October 2002

Judging by the way I was able to wring out my shirt afterwards—if not by the fact that my child-size fireman costume was still reasonably intact—I’d say a good time was had.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Lethargy month is drawing to a close. I’ve been out and about for the usual films and rock shows, but the time spent at home has been occupied with less will to be creative than to stare at the walls and play countless hours of TimeSplitters 2, which might be time better spent if the game wasn’t significantly less good than Perfect Dark. I’m in the process of lulling myself out of… See more →

Skeleton Key at the Balcony was a bit disappointing, as I noticed that singer/bassist Eric Sanko is once again the only surviving founding member, and the new dudes don’t really do it for me.

I finally saw Matt Pond PA play at the Troc and they were damn good, though I thought it a little odd to play a record release show virtually devoid of new material.

I’ve been back from Ottawa for nearly a week now and the annoying cold I contracted while I was there is on its last leg, so I am finally getting around to reporting on the festival. This was the third bi-annual Ottawa International Animation Festival I have been to; I counted seeing 162 short films in just about three days and for the first time there was nothing that really blew me away. Which is… See more →

Last night I went to the Philadelphia Ethical Society in Rittenhouse Square to see Mark Eitzel and the beautiful, beautiful Low. I was previously unfamiliar with Mark Eitzel and I really enjoyed his performance: intense, occasionally humorous acoustic folk, and his voice reminded me of the late Mark Sandman from Morphine. Low was awesome. Given their somewhat extensive discography, the set was perhaps a bit uneven with material almost exclusively from their last two albums,… See more →

I’ll be in Ontario for the next five days at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Some brief scattered comments before I leave:

One Hour Photo was a stale and boring waste of 95 minutes. I went to see it based on the strength of some decent reviews and the fact that it looked subtly creepy, and while I’ll concede that the production design (particularly set design and lighting) was exceptional, the story was practically nonexistent.… See more →