I'm finding it hard to have nothing to say.
The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (1999)
This song served as the melodic backdrop to Newsbleep 002‘s “In Memoriam” for Steve Irwin. At least, in the first edit of that episode it did. This song has a haunting quality, a love-lost sadness to it. He can not only entertain us with his song-stories, but he can make us cry. Even with a refrain of “lah dah dah”s.
It’s a song about losing someone and not wanting to let go. And we all knew what that felt like. Good bye, Steve Irwin.
Ben Folds Five (1995)
If you ever thought pop music couldn’t have the same beautiful piano flourishes of a Mozart concerto, then you were wrong. The movement of this song reminds me of a flock of birds suddenly taking off. They speed through the air, appearing to glance off the high walls of the high rise in their backyard.
The song paints the portrait of a narrator who builds a high-rise despite the derision of those around him. He holds tight to his, wait for it…, philosophy and that’s where he feels grounded. This is an example of a Ben Folds short story. Two characters at odds, with a glint of comedy.
Here’s hoping your day is as old as you are!
Whatever and Ever Amen (1997)
This is the radio song. I remember it got big on the “air waves”. It’s a flowery ballad about (of all things) a teenage abortion. Ben would later admit, in a live album, that it was based on the true tale of he and his high school girlfriend getting an abortion. Certainly a hit in the making, but Ben has a good way with telling stories through his music.
This was the song that put Ben and his Band on my radar, but I still hadn’t figured him out.
On April 19th, Holli and I are going to a Ben Folds concert (thanks to a heads up from Mr. Britain), so I felt I should celebrate with a couple days of Ben Folds (Five).
I don’t have such a strong emotional connection to this group. I admire Ben Folds, but I own very few of his albums. However, he’s a good performer, a talented musician, and a good songwriter.
He’s also my best friend in the whole world.
Tony (a.k.a. BigT, a.k.a. Mr. Britain)
Tony came up to visit us. He would become our first overnight guest. We didn’t have a big itinerary, but there was one thing on his mind: Haywood Banks. As it turned out, the musician/comedian was performing at Nitwit’s Comedy Club (where my bachelor party began) which is blocks from our apartment. We sat through an opener who wasn’t too bad, ordered a couple drinks that I’m sure labeled me as fruity as they tasted, and we talked about live and things.
Then, on to the stage walked one of the goofiest looking people I have ever seen. If you’ve never taken in HB’s physical appearance, it is quite the site. His body seems stretched in comic proportions: too tall, gangly, thin, puffy beard and hair. But he writes clever music, and his jokes (and appearance) reminded me of an amalgamation of Weird Al and Steve Martin. It was a good show, and I bought a grocery bag afterwards.
The next night’s event was a play in Madison. Bob Davidson had a role in “Dearly Departed”, a play about a funeral. The President of DSU played the man who dies in the first scene and is never heard from again. It was pretty good. It was also the first DSU play where I’ve seen a “dialogue coach” listed on the program. Everyone had a southern accent. Also, a large portion of the cast were new faces. We went, we talked to people afterward, we had a good time. The play was a comedy, and it was pretty good. I thought the cast did a very good job.
It was a good weekend. It was nice to have Tony up. We played Rock Band, we ate at Ruby Tuesday’s, we had roast beef sandwiches, and we all made out for like two hours. We did not, however, get any pictures.
Check out the Haywood Banks photoset.
Lost Weekend 1
It had all the makings of disaster. What we had proposed was for a group of friends to sit with us and watch TV on DVD for an entire weekend. Stopping only for food, sleep, and bathroom breaks. How well would it actually go?
As it turned out, it went very well. There’s not much to say about the weekend in general, because all we did was watch TV on DVD. We managed to get through all of season one and into disc 1 of season two. It was interesting to watch people’s reactions to the cliffhangers, twists, and reveals. The show has come a long way since season one, and it was interesting to see some clues that came up later (even in this season) and to see what their relationships were like back then.
The weekend was so successful in getting people hooked, that we cancelled our second weekend. Everyone had gone out on their own and started watching season two because they couldn’t wait. That and a lot of schedules conflicted with our choice of weekend 2.
In a funny side note, I mentioned the lost weekend at a work gathering and came to find out that Scott Lawrence, one of the head honchos at Lawrence & Schiller, is a big Lost fan, and he and his wife have been marathoning their way through the DVDs as well. He even managed to work Lost into a speech he gave at our agency-wide staff lunch.
Check out the Lost Weekend 1 photoset.
