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Rachel.
Friday, 28 May 2004
Yellow jacket:yellow tumbleR

...so I'm gonna leave you
And I'd like you to leave me to leave you
But lover, believe me
It isn't because I don't need you
(You know I don't need you)
All I wanted was to be wanted
But you're drowning me deep
In your need to be needed
L'la. La la la, la la la la, l'la.

      Macaulay Culkin was on "Larry King Live" last night to promote his new movie Saved! If you get the chance to watch a repeat of it this weekend or read a transcript of the interview, I recommend it. Naturally, the people phoning-in questions had more intelligent things to say than the host. It was a successful interview on MC's part, as he came off as a cool, funny, intelligent kind of guy whom I would probably enjoy hanging out with.
      One of my favorite moments was when LK asked MC about the wild tabloid stories about him. MC basically said that they were all lies and gave an example. His lawyer (I think) had called him asking if he was "still there" because CNN had just notified the lawyer (I think) of MC's death by drug overdose. LK just moved right along to his next question. I couldn't tell whether he was trying to ignore the CNN dig, or if it was another instance of LK not paying attention to the interview he's in the middle of conducting. Funny stuff.
      Whenever I see an ad for Saved! I am reminded of a Momus song of the same name. But, y'know, they're both about Christianity, so I figured it was a coincidence. On "LKL" last night, they aired some clips from the film. In one, MC's character seems to paraphrase another Momus song--"I Want You But I Don't Need You"--in conversation. It could easily be another coincidence, but I now suspect that one (or both) of the film's writers is a Momus fan.
      I'll have to see it after my show this weekend to try to discern whether there is true Momus fandom involved or I'm just being OCD. Also, with his hair all bleach blonde in the movie, MC reminds me of an old classmate, Dan Noble. I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy it.

Posted by rachelcrane at 8:33 AM PDT
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Thursday, 27 May 2004
Lycopene? Because we like you!

      I bought this fairly new Vertigo comic yesterday called something like "Faith in Frankie". It's pretty good so far. Cutely drawn and kind of metaphysical, if that's the word I want.

Posted by rachelcrane at 4:21 PM PDT
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Wednesday, 26 May 2004
Sleepiness continues...

      I got home from LA around 1am. I should be home and able to lie down within three hours. That'll be nice.

      The photos from Sunday's TWoP Con are now available on-line. Some of them turned out quite nicely. I would, though, like to make the excuse that I'm still getting used to my Flashy camera. I'm sure I'll continue to make that excuse until it becomes obsolete and I buy another.

      I was in LA for the West Memphis Three fund raiser at the Improv. The asparagus was undercooked, but the performers were v. entertaining. All of the seats were good. We (Brooke and I) were especially close to the stage due to putting up with undercooked asparagus and all. When the person sitting in front of me wasn't leaning the wrong way I could see everything clearly. There were anti-Irvine jokes, anti-DJ jokes, anti-Bush jokes, anti-fertility therapy jokes. Loads of fun!
      Tenacious D, naturally, stole the show. They really are the most crowd-pleasing performers I've ever seen live. I felt envious of Darcy, 'cause she got hugs from the D. Lucky girl.
      There were many celebrities attending the event as well. That mostly just got on my nerves as people wouldn't get the fuck out of my way so I could use the restroom. I wanted to shout, "He's just [random celebrity]! Quit drooling and let me pee!" but I restrained myself. Also, Stanley Tucci is smaller than I expected.
      I don't know whether the entire staff of the Improv are aspiring comics, but they wouldn't stop trying to be funny. Their funny wasn't much good and felt tired and old. I decided that it must be their flair for working at a comedy club.

Posted by rachelcrane at 2:53 PM PDT
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Tuesday, 25 May 2004
A Sleepy, Busy Day

Let's update the database
Daily from our laptops
Using new vaporware
Palm deathtop

      Last night: a walk to buy chocolate chips and brown sugar (with a stop for videos along the way: Fright Night, Fright Night II and Bride of Chucky); polenta, spinach and halibut for dinner; watching some of "Fright Night" over dinner (fun cast. I mostly just fast-forwarded to watch Roddy McDowall, though, as he's my current obsession since last week); baking choc-oat-cran cookies for the KUCI fund drive bake sale; cropping and re-sizing the photos from Sunday; and to bed.

