floccinaucinihilipilification

My feelings exactly.

Mr. Hutchinson nicely described my silly useless internship today, a way I will never actually use.

Facilitated the transition to a digital system, specializing in the reduction of a dependence on physical capital for longevity, preservation, and efficiency gains.

I am just going to try and avoid being asked what I did--upload CDs for 8 hours a day twice a week for an entire summer.

On a side note, it is SUPER air-conditioned in these offices. And now, of course, another semi-relevant Chandler (not really, see previous post) quotation:

"It felt good after the hard desert heat, but it felt artificial too, like the soothing touch of an embalmer."

Being that I have a lot of free time on my hands...

• I became a petanque tournament champion whilst playing against a man named Fabian. Don't ask me to repeat that triumph. Do buy me some boules, please, so I can practice.
• I got quite sunburned. Boo.
• Been talked to mindlessly about economics of some sort, which ended with: "when we get back groovin, we'll be groovin'." I still have no idea what he was talking about.
• Finished another Raymond Chandler book -- look at the way that list is growing on the right and be proud of me!
• Turned 21, did some drinking, and, of course, found a Chandler quotation for the occasion: "I swished a little more of his Scotch around in my mouth. If I was going to drink it I might as well try to prevent cavities while I was at it. " (Although I didn't actually drink any Scotch and Chandler didn't actually write that quote. Robert B. Parker did, after Chandler died).
• Watched a lot of movies I couldn't rate on Netflix, which was disappointing, especially because the movies were not. A couple examples: Come Live With Me and It Happened in Flatbush. One pretty great Jimmy Stewart movie and one not so great but nevertheless enjoyable movie about baseball. I quite like baseball movies.
• Oh, I also saw Fabio whilst I was driving. That was silly.
  

Dear Old 97's,

Your music video for "Dance With Me" is horrible. This makes me sad.

Laura

I am slow at getting drug references.

L-R, T-B:
1) Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians: Heaven
2) Rod Stewart: Sing It Again, Rod
3) The Rolling Stones: Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
4) Piano Rags by Scott Joplin
5) Piano Rags by Scott Joplin volume 2
6) Sean Lennon: Friendly Fire

1) As already explained in one post or another, I like to patronize little record stores. This predilection is unfortunate when there really is nothing worth buying in a store. Well, not necessarily nothing worth buying but nothing worth buying at the store's prices. This store on the corner of a block of Melrose (I can't remember what it was called) had some okay records, mostly overpriced. This is just an EP or single; I can't really decide. I really do like Robyn Hitchcock, but the songs on this aren't too great. Overall, this purchase is regrettable. I shouldn't buy records if I'm not going to like them. heh. Maybe I'll get into this one day and be really happy I ended up buying it. Hopefully.

2) I've gotten into quite a few arguments with people over this record. I think it is a piece of masterful music. Others don't quite agree with me. First, however, you can't argue about the album art. The picture obscures the fact that this record is not rectangular -- wow! hehe. It is die-cut to look like a whiskey shot glass and depicts Rod's smiling face looking through it. And when you pull out the record, the inner sleeve has his face. It's just so great. I don't remember where I got this, possibly Rhino but also possibly MAMSROC. It has many gems, but the highlights for me are 1) his Street Fighting Man cover and 2)Reason to Believe. The only song on it that I could do without is his Pinball Wizard version. I also own this album on cd (found it for five dollars in Colorado last winter!).

3) This is one of my dad's old records. A 1966 collection.

4) & 5) Both are from Rhino. Both are solid. Who doesn't like Scott Joplin? These feel particularly American. Is ragtime particular American? I don't know.

6) I got this record when I interned at Capitol Records in the fall of 2006. I like the album art better than the music, but the music ain't bad, either.

Can socialism be built in the desert?

yes, but it is not advisable. after a while there will be a shortage of sand! The above and following jokes come from this very interesting documentary, Hammer & Tickle, about humor in the Soviet Union. This title is spectacular, or unfuckwithable, as one might say. One problem: it's not on Netflix and I can't rate it. It's truly sad when I can't give it that closing stamp that is a Netflix rating. And now for some more jokes:

Ladies and gentleman, we are about to enter the Soviet Union. Please sit down, fasten your seat belts, put your trays up, and wind your watches back ten years.

East German toilet paper is always two-ply because we have send a copy of everything we do to Moscow.

On a side note, LAist used another one of my photos--this time uncredited. :-/
Additionally, LA Weekly has an interesting article about the way billboards are getting by as "mural signs."

I'd rather be a forest than a street.

Back from a break of these little insights into my record collection, as records are now out of boxes and sprawled across the floor of my home rather than neatly organized alphabetically in my now previous apartment. Starting off where I left off:T-B, L-R:
1) Sergio Mendes - s/t (1983)
2) Shelley Berman - Outsie
3) Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends
4) Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
5) The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas
6) The Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela (The Special Remix)

1) I love Sergio Mendes; I don't love this album at all. But, hey, it was only 10 cents at the Rhino closing sale. Also, the peppers being bigger than his face -- a little silly.

2) Nice old Jewish comedian. I really like the cover drawing. Don't remember where I got it.

3) Inherited this from the parents, although someone named Sandler seems to have owned it at some point. It's a classic, obviously, and includes my favorite of their songs, "A Hazy Shade of Winter," and probably their best known, "Mrs. Robinson." When I saw Simon and Garfunkel on their Old Friends tour, I cried. But that was because of some weird medical nonsense that makes me crazy at super loud thunderous sounds, like marching bands and most things that happen at the Staples Center.

4) Another one from the parents, another classic. My favorite song on this album is "Cecilia," but I love that they had a song called "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" and also like the mostly Incan "El Condor Pasa."

5) wooo, gots to love the incorrect grammar of this record's title which I bought from MAMSROC. The Sinatra Family wishes, you know, not wish. But whatever, I forgive them, primarily because of Frank Jr.'s sock/shoe combo and Nancy Jr.'s sleeves. Also, this record is "under the direction of Nelson Riddle," a man who was pretty awesome.

6) I've been waiting to get to this record since the start of this series; it is definitely one of my favorites of all the ones I own. First, the boldness of the cover is great. Second, this album was produced by Elvis Costello and purchased during the height of my EC obsession during high school. This record has the LP version, instrumental mix, annnnd six-and-a-half minute club mix. Yeah, that's right, a spectacular dance song about social injustice. This one cost me a whole three bucks! One of my teachers in high school once recounted an anecdote of the I-didn't-need-to-know-but-thanks-I-guess variety: he and his sister used to dance on tables this song. There were a lot of colorful descriptors involved, but I have already forgotten those.

oh man, Lillian.

[22:59] EmeraldFacetsGlo: my gloved hand touched his gloved hand twice today at work
[22:59] EmeraldFacetsGlo: *swoons*