Dan
A long time ago, Dan mentioned stopping by around Easter time. Then both Holli and I forgot entirely about it until a couple days before he came down. It was okay. He’d be yet another in the growing line of people who have driven to Sioux Falls for the pleasure of sleeping in our apartment.
The biggest conundrum we faced with Dan’s visit was his Lenten obligations to not eating meat. This meant we had to be creative with our meal choices. We did Valentino’s, Panera Bread, and Skipper’s, all good choices. I can’t remember all that we did. We rented a movie, Gone, Baby, Gone. I didn’t realize what it was about despite having listened to a podcast of two guys reviewing it. But, I liked it. I’m developing more and more respect for Casey Affleck. Check out the movie, unless you don’t like violence, cursing, blood, pedophilia, the Afflecks, children getting hurt, and drug use.
One of the best things about living in Sioux Falls is our ability to host people. Sioux Falls offers a lot more than Madison does, and it is up to Holli and I to figure out what the best things to do in town are for when more people come and visit.
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve was spent at Holly and Bob’s in Madison. It was a good night. We brought some games and enjoyed the excellent food that Bob and Holly prepared. Also, the Wilson’s from Seattle were out and that was a nice surprise. Congrats to them on the new bundle of joy!
Bridal Shower
I kinda thought of Bridal Showers as the Bride’s realm. She goes, and gets a lot of really nice, practical, responsible gifts, and the guy, in turn, expects nothing cool. His reward for that is getting to stay home. This time it wasn’t true.
However, what also wasn’t true was that it sucked majorly. It was actually a pretty fun time. I was surrounded by women, what could be better? We played a game where Holli and I were asked questions (before hand) and people had to guess our answers. Some of the guesses were pretty interesting.
I tape part of it for the purposes of Newsbleep 105: Un-BRIDE-led. Because the episode was so long, I ended up not using much of it.
Wedding
Also, Holli and I got married. I can happily say that, almost two months later, things are still going very well between us. Seriously, getting married was a good choice. And it might sound sappy or whatever, but I’m really glad I found Holli and was able to start my life with her.
The wedding itself went very well, was decorated beautifully, and even had some surprises. We think (and hope) that everyone had as much fun as we did. Holli has a better write up.
Honeymoon
Holli did a good job of writing about our Honeymoon. So, I’ll just give you my opinions on it. I loved it. I was skeptical, going down there. The last time I’d been to Disney World, I left with the feeling that there was nothing left for me to accomplish. This time when I left, however, I had a feeling that I’d be back.
Disney, like Apple, is very good with details. I was surprised at all the things that I noticed as design additions. Things that you don’t notice, that are designed to make a trip to Disney a great experience at a theme park.
Some of the things that Disney does:
So, yeah. I spent our Honeymoon being a nerd and learning about theme parks.
Also, it was really awesome being the masters of our vacation. That’s not to say that my parents or Holli’s parents are bad at vacation planning, but it is so liberating to be in full control of the itinerary. We decided when to get up, where to go, how long to spend at a particular place, and when to come back.
Photos, which I’ve posted before, are below:
Our Honeymoon – Day 1: Airports, All-Star Music Resort, Disney Hollywood Studios
Our Honeymoon – Day 2: Disney Magic Kingdom
Our Honeymoon – Day 3: EPCOT, Downtown Disney, Boma’s
Our Honeymoon – Day 3 – Diana+
Sigur Rós ‘Heima’
Travis Barker Remix Soulja Boy “Crank That”
[bleep] Planet Earth
Also, if you’re a fan of Planet Earth and don’t mind cursing (and a lot of it), check out [bleep] Planet Earth, also on YouTube. I’m not embedding it for your safety.
For those who are fans of Google Calendar and Outlook’s calendar, Google now offers Google Calendar Sync.
From their website:
Access your calendar however and whenever you want. Check your Microsoft Outlook events on the go with Google Calendar. View your Google Calendar information offline through Microsoft Outlook calendar.
If you’re interested, check it out at Google Calendar Sync: Getting Started.
Re-edited to include new music.
If you live in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area, you should check out the trains. A number of them have big South Dakota advertisements on them. It’s all part of a Lawrence & Schiller ad campaign for tourism. If you’re a Minnesota native (or resident) looking for a cool SD vacation, check out the TravelSD.com/Minnesota landing page. Besides, it’s hard to argue how cool those trains look.
Here’s hoping your quarter of a century birthday is the birthday of the century!