The wonderful band Rilo Kiley is pictured above. Jenny Lewis is the lead singer of this indie-rock outfit and the reason I mention them is that they were snubbed out of the Plug Independent Music Awards nominations! It upsets me and I really just don't understand. I voted for my picks and left his little comment-

On Who I Think was Overlooked:
"Barsuk artists! John Vanderslice should have had more nominations than Male Artist of the Year...how could he be nominated for that and not a single other category (ex. how can you be Male Artist of the Year without putting out an album that even gets nominated for Best [category] Album of the Year?). Also I believe that Nada Surf should have been good enough this year to at least garner one nomination. Rilo Kiley (formerly Saddle Creek ; last release on Brute/Beaute) is another band that should have received at least one nomination. Lastly, when you go "across the pond" you have two bands that I am surprised did not get a nomination (seeing as how Bloc Party was nominated) -- Snow Patrol and Keane. That's it!"

Oh well, part of being popular in independent music is not getting the recognition you deserve. I suppose that makes it ok? Speaking of indie rock, next Tuesday I'm going to see American Analog Set perform at the Black Cat and It promises to be a fantastic show! Well, tomorrow is going to be chaotic at work as all of us full time employees have to go to this meeting to ask the President & CEO of our company a few questions which he is supposed to answer honestly (right�). Oh! And in a couple hours I'm going to see Ascenseur pour L'chafaud [Elevator to the Gallows] @ AFI. I actually missed it this past weekend (what with the family and all) and so the only other chance I have at seeing it again is tonight. Lastly, yesterday I went to the new Dogfish Head Alehouse that opened up near my house with Matt for happy hour. It's a great place and they sure know how to make their ale! I had two REALLY good ales there - the Indian Brown Ale and the REALLY REALLY good 90 Minute I.P.A. Imperial Ale. Spectacular.

Post Thanksgiving Weekend Epilogue:

You'll all be happy to know that my extended family realized their error and on Friday I had several helpings of turkey WITH gravy AND mashed potatoes (and cranberry sauce)! Huzzah!

Once [in a while i happen] Upon A Day Off...

Finally! So yesturday was Thanksgiving and it wasn't as busy as I thought it was going to be at work. The affects of working 10 days straight (with the last 5 being mostly 11 hr shifts) was starting to show on me and I just wanted to get out of there. Anyway Thanksgiving dinner was good but for some odd and unreasonable...reason there was not a drop of stuffing, mashed potatoes, or gravy anywhere to be found. Huh? I know...I was a little confused at this. But really...there wasn't any. It was all replaced with tradition Ugandan (that's right...that's where I was born) food and it wasn't bad but I still longed for the taste of Stove Top. So Thanksgiving was alright. This morning there was a huge mix-up with work and I had to go in to semi-open the store with another employee and that kinda sucked because that was 5 o'clock in the morning. I currently have family over from New York and Colorado for the weekend so it should be nice since I haven't seen them in a while. Oh yeah, Ascenseur pour L'Échafad is playing at AFI tonight so I am going to see it, it should be nice. Hope you all enjoy your weekends!

Busy as a Bustling Beaver Building a Barn...

So forget the alliterative title of my post for a second...but really I have been busy the last week. Thursday I worked from 8 til about 6 then went to go see Umphrey's McGee play at the 9:30 Club. This was my first time really hearing them and I have to say they are pretty good. Their website describes them like so: "Like true sons of the American Midwest, Umphrey's McGee has risen to the upper echelons of the improvisational-rock scene through their seamless compositing of diverse musical influences, from progressive-rock to metal to funk to folk to jazz-fusion to classic song-based rock-and roll, all woven together with infectious melodies, thought-provoking lyrics, pristine harmonies, blistering musicianship, and rollicking grooves that keep dem bones a-shaking throughout the course of their patented sonic sagas." Wow. They could've just said they were a darn good jam band. I went with some co-workers (including one that was almost arrested for "possession" [oh that tricky word...really could mean anything] earlier that evening) and they seemed to enjoy it too. I got some sleep and worked on Friday from 8 til 6 again. Friday was the aforementioned Bright Eyes concert @ Constitution Hall. It was great and Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley) showed up too (and sang) which was a real treat! It was quite strange that Conor Oberst blasted President Bush throughout the concert anyway he could what with the proximity to the White House and all...so yeah. I took my sister and her LOUD friends but it wasn't too bad. Saturday I worked only 8 hrs (whew!) and went down to Georgetown to see my friend Mara's (theatrical) play. I can't remember exactly what the title was..."Once Upon an Island" or "Once on an Island" or "About an Island"...I don't really remember but it was odd. I can't even begin to describe it so I won't. Anyway the cast/crew party was in Chinatown at this Chinese restaurant we rented out. There was lots of alcohol, karoke, bad singing (or rather yelling), and alcohol. Afterwards I crashed at Mara's place and spent the night there. Sunday morning I was supposed to go to Mike's dad's Dedication but miscommunication forced me not to go and so I just drove home and napped for a little while before work. I worked 2pm -10pm on Sunday and then 8am-6pm on Monday (yesterday!). When I got home last evening I was so tired I just watched A Prairie Home Companion w/Garrison Keillor on PBS in bed and apparently went to sleep sometime during his amusing performance. As today is two days before Thanksgiving we were REALLY busy today at work and afterward I went to see the closing night show of the E.U. Filmfest at AFI. It was a film from Portugal called "O Fatalista" [The Fatalist]. It was a strange comedy mixed with a little existentialism. It's apparently adapted from Diderot's (who?) Jacques le Fataliste et son Maitre (what?) and basically reset in modern-day Portugal. I just got home a little while ago and plan on doing laundry and maybe watching an episode of Scrubs and going to bed! Tomorrow (the day before Thanksgiving) is going to be soooo busy at work...I'm going in at 8am and probably not leaving until 8pm. Okay! That's all for now...oh yeah, and tomorrow will be my 8th day of work in a row (I'm not off until this Friday). Sweet, huh? I know...I'm the luckiest guy in the world, blah blah blah...ta ta for now.

