Out for five days, with today being the first day back at work. It's been five weeks since Chrissy Lee spent time with The HOchieS, with today being the first 'full' day without him.
What the eff.
We're not liking it at all.
Even the Pumps is sad.
It was fun and it all went by too quickly but I guess what they say is true - time flies when you're having fun.
Memories of Chrissy Lee shall be recorded on the blog because he likes that sort of thing. Heh.
In no particular order, here are the fun times shared!
1. Movies - He saw many, one for every week in the month of June or something like that. It began with his third viewing of "Iron Man" because he's crazy, not necessarily that Iron Man was fantastic, right Chrissy Lee? Followed by "Hulk", "Wanted" and "Wall DOT E", interpunct not included.
2. By special request from Chrissy Lee himself: Dyson Air Blade. Check.
3. Good Time Eats - Let's see,
Bourbon Chicken. Check.
IHOP. Check.
Sushi. Check. Not the kind he wanted necessarily. Check.
Starbucks Java Bits Frappacino. Check.
Dunkin Donuts French Vanilla Iced Coffee. Check.
H1's Iced Coffee. Half a check as it was ousted for Dunkin D. Tsk.
Dinosaur BBQ. Check. Note: Next time get the beef brisket.
Sapporo Tonkatsu. Check. Note: Next time get the beef short ribs.
Pongsri. Check.
White Castle sliders Meh for Or 2.
Ben & Jerry's "Everything But The...", "Chocolate Therapy", "Strawberry Shortcake", "Fossil Fuel", "Cookie Dough", "Cinnamon Cinnabun". Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. and Check.
Bluebunny Ice-cream "Banana Split Sundae", "Chocolate Brownie", "Cookie Dough".
Other Ice-Cream "Green Tea", "Ice Cream sandwich" and "Egg Custard". Yum and Yum. Check and Check. Fried Ice-Cream - sadly, no check.
Grandma's "Chocolate Pudding Pie", "Banana Split Whipped"
Sweet Melissa "Banana Caramel Cream"
KFC Chipotle Chicken and Snackers of all four varieties. Check.
McDonald's Breakfast, McDonald's, Wendy's. It's all there. Check.
Jamaican Beef Patties with and without cheese. When did that NOT happen? Check.
H1's deli meat sandwich. Check.
Papa HOchie's Stewed Pork. Check x 4 (enjoyed that much, methinks).
Lay's Salt & Vinegar Chips. Check. Mostly eaten by Or 2.
Popcorn Indiana Kettle Corn. Check.
Funnel Cake. Bleck. Check.
Uptown Street Hot Dog. Double Bleck. Check.
4. Places and Things!
The Museum of Natural History and the Plane'arium
The MOMA. Fun times even without an A cube. Har har.
Eck! The damned 5th Ave. A. store, yes. yes. The SoHo branch? Yeah Yeah, that one too. Lame.
Six Flags Great Adventure. Enjoyed with his BFF Fred. Heh, at least it wasn't me. =)
The Bronx Zoo: The Sky Safari (which by the way shut down with 40 people on it for over an hour today), The World of Darkness, Great Ape Escape (heehee, humour for H1) or rather, the Congo Exhibit, A Gift Shop, The Cafeteria, The Big Cat Exhibit, The Asian/Orient Express Exhibit (Orient Express? Har. Racist.).
Bunji's with A. Face and driving to the Hospital so that B. Cheeks could be born.
Next door for Drunkeness on the 4th of July. Grrr.
The City to bum!
Arguing with Or 2!
R.E.M.!
5. Games Played
Wii - "Wii Fit", "Mario Kart", "Mario Party 8", "Wii Zapper: Link's Crossbow Training", "Super Mario Galaxy", "Resident Evil 4", "Guitar Hero III", and "Wario Ware: Smooth Moves".
PS3 - "Rock Band". Hey, I only truly have one game we play on that, alright?! Chrissy Lee has proven that he can shred like nobody's buisness and sing like a pro! Okay, so maybe that's not entirely true but he had fun!
DS - "Professor Layton and the Curious Village".
6. TV and Movies on TV Watched
"Law & Order: SVU", "CSI: Miami" (which he watched on his own), "Back to the Future", "Burn Notice" (a new favourite!), "Bad Boys" (an attempt to anyway)and "Double Impact"... Almost every night.
Anything else, feel free to add to this blog but for now Chrissy Lee, start making a new list of things to do for your next visit!
Currently listening to: "Pity and Fear" by Death Cab For Cutie. This "Narrow Stairs" Album seems quite a departure for them. It's odd yet oddly entertaining.
