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September 30, 2005

Video Games Live

So, VGL rolls into KC on 11/9/2005 at the Midland Theater.

It's a touring orchestrated show involving all the best video game music done with symphony, choir, and other instrumentation as necessary.

I've read about. I've heard about it. I've listened to the previews.

I've got to go. Someone better be awesome enough to go with me.

Oh god, I can't stop squealing with delight everytime I play the "Pre-Show Festival" clip on their site that has the Mario music playing.

The only downside that since this is a symphony event, you can expect symphony pricing. Typically 30 - 55 depending on if you want to hear well, or actually see it too.

OMG. I WANT TO GO! Here, check it out yourself.

Posted by Courtney at 09:12 PM | Comments (1)

sigh.

If my period knew it was going to be this late, it should have called.

I'll be sitting at the kitchen table in the dark waiting.

Posted by Courtney at 06:32 PM

September 29, 2005

For you, Amie.

It's a shame you can't see that Scott guy (what was his last name anyways?) that was his best friend for like, forever in that picture. That picture is, well, I'm not sure how old; maybe 3 years now.

As much as I love downtown Tulsa, and all the old oil/energy company buildings, it's been a bad lover. Every friend that I've gone with, and given a slight glimpse of MY Tulsa, my love, has somehow fallen away from me. I can't blame Tulsa. I can only blame myself really. But damn, me and this girl had some great times.

All those nights walking up Boston with Amie, all the trips up the elevator at the Tulsa World (Hi Bob! I'm really sorry I wasted your time, and my talent.), my first time on the little BOK bridge with Greg, Mayfest, Oktoberfest, C4 Stephen and being on the Dreamworks list, walking with the girls to the Center of the Universe alone after midnight. Let's not forget all the trips with Bryan, and dragging around Alex and Victoria, and changing into Bryan's clothes in the middle of the street.

But back to the point. Amie, when I think of you, I think of Tulsa. I think of welded gates on the courthouse, of clocks striking midnight and of random quotes taped up in a window. I think of Village Inn coffee on Harvard at 3am. I think about Eastland Mall and Got Spunk stickers on old VW Beetles. I think about our reflections in a golden wrapped support beam.

My god, isn't she gorgeous?

Thanks for not forgetting me.

Posted by Courtney at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)

omg rawr.

And here are the pics from last week.

Now, excuse me while I plop in front of the TV for The O.C. and Reunion.

Posted by Courtney at 07:17 PM | Comments (4)

September 26, 2005

Chopstix!


A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by attentionwhore.

Edward finally discovered chop sticks. Unfortunately he was too white to use them... Even with the chop stick helper.

Posted by Courtney's Phone at 08:45 PM

September 25, 2005

301...err 340.

The last post, the picture I uploaded from my phone, was my 300th post to this site using Movable Type. I've got 39 posts from an ASP driven version of the site beforehand tucked away on a saved db on my computer. The first post in the set was from 8/12/2002, and consisted of simply "So...Hi. Have we met?"

I've kind of been looking forward to #300, and am slightly disappointed that I missed it. However, it was devoted to a picture I enjoyed. Friday night I was bored, and I found out another friend of mine was bored (probably because our friends were all together drinking a couple miles away without us?) so I met him at his place downtown and we just walked around. He peed in the bushes. I climbed on a giant button. It was a decent time.

The entire city had a heavy fog overhanging. We couldn't see the tops on a lot of the buildings. We stood and watched boxes of Folger's coffee get filled and taped together. We climbed on brick walls and ran through parking lots. It made me miss all the times I would wander downtown Tulsa alone or with a couple of friends at 3am; all those times I would dance in the fountains until I was soaked, or would lay in the middle of Boston staring up at all the buildings while I could feel the train running nearby.

So, I guess I'm okay with the last post. It was a good time.

Posted by Courtney at 05:02 PM | Comments (0)

Where All The Lights Are Bright


Where All The Lights Are Bright, originally uploaded by attentionwhore.

Yeah, I'm in love with an android, but so what. Stranger things have happened.

Posted by Courtney's Phone at 02:00 AM

September 23, 2005

Gas


A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by attentionwhore.

