Life in the fast lane

Gotta love those lazy, hazy, crazy days of November.

Got to see Henry Rollins do 2.75 hours of spoken word on Wednesday night. From Wal-Mart to the USO, from the Trans-Siberian Express to Bush, Bush, Bush, and more Bush, he ran the gamut. Walked out, wrapped the mic cord around his left hand three times, raised the mic to his lips, and didn't stop talking for over 150 minutes. I can't even conceive of having the arm strength to hold the mic that long, let alone having that much to talk about, all while being consistently entertaining.

Last night we went to Disneyland for the employee Christmas party. Walked in, got our photos taken, rode Haunted Mansion/Nightmare before Christmas, ate at the Tomorrowland pizza place, got in line for Space Mountain, they closed the ride due to tech problems, went home. Definitely one of the least eventful DL trips I've ever taken, but Nightmare Mansion is so much fun, and it gets better every year. Whoever came up with the idea of a yearly complete transformation for a Disney ride deserves a big fat raise. At first I recoiled in horror at the thought of changing a ride that's been essentially the same for over 40 years, but in the last few times I've gone, it's slowly won me over.

85 degree high last Thursday, 65 degree high today. Not that I'm complaining, but the unexpected big dips can get to you after a while, especially when you wake up in the morning and can see your breath (when you had the air conditioning on the day before).

Internetlife

I use the tag "internetlife" on del.icio.us a lot these days, and it's a concept that I think about often. Basically by my definition, internetlife is something that I do now that I never would have done before the internet existed, or something that I used to do clumsily but the internet now allows me to do with ease.

It is unbelievable to me how much the world has changed because of the internet, but almost more unbelievable is how much the internet has changed because of the world. The first 100 or so times I accessed the world wide web (yeah, yeah, I know there's more to the internet than the web, yada yada, but there's only so much you can get done with gopher, knowwhatimsayin? I still use Usenet to this day though), I pretty much just looked at it. The most striking thing in my memory of the web as a new user is that it was a passive experience instead of interactive.

As old as it makes me sound, I actually remember the very first time I ever used the web. It was on the Mosaic browser in a computer lab on the campus of University of Alaska Anchorage. I remember searching for information on 10,000 Maniacs (yeah, still a fan of the Merchant's voice, not an avid listener much anymore though, and why I would have picked this band over any other to look for on my first day on the web, I'll never know) and reading little bits and bobs of text on the rudimentary fansites. The version of Mosiac I was using didn't even have support for images, it just had little boxes with an "Image" tag. I remember thinking "wow, that will someday be a picture of Natalie Merchant. I wonder when?".

Fast forward 10.5 years. I have used the internet to archive my digital photography, catalog my movie/music/game collection, play games with my friends using voice chat, acquire new and rare music, buy things, sell things, watch live music performances, find old friends, and learn about many different niche communities that otherwise would have been completely invisible to me. I grew up in an era where the only way one could get information on toys or music or tv or any of the other pop culture fun things that unite Generation X was from other kids, or maybe every once in a while a magazine. Add into that mix that I grew up in Idaho, and you can see how even living in 1987 could feel like it was 1967. Now I feel like I live in the land of the Jetsons.

First there was no internet. Then I just looked at the internet. Now I use the internet every day for both work and play, it's part of my life, and I can't imagine how things would work for me without it. Heck, I can't even imagine using dial-up anymore.

Welcome to the terrordome

Hello my fine feathered friends.

Welcome to Lord of the Pit, the home of my ramblings and minutiae. Let's get right to it, shall we?

Last night we went to see Wilco at the Greek Theater here in Los Angeles. Took a cab up the hill with a couple of friends. Got there a bit late and missed most of The Roots' opening act (I know, please revoke my indie cred ASAP...I've wanted to see those guys since Things Fall Apart). Got a beer and made it to our seats.

Here's the setlist :

Misunderstood
At Least That's What You Said
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Far, Far Away
Hell Is Chrome (started and restarted)
Kamera
Handshake Drugs
Company In My Back
Remember the Mountain Bed
Muzzle of Bees
War on War
A Shot in the Arm
Jesus, etc.
I'm The Man Who Loves You
Poor Places>
Spiders
------------------
The Late Greats
Theologians
I'm Always In Love
(pretending they went off stage and came back on for second encore)
Hummingbird
Heavy Metal Drummer
Kingpin
I'm A Wheel
(thanks bbop on viachicago.org)

This was an excellent show. My second time seeing Wilco, and I am now convinced that Jeff Tweedy is one of our finest living musicians. The guy can write some amazing songs, he can sing, he plays a hell of a guitar, and he's pretty funny too. We didn't get nearly as much between-song banter as when they played the Wiltern in 2004, but he mentioned that he's been watching some live footage recently and he's pretty self conscious about how much he talks between songs. I say keep up the banter, Tweedy! Great songs with funny banter makes for the best live shows ever (please consult your nearest BNL performance for more details).

"Remember the Mountain Bed" was a highlight, and something I've never heard before. According to my 1337 Wilco buddy Brian, this is a cut from Mermaid Avenue Volume 2. I definitely need to get both of these discs, the notion of Tweedy collaborating with Billy Bragg is something I can definitely get behind.

Tomorrow I hop on a plane to go back to my hometown for a few days for a friend's wedding. Should be very fun. We're renting a house on the beach (thanks vrbo.com!) and looking forward to spending 3 days breathing real air and looking at the stars at night.

OK more later, including, possibly...Amazon referrals? Ah yes, only one day on the web and I'm already fixin' to get mine.

JAM

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