Life in the Fast Train

'Sho gonna make you lose your mind... or keep wishing for more.

One things for damn sure: this ain't no shinkansen.

Took the Acela yesterday from NYC to Boston here for the Flash on Tap conference. First time riding Amtrak in years, and certainly the first time riding their big guns, which they boast to be the fastest line in the US. Supposedly, the stretch between Boston and NYC has some parts wher speeds can surpass 130 mph - and its possible we obtained that speed, if ever for only such a short moment - but for the most part, it really wasn't that fast. Or it didn't seem that way.

Built on a foundation of old rails, it's very clear that it can't run fast for a reason - the cars would simply go flying off the tracks. Not good! But what really got me was how bumpy it was.

Case in point, I went back to the Cafe car (sweet that they had one, but $2 for a can of ginger ale? really?) and as I was walking back to my seat, we hit a bump and I fell over on top of someone. Thankfully for him, my drink only managed to spill on me. Sticky shirt express! Later on, after back in my seat, same thing: two guys were walking, we hit a bump, and I had to push to brace one of the guys from completely falling onto my lap. The seats ain't so easy to grab either.

It was craptastically cloudy yesterday, so I'm hoping for some sun on the way home. Will try and get some good video of the fast parts then, because when it does hit the fast speeds, it is slick. Just beware of the bumpy.

Holy Fuck, A Place to Bury Strangers!

Following on the tails of last week's Melvins show, saw the incredible liquid energy show of Holy Fuck Saturday night @ Bowery Ballroom. Hella good show, just a bit late for me: start time was 11:30pm. Didn't matter, I was really looking forward to the set; when former Enon drummer Matt Schulz came out to set up his drums, I knew it was on.

After standing around since 9:30ish for Crocodiles and then A Place to Bury Strangers, the feet were killing us, and we were lucky enough to grab a table with great view from the upstairs balcony. The show kicked off with a series of songs that sounded new (including "Jungle", which seems recently added to their MySpace page), and once they warmed up the crowd they started throwing some of the older tunes into the mix. A move they did, because the whole venue turned into this electric dance floor, at the very least heads were moving, and for some of the more flamboyants, total dance party USA.

Despite all this energy, at some point about 45 minutes into the show, I started feeling past my bedtime syndrome, probably in part due to staying out nearly 1:30 the night before for a nomikai with Reiko's coworkers. Thus came the weird surreal state of semi-consciousness - falling asleep in small bursts but all the while aware of the awesome show going on around me. Kinda like zoning out while riding the lawn mower and your neighbors are having a pool party, grabbing the wheel in time to make the turn and not crash into the fence. But I came to, and we headed downstairs and caught the rest of the show there. Up close, things looked so busy but with everyone having a good time.

Matt Schulz in particular is a real treat to watch - his style is the epitome of fast and aggressive. The thing that really gets me is his speed and ambidextrousness: He plays a regular 4-piece drum kit, but uses his left hand as the lead for hi-hat work, right hand for ride cymbal. Drum fills seem to be right-left-right-left patterns, but again, everything is lightening fast so its hard to say for sure. The results of the mixup seems to allow for some nice change ups and patterns I've never heard elsewhere, hence my fondness for listening to him play. And, perhaps it was the lack of seeing him at that Enon show last month that left such a meh feeling in my mouth.

As for the other bands, Crocodiles had a modern new wave sound going for them, but as only a 2 piece, they lacked from where they could be with the addition of a solid drummer and bassist. Mostly good tunes, albeit intentionally dated sounding. A Place to Bury Strangers: let down. After hearing all this hype for them ("New York's Loudest band!", "THE band to see at SXSW!"), their opening song came out of sync, with the drums behind the guitar behind the vocals; this happened on a few other tracks. Another track, a slow noise builder, finally came to an end, and... wait for it... they played the exact same fucking thing for another two or three minutes, no double-time beats to save the day. I don't know if it was the venue being mean to them or what, but I was not impressed, move along folks, move along.

Japanke

JAPANKE.

That's the word my cell phone spit out when I put it in word mode and hit the keys for k-a-r-a-o-k-e. Now that I've added the word, it should input it correctly. But hot damn, JAPANKE sounds like a much better word now that I think about it.

Saint Seiya, as sung by Robert and others, was a total hit. My version of Loser got everyone going too.

Head hurts.

Punch-Out!!

Lack of posts here recently... sorry. Quick follow up to the last post: The Melvins were totally sweet last Friday and played an absolute solid set for 2:15. Didn't realize how much the core of the band is King Buzzo and Dale Crover. Well, it rocked, hard, and finished at a good hour. Wish more sets were like that...

So! Last Saturday, Punch-Out!! day at the Nintendo World Store. What this meant was the game went on sale exclusively there, and a tournament was held. Interesting idea in holding a tournament when no one had played the game before... where have I seen this before? Got there around start time at 1pm but was already too late to make the tourney, so we saw walked around, saw the game, and I bought it on spot (they even threw in a free t-shirt and chocolate bar.)

Without getting too reviewish here: if you're a fan of the original or even the SNES release, you'll totally dig this version. At its core, nothing has changed about the game other than a graphical face lift; controls with a tilted to the side Wiimote will feel right at home. Haven't even tried the Waggle control scheme yet!