Posted by Courtney's Phone at 06:20 PM

September 22, 2005

Let it Fall

I always knew I felt this way
But couldn't find the time to say
To myself I've got to let it go
Through all the joy and all the pain
With the drought and the rain
The honest truth is all I want to know

I love to listen to this song right before I go to bed. It always calms me. Officially, the song is by Sean Watkins, and is on his cd, however, it's the only non-instrumental song. The lyrics are also sang by Glen Phillips, which is by far my favorite male singer. For those of you unfamiliar, Glen was the lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket.

But based on my mood and my feelings, the lyrics mean something different to me every day. Today is a day of regret apparently.

Last summer we left things unsaid
That should be now a long time dead
And now it seems that time has put it well
The words can chase away a friend
But to a lie they'll bring an end
And throw it down the darkest, deepest well

It feels that something really really big needs to change. And this time I can't just snap my fingers and change my possessions. Or my job. Or the city I live in. Running is a pattern for me, however, I'm monetarily forced to hit this one head first.

On another note, Fuel today after work with the people from the job, then again tomorrow with Freeloader Friday. Apparently, since I've been avoiding it for the past 6 months, 2 of the girls I work with have finally made plans to take me out. I'm scared. Then I've also got my company picnic Saturday, even though I'm not sure on attending.

Sometime earlier this week I drove downtown to spend some time with Eric at his new place in Quality Hill. I can't even begin to describe how jealous I am of his bay windows. Apparently he lives pretty close to this guy. (That guy being pretty damn cool from what I can tell.) Eric and I walked down to The Peanut for a beer before being kicked out and then I proceeded to gawk out of all his windows. The area he is in definitely makes me wish my lease was up a lot sooner than next May.

Posted by Courtney at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

Fuel


A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by attentionwhore.

Another night at fuel

Posted by Courtney's Phone at 06:33 PM

September 19, 2005

talk like a pirate day!


A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by attentionwhore.

Yar!

Posted by Courtney's Phone at 02:58 PM

September 18, 2005

Lost.

I asked Scott to help me get lost, and he sent me South.

The rest of this week, including a lot more pictures from the trek down Metcalf.

*As a side note, Megan would be so proud. For a couple months now I've had the Blink 182 song "Feeling This" stuck in my head, but I didn't know the name of it. So I finally got the cd and now I've listened to it about a million times and I finally paid attention to the lyrics. It's a shame that I love it.


Where do we go from here
Turn all the lights down now
Smiling from ear to ear (I知 feeling this)
Our breathing has got too loud (I知 feeling this)
Show me the bedroom floor (I知 feeling this)
Show me the bathroom mirror (I知 feeling this)
We池e taking this way too slow (I知 feeling this)
Take me away from here (I知 feeling this)
Fate fell short this time
Your smile fades in the summer
Place your hand in mine
I値l leave when I wanna
This place was never the same again
After you came and went
How can you say you meant anything different
To anyone standing alone
On the street with a cigarette
On the first night we met

And suddenly I'm 16 again. And I hated 16.

Posted by Courtney at 08:00 PM | Comments (2)

September 17, 2005

vimeo.

So, I totally have this dorky e-crush on Jakob Lodwick.

What, you don't know who Jakob Lodwick is?

Ok, let me break it down for you. This is Jakob.

This is what he does. Oh yeah, and he also does this.

He also has thoroughly figured out that I am insane and won't write me back. However, that doesn't keep me from telling you all to run off and go get VIMEO accounts.

Jakob was rather inspired by that little Y! acquisition we all know and love, flickr, and created vimeo as kind of a video counterpart.

Every Sunday I get a new 20mb free for uploading my personal videos. I never thought I would need 20mb a week in video hosting, but considering the suprising quality my digital camera takes for video and the ease of taking video with my phone, I figured I'd go ahead and sign up.

I uploaded the old standby video for my first entry, Fazed 2004 Post Orgasmic Chill at my place, featuring Jory.

But alas, I've already got one internet superstar in my life. It's probably best Jakob doesn't respond.

Posted by Courtney at 02:26 AM

September 15, 2005

Blarhumbug.

If one more person complains to me about how they are bored and at home and have nothing to do when I've been sitting at home lonely with nothing better to do than think of what food I'll eat next to comfort myself, I swear, I will go crazy.

Posted by Courtney at 09:00 PM

September 14, 2005

Bah.