      Mom is slightly disturbed by the fact that the cat has been eating cat food. V. odd, as she usually holds out for left-over people food. It's about time, says I.

      This morning: slept-in 30min due to late night cookie baking and imaging; uploaded a zip file of what I thought were cropped and re-sized images (and turned out to be original Mac-only images, sigh), and rushed to KUCI to drop off cookies; got to work a little early; noticed image file mistake; got call from Mom saying that my cookies were left in the office and not taken to the bake sale (they'll be having another on Thursday, so I can't get too upset); bought Lord Love a Duck DVD online; went over schedule for coming months and noticed just how busy my life gets; feel tired and regret lack of bedding in my grey cube.

      Ooo! And Melissa's in town. We're soul mates, but she lives in Colorado now. And she liked my fund drive flyer cartoon without even knowing I'd produced it; further evidence of previously stated soul mate status.

Posted by rachelcrane at 1:39 PM PDT
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Monday, 24 May 2004
Happy about weekday names

...one more rung down that black ladder every day.
One more floor down the elevator to oblivion. What fun.
But the singularly awful one is being born.

      The AD TWoP Con yesterday was pleasantly fun. Everyone showed up and we got along well and there weren't too many awkward silences after introductions were made. It was nice to know that I could talk to anyone in the group and they'd probably not hate me and think I was a complete freak. Good times. Photos are off the camera and on the hard drive, and I will make it my goal this evening to get them online for posting tomorrow. I promise.
      Also, those fellow Arrested Development fans are just such cool people. They're funny and polite and easy to get along with. Best of all, many liked the idea of getting together in Orange County some time to visit the original banana stands and some other Newport Beach landmarks. That'd make a shorter drive for me, and I enjoy visiting Balboa Island, so I'm all for it. I love the Internet!

      Brooke gave me many books for my birthday, so now I have even more to read. That's good. I began reading The Man Who was Thursday while in LA. Much goodness so far. Although the main plot isn't incredibly ground-breaking, it made me think that Mutant Enemy may have been inspired by it for the final Angel plot with the Black Thorn people. There certainly wasn't much forethought in those last few episodes.
      The way Angel explained his plan sounded like however the writers explained the plot. "Well, we killed Fred, but we don't have time to develop Illyria. We need to use Fred's death for the good of the overall arc. Let's pretend that Angel had something to do with Fred's death, 'cause that would've been really evil of him. Also, the way we've dealt with culpability for Fred's death just didn't include enough explosions and breaking-down of doors. This'll be far more fun and self-indulgent and should keep the fans in a good mood until the Firefly movie hits theatres."
      Seriously, Angel actually said something like, "I needed Fred's death to count for something, to use it for the greater good." Too bad Joss didn't get that G.K. Chesterton-style plot inspiration until he was told the show was cancelled.

      Saturday night, Brooke and I saw Coffee and Cigarettes. I hadn't even known that it was screening in LA yet. The ads just pimp the fact that Bill Murray's in it, but it's full of lots of entertaining celebrities. For instance, Cate Blanchett in a dark messy wig reminds me of J.K. Rowling. And sometimes Alfred Molina (happy birthday!) really needs a hug. It's a v. funny movie and I highly recommend it. Oh, and in the last vignette, the man on the right hand side of the screen reminded me of Andy Warhol, if Andy had lived so long and wound up working some dull job.

      Friday, I caught the last hour of Lord Love a Duck starring Roddy McDowall and Tuesday Weld. Mom and I watched it together years ago, not knowing anything about it other than the title, which still makes no sense. We found it very amusing, but couldn't tell right away how sincere it was meant to be. By the end we figured that it must be a dark, satirical kind of film. So watching it again with that in mind made it far funnier, but since I missed the beginning and have a crap memory I'm a little lost as to how the relationship between the leads came to be. It's an odd relationship.
      The whole movie's v. v. funny, and I recommend it if you enjoy satire. It is available on DVD, 'cause I looked for it at the Virgin Megastore in WeHo on Saturday. There was a card for it in the rack, but no actual discs, so it was just sold-out. I'll be stopping by Borders on the way home this evening.