Showing posts with label R.E.M.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label R.E.M.. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Second-Rate Celebrities: A Penchant For Ruining Things
Whether it be a movie or a concert, 'celebrities' are just out to make things sucky when things shouldn't be.
Thursday night was going great - H1 got to leave work early, I left early and went to dinner at Sapporo (The 2008 HOchie HOtspot, 2006 was Pongsri) with Chrissy Lee. Good eats were enjoyed including tonkatsu and karubi yummies and then I took Chrissy down to Penn Station, all the while threatening him with the notion that he was going to go off on the LIRR to someplace he didn't want to be, namely on a plane back to Trinidad.
Instead, the surprise didn't quite go as I planned because I guess the MSG entrance I was at didn't have a large flashing sign indicating that R.E.M. was performing and that Chrissy Lee was actually going to a great concert. Still, I suppose a merch. stand will never let you down. It was not as grandiose as planned but he was still reaaaally excited when he found out. I was bombarded with about 22 or so "R.E.M.?!" questions with awe and disbelief bunched together with many "lies!".
I was excited too, and why wouldn't I be? That was the first concert for the year, surprisingly enough and not only would I get to see the guys of R.E.M. but The National and Modest Mouse were the openers.
So yeah, things were going well. We got there early but that's okay, we relaxed and Chrissy got to take all that is MSG from our fantastic-at-the-time seats Section 7, Row B, Seats 9 and 10 which is on the floor right behind the 'pit'.
With that said, let us just move right along to The Low-Lamps and the Highlights.
The Low-Lamps:
1. Julia Stiles and her 'friends'. She effed up movies and now she can add my R.E.M. concert to her list. Her presence there, right in front of me was distracting. Did concert security have any real reason to come check on her for every minute of the 16 minutes she was there? No! The only real celebs that night was R.E.M., so please! Ugh, and her friends were even worse. That short skirt one whose face was hideous, yeah...you really needed that short skirt to distract from the rest of you.
2. Our seats. Now, Section 7, Row B, Seats 9 and 10 are fantastic seats...in theory. There's a clear shot of the stage, it's fairly close and details need not be shown on a big screen to viewers in that section. So enjoy those seats while you can ie enjoy them during the opening acts because as SOOOOON as the headliner takes it, everyone and their effin' eff decides they need to walk back and forth behind the pit. Aren't you people supposed to be watching the show?! Trust me, you really didn't need the beer and why didn't you think to get it sooner?! Ugh. UGH! So instead of watching R.E.M., I got to watch a bunch of people walking in front of R.E.M. and my line of vision.
3. The National's performance of "Mistaken For Strangers". That is my favourite song by them (oh I've decided I like them well enough. They're cool and an easy listening experience) and they fuck it up. If I didn't hear anything else by them that night I'd be okay but I waited for 2 weeks to hear that shart and I got the lead singer singing without his trademark baritone. Really...I want to scream at them for being asses, or him rather. Thinking about it now, I probably should have because he may have heard me, I would have been kicked out and I would not have had to experience the assness that was Julia Stiles. I did myself an unkindness.
Also worth mentioning, the lead singer's stage persona sucks an ass. I swear the man was drunk and brain challenged, not that there's anyting wrong with being brain challenged but if you're putting the act on then yes, it's very wrong.
4. The crowd. O.M.G. As expected, of the thousands at MSG, I found a total of 7 people who were not white. Alright, okay, whatever. That's fine. I guess but the fact that they were not... aging well, and I had to wonder what rhythm they were hearing to put down the 'dances' they did. Yes, I can say that that was not a good look. At all.
5. The Pit. What pit? Not that I expected a pit, kind of understanding what crowd may have been in attendance (and were, much to my dismay) but it was still sad to see seats in a pit. SEATS. A seated pit! Lame. Just...lame.
6. My failed camera. Again. You'd swear from the pictures I was a million miles away but no, thanks to x3 Optical zoom, I got shart!!!!! I was much closer than it appears, honest.
7. My inability to get good shots of bassists. Sorry, Peter!
8. No H1. Yeah, this was the saddest part and should be first on this list. She couldn't come with and not that Chrissy Lee was not good company but it's always sad when H1 is not with.
The Highlights:
1. R.E.M. of course. They performed an excellent show as expected. The sound was great, the songs were great (even the ones I shamefully admit I did not know) and the stage set up was great. The guys rocked!!!
