Weekend

Isis of the Grand Pyrenees

Check out Isis! She's eight. She's also being cast as a that flying whatever thing in a remake of The Neverending Story. Probably.

Nick Eddy = thorough

Writing about Britpop stalwarts put me in mind that I should bitch about how Oasis was always talked up as writing "perfect three minute pop songs" when all their songs were five minutes plus, but, on checking, I covered that more than a year and a half ago.

Thorough!

Brettt

So, wait - Bride is at a doctor appointment for le bebe, and I am hoping that some gum-snapping 23 year old nurse doesn't absent-mindedly let go with the news of baby's gender. We don't wanna know! We have names picked out for everything, barring a hermaphrodite.

That said, will venture that if we have another baby at some point it will be a boy, and, in deference to my refreshed obsession with Suede (thanks to re-issues, of which more next week - you can't wait!) and the fact that we are going to Virginia for the 4th as we do every year and that it was around last year's trip that Imperial Bedrooms came out (and was so very lousy, in the best possible way!), I say we name a boy Brettt, with three t's. Can't decide between the single Bret as in Ellis or the two as in Anderson.

The Bride's going to set me on fire when she reads this, so maybe there will be just the one.

ICU (get it?)

A friend all up in the ICU! It's okay, she's going to be fine. Still, this blog doesn't run itself.


Stuff seen on two visits to l'hotel dieu:















Good thing I left those yellowjackets in the truck!















Vision! Spark! Boss Kett smiles delightedly on hearing that not only are cars now self-starting, you can start them from inside your house!















The whole parking lot last night smelled of, um, jazz cigarettes in the cool night air. Probably had emanated from this hipster ride...



Going at 4:15 to see my friend's doctor...more pics tomorrow from the medical world, perhaps.

Maybe I will move to Savannah, too?

Gabe's pulling up stakes (and steaks) and heading south to teach the culinary arts in Savannah, G-A! Dumb, right? But he must, if he is to grow or something.

Anyway, if I could ignore the 100 degrees and humidity, I would move, too because there is a Taco Bell still rocking this ancient-ass signage:

Gardening at Night

Make this (duh)

Or, better, just get the ingredient stuff then have Gabe over and he will be unable to help himself and take over.


Anyway, cook some steak. While that's going, drizzle some quartered tomatoes and trimmed green scallions with a little canola oil and some salt and pepper. Put those on the grill as well. Let them get a touch blackened. Take them off. Drizzle with olive oil, fresh-squeezed lime juice and crumble queso fresco over veggies. Place them on cooked steak and FUCKING WIG OUT:


















Later, transcribe discussion between Kyle and my dad:

K: "Do you think the Tribe Called Quest guys will ever be friends again after that dumb Michael Rapoport documentary?"

D: "I used to know some limericks..."

Both: "..."

Why the eff does this exist?

They are selling these at the grocery...I mean, think about it. Someone has the dumb idea ["Hey, we can make team visors with Monchichi fur coming out where the head goes...it'll be CRAZY!"] then they have to go to all the trouble of having them made, contacting our Chinese Overlords and such. Then sell them at Kroger.

I'm old.

Best yard tool ever made?

Mother-in-law Joan (for it was she) bought a tree-trimmer doohickey that MUST be discussed.


This sucker has a ratchet system so that even a wuss like your humble scribe can take down a thick branch readily, sans hacksaw.


Tighten on desired spot on branch, re-ratchet and continue these steps til the sucker falls free.


Really, it WAS astounding.
















That brand again! Don't settle for imitations! I think she bought it from some guy called Sam [?].
















Risking Soviets stealing design here - but I have cleverly "poorly" centered illustrative photo so as not to show crucial "secret blade tip."




















"Tiiiimber and shit!" This felled branch was about 3" across!

Shameful

I know, naturally, that McDonald's is the essence of Evil or whatnot, yet that does not change the fact that I was craving a Royale with cheese, so I drove there - but when I arrived, I was swayed from Primary Mission Objective by the proffered new McNugget sauces. Maybe one would be revelatory, yo!

Well, no, the sweet chili, while good, was about the exact same of any bottled Thai sweet chili sauce.

But here's the thing - all these "exciting" new flavors and other newly festooned nugget-y offerings are a RUSE to distract one from the fact that nuggets (and the sauce tubs) are about HALF the size they were before. I mean, these nuggets are SMALL.

So, yeah, there's that.

Weekend

Ach du lieber! RACCOONS!

ONE street over! No more open windows for us, EVER. NO RABIES FOR BABIES, etc.

Image dump

Pretty geigh, this:

Serendipitous sign that the Clientele will be back

Old Alasdair from my beloved (the) Clientele is on Magnet this week with his bandmate from his new things Amor de Dias, which is fine, as he gently talks up such stray ephemera as Erik Satie and, you know, Soviet animation and...such. I feel pretentious just thinking about it! So good.



Anyway, one of his posts (on an eccentric [of course] UK photographer who goes into abandoned sealed-off areas to take pictures) featured this as an illustration:



















Now, what do you expect that I noticed about my mother-in-law's property we are rehabbing, just last night while we were putting in deadbolts?



This can ONLY mean the Clientele will do another album, and soon! AND it will have another in a series of those weird spoken word tracks I like.

Suburbia - so very far away...

[the scene - a ten year old on a bicycle on the sidewalk, a just-walking baby in a diaper, a mom on stoop]

Mom speaks:

"Get off your bicycle, pick him up! He's got a jar of fuckin'
pickles!"

[sure enough, the baby was carrying a jar of pickles down the street!]

Herding cat (items)

1. Look at little Griz, being a lady, paws all a-crossed!

2. Smokey, one of the Cement Yard Five, is getting "mean."

3. Vinnie and a duo to be named later (literally) lap up the last of the cream from Solstice Strawberry Night, in front o' Kelley's.

Escucha!