Make your bed the river, young girl

[vovat]

Okay, on Sunday, Beth and I went up to New York City to see Neko Case. Almost every time we go to Manhattan, Beth wants to go to the Sanrio store, and I want to go to Books of Wonder. We went to both places that day, although the bookstore was kind of a disappointment. Before, there was almost always some Oz-related item there that I wanted, but this time the only thing I was interested in was a hardback copy of Kabumpo in Oz, and I didn't want to shell out the money for it. I also wanted to get my own copies of Mother Goose in Prose and Sky Island, but they didn't have either one in stock.

After shopping, we met Erin, went to eat at a deli, and then went to the concert, which was at the Bowery Ballroom. The security guard almost wouldn't let me in, because I apparently don't look like the picture on my driver's license, which was taken back when I had long hair. Maybe I should have my picture retaken in the near future. The opening act was the Mendoza Line, who were good musically, but didn't really do it for me vocally. I've heard that they did a cover of "Deep Down And In Between" for a Young Fresh Fellows tribute album, so that might be interesting to hear, but otherwise I'm not likely to seek out any of their songs. Beth and I had seen Neko thrice before, all three times at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia. The audiences there tended to be on the older, quieter side. The Bowery audience was, I suppose, a more typical concert audience. I'm not used to people yelling things out at Neko shows, and she even commented that the crowd was quiet for a New York audience. I guess it just has to do with the city and the venue. She also played more upbeat songs, and included a lot of new material in her set. I think Neko is a really good performer, and she's down-to-earth and witty.

As far as television goes, this week's Simpsons was a bit on the wacky side, especially the chase scene with Dr. Hibbert and the Alcatraz part. I think it worked well, though, with a lot of good jokes. As with several other episodes this season, the satire came kind of late, although it's still relevant. The biggest problem with the episode was that there was no real resolution. Beth and I watched that American Idol final three special (because apparently a final five special wasn't enough), but I don't really have anything to say about it beyond the simple observation that Diana DeGarmo is really hyper. We also saw a few minutes of that WB show that's like American Idol in reverse, which will probably open the floodgates for a whole bunch of backwards contest shows. A dating show where someone chooses the person they like the least? A quiz show where the person with the most wrong answers walks home with the prizes? For all I know, these have already been done. Anyway, I'd be pretty embarrassed if I thought people considered me to be a good singer and it turned out they were scamming me, but I also have to wonder why none of the bad people have taken the simple precaution of tape-recording themselves. I mean, everyone sounds good in their own minds, but usually all it takes to shatter delusions of vocal grandeur is to hear yourself the way other people hear you.

I burned my lip on a piece of pizza a few days ago, and it still hurts. That's not good.

Comments

[revme.livejournal.com]

I was totally not sure what to make of this week's Simpsons. I think if it hadn't been the Simpsons, it would have been pretty awesome, but I don't typically associate the Simpsons with that sort of Over-The-Top Things-Stretched-Out-To-Surreal-Proportions Satire. I kind of prefer how the Simpsons' world is actually relatively realistic, so it's a little weird when you get something like that, y'know, where Alcatraz is still in service. I mean, geez, what were they smokin' with _that_?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the satire did seem a little more exaggerated than usual, at least towards the end. As far as Alcatraz goes, I guess we're supposed to assume that it reopened to hold political prisoners, but I wish someone had explained that in the episode itself. Maybe a guard could have mentioned it, or Lisa could have observed that the prison was supposed to have been closed. Or, for that matter, they could have just used a different prison (Springfield was shown to have its own island prison in an earlier episode), or actually found a semi-realistic and relevant way to resolve the plot.