2. Michael Stipe. I've always loved that man and if ever there was a doubt as to why, all that has been erased. From Bush bashing to banter, to stage antics to the dancing! M.Stipe was amazing. And boy can he dance. He was great fun, the jokes were funny and he was fabulous.
3. Mike Mills. He performed a song, vocals and guitar work which was quite awesome and cute. Aww, love that little M.Mills. So cute!
4. Modest Mouse was awesome. I went in with no kind of expectations from them considering a DJ once described them in concert as "putting up a poster of the band on your wall, putting in their cd and listening to it while staring at the poster". Turns out, their latest album did not do them dirty, nor me. 2 drummers (you how I love not 1 but 2 drummers!) and The Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr will do that for you and will certainly assist in not sucking.
Note-worthy mention to Johnny Marr who rocked with Modest Mouse and then later on with R.E.M on their final 3 songs. Ooo, I love him now.
5. For all the 2 shits they pulled, The National were good. I was happy I saw them and their setlist was awesome save that damned Mr. November song I dislike but kind of have a better liking for now since they dedicated it to "Barack", as if Barack pitched marbles with them in school.
6. Did I mention a megaphone? Ah yes, Michael brought it out during Orange Crush and you know how I love me a megaphone especially a tossed one, though I'm not quite sure what happened to it after that song was done...
7. R.E.M.'s performance of "Let Me In" was very much awesome, even if all that mainly stood out other than the song was Michaels head. Har Har.
8. Surprising Chrissy Lee. He was happy. That counts for a lot.
The R.E.M. "Accelerate 2008 Tour" @ Madison Square Garden on 06/19/2008:
1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
2. These Days
3. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
4. Bad Day
5. Drive
6. Hollow Man
7. Ignoreland
8. Man-Sized Wreath
9. Leaving New York
10. Disturbance At The Heron House
11. Houston
12. Electrolite
13. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville
14. Driver 8
15. Harborcoat
16. The One I Love
17. Until The Day Is Done
18. Let Me In
19. Horse To Water
20. Pretty Persuasion
21. Orange Crush
22. I'm Gonna DJ
Encore:
23. Supernatural Superserious
24. Losing My Religion
25. Begin The Begin
26. Fall On Me
27. Man On The Moon
The Modest Mouse 06/19/2008 @ Madison Square Garden Setlist:
Invisible
Dance Hall
Satin In A Coffin
Custom Concern
Fire It Up
Truckers Atlas
King Rat
Dashboard
Education (Jam ending)
The Good Times Are Killing Me
The National 06/19/2008 @ Madison Square Garden Setlist:
Start A War
Brainy
Baby We'll Be Fine
Slow Show
Mistaken For Strangers
Squalor Victoria
Secret Meeting
Apartment Story
Fake Empire
Mr. November
Memorable Conversation of Today 6/23/2008:
A convo. had in the kitchen at work this morning
Or 2: I like these marble cutting boards. Yeah, we need one of those.
H1: Yeah, they're cool. We should get one.
Or 2: You know, I have space in my bag...
Currently listening to: "Stay Don't Go" by Spoon. I wonder if H1 would object if I got tickets to see them...
Thursday night was going great - H1 got to leave work early, I left early and went to dinner at Sapporo (The 2008 HOchie HOtspot, 2006 was Pongsri) with Chrissy Lee. Good eats were enjoyed including tonkatsu and karubi yummies and then I took Chrissy down to Penn Station, all the while threatening him with the notion that he was going to go off on the LIRR to someplace he didn't want to be, namely on a plane back to Trinidad.
Instead, the surprise didn't quite go as I planned because I guess the MSG entrance I was at didn't have a large flashing sign indicating that R.E.M. was performing and that Chrissy Lee was actually going to a great concert. Still, I suppose a merch. stand will never let you down. It was not as grandiose as planned but he was still reaaaally excited when he found out. I was bombarded with about 22 or so "R.E.M.?!" questions with awe and disbelief bunched together with many "lies!".
I was excited too, and why wouldn't I be? That was the first concert for the year, surprisingly enough and not only would I get to see the guys of R.E.M. but The National and Modest Mouse were the openers.
So yeah, things were going well. We got there early but that's okay, we relaxed and Chrissy got to take all that is MSG from our fantastic-at-the-time seats Section 7, Row B, Seats 9 and 10 which is on the floor right behind the 'pit'.
With that said, let us just move right along to The Low-Lamps and the Highlights.
