Have been on a bit of a caper kick lately. It all started with Rock ‘n’ Rolla the Guy Ritchie film that is meant to be the first in a trilogy.The film is fast paced, sexy, funny, and an overall good time with some picture worthy cinematography and pretty neat camera tricks. I got the picture through Netflix kept it a week and watched it about 5 times. I think that Guy Ritchie is underrated and hope the whole Mr. Madonna thing doesn’t haunt him for too long. This Rock ‘n’ Rolla binge-a lead to a real hankering to see Ocean’s 12 the best, in my opinion in the Ocean’s series. Steven Soderberg does a great job with all of these pictures, but the pacing and overall cohesive story in Ocean’s 12 positions it as the ultimate in the trilogy so far. The final scene with Vincent Cassell is genius. All of the modern Caper films have great ensemble casts and most of them have really amazing soundtracks. Snatch, another Ritchie production, for example has tunes from The Specials, Bobby Bird, Klint and the ever so amazing “Sensual Woman” by The Herbaliser. Honorable mention should also go to The Departed with Leo Dicaprio and Jack Nicholson. While it isn’t Scorsese’s best film it does have a schocking death scene featuring Martin Sheen and is the one that got him the “might-as-well-it’s-been-long-enough” Oscar. Not to mention that it is after all a Scorsese film which is like pizza and sex. No matter how bad they are they are still pretty good.
I guess it is noteworthy that Brad Pitt is in a few really good caper films including the Ocean’s films. But a post about him and how I grew to love him at a later time. For now just check out these scenes.
Rock ‘n’ Rolla – The killer chase scene

Snatch

The Departed

Vincent Cassell in Ocean’s 12

Just sharing the wealth

The Film: “They Shoot Horses Don’t They”

The Band: Metronomy

The Topic: Seahorses – they mate for life!

Geezus this has been a great, crazy, and interesting summer.

It all kicked off  in March with a visit to David and Jessica’s beautiful home with the spa like garden in Raleigh, North Carolina. I never imagined Raleigh to be a destination spot for urbanites but it was a real treat to sit in their back yard in the morning and drink coffee while staring at the bamboo trees and taking in “The Green.”  A few of my favorite spots in Raleigh were Father and Sons Vintage shop, a vegan restaurant with non-meatball subs and the bars Raleigh Times and Busy Bee.  As far as traveler’s  luck goes my host and I were lucky enough to see The NC House and Senate do their thing and stumbled upon a building being demolished at 10 o’clock at night. It was remarkable how the machines resembled aliens chomping away at the buildings like they were devouring big cookies.

After a couple of days of boozing and hanging out David and I trekked down to Jacksonville to visit all of my Florida peeps. The trip was a blast. We reverted back to being in our early 20’s and visited all of our old haunts while partying like we were on tour. Well I did anyway, David had to drive the entire time because I don’t have a drivers license.  I didn’t mind.  After hitting up Chamblin Book Mine and the Hippie Superstore  it would have seemed like the trip “home” was complete, but the Riverside Art Market, multiple trips to European Street and killer cook out hosted by some old friends was the icing on the cake. Speaking of desert I managed to eat ice cream everyday that I was out of town which seems to be a consistent yet unintentional side effect of being on tour.  Leaving Jacksonville was bittersweet because I had to leave behind people that I  love and truly connect with.

Once back in Chicago the madness didn’t seem to stop, but don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. The Hideout Dance party in all of it’s glory has been a reoccuring night out this summer. The first trip to dance party introduced the charismatic character Noah. We had a blast chatting and hanging out and managed to coin the term “O’Hareport.” But despite all his brilliance, Noah’s habit of  foraging the ladies has  caused him, in my mind, to be labeled as a fun but  smarmy guest star.

A revelation this summer was “The Prime of Miss Jean Brody” at The Chopin Theater which changed my view of live theatrical performances. I usually don’t like live plays because I feel too much pressure to respond accordingly because the actors can hear you. After watching “The Prime…” I will  reserve this restriction for live comedy where the pressure to laugh and stroke the actors/performers ego is too much.

With Rose (my mom) in the United States it was inevitable that I would have to visit Indiana. I have always resisted going there because each time I did someone would either get very very ill or die. She enticed me to come for the weekend with promises of treasure hunting at the thrift store, home cooked meals and digital cable. I agreed to come up on a Friday after work and leave on a Sunday. As a complete surprise to me, that Saturday the neighbors threw me a mini-early-birthday party with cake and presents and lots-and-lots of beer. Let me make note of the fact that these neighbors, Mike and Terry Pointdexter, have separate rooms flanking their backyard deck one of which is a fully stocked bar with stools to belly up and tables for extra people and the other room contains a tanning bed and hot tube that could fit 8 fully grown people…

The week that followed was an interesting one. I was really tired one night after work and didn’t want to put too much effort into what I was going to have for dinner so looked in the cabinet. Vegetarian chili  in a can. It had been there for a while,  and never really seemed like would be delicious prior to this but for some reason sounded pretty good. I cooked it for what seemed like a long time then ate it. Within an hour I remember feeling a little sick to my stomach but figured one good toot and I would be fine. The next morning I still felt a little “peshy” on my stomach but figured I would power through the day and all would be better with some ginger tea. Within 45 minutes of working I had to run to the toilet twice and realized I had to go home. On the way home I stopped at the CVS and consulted with the pharmacist who suggested Pepto-Bismol and  lots of water. I went straight home. Went to the bathroom, swigged from the Pepto bottle and laid down. 3 hours later I got up went to the bathroom, it looked like black ink. I drank more water and laid back down. This went on for about a day and a half. Food poisoning from vegetarian chili in a can, would have never expected that. Someone tried to convince me I had botulism. I didn’t die, I only wished I had. I guess the lesson here is to not eat chili from a can.