"Bright Eyes, Over Two Dark Circles". Good article about the Bright Eyes concert I went to on Friday in the [Washington] Post on Monday. Read it!

Oh YES! Almost forgot...the next concert on the list is this Friday -- Bright Eyes @ Constitution Hall [well...really it's Umphree's McGee @ the 9:30 Club on Thursday but whatever]. This will be the second time that I've seen Bright Eyes this year and it should be a smashing good show!! I can't wait! 

Scrubs! Finally the second season is out on DVD (today). I've been quite busy but I'm re-watching the first season so I can get caught up on the past (wierd?). The third season of Home Movies also came out on DVD today. It's really quite an awesome show and I would've bought it but no one has it in stock...sucks. Today I was going to donate blood but for some reason the donor center was closed...I'm not sure what they are up to but I was definetly there before 5pm and the doors were locked! Oh well, I'll try again later... 

U.K. Shows U.S. E.U. Cinema...With Brilliant Results!

So as I mentioned before, the European Union Film Showcase starting this past Tuesday at AFI (for those of you that don't know that stands for the American Film Insitute [Silver Theatre]). The opening movie was Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. I took my sister to see it since Linz apparently decided that work obligations were more imporatant than me (I know, right??) and it was such a great movie! Michael Winterbottom does such a fantasticly awesome job at approaching an unfilmable book (Laurence Sterne's wildly discursive 18th century novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy). The acting was perfect for the mockumentary-style that Winterbottom used and overall it was just a hilarious movie! If you ever hear of an opportunity to see this movie you need to take it and run!

Back again for the first time!

So it's November now. My last blog was on my semi-birthday months ago in February and within a couple of months it'll be 2006. The year passes by pretty fast! It's a severe understatement to say that I've had a busy year and I'm glad that it's almost over. Here are some key highlights to bring you up to speed on the past 9 months:

• I went to court and contested 3 moving violations (totalling $600+) and won. Didn't even have to pay court fees...
• I got promoted twice and now stand on the precipice of deciding what my career aspirations are to be (if any) with the now Ahold-owned 'Giant'...
• I got a '03 Jetta to replace the '00 Jetta (It's been a year since that horrific car crash that somehow I got away with only minor internal injuries and a 9 hour coma)...
• I drove about 3,500 miles in a month and a half between Indiana, Philadelphia, and DC. Also have driven to Indiana twice the entire way by myself with minor stops for gas.
• Throughout the entire month of August wrote my work schedule around the showings of all The Thin Man movies at AFI...
• Personally donated $700 to the American Red Cross for Katrina relief and damn near went down to Louisiana myself to kick out Michael Brown (speaking of which I think it's apropos that when you search for him [a.k.a. "goggle" him] online and click on the fema.gov biography link it comes up page not found)...
• Had several torrid (and sometimes concurrent) flings that never quite came closing to manifesting into real solid relationships...c'est la vie...
• Concerts amassed: Bright Eyes, The Faint, Rilo Kiley (twice), Keane, Alkaline Trio, The Cassettes (three times), Q & Not U, Nada Surf, Fall Out Boy, The Starting Line (twice), Motion City Soundtrack, John Vanderslice, Portastatic, Death Cab for Cutie, Yellowcard along with many many other smaller unnamed shows...

There's much more that I won't bore you with but it's definetly been an interesting year so far. Well, now that I've played catch-up I can talk about present events, yay! This past Friday I ended up working from 2:00pm - 9:00 am the next day. It was insane and never want to experience that again. I saw Jarhead (very good film!) and a spectacular 35mm print of Pickpocket at AFI. Yesturday the Indianapolis Colts finally beat the Patriots and I am the happiest person ever (they are 8-0 and play the Texans next week). Today is my day off (as it always is) and I'm going to the opening night show of the E.U. filmfest tonight at AFI. Linz snubbed me for journalism as she couldn't get anyone to cover her shift at the paper so my date is TBA. This weekend I'm going to see the Cassettes in concert (again!) in Virginia at this strange sounding tea cafe...should be fun.

Anyway it looks like I have to drive over to work on my one day off because my office is apparently getting an audit and I took some paperwork with me that they need to see...oh well...I'll post more later!