Chicago: Become Familiar with its Distinctive Neighborhoods

"i like old school games"
http://www.bonitalake.com/images/Mens%20Shuffleboard%20League%20Jan%202006-3.jpg

i am not sure if i am up for saturday or not, because i might be hanging with friend from out of town...we'll see

i guess everyone has vetoed tt this week? that's fine.

I wish I could make it for game night, but for some stupid reason I am working at Catch that night.

Maybe next time.

I am up for game night!

I would be up for TT if it was a Bring Your Own Cocktail.

I haven't thought that far ahead, Amanda. We could all play the same game, or we could be in different rooms playing different games, or whatever you like.

Dan- they bought their games at the Century shopping center.

Shuffleboard is fun!

I might be having a mini-tt with a couple of work people (incl. Kevin, maybe?) in my 'hood. Anyone who felt like it could come out, too.

xpost thanks!

My mom gave us guitar hero. :-D

I just realized that it is Wednesday, and not in fact Monday, and that the weekend will be here soon. That is amazing.

Also I posted all the movies I watched in '07 on my blog.

i think once i get the new reel-to-reel up and running i may have to record a cover of 'gumboots.'

totally want to hear this. i kinda love paul simon.

a friend recently taught at the chopping block, so i could get some inside info on what classes are good if you wanted...or comical stories about instructors.

for xmas i got:
ipod nano yay yay yay from k
cd of bach mp3s from dad yay
sweater that would make me look like elmo if were ever caught dead in it, unreturnable
promised check that was later backed out of--thanks for the empty promise, mom!
juicy melon scented candles
notecards
something forthcoming in the mail that i think i'll actually like!

I played the Golden Tee-type bar version of cornholing (Bags) on new Years Eve, and it is very fun.

I think Saturday's good for games. Got Yahtzee.

Kr and I are doing Seafood 101 at the Chopping Block. That was one of my xmas presents for her.

I am back at work for the first time in 2 weeks and it feels... ok?

Man, I feel almost relieved. Finally, a situation I know how to negotiate. Sigh.

Jordan, How many??

I think I'll keep track of what I read/watch this year. (We'll see how long this lasts...)
SO FAR:
January 1 - ONCE

it seems like the purely veggie classes at the chopping block are few and far between, but some of the fundamentals classes might be good, like the knife basics dealie

There's an Indian vegetarian one coming up that looked interesting.

I got a Le Creuset casserole dish and an 8" All Clad fry pan, and I cannot WAIT to use the two in some kind of combination.

Veg-heads: I got this cookbook for my mom and it is hands-down 100% awesome to the max...

http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Cooking-Everyone-Deborah-Madison/dp/0767900146

Did you like Once, Sarah? We have that one sitting at home; haven't watched it yet.

We watched four episodes of Six Feet Under yesterday, and of course the last one on the disc was a huge cliffhanger episode that they didn't even create a "scenes from next week's episode" for.

I really enjoyed Once, though it was alot different than I was expecting. Afterwards, Nick and I pretended to sing the duets in the movie, which, since we didn't know any of the words, mostly just involved singing in gibberish and slipping into falsetto alot.

Once is my favorite movie of 2007.

I found a big orange Le Creuset teakettle at the Brown Elephant for $10

I liked Once, it was more subtle and naturalistic than most romance movies. The songs were a little samey but pleasant. Could have maybe used a little more plot.

I've been kind of annoyed lately at people who criticize movies because the music in them isn't hip enough or whatever. I feel like Once got some of that.

Sarah, I think it was about 134 movies, but I counted a whole season of a tv show as one entry.

Once is coming up on my queue. My first movie of '08 was Dead Man, which I loved.

people who criticize movies because the music in them isn't hip enough or whatever

can you be more explicit about this? are you talking about juno? i was ok with the music in juno, it was the music discussions and references that grated for me. i don't know if the music in once is hip or not, but it works great within the movie - he's a singer/songwriter, and the songs are pretty good singer/songwriter-type songs

Help! Help me figure out what to spend $200 at Amazon on. It's a funny amount, that -- much less than that, and I wouldn't mind spending it on lots of little things, books and music and such. But it feels like just significant enough of an amout that I should do something... significant. And yet, it's not enough to go buck wild with. Hmmmm.

i have a copy of the veg cookbook dan mentions and it seems to be filled with deliciousness. also, thorough in a pleasing way.

i have Once coming in the mail from netflix.

i had a problem with the end of 'once,' but i can't discuss it without a spoiler

I didn't think I was as crazy about the music in Once on its own, but then I saw the guy and gal from that movie at the Vic last month and it was a really good concert.