Posted by rachelcrane at 10:37 AM PDT
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Friday, 21 May 2004
Oh please!

      If Chloe is actually dead, I will not watch Smallville anymore. Less Michael Rosenbaum viewing, but also less frustratingly poor narrative fiction and more free time.

      KUCI's annual fund drive began today at noon. If you love me you'll make a tax-deductible donation for a lovely premium of your choice!

      Jason Forrest

Posted by rachelcrane at 3:46 PM PDT
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Tuesday, 18 May 2004
Nothing much.

      Were it not for my commitment to post to this blog at least once per weekday, there'd be nothing at all up here today.

      Dad's in Canada on business. Mom and I are having dinner together tonight, followed by me ranting to the KUCI trainees for a little while. David brought home the Return of the King DVD last night, which is why I was running a little late this morning. Ah, Billy Boyd and his Pantene ad hair!

      There have been more and more entertainment media writing that Arrested Development will be renewed for a second season. Only two more days until it's official. Then the TWoP Con this Sunday. I'm so excited! The whistles are scheduled to arrive today. Yipee!
      I've never put together a fan meeting before. I hope everyone will have a good time. It would be so very fun if anyone from the production actually showed up. I'm not counting on it, but it'd be v. v. fun.

      The KUCI General Manager applications are out. I wanna be GM. I want it so badly. I have such plans. I want to make people happy with my plans. I love KUCI.
Gee, I'm excitable today. Maybe it was all those M&Ms and fruit snacks.

      Oh, and the Fabulous Lorraine (aka assistant to Neil Gaiman) finally got back to me to assure me that Mr Gaiman will have time for the media when his new book's done. Now I have both a new book and an interview to look forward to. And she really is Fabulous. Not many people are able to convey fabulosity through e-mail, but Lorraine finds a way.

Posted by rachelcrane at 3:56 PM PDT
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Monday, 17 May 2004
Entertainment news, are you surprised?

      If you plan ahead to attend Coachella and you book a hotel in Hollywood, you're just stupid. I'm not trying to be rude, but that is pure stupidity. I could rant for quite a while about how some people seem to think that the only thing in California is Los Angeles and the rest of the state is a vast wasteland, as well as the ease of locating hotel information when you have internet access, but I'll stop now.

      Rumors are that Arrested Development will be picked up for a second season. The official announcement will be on Thursday, but I'm happy today. Yay for Arrested Development! Thank you Fox!

      Yesterday's show was depressing. (See playlist below.) I decided to not fall back on playing old music that I love. Therefore, I played anything out of new releases. That was a bad idea. I really want to find new music by wonderful people to broadcast, but the world isn't helping me any. I am v. sad that I was unable to find any good music that I hadn't heard before yesterday. Most of the electronic stuff I found was basically 21st century disco, and the rock section is painfully yawn-evoking. ~sigh~ I'll be in Marina del Rey next Sunday, so I'll have a sub. I hope that by the time I return to my music show on May 30, we'll have some good new music at the station.

      I plowed through both Sandman: Season of Mists and Death: At Death's Door over the weekend. Being able to read them back-to-back is one advantage to waiting so long to read any Sandman comics. Then, of course, I had some bizarre Sandman-inspired dream. That character is such a drama queen.

