"Slow Century" Review, field trip to Ogunquit, ME and more. . .

I have been a member of netflix for about a year. It is not cheaper than the old school video stores unless you basically max it out, which is very hard to do. It is, however, extremely convenient. Twice in the last year I had movies I just never wanted to watch. A month ago I got Broken Flowers, The Bicycle Thief, and Eraserhead. I returned all three yesterday, but only watched Broken Flowers. I watched like twelve minutes of Eraserhead, then immediately realized that now is not the right time in my life to watch that movie. When I got home from work today I opened my mailbox to find the first two Entourage dvds and the first disc of Pavement's two DVD set "Slow Century." I like Pavement, and I own all of their cd's etc., but I didn't know much about their history since I really only got into them when they released Brighten the Corners. For example, I didn't know what Bob Nastanovich did exactly in the band, and there's actually an explanation for that - he doesn't really do all that much. By definition, he "keeps time and backs up the drummer with percussion." In one interview segment, he discussed how a record label guy followed the band around to 15 or 20 shows then said to him, "Bob, I really can't figure out why you're in the band," and he was geniunely hurt. Anyways, what is funny is that he actually looks kind of like Will Ferrell, and whenever he's on stage or in the studio he reminds me of Ferrell in the cowbell skit.



When Glenn bought a guitar I told him to get the new Malkmus solo album. He said, "I am not buying music that is so hip it doesn't even exist. . . " It has always been clear Steve Malkmus had style, but in some of his videos he takes it to the next level. For example, in "Father to a Sister of Thought" I expected the cowboy hats, given the slide guitar and country influence in the song. But cruising around strip mall parking lots in super bright sunlight, wearing yardwork gloves? Yup.



Speaking of Pavement, my old roommate Matt Tavares used to play in a band that covered Pavement's "Here." My friend John Pham and I went up to visit him this weekend in Ogunquit, ME where he lives with his wife, Sarah, and his 18 month old daughter, Eva. (I have more pictures, but for some reason it won't let me upload them :(. . . ) Matt writes and illustrates children's books. His website is: http://www.matttavares.com/index.html








Matt has human, animal, and vegetation drawing skills. . .

In other news, Mike Schneider, poker player extraordinaire, previously featured as a guest of the bubble blog, had some good fortune last week, which is further described here:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=5143313&an=0&page=0#Post5143313

Hot run kiddo. . . I hope that other thing that has been on your mind lately works itself out as well :P.