The Low-Lamps:
1. Julia Stiles and her 'friends'. She effed up movies and now she can add my R.E.M. concert to her list. Her presence there, right in front of me was distracting. Did concert security have any real reason to come check on her for every minute of the 16 minutes she was there? No! The only real celebs that night was R.E.M., so please! Ugh, and her friends were even worse. That short skirt one whose face was hideous, yeah...you really needed that short skirt to distract from the rest of you.
2. Our seats. Now, Section 7, Row B, Seats 9 and 10 are fantastic seats...in theory. There's a clear shot of the stage, it's fairly close and details need not be shown on a big screen to viewers in that section. So enjoy those seats while you can ie enjoy them during the opening acts because as SOOOOON as the headliner takes it, everyone and their effin' eff decides they need to walk back and forth behind the pit. Aren't you people supposed to be watching the show?! Trust me, you really didn't need the beer and why didn't you think to get it sooner?! Ugh. UGH! So instead of watching R.E.M., I got to watch a bunch of people walking in front of R.E.M. and my line of vision.
3. The National's performance of "Mistaken For Strangers". That is my favourite song by them (oh I've decided I like them well enough. They're cool and an easy listening experience) and they fuck it up. If I didn't hear anything else by them that night I'd be okay but I waited for 2 weeks to hear that shart and I got the lead singer singing without his trademark baritone. Really...I want to scream at them for being asses, or him rather. Thinking about it now, I probably should have because he may have heard me, I would have been kicked out and I would not have had to experience the assness that was Julia Stiles. I did myself an unkindness.
Also worth mentioning, the lead singer's stage persona sucks an ass. I swear the man was drunk and brain challenged, not that there's anyting wrong with being brain challenged but if you're putting the act on then yes, it's very wrong.
4. The crowd. O.M.G. As expected, of the thousands at MSG, I found a total of 7 people who were not white. Alright, okay, whatever. That's fine. I guess but the fact that they were not... aging well, and I had to wonder what rhythm they were hearing to put down the 'dances' they did. Yes, I can say that that was not a good look. At all.
5. The Pit. What pit? Not that I expected a pit, kind of understanding what crowd may have been in attendance (and were, much to my dismay) but it was still sad to see seats in a pit. SEATS. A seated pit! Lame. Just...lame.
6. My failed camera. Again. You'd swear from the pictures I was a million miles away but no, thanks to x3 Optical zoom, I got shart!!!!! I was much closer than it appears, honest.
7. My inability to get good shots of bassists. Sorry, Peter!
8. No H1. Yeah, this was the saddest part and should be first on this list. She couldn't come with and not that Chrissy Lee was not good company but it's always sad when H1 is not with.
The Highlights:
1. R.E.M. of course. They performed an excellent show as expected. The sound was great, the songs were great (even the ones I shamefully admit I did not know) and the stage set up was great. The guys rocked!!!
2. Michael Stipe. I've always loved that man and if ever there was a doubt as to why, all that has been erased. From Bush bashing to banter, to stage antics to the dancing! M.Stipe was amazing. And boy can he dance. He was great fun, the jokes were funny and he was fabulous.
3. Mike Mills. He performed a song, vocals and guitar work which was quite awesome and cute. Aww, love that little M.Mills. So cute!
4. Modest Mouse was awesome. I went in with no kind of expectations from them considering a DJ once described them in concert as "putting up a poster of the band on your wall, putting in their cd and listening to it while staring at the poster". Turns out, their latest album did not do them dirty, nor me. 2 drummers (you how I love not 1 but 2 drummers!) and The Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr will do that for you and will certainly assist in not sucking.
Note-worthy mention to Johnny Marr who rocked with Modest Mouse and then later on with R.E.M on their final 3 songs. Ooo, I love him now.
5. For all the 2 shits they pulled, The National were good. I was happy I saw them and their setlist was awesome save that damned Mr. November song I dislike but kind of have a better liking for now since they dedicated it to "Barack", as if Barack pitched marbles with them in school.
6. Did I mention a megaphone? Ah yes, Michael brought it out during Orange Crush and you know how I love me a megaphone especially a tossed one, though I'm not quite sure what happened to it after that song was done...
7. R.E.M.'s performance of "Let Me In" was very much awesome, even if all that mainly stood out other than the song was Michaels head. Har Har.
