최고 호쾌한 미친 회의 밤

Once Upon a Time, Craig, Josh, Enrico, Chris D. , Dave S. , Kari, Dave, Jere, Polt and myself......

A day was set for a Puntabulous meetup. Polt and Dave S. had been contacted secretly to appear as surprise guests. What wonders (and horrors) would await in the night?

The walk across town was uneventful, save for Polt yelling out "Signal!" every few minutes. At first, I thought he was in awe of traffic lights as his hometown sadly has not yet gained electricity; however, it was his message that a guy he found to be attractive was passing by. Given the number of times he spun around to point out various signals, it's clear that Polt has a future in Ballet.

The karaoke place was reached. Eventually all filtered in. The surprise was sprung and surprise was attained. The night began.

At first, things started off slow as David was confused by the microphone:



Hmmm....Polt thought to himself. Time to take advantage of the situation.....:



First, a photo with Enrico was taken. The two then disappeared outside and were gone for 7m33s:



Upon their return, a photo with Josh. The two then disappeared outside and were gone for 12m53s:



Upon their return, a photo with Jere. The two then disappeared outside and were gone for 7m21s:



Upon their return, a photo with Craig. The two then disappeared outside for infinity. Shortly, a woman ran past screaming: "My eyes! My eyes!" Connected?:



Upon their return, a photo with me. However, as you can tell by the photo, I had recently watched a blank VHS tape and received a call telling me "Seven Days...", so Polt was hesitant to go outside. No matter, the singing began!



Dave took the microphone first and wowed us with his rendition of the instrumental theme to "Peanuts":



Kari was up next with his take on a Bubbi Morthens classic: Kannski Varð Bylting Vorið:



Next up was Josh singing some forgettable pop song released in the last 5 minutes. At least his voice is mellifluous:



Craig took his turn with his take on the theme song to "Small Wonder":



Poor Enrico just realized that Mariah Carey will not be nominated for "Precious". Polt comforts him while Dave S. mocks from afar:



The "Lady Marmalade" number!. Everyone did a fine job until Jere took the microphone, channeled his inner Young Jeezy and busted forth with a rap that had the power to reignite the West Coast/East Coast feud. If in danger, he can always move to Kalamazoo to live with Tupac and Biggie (also Elvis and James Dean.):



Sadly, my awesome spoken-word poetry version of "9 to 5" was not to be. Time had run out. We moved outside for a group shot:



Then it was off to dinner. (Well, at least for Jere.):







After dinner at the restaurant, we headed downtown to go to....another restaurant. On the subway down, I had the opportunity to listen in to Enrico and Josh's conversation. Paraphrase follows:



"So I'm totez going to buy a churchez, and gutz it and make it a house. Then I can adoptez 3 kids."
"3? Like Britney's 3? It's number 1!"
"Defferz, so I can adoptez a little white girl, a little black gurl and a little asain gyrl."
"OMG, it's a rainbow of colors!"
"Totez! It's like I'm adopting a bag of skittlez."
"What would happen if Pink chokez on skittlez?"
"Noez! I would so cry, then die then get dragged to hell."
"Totez dragged to hell."

And who would drag them to hell? Kari!:



Proving what that crazy guy on the street told me. "Icelandiandians are evil."

Back to Enrico and Josh, I can only imagine them as friends during my growing up era of the 80's:



"So I'm totally going to buy a church, then gut it apart and make the most gnarly house out of it. Then I'm going to adopt 99 kids."
"99? Like Nena's 99? That's number 1!"
"Awesome! So I'm going to adopt from every country I can think of."
"Tubular! It's like you're adopting a pack of Dynamints."
"What would happen if Martika choked on a Dynamint?"
"Barf me out! I would totally cry, then die, then go Back to the Future."
"Totally Back to the Future"


We reached the second restaurant of the evening: Room Service. Their attempt at different came in the idea that 1 chair at every table should have an entire actual door acting as the back of the chair. I was the lucky one to sit at the special seat, and it was extremely comfortable for a monk. Meanwhile, once we got to the restaurant, Polt took a picture of himself. He then disappeared by himself outside for 2m12s:



A few last rounds of drinks were consumed. Craig was engrossed by a discussion on the semantics of---HOLY CRAP! His hand is huge! That thing could swat a mouse to death:



Josh took advantage of a break in conversation to practice his version of "Blue Steel":



Sadly, Jere is oblivious to the creeping hand from the mirror dimension in the background headed to snatch his soul:



Eventually though, all good things must come to an end. Hugs were shared, as were taxis, apartment floors and hotel beds. The evening concluded and we all made our way home while telling the person next to us what we really thought about the others who were now out of earshot.