Yes, there are only 12 main people to contend with, mostly from the original release, with two from the SNES (Aran Ryan and Bear Hugger), but the title bout defend mode where you battle everyone again gives the game plenty of replay time: so far, I've spent as much time on my "second round" of bouts with the Minor Circuit flunkies as I did on the whole first pass through the Minor, Major and World Circuits combined.

To do: multiplayer. Reiko wants nothing to do with this one, so it's up to y'all. Stop on by if you want to play.

Oh, and Doc Louis' famous chocolate bar? The plainest bar I've ever seen. Reminded me of my "FOR BIG MISTAKES" erase from back of the day. Yet, in honor of the late Darren McGavin, "Not a finger!"

The Roots

Heading out soon to go see the Melvins play. Very excited about this. It's funny I'm even very familiar with their tunes so well but just have the feelin' it's gonna be sweet.

And also, we used up our vegetables in the ref. Usually, we try and time it so that we don't have a lot of vegetables sitting unused over the weekend, but sometimes it just ends up that way. But this time, we're down to just a small bit of lettuce, and we're ready to stock up again. Chinatown funny roots ahoy!

Gonna brew up a beer this weekend also, a classic red ale. I'm a bit surprised because the recipe sounds surprisingly simple to follow. Not sure if that's a good thing or now, but will share the eventual results! As for the last batch, a Brewer's Best IPA batch, the flavor has been really solid, a bit crisp perhaps and could have used just a bit more water. Problem we had this past time was some of the bottles appeared to seal fine but have opened up surprisingly flat, 'specially the three or four Negro Modelo bottles, screw them for wasting my beer, you know? You like, know?

The Fears!

Found this pretty exhaustive list of fears earlier. Some of the latin roots make sense here, but I'm thinking somebody was really trying to stretch a few: scatophobia? really?

Here's a few I thought were pretty awesome or just downright out there. Really though, the whole list is just littered with 'em.

Alliumphobia- Fear of garlic.
Apotemnophobia- Fear of persons with amputations.
Equinophobia- Fear of horses.
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia- Fear of the number 666.
Phallophobia- Fear of a penis, esp erect. vs. Medomalacuphobia- Fear of losing an erection.
Scatophobia- Fear of fecal matter.

http://www.phobialist.com/

Where We Live

Saw this link earlier on a co-worker's Facebook status. Pretty sweet Flash app that lets you view some cool aerial shots while floating over Manhattan and the East River. Kinda like a stripped down version of Google Earth you might expect to find at an airport, if 9/11 had never taken place. Would be really cool if you could lock the camera; had to keep zooming in while finding my office in Midtown. Good atmospheric muted beat music for the experience.

http://www.pixelcase.com.au/vr/2009/newyork/

The Weekend

Quiet weekend around here; busy during the days with relatively chill evenings. Finally checked out the nearby Japanese food-ya-san Geido around here Friday, and scored some excellent Gyoza, Udon, and decent mentaiko (cod roe) maki rolls. Saturday, I discovered a nearby community garden that was having a cool plant sale and offers grow boxes where you can grow whatever you want - within legal bounds of course - so as long as you pay the annual dues and do some volunteer work there. Too bad it's already past the prime planting season for veggies! Still considering this anyway as our sandbox project. Afternoon involved a mission to a craft show that allowed for exploration of some parts of Prospect Park I had never been to - had a blast doing that - and trying to find Reiko a bike. Made an evening out of checking out the SNES Zelda hacked rom Parallel Worlds, a bit of Xenogears, and finishing the 007 flick Quantum of Solace. Today we made it up to visit our Greenpoint friends Joe and Kate and went out for some excellent Bahn Mi sandwiches, and then a trek down to Ikea for apartment ideas and reception decor. No crazy nights, just busy days with bike trips, listening to some good music (thank you Adam W for that Brazilian piece - wtf!) drinking while playing video games at home, part time jobbin', and simply relaxing and enjoying life.

Then of course, I saw this clip from the ever classic (or was it?) Palmerfest in Athens, OH, which went down this past Saturday. Man, my weekends have changed! Let's take a minute to reflect on those couches.



Yep, they're toast, as well just about everyone else there. Meanwhile, I was busy saving the world in Xenogears, and that was just fine as well.

Back at it Again

Good excitement last night: got behind the kit live last night for the debut show of DBCR (Drunken Belligerent Confrontational Rock). Good excitement tomorrow: we're playing again.

And damn, it's been a while since I played out, perhaps February of last year? Way too long. This new act is pretty sweet, the first time I've played in a 5 piece that was worth a damn. But I tell yeah, fitting 5 guys into a tight space is not a safe bet. We ended up working it such that our vocalist was on the floor lumbering around, mic swinging (watch out!) and all. The bass rig was coming off the stage and unfortunately caused it to cut out during the first couple of songs. Floor tom gave way during song two. But! We kept it going, and had a really good crowd response for a nearly packed bar, which come to think of it, it's been a while since I've played for that many people. Sweet.

Pictures coming soon.

UPDATE:
Show audio here. (Thanks Chris & Laïs!)