8. Surprising Chrissy Lee. He was happy. That counts for a lot.
The R.E.M. "Accelerate 2008 Tour" @ Madison Square Garden on 06/19/2008:
1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
2. These Days
3. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
4. Bad Day
5. Drive
6. Hollow Man
7. Ignoreland
8. Man-Sized Wreath
9. Leaving New York
10. Disturbance At The Heron House
11. Houston
12. Electrolite
13. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville
14. Driver 8
15. Harborcoat
16. The One I Love
17. Until The Day Is Done
18. Let Me In
19. Horse To Water
20. Pretty Persuasion
21. Orange Crush
22. I'm Gonna DJ
Encore:
23. Supernatural Superserious
24. Losing My Religion
25. Begin The Begin
26. Fall On Me
27. Man On The Moon
The Modest Mouse 06/19/2008 @ Madison Square Garden Setlist:
Invisible
Dance Hall
Satin In A Coffin
Custom Concern
Fire It Up
Truckers Atlas
King Rat
Dashboard
Education (Jam ending)
The Good Times Are Killing Me
The National 06/19/2008 @ Madison Square Garden Setlist:
Start A War
Brainy
Baby We'll Be Fine
Slow Show
Mistaken For Strangers
Squalor Victoria
Secret Meeting
Apartment Story
Fake Empire
Mr. November
Memorable Conversation of Today 6/23/2008:
A convo. had in the kitchen at work this morning
Or 2: I like these marble cutting boards. Yeah, we need one of those.
H1: Yeah, they're cool. We should get one.
Or 2: You know, I have space in my bag...
Currently listening to: "Stay Don't Go" by Spoon. I wonder if H1 would object if I got tickets to see them...
Saturday, April 05, 2008
April Fools, Adventures on the Street and Misadventures at the Train Station
H1 and I have walked past Rockefeller Center countless times and have often been forcefully mini-concerted upon.
There have been countless times that we cursed people out for sidestopping instead of sidewalking, 2 times we've walked the devil's path through throngs of 9 year old to 37 year olds screaming for a not yet legal Chris Brown, and we are currently dreading the sea of umbrellas that will assault our senses on a sunny day in June when Man Hands Rihanna plays (Frass, are you taking note?) - we can only hope she gets rained out much like NKOTB did yesterday.
NBC's Today Show played a trick on NYC on April Fool's Day by actually having a good band perform a mini-concert. We actually stopped for a while. I got a picture with camera eye and LO, which isn't as good:
See that bald head? Michael Stipe, people! R.E.M.! I've not R.E.M.'d in a decade and forgot just how good that is. They sounded amazing as expected. Memories…ahhh.
The first week of April proved rather eventful, in addition to an R.E.M. sighting.
We spotted an April Fool's joke - and it was plastered all over Grand Central Terminal, and surprisingly tied in quite nicely to this week's episode of South Park:
Also found in Grand Central 2 warm mornings later, was someone who apparently just got back from Montreal:
Those Canadians, they're really not my friends, buddy.
This week was also Scotland Week in NYC.
A cart half an hour late on a rainy Friday morning made for an empty stomach of sheep's stomach.
I at least got a picture of the damned cart that was giving out free haggis of which I had none.
But H1, thanks a lot for putting my name out there on a blog for all to see.
You are so not my pal.
Currently listening to: "Sing For The Submarine" by R.E.M.
There have been countless times that we cursed people out for sidestopping instead of sidewalking, 2 times we've walked the devil's path through throngs of 9 year old to 37 year olds screaming for a not yet legal Chris Brown, and we are currently dreading the sea of umbrellas that will assault our senses on a sunny day in June when Man Hands Rihanna plays (Frass, are you taking note?) - we can only hope she gets rained out much like NKOTB did yesterday.
NBC's Today Show played a trick on NYC on April Fool's Day by actually having a good band perform a mini-concert. We actually stopped for a while. I got a picture with camera eye and LO, which isn't as good:
See that bald head? Michael Stipe, people! R.E.M.! I've not R.E.M.'d in a decade and forgot just how good that is. They sounded amazing as expected. Memories…ahhh.
The first week of April proved rather eventful, in addition to an R.E.M. sighting.
We spotted an April Fool's joke - and it was plastered all over Grand Central Terminal, and surprisingly tied in quite nicely to this week's episode of South Park:
Also found in Grand Central 2 warm mornings later, was someone who apparently just got back from Montreal:
Those Canadians, they're really not my friends, buddy.
This week was also Scotland Week in NYC.
A cart half an hour late on a rainy Friday morning made for an empty stomach of sheep's stomach.
I at least got a picture of the damned cart that was giving out free haggis of which I had none.
But H1, thanks a lot for putting my name out there on a blog for all to see.
You are so not my pal.
Currently listening to: "Sing For The Submarine" by R.E.M.
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