It’s trite and cliché to say that, in times of your life when you can’t control things, to focus then on the things you CAN control. Be that as it may, I’m all about a cliché, and as such, last night I went and did two things: went for my first run in almost 10 days, and went on a little media shopping spree. Those guys who think girls are weird for using shopping to alleviate angst haven’t been to their local record shop lately.
The run was a serious test of endurance. Against every physiological rule, I decided to make this my longest run ever: 60 full minutes. Had never topped 45 before. As such, I ran 40% longer than I ever had at one time. It’s hard to feel too bad for yourself when you’re hoping your legs don’t give out form under you, I find. There’s my little money-saving tip for the day: skip the psychologist and run until your lungs want to burst. Much cheaper in the long run.
Post run, I felt good in that “not quite sure if all my organs are still intact” sorta way. So, what to do? Movie? Dinner out? Nah. Newbury Comics, my favorite pop culture mecca. So, rather than inundate you with more psychobabble which has been ever so prominent here lately, I’m just gonna tell you what I bought, and why.
Yea, I didn’t like this movie when it came out. Be that as it may, for $20, the positives outweigh the negatives. Those positives are: Jennifer Garner, a killer sound mix that sounds absolutely mind-blowing on my home theatre, and Jennifer Garner. Throw Colin Farrell and Jennifer Garner in there, and that’s 5 reasons alone. As fun as it is to make fun of Mrs. J. Lo, I don’t blame Ben Affleck for this movie being ultimately disappointing. I blame the moron who wrote those overdubs and thought that Daredevil and the Kingpin needed only one fight. Oh, and who thought Daredevil could leap 400 feet at a time. Oh, and the…OK, must center myself. Gonna think about Jenny from the non-Block again. Mmmm…Elektra.
“Elephant” by the White Stripes
Thanks to my Launch station, I’ve heard quite a bit of music by the White Stripes, and I’ve liked everything I’ve heard. In turn, I went out and bought this, the only one on sale. I really want “De Stijl” as well, but not for $17, thank you muchly. This is the way internet music is supposed to work: it’s supposed to expose you to tunes you wouldn’t normally here and drive you to go out and buy the music out of respect for the artist. You don’t need billboards, appearances on TRL, or tine-ins with Pepsi. You need good freakin’ music, damnit.
A triple CD set, per the bootlegs series they have established. Phish is my musical link, in many ways, to why I loved and still love theatre. Phish’s music exists in the moment, everytime they get on stage. I have seven version of some of these songs, by this point, and every one is unique. You don’t hear about anyone collecting “Pink Floyd 1994” bootlegs, because as much as I love Pink Floyd, that damn show was the same, every night. It was a theatre piece in the worst sense: the sort of rote, always static type of performance that is antithetical to Phish’s nature. By risking improvisation every night, Phish creates a lot of really, really bad musical moments. However, the highs they can achieve are higher than just about anything I’ve ever heard, and as such, they’ll keep getting my hard-earned income.
Ok, kids, your turn….any recent pop culture purchases that you’d like to share with the group? We won’t bite. And I’ll bring cookies.