Kenan - get one of the El Bulli books.

ok i'm going to get this for sure, because I've been meaning to for forever and I think I may have the wherewithal to get it framed like I should. But that's only twenty amazon bucks.

I've been reading this, and it's subtly depressing but very good:

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Farmer-American-Memoir/dp/0671498037

That is a fun problem to have, K.

Kenan, if I were you I would just use that $200 as a treat fund. So if you want to buy yourself a little something fun, you just dip in $20 or so at a time.

yeah, my compulsion to get something "significant" is pretty silly, on further consideration.

ElBulli! I was trying to remember the name of that place the other day.

Nick: I guess I was thinking of Juno partly and how the kneejerk reaction among a lot of ILXors and other music snobs is "Gah, what is this twee bullshit?" I mean, I think it's totally fair to critique the movie on its reliance on quirkiness or preciousness or whatever, and the music used is totally part of that, but it just seems like a lot of people don't even want to deal with the movie for the simple reason that the Moldy Peaches are in it. With Once, I've heard people say things like "it's the dude from the fucking Frames playing earnest guitar music."

You could also use it as a birthday & Christmas fund with which to buy presents for other people.

xpost - I loved Juno.

Also, Juno introduced me to the Moldy Peaches.

Yeah, I remember back when garden State introduced me to the Shins. Oh, whimsy.

I liked the Reader's assessment of Juno's music: "like getting beat over the head with the twee-est umbrella."

I did not find the music distracting for the most part, though a couple of times I felt the urge to squirm.

i think there are problems with how juno uses music, like the tone it's trying to set with the music it chooses, but obviously attacking it out of some kind of hipster prerogative is lame obviously. i don't really understand anybody attacking 'once' for the music, though if you hate all dudes playing acoustic guitar and singing, i guess you probably wouldn't like it.

early contender for understatement of the year:

'He did not like his son-in-law'
Jan 02, 2008

Prosecutors say an Oak Forest man set a fire that killed his pregnant daughter, son-in-law and young grandson because he was upset over his daughter's marriage.

i like a lot of the songs in juno as songs, but in retrospect i have problems with how the movie uses them:
a) too many songs - seemed like there was wall-to-wall music, which smacks of using the music as a cheap shortcut to convey an emotion
b) using a ton of cute twee songs in a movie about teen pregnancy - sending the wrong message? though this is probably a problem with the movie as a whole, not just the music

Am I dumb for thinking about getting this? (Not from eBay, though: I saw it at Linens N Things.)

The thing that gives me pause it that it has no audio out, so you have to rely on its internal speakers -- but I'm not much of an audiophile, and I really like the idea of not having a whole stereo system with multiple cords. This would look attractive on the mantel in my living room.

As a longstanding Moldy Peaches fan, I fear Juno for other reasons. (ie, teens talking like smartass adults)

I haven't seen Juno, but good to see Kimya Dawson get some big BMI $$$.

here's my top five happy list this morning:

1) Running linux on my work PC. Shh! Don't tell. I am allowed a whole lot of latitude with the computers around here, but I'm pretty sure repartitioning the drives was never part of the deal. I won't tell if you won't. :)

2) Being happy to be back at work, especially because there's not a lot of actual work to be done. I just missed my 23" cinema display monitor. I hope it missed me, too.

3) My chat icon, which is Elliot Gould enjoying a refreshing glass of Jim Beam. Ah, the 70's. Like the man said, those were different times. (whole article here)

4) Coffee.

5) Absolutely no chance of any sink nearby exploding, at least not where it will be my job to clean it up. Actually, this should probably be #1 on the list.

i think one's acceptance of juno is basically dependent on how well you can accept a fantasy movie about teen pregnancy. i guess i don't really have too many qualms with that since i generally enjoyed the movie

I wish it had been clearer why she decided not to (do the only right thing) get the abortion.

John - I'm no audiophile, and I have like 10 LPs, but I would not buy that turntable.

Though I would buy *some* turntable.

attention parents of america: it is time to begin beating your children again. Whatever you've been doing lately is clearly a dead end.

Tell me why, Jesse. I have like four or five boxes of LPs in the basement that I'm kind of itching to listen to. Also would be nice to have something to hook up my iPod to in the living room.