Posted by rachelcrane at 12:06 PM PDT
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Sunday, 16 May 2004
Very flouy playlist for today
Listen online at kuci.org

Artist . Song . Album . New Release?
1. Mochipet . Nelly vs. Poor Kakarookee (Venetican Snares) . NR
-2. The Porter Project . Gigolo . The Porter Project . NR
3. Slow Train Soul . Illegal Cargo (reprise) . Illegal Cargo . NR

-4. Frankie Knuckles . Journey . A New Reality . NR
5. Arto Lindsay . Jardim Da Alma . Salt . NR
6. John Beltran . Dia Brioso . In Full Color . NR
7. Metamatics . 4am on Spectre Canal [John Foxx Remix] . Music for Heroes comp. . NR

8. Tyrant . Electro Radio Mix . NR
a. Ectomorph . Subversion . Interdimensional Transmissions
b. Silicon Scally . Proteus . Firewire
c. Sync 24 . Sense 3 . Touchin Bass
d. Matt Carter . The Stand . Varial
e. Cultek . Intra Red . Touchin Bass
f. Point B . Knowone . Erratica
+g. Volsoc . Compuphonic Intelligence . World Electric
h. Justin Berkovi . The Lair . Djax

9. Bizzart . Hivek . Ear Drung . NR
10. Languis . Constellations . The Four Walls . NR
10b. Skalpel . Asphodel . Skalpel . NR
11. Prefuse 73 . Odd Job Discrimination [Ramen Noodle Version] . Odd Job Discrimination EP
Request: West in NB
12. Nickodemus & Osiris . Jaadu (Magic) . Rare Elements: Ustad Sultan Khan . NR

13. Momus . Corkscrew King . 2005 Album . PC
-14. The Race . Rose . Rose . NR
15. The Magnetic Fields . It's Only Time . i . NR . PC

-16. Intuit . A Hard Day's Night . Intuit . NR
17. Diplo . Don't Fall . Zentertainment 2004 comp. . NR
18. The Dorkestra . Try Handcuffs . Merry Tales and Fractured Melodies . NR

19. FNDMNTL . Fireside . Subduction . NR
20. The Mysterious Poufs . B-Side Love . WNRTTROTMPR . NR

21. Teargas & Plateglass . An Age of Dust (with Lil Gong) . Teargas & Plateglass . NR

Posted by rachelcrane at 12:05 PM PDT
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Thursday, 13 May 2004
Every Green Boat Delivers Flan

But nothing's going to change
This painted frown
And I know
I looked all over town

      "I Looked All Over Town" by The Magnetic Fields is a sad song, but it makes me happy to hear it. The lyrics are fun to sing and the tune & instrumentation make me smile. Yay for The Magnetic Fields!

      This article from The Onion reminds me of how I used to feel at Comic Con every summer. Not exactly, as I'm not flirty in any circs, and never dress in wacky character costumes besides, but it's close. Not anymore, though. It's far too mainstream. There have been lots of female Comic Con attendees in the past couple of years. I like it better that way. (I don't like the fact that there are now fewer geeks and more random blockbuster movie fans, but more female attendees makes me happier.)

      I'm now tracking the white plastic whistles that I bought for the Arrested Development TWoP Con on March 23. I was surprized at how difficult it was to find white plastic whistles. They mostly come in black plastic or chrome. Another popular whistle color is safety cone orange. I found a few sites that had every color of the rainbow, even with different shades of the same hue, but no white. There were only two places that had white plastic whistles, and one didn't have online ordering because they're the manufacturer (and, oddly, the American Whistle Corporation's 'Patriot' line of plastic whistles comes in the following three colors: red, white and black). UPS says they should be here on Tuesday, just in time! Well, with a few days to spare, for which my nerves are thankful.

      I'm so glad it's Thursday. I get paid tomorrow.

      Oh, I finished reading The Shadow in the North last night! It was pretty good and seems to set up the next book in the series pretty well. I was sorely disappointed that Mr Pullman employed such a tired cliche on the very last page, though. You can skip the rest of this post if you don't want to be spoiled on some plot points.
      Anyways, he does that stupid, predictable story in which two people sleep together once, soon after which the male party dies. In her mourning, the female party discovers that she is pregnant. I even saw it not that long ago in Cold Mountain. It's just so yawn-evoking! Oh well. At least it's the only thing by Mr Pullman that I've read that I really didn't like.

Posted by rachelcrane at 3:23 PM PDT
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