What did I take from the evening?

Well....

Irish people dress funny (and look homicidal):



Kari was birthed from a 1980's European perfume commercial:



Polt's smile never stops, mostly from all the (CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED) he engages in.



Josh and Enrico have developed their own language to be studied by future anthropologists:



Chris D. and Dave S. can wear anything and make it look good:



Dave will punch those who are not B-52's fans:



Jere will never get a break from law school work:



This night could only have happened in NYC!:

Thank You Ellen

Question

What is it about the Canadian Penny? I understand that Canada is right next to the U.S. and is on relatively good terms with us, however, their penny is technically foreign currency. Still, nearly every store I go to is more than willing to either take a Canadian Penny from me or give one back in change, as if it's interchangeable with our Lincoln Penny. I've never found any other currency that will work this way. Our neighbor to the South, Mexico, doesn't have coinage that works it's way into the cash registers. I don't see Euro cents or other European coinage ever appear in cash registers, but I come across more Canadian Pennies that I can keep track of. What bizarre hold does this foreign coin have on the retail workers of America that is can be used so easily? Color me confused (which I believe is a shade of fuchsia).

NYFF Schedule

So I've set up my schedule for the NYFF this year. Between my weekend job and an impending visit by a cousin from out west, I've had to curtail the number of films I see from roughly 20 down to 7 this year. Oh well. If anyone (by some magic chance) happens to be at the films or in the vicinity of Lincoln Center, say hi!

Friday, September 25: Wild Grass 6pm

Saturday, September 26: The Wizard of Oz 11am

Saturday, September 26: Eccentricities of a Blond Haired Girl 5:30pm

Saturday, September 26: Vincere 8:30pm

Monday, September 28: Police, Adjective 9:15pm

Thursday, October 1: Lebanon 9:30pm

Friday, October 2: Antichrist 9:00pm

Farewell, Mary

Jeez, this song still can bring a tear to my eye.

Well, that blew.

So my trip down to the city for the Kathy Griffin signing turned into an unmitigated disaster. After checking the Barnes and Noble website to make sure the event was on, I made my way down to Manhattan.

First stop was Lincoln Center to pick up my tickets for the New York Film Festival. I paid last Monday (8/31) and was told the tickets would be at the box office waiting for me. They weren't. Nobody had brought any of the tickets down for pickup. In the only nice thing that was to happen that evening, Rob, the point man for the tickets, personally came down with just my set to hand them to me and chat for a few seconds. That was incredibly nice of him, I was half expecting to be told just to come back another day.

I then hopped on the subway and made the 30 minute trek down to Warren Street and the B&N. Upon arriving, we were told the following. 1. We HAD to purchase a copy of the book prior to attending the event. 2. If we wanted a book signed, we had to have a colored wristband in order to stand in line. Well, neither of those stipulations were mentioned on the website. It turned out that people had been buying books and lining up since 6:00AM. There were nearly 1000 people in line, and the chances of a signature were almost nil. Undaunted, I hopped on line to get the book. With only 4 people left in front of me, the store announced that they had run out of copies of the book, but I could buy an audio copy if I wished. No thanks, I'll wait until I'm blind for audio books.

Ok, I figured I'd still stand by the crowd and watch the event, just not be able to get anything signed. Sigh. The line for the event snaked in and out of nearly every aisle of the store. Then it turned out that the event was being held in a small corner, one that was unviewable unless you were directly in front of it, which the people aced out of books could not get to. So I stood there and listened to Kathy talk for only 6 minutes before sitting down to sign.

Dejected, I made my way back uptown and went to the Barnes and Noble on 67th Street and bought a copy of the book there. I got home and went to look through it only to discover that a printing error covered a number of the pages in large ink blotches, rendering the book worthless. I'll need to exchange it.

So basically, I blew $50 on a trip to the city to listen to Kathy Griffin speak for 6 minutes without being able to see her. Not a pleasant evening.

I'm There!

Finally! I hear about an event before it actually happens. I've lost count of the number of concerts or book signings from people/groups I like because I didn't find out about it until after it took place.

So Kathy Griffin will be signing her new autobiography at the Barnes & Noble on Warren Street somewhere in NYC (must be in lower Manhattan, I've never heard of it)next Tuesday the 8th. This I can make. Who wants to come?

Oh man

WTF? The tennis has barely started and Tipsy's already out? I need to find better players to follow. Jeez, Wawrinka's out too. Hopefully Safin or Roddick can make a serious go at it this year. I'm attending Thursday night, fingers crossed for somebody good to watch.