Apparently I'm the only person in the fucking world that cares about a cute little red beetle having a wind up key on the back of it that turns when the car is running.

I happened to see the little fellow in the Oak Park Mall parking lot awhile back, and Keaton grudgingly drove me towards it so I could snap this lovely little testament to it's cuteness:

And then today on my way to work, I pass this car as it's sitting in line at Burger King.

...and the key is fucking turning. And I squeal with delight. Then I call Keaton, relay the story, and he squeals with delight as well.

And then everyone else has been a huge cocksucker about it.

Next time I see it I'll be late to work due to having to get video of it in action.

Posted by Courtney at 08:46 PM | Comments (3)

September 13, 2005

Spritz!!! Spritz!!!

I'm in love. No. Really.

Tonight me and the one like Nieda happened up something amazing.

Minus the fucking Bear at The Granada in Lawrence.

We got there in time to enjoy Thunderbirds Are Now! and These Arms are Snakes.

TAN! have this awesome keyboardist that is nothing but pure energy. Unfortunately the only way to describe TAAS is "indiecore" I hated it.

But then it was time. Oh god. It was amazing. I just wanted to stand there and listen to them play their instruments forever. It was so calming and so perfect sounding. And I think I held my breath through the first 4 or 5 songs when they broke into my favorite song of theirs, and probably my 3rd favorite song of all time, Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo.

I'm still so happy. So happy in fact I'm overlooking being up for almost 36 hours and staying up longer due to excitement.

Posted by Courtney at 01:28 AM

September 12, 2005

Goa.

<ageless> I will rock it only to that which kicks it.

Posted by Courtney at 07:47 PM

September 11, 2005

09092005

Welcome to my Friday Night.

We went to Blue Koi on 39th. We being Adam, JoLynn, Jono, Elena, Lake, Sarah, Jason and myself.

Then we walked across the street to the liquor store.

Then we went back to Jason's. Elena drank her 32 of smirnoff ice from a paperbag. Jono took out a light with his large Belgian cork. Sarah made me end every sentence with in my pants. Lake can dance. Jason used me for a chair. JoLynn and I decided to break out the Bratz Twister. And Adam knows how to kick it.

Posted by Courtney at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)

September 09, 2005

A Picture Share!


A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by attentionwhore.

Spunone kinda rhymes with undone.

Posted by Courtney's Phone at 11:51 PM | Comments (0)

September 08, 2005

Try to get some rest


A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by attentionwhore.

Don't say no to pills. Ativan won't kill.

Posted by Courtney's Phone at 10:43 PM | Comments (0)

Mileage


Mileage, originally uploaded by attentionwhore.

My warranty ended 14 miles ago. Time for Shit to start breaking.

Posted by Courtney's Phone at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)

September 07, 2005

1.

Posted by Courtney at 05:28 PM | Comments (3)

September 06, 2005

evacuate.

If it's not being said in pictures, I probably won't say it at all.

You won't think less of me in the morning, will you?

So, I'm editing this again. Let me recap what was here before.

I'm a fucking attention whore.

It's always about you.

I'm sad.

So I pull some stupid shit to make it all about me.

I'll see you around.

Posted by Courtney at 12:35 AM | Comments (0)

Bleh.

I passed up on hanging out with Mike this weekend, and hanging out more with Edward and Val to sit at home and hope to do something with Keaton. Instead I sat on Fazed while he played WoW, until last night when I got him to watch a couple episodes of Family Guy with me. Then tonight he took me to see The 40 Year Old Virgin after we cleaned. It was hilarious.

There's no escaping now
Let me show you how
What it feels to be true

Hopefully there's some night this week that Edward won't be busy, or someone else won't be busy so I can just hang out somewhere other than here. These white walls are driving me crazy after spending a long weekend inside.

And how could I have forgotten Beth Orton's voice was so splendid?

Posted by Courtney at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)

September 05, 2005

And she was only seventeeeeen

Posted by Courtney at 09:18 PM | Comments (1)

September 04, 2005

3am isn't a late night for me

Back to the music.

