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Aimee Mann "I Can't Get My Head Around It" |
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Hey guys... it's been a week, but for some reason, I haven't been as ready and raring to update as I usually am. Not totally sure why other than I've been just going through the motions with homework and the like. Also, I simply have a hard time remembering all the shit that I've been up to lately... and sitting down trying to figure out what's been up, well, that's basically homework. But alright, I'm psyched about launching way back into the DJ (so much easier once I just sit down and start writing it). Hmmm, where should I begin but with a link to my picture page where, IF YOU DARE, you can check out five quick pics of Phil and I dorking it up inside the Blank Honors Center. It's pretty deep, I recommend getting some good Dashboard Confessional going before you start checking them out. Here you gooo: http://community.webshots.com/user/cmonvogue ...little Easter Egg of fun for you there.
And alright, definitely need to alert y'all that I got my job with The Daily Iowan! I was totally happy to get it, and I was bracing myself for the worst when the Arts editor called me about it because she began with an all-too-cordial, "...How are you today?" I wanted to be like, "PEEING MYSELF," but unfortunately that's unprofessional. She then said, "I'd like to offer you an internship at The Daily Iowan for the Arts section," and I must've replied with something along the lines of, "Really? Great! Teehee, guh-her, thanks!" You know. Played it cool. Found out about that on Sunday, so Phil and I celebrated with some Flex-dollar fun at the IMU. We declared ourselves bored upon finishing that, and so we ended up borrowing a camera from a friend of his and took the aforementioned pictures. Did you enjoy them? Good. I made a new facebook picture of myself while I was at it... it's the first picture on that page except I cut Phil out of the picture and made a blue and black background. I'm an MS Paint manipulatin' monkey, baby. Just try to tame me.
On Friday I went to No Shame for a breezy, above average show. I also found out I'm performing on Friday at the Best of No Shame once again... this time with my "Mommy" piece, which of course originated long ago in Illuminating the Future With a Blowtorch. I need to actually rewrite some of the "Mommy" skit because the full-length version I wrote for my original performance is not accessible on my computer anymore because I now use a different version of Microsoft Word. Or I could just email the file to my brother at home and tell him to send the thing back to me in a different file. Sometimes I am so overcome with genius ideas... am I the lost descendant of Thomas Edison, you ask? I think so. By this time I've already performed "Mommy" twice for No Shame, so it is getting a bit tiring to keep conjuring up the momentum to go and perform it again and again. However, the character is very... classically what I do, I think. He's chock full of intensity and angst, my two fave things. I kind of hope No Shame isn't all I do at night on my final Friday at Iowa this school year. We'll see, I guess... that's another issue entirely; I don't know how I feel about the fact that I've got... seven big days till the move out. It's a change I've anticipated (eagerly) for awhile, but then when I get to think about it, I'm reminded that I'm going to return home, pull into the driveway, and realize, "Oh. Here I am. Lemont. That's it." Three months home will sure be refreshing in some ways, but I also know I will be deathly bored at some times. Of course there are the hombres to keep me company... Rachel, Sarah, Corey, any number of solid Lemont hos that you can think of. Upon my return, I'll also be hitting up the LHS musical Anything Goes which I am pretty excited about because I heart Cole Porter (I'm such a poseur, let's face it, Alanis dragged me into liking him... plus American Pop Music class, but still). Definitely looking forward to seeing Sean and Lauren rip it up onstage. And Rachel's tailor-made role as the chinese acrobat (or whatever) should be a ribtickler. In spite of my excitement for the musical, I must say... I don't like going back into LHS that much at all. It feels too much like a former way of life that I'm not about anymore. Like a place where I can't be totally open without having a teacher/hall monitor/concerned parent/member of the schoolboard/The Injun getting riled about it. Riled about any number of things... vulgarity, homosexuality, candor, whatever. Speaking of that fucking Injun, I hear there is a meeting to discuss whether or not to dispose of the Titans and replace them with The Indians. So much energy is being expended on clinging to a baseless artifact of the past... makes you wonder how far these people will go to cling to other nonsensical, archaic ideas as well. In-fucking-credible.