Movie-okie night at the Whistler was very very cool. The premise of movie-okie it that they project a scene from a film onto a screen while drunk patrons act out the lines from the scene. The participants were really good (read: hysterical). Scenes included the milkshake scene from “There Will Be Blood,” The Sally Field scene from “Steele Magnolias,” and the “flying” scene from “The Never Ending Story.” To top it all off one of my old friends from Jacksonville who lives here in Chicago was spinning music for the breaks that night and it was really nice to see him. Over the past couple of years we have run into each other and time was overdue for us to chat. Not to mention The Whistler is a great bar.

My birthday turned out to be a pretty great weekend as well, with Rose making an appearance here in Chicago and catering to my every whim. We managed to exhaust ourselves with shopping on State St., lunch and more shopping on Michigan Ave. then dinner at one of my favorite tapas restaurants in Chicago Twist on Clark. The following night my friends Jason and Fran and I went for drinks at the corner bar The Long Room. After getting nice and tipsy we hit the dance party at The Hide Out. There was some confusion as to whether this was going to happen because Rose decided to extend her stay but, as a mother will do, she insisted that I get dolled up and celebrate with my friends. I was glad she did because it was insanely fun.

The following week was the Pitchfork music festival at Union Park. 3 days of music hanging out and all around good times.  My penpal form the Walkmen forums decided back in Feburary that she was going to make the trip to Chicago to watch The Walkmen play on the 3rd day along with Grizzly Bear and The Flaming Lips. It is always weird to meet someone after having only chatted with them via email, but when we finally met it was like we hung out yesterday and the weekend was a blast. The funny thing is that while Heather was here I finally broke down and bought a flask. It must have been meant to be because once the sale price was tallied it only cost me $5, and it’s awesome.

As far as stories go I have so many more from what has so far been an awesome summer. Mertz Apothecary, Sheffield Street Festival, Jamie Lidell show, Dave’s Crystal Shop, and my new single-speed bike but I will end it here for now. I do want to point out one thing though.  The best thing about this summer is that it isn’t over yet…

Spinster

n.

1. A woman who has remained single beyond the conventional age for marrying.
2. A single woman.
3. A person whose occupation is spinning.

[Middle English spinnestere, female spinner of thread : spinnen, to spin; see spin + -estere, -ster, -ster.]

Crystal Castles video:

I fall in love with people and things all the time. A prefectley constructed hand bag, a beautiful blue eyed man on the bus, a song, a film, a place, a meal or a feeling. Upon discovering and expriencing these pleasures no matter how permanant or temporary I feel little pangs of love.
This past Tuesday, I went on a little adventure for winter gear in an area of Chicago called Wicker Park.
As I was riding the bus I som how became magnetically drawn to new Marc Jacobs store on Damen.
As I got off the bus and headed down the street to the store a small pouf of love shoot straight from my eyes. I knew that this was gonna be good.
I walked in and the decor, the music, the handsome and friendly all male staff, the genuine Marc Jacobs garments and frocs lining the walls all gave me a sense of mid afternoon euphoria.
As I browsed the racks of beautiful garments I was not discouraged, because similar to the way flirtation turns into mutual admiration there were bowls and racks full of accessories ranging from $5 to $25 throughout the store. I imagined that Marc himself had the idea that “everyone should be able to go home with something…” and for that I love him more…
I got a few little treasures including a killer pair of taupe knee high wellies and a rhinestone skull and cross bones.
After I got home and and unpacked my accomplishments for the day I did a quick search on these here inter-webs and was pleasantly suprised to find that the Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer 09 runway show featured Rhapsody in Blue. This is a tun that was established years ago to be my wedding march:
And so behold the genius that is Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer ‘09

Sorry for the long delay, but I’ve been riding this craaaazzy train called life. It has been a lot of fun, but I feel like, in regard to this blog, I am so far behind I’m first.
While I catch you up over the next couple of weeks you can browse the archives, and to hold you over here are the highlights of some of the greatness I’ve discovered over the last 10 months:
The new French Kicks album “Swimming” :
The new Walkmen album “You & Me” :
A new addiction = Yogi Ginger Tea : http://www.drsoda.com/yogigingertea.html
Julitte Macina is amazing in “Nights of Cabiria” :
Good stuff morning, noon, or night (even better closer to midnight):
The Last Shadow Puppets

here is the Alexander McQueen Hexigram featuring Kate Moss:
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I fell in love with Gael Garcia Bernal because of this film. Despite the fact that his voice is dubbed throughout the whole thing.

Delicatessen “Bed Springs”