-Evol Intent Myspace site with 4 tracks to stream and listen-

First off, let's talk about last night. Another Late Night was your typical money loss party. It seemed like the crowd that was always around for every party, you know, the regulars and the kids not old enough to get into the club and bar weeklies. I went with Edward and Val until some bitch drama went down and Val went home to avoid confrontation. A to the motherfucking J showed up, threw down his bag and walked to the back of the room. I was standing up front and he didn't see me right off, so I ran and grabbed a water and snuck up on him from behind. Here we are in the Knights of the Columbus building on Wornall, with a lot of kids running around; AJ The Enemy who has toured the world alone and with his partners in crime as the group who ignited dirty drum & bass is standing alone towards the back looking for me. It's been a real enjoyable position to be where I am in seeing this guy that I once annoyed on ICQ when I was 15 and he was a happy hardcore dj from nowhere Oklahoma turn into this amazing producer that the kids really want to see. I'm proud of my friends when they do good, and he's gone above and beyond the call, especially since he's the same good natured Oklahoma boy at heart. We stood around and talked and caught up until his set started. I convinced him to throw in the Humpty Dance for a wedding of an old friend of his coming up, cause you gotta. God, it'd been so long. Aside from being a friend, I have a serious respect for him and a deep deep love for his music.

But seriously, last night, he fucking tore shit up (click for dark phone pics). It was so dirrrrrrrrrrrrty. And they loved it. I stayed right up front the whole time, so I couldn't really tell, but I'm pretty damn sure I was the only one in the place not dancing. And well, I just don't dance, especially if he's up. I just watch, nod my head, stand as close to the speakers as possible, just listen to the beats and watch him work. Yes, one of "those" kind of junglists, fucker.

There were a lot of kids going up to the speakers and just feeling it. I just get so excited over this music and love it so much when other people get into it. Drum and bass is easily my favorite type of music and I just get so damn passionate about it. AJ started off with a real glitched up rap vibe. He was purposefully going for a loud as hell sound with the tracks he chose, but definitely all dark dnb and darkstep for the night. Looked like there were some issues at the end, as he started to breakdown and they needed Milo wanted him to go a little longer, which gave him a chance to throw more songs in and end with the Where's the Score remix they did a couple of years ago. It's the type of track that lives for dance floor legend and something that can't really be followed up. The breaks are so wicked, and the DJ Hidden & Slacknote original has such precisely sampled vocals from Requiem for a Dream; combined with the EI signature dirty scratch breakdown it's mind-blowing. There's this silence to the music when the vocal sample hits, and then there's this certain suspense that comes when you're waiting for the dark breakdown on it, then suddenly everyone in the crowd throws a hand up and screams "YOU FUCKING LOSER" along with the song and a small version of hell compiled from 18-26 year olds who've been doing nothing but sweating to this guy for the past hour and a half breaks out.

And of course, he finished the set while all the kids were clapping by throwing up the rock. This guy will never change.

Unfortunately, the guy throwing the party, Milo, got a little too excited during AJ's set. Once he sat down the water and alcohol he was holding, he for some reason got so excited over it all that he decided to chest bump me. Except he's about 6'4 and a guy. Meaning this guy decided to suddenly flatten my chest by throwing his body weight on me. It completely knocked me back and it took me a minute to catch my breath, more so since he had decided to let the smoke machine go full blast with all it had a few minutes before and I am still recovering from last weekend's sickness. When I got home around 3 my chest was still hurting. I was extremely pissed off for quite awhile, and was even bitching to AJ about it after his set when we were walking out since Milo caught him at the last second. But I hit up Milo on AIM today as soon as he got on, and got an apology the minute I threatened his balls.

The guy after AJ, Timid, was happy hardcore to the extreme, so I just waited for everyone to clear out and walked out with AJ and then left after I got to say goodbye to Edward. I have no problem paying $12 to see AJ and he had a really great set, but I really just wasn't feeling the rest of the acts. The guy before AJ I didn't get into until his last 10 minutes up.

And because I love everything AJ does (except for that one song back in like 99 when he sampled the ICQ "Incoming File Transfer" clip. Eh.), and because I know most of you are into the Ambient IDM side of things, go download the music from his side project, Slow Funeral. I recommend The Rain Wall most of all. Beautiful track. Nice ambient style, with just a little glitch showing through. A little more glitch in The Start of Something Beautiful, but it gives it a texture that makes it raw and sexy. A couple guys asked him when there'd be more of this and he mentioned he had a bunch of tracks that need to be finalized. Let's hope that's soon.