Last Saturday, Alyssa and I decided to be properly studious children and went to Starbucks to study. A valiant effort, but alas and alack, we ended up just chatting. Our buddy Tracy joined us, but not before a mysterious Asian woman leaned over to us and said in muddled accent, "You go to school here, eh?" And we were like, "Oh, yeah." And then she muttered to herself, "...so strange..." while shaking her head. Hmmm. Wouldn't say I'd call it strange that I attend the school that's, oh yeah, down the street. Then out of nowhere, the woman started making like... cat noises to herself. Alyssa lost all composure and of course I was seated an inch away from the woman, so I couldn't laugh or anything. Then the woman looked around for a little while before departing the Starbucks but leaving behind all of her belongings... she was gone a good half hour before returning. I have no idea where she went or what the hell she did. But she left. Later, my buddy Patrick from Acting class saw me in the window and joined the three of us for awhile. We nitpicked our acting class to death before we all finally up and left Starbucks, and Patrick went off on his merry way. We fled to Currier, caught up with John and Sara, and watched Sideways which upon second viewing is officially a movie I love. It's a tad dry sometimes, but I actually think that works to the movie's advantage since it... instills that feeling of reality (or rather, un-theatricality). I don't think the ending is necessarily 100 percent perfect, but I do like it, and I love the acting in that movie. Paul Giametti and Thomas Haden Church in particular... fucking hilarious. And speaking of Alyssa, I did just trek down to the Coralville Mall with her, and I finally got to buy the new Aimee Mann album (Two days after it's release! They'll skin me at the messageboard! I mean. What messageboard) since no CD shop in Iowa City carried the damn album. I suppose overall I enjoy it now more than I did before, but I think Aimee's "story" in this album is stretched too thin... all the story you need is spelled out enough in "King of the Jailhouse"... besides that, she could've done much more than attempt to drag up the rest of the plot. My big new favorites: "King of the Jailhouse," "Video," "I Can't Help You Anymore," and "She Really Wants You." There are some killer lyrics here and there... but it's definitely not a very consistent album, and too often Aimee settles for repetitive choruses (aka: "I can't get my head around it, baby. I cannot get my head around it." and "You're only going through the motions, baby. Going through the motions, baby..." Is there some sort of quota for amount of times she must use "baby"?). However, I don't see much reason to delve on the negative when there's stuff like this that Aimee still delivers:
"Tell me why I feel so bad, honey.
Fighting left me plenty of money
But didn't keep the promise of memory lapses.
Like a building that's been slated for blasting,
I'm the proof that nothing is lasting,
Counting to eleven as it collapses."
God DAMN. That's "Video" by the way. And there's a sentiment in "Clean Up For Christmas" that's all too familiar:
"I tell you I'm sorry I made you a witness to my moral decay.
And that, once upon a time, I thought it was a victimless crime."
MmmmmMMMMM. Yes, yes, yes. Gems like that are kind of few and far between on this album, and maybe I'm too devout a Bachelor No. 2 fan to really believe anything can top it, but I think this album doesn't deliver on some levels. It gets lost in its purpose. Are we a storybook or just individual songs? Because the story basically blows. However, I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars though... which is good. Just not utterly fantastic.
I was thinking about writing a send-off to my college buddies in the deadjournal... but I don't know if I can, because I'm flat-out not prepared to be that honest with some people. At least in the journal. In my head I think I've decided how I feel about certain things, especially regarding how I felt I've been treated. Suppose that's not something I should sensationalize in here before I deal with it in the actual world. What I'm trying to say is that Alyssa Varner is a fucking bitch and she knows it. I couldn't even get through that sentence without laughing. Alyssa is so the best friend I've made at school. Have you heard the girl laugh? She fucking dominates. Not to mention she makes fun of lame-asses like a pro. Rachel and I are surely trekking it to Dubuque this summer to meet up with her and her hip-cat friends. Of course Alyssa will be visiting Lemont as well. How could she not? She's already gotten a taste of the Lemont Subway... surely the eleven mickeys Rachel slipped in her sandwich are still working their magic even now. However, my first priority right now is to land a motherfucking job in Lemont. Apparently workforces aren't legally allowed to hire people anymore. Whatever, we've been over this.
Okey doke, I'm done for now. A short, zippy entry, to be sure. I re-downloaded Boloball onto my computer, so finally I can order around that sexy little blue man again. As a matter of fact, I'm game for a little boloball right now. Love you guys more and more each time I talk with you. Let's prep for this summer and make it as kickass as we can. Call me... as broke as I am, there's always room for a Starbucks convo with whomever.
So appreciate you reading. Love y'all, xoxo,
Louis.
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