwiches
  • Dogs That Lay In the Middle of the Road
  • Deer That Stand In the Middle of the Road
  • Mr. Smith
  • Ladybug Swarms
  • Drunken Conversation In Which I Try To Convince Possum He Has To Die Before I Do, Because "Women Just Deal With Those Things Better" and I Don't Want Him To Endure the Agony of Having To Live Without Me.
  • Vodka and Lemonaid
  • The Razorbacks Win
  • King-Size Bed
  • Fat Friendly Roadrunner
  • Remembering Life Is Good






Thursday, November 01, 2007

Uhhh, Let's See...

Betcha thought I forgot about ya, didn't ya Internetty!?!?

I have been busy with real-life stuff that's frankly just too uninteresting to share. Maybe by now I have saved up enough semi-interesting stuff that when presented together may seem as though I have a life.

I quit my job because it sucked. I have been unemployed for four days, but I'm supposed to start a new adventure next Tuesday. Oh boy!

To celebrate my unemployment I got my hair cut and colored, a manicure, and a pedicure. It took over four hours at the spa to complete the overhaul.

Possum and I went to Fayetteville's swanky new movie theater last weekend. Malco's Razorback Cinema just opened and it's really nice. It's about damn time Fayetteville had a decent place to go see a movie!

We saw the much anticipated (by us , anyway) new Wes Anderson movie, The Darjeeling Limited. I just loved it. Everything about it was just so...pretty. I can say that in spite of the fact that Owen Wilson spent 99.9% of the time with his whole head swaddled in gauze and bandages, and what we did see was horribly disfigured...but hey, still pretty. If you don't already have India on your "must visit before I'm senile" list, you will.

And...if that wasn't keeping me busy enough, I am getting preciously close to being the owner of a British Football (uh, soccer) team!!! You know, me and about 50,000 other folks. I'm so excited I can barely stand it! www.myfootballclub.co.uk!!!

Internets, probably the next time you check-in I'll be able to tell you the story of my sucky job, the story of my new (hopefully less-sucky) job, and maybe even what team I own! Stay tuned!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

"History is the set of questions we in the present ask the past."

I haven't yet, but I'm really excited to watch Ken Burns' new documentary "The War". Yes, I know. I never claimed I WASN'T a nerd.

There was a good interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Me...in 50 Years

The Catherine Tate Show - Nan

Happy Labor Day Weekend!