Also, they just released a mixed cd for their label (more info below) and finished shooting footage for their own Dvd, "Negative Media."

Repruhzent? Boh.

Now in other areas current heavy rotation:

Nouvelle Vague cover of Too Drunk to Fuck is a definite win. I enjoy this CD a lot, but a loungey Dead Kennedy's cover will melt my heart and lead to me making breakfast the next morning wearing one of your shirts. It's that kind of awesome.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - name says it all.

Hard-Fi. Scott passed this my way previously, but I only recently got to listen to the album in it's entirely. Quite possibly my favorite from this year, mainly due to the song Hard to Beat. Infectious is the only way to describe it. Rock that really makes me jump up and dance around the house.

Us Against the World from Barcode Recordings - Coming from the main label of the above mentioned The Enemy and Evol Intent, my boys had the pleasure of mixing the best of Barcode Recordings recent singles for the first disk of this compilation. If you like the down and dirty jungle, this is for you. The second disk has some of the singles unmixed for your pleasure. And it's in major retail locations.

Say Hi To Your Mom - Ferocious Mopes. This is kinda chord heavy. It's kind of like Minus the Bear, if the lead singer was channeling Nico's style of vocals. But instead, we've got Eric Elbogen with rough vocals, simple music that sounds like electropop shoved through a "let's rock" filter. I thoroughly enjoy it, and the song titles have such humor in them, that I want to find this Eric guy and demand we get married immediately. I know he'd love me. I'm certain of it. Seriously, go to the site and download the full songs they have available. Start with Dimensions and Verticals. I can't say enough good things. They came to Lawrence in June and I must say, I absolutely hate knowing I missed them.

The Most Serene Republic. Just go fucking listen. Very laid back rocking feel. Spacey vocals. It's summed up best on their website "TMSR sound like indie-rock androids" Yes they do, and I love it. Really though, you can't go wrong with anyone on A&C.

And I just had a weird thought. Why didn't any of us buy Adam the big foam shocker hand for his birthday?

09/09/2005 - Blackalicious - The Bottleneck
09/10/2005 - Interpol - Uptown Theatre
09/12/2005 - Minus the Bear / Thunderbirds are Now - Granada
09/15/2005 - The Kills - Granada
09/15/2005 - Willie Nelson - Midland Theatre
09/20/2005 - Decemberists - Granada
09/21/2005 - Augustana / Cartel / Acceptance - El Torreon
09/21/2005 - From Autumn to Ashes - Granada
09/21/2005 - Sufjan Stevens - The Bottleneck
09/21/2005 - Local H - The Hurricane
09/21/2005 - Coldplay / Rilo Kiley - Verizon Wireless
09/22/2005 - Franz Ferdinand / Pretty Girls Make Graves - Uptown Theatre
09/27/2005 - Mates of State / Doris Henson - Granada
09/27/2005 - Blindside / Trapt - Beaumont
09/29/2005 - Mono / Bellini - Jackpot Saloon
10/01/2005 - Shiny Toy Guns / Vibralux - Bottleneck
10/07/2005 - Violent Femmes - Madrid Theatre
10/10/2005 - Mike Doughty - Grand Emporium
10/11/2005 - Sleater-Kinney / The Gosspi - The Bottleneck
10/15/2005 - Thrice / Underoath / Veda - Beaumont
10/15/2005 - Bloodhound Gang - The Hurricane
10/15/2005 - Stutterfly / Change of Pace - El Torreon
10/17/2005 - Appleseed Cast - Granada
10/20/2005 - The Most Serene Republic - Bottleneck
10/22/2005 - Slipknot - KC Intl Raceway
10/23/2005 - Dar Williams - Liberty Hall
10/23/2005 - Swords / Dios Malos - Replay Lounge
10/24/2005 - Opeth - Bottleneck
10/29/2005 - Hawthorne Heights / Silverstein - Granada
10/31/2005 - Feist / Broken Social Scene - Granada
11/01/2005 - Nickel Creek / The Ditty Bops - Uptown Theatre
11/04/2005 - MOTHERFUCKING HENRY ROLLINS - Liberty Hall
11/10/2005 - Fall Out Boy / Motion City Soundtrack - Uptown Theatre

Posted by Courtney at 03:47 AM | Comments (1)