Memorable Quotes: Lap Dance

"Oh, great! Here we go. I'm just another cock getting wired into the global economy. Uhhh, how should I look like? Bond-like neutrality? As though I'm so used to real-life naked women? Or, don't want to be rude... smiling encouragement? That's not a leer, is it? Got to avoid the leer at all costs. And the dribble. Oh God, she looks amazing. This really should not be allowed. This is what men want and we shouldn't be allowed to have it because it's horrible and it make you feel sick! Oh great, now I'm getting an erection. How grimly predictable."
- Mark Corrigan, Peep Show

Odds & Ends: Ice, Traveling, Repeating Oneself, YouTube

Thoughts while trying to get to sleep last night:

• I'm always torn over whether or not to get ice when I buy a fountain pop. On one hand, I prefer not to dilute the flavour of, say, my Dr. Pepper with a handful of ice cubes that will eventually water down the drink. On the other hand, no ice means that I have to plow through an oversized Dr. P in ten minutes or less, lest it get all warm and gross.
• I generally resent people who travel a lot, particularly overseas. I mean, I'm not a jerk about it, but it's there on some level. It's not necessarily a matter of being jealous -- often I wouldn't care to go to the places they're going. It stems more from the fact that I feel very protective of my own city and country, and almost take it as a sign of disrespect that these travelers are constantly trying to get away from it.
• When I'm talking to someone and they have to ask me to repeat myself a couple times, I feel really embarrassed, like I'm speaking way too low or mumbling. But when I have to ask someone to repeat themselves multiple times, I feel equally embarrassed, like they're speaking at a standard volume and my hearing is just awful. I should let myself off the hook in one situation or the other, right? But which??
• I don't really get people who can spend hours at a time on YouTube, clicking from one video to another. I mean, if there's a specific focus to their browsing (say they're watching performance videos for '60s songs and keep seeing related videos that look good), I sort of understand it. But random meme-ish videos? Ugh. Whenever someone links me to a video like this, I assume it will suck until it proves otherwise. This is why I didn't watch Double Rainbow until about a week after it blew up.
  
• Things I don't do nearly as much anymore that were a huge part of my formative years: Watch movies, go to live shows, chat on MSN.
  

Memorable Quotes: "Past Surprise"

"Past hope. Past kindness or consideration. Past justice. Past satisfaction. Past warmth or cold or comfort. Past love. But past surprise? What an endlessly unfolding tedium life would then become!"
-- Francis Wolcott, Deadwood

Some Contenders for Single of the Year

Hardly a comprehensive list...

Things I've Written

Randomly decided to take inventory of what I've written online since the Sports-Den/Xanga era. As far as I can tell/remember, it breaks down as follows:

• 1335 posts at One Thing I Did Today
• 1314 tweets under @jlukeadams
• 396 stories for MLB Trade Rumors
• 272 entries on Livejournal
  
• 142 entries at I Like These Lyrics
• 61 tweets under @championsblog
• 47 entries at One Thing I Remembered Today
• 39 posts at My Opinions On...
• 26 posts at These Are Things I Think About
• 25 Facebook notes
• 9 entries at Champions of America's Pastime
• 9 blurbs for OFG Radio
• 7 posts for MuchMusic
• 7 pieces (4 reviews, 3 features) for Stylus Magazine
  
• 5 entries for ExtravaDanza

Planning My Pitchfork Festival Schedule

Yes, I'm reviving this blog from the dead for a post that will mostly only be of interest to me. And maybe the handful of other people I know who will be at the Pitchfork Festival next month.

So let's do this. Green and bold is for artists I REALLY want to see. Red is for artists I have no interest in seeing. Black is for artists who I wouldn't mind seeing if the opportunity arises.

Friday July 16 (gates at 3 p.m.):

3:30 Sharon Van Etten (a)
4:00 The Tallest Man on Earth (c)
4:35 El-P (a)
5:30 Liars (c)
5:45 Hannibal Buress (b)
6:25 Robyn (a)
6:30 Wyatt Cenac (b)
7:15 Michael Showalter (b)
7:20 Broken Social Scene (c)
8:00 Eugene Mirman (b)
8:30 Modest Mouse (a)

Saturday July 17 (gates at 12 p.m.):

1:00 Free Energy (a)
1:00 Netherfriends (b)
1:45 Real Estate (c)
1:55 Sonny and the Sunsets (b)
2:30 Delorean (a)
2:50 Kurt Vile (b)
3:20 Titus Andronicus (c)
3:45 Dâm-Funk (b)
4:15 Raekwon (a)
4:45 Smith Westerns (b)
5:15 Blues Explosion (c)
5:45 WHY? (b)
6:15 Wolf Parade (a)
6:45 Bear in Heaven (b)
7:25 Panda Bear (c)
7:40 Freddie Gibbs (b)
8:30 LCD Soundsystem (a)

Sunday July 18 (gates at 12 p.m.):

1:00 Allá (a)
1:00 Cave (b)
1:45 Cass McCombs (c)
1:55 Best Coast (b)
2:30 Girls (a)
2:50 Washed Out (b)
3:20 Beach House (c)
3:45 Local Natives (b)
4:15 Lightning Bolt (a)
4:45 Surfer Blood (b)
5:15 St. Vincent (c)
5:45 Here We Go Magic (b)
6:15 Major Lazer (a)
6:45 Neon Indian (b)
7:25 Big Boi (c)
7:40 Sleigh Bells (b)
8:30 Pavement (a)

Now that I've written all this out, my schedule-making decisions look much easier. The only real problems:

• Wish the comedians were starting a little earlier Friday night. Not overly excited about El-P or Liars, and wouldn't mind having a few laughs instead.
  
• Big gap between Smith Westerns and Freddie Gibbs on Saturday. Guess I'll be getting dinner and watching Wolf Parade again during those hours.
• I wouldn't mind seeing ANY of the bands from Best Coast to Surfer Blood on Sunday, which means I'll have to pick and choose. I'm guessing after Best Coast, I'll catch a little Washed Out, then all of Beach House and at least some of Lightning Bolt out of curiousity.
• Sunday night is another tough one. Looks like I'll have to miss Sleigh Bells, which is too bad.
  

Favourite Moments in The Sopranos

My major TV-watching project this year has been watching The Sopranos. Lisa and I started watching it together around the beginning of 2010, but when I broke my arm in the second week of the year, it resulted in way too much sitting-around-and-resting time for me to wait for her to watch the rest. So, over the course of the last few months, I've plowed through the series' 86 hour-long episodes on my own. This culminated in a mini-marathon yesterday, when I watched the final six episodes and eventually, at about 1:30 am, saw that infamous "Don't Stop Believin"(*) final scene that I'd read so much about. Loved it. The performances, the story arcs, the dream sequences. It was all great.

(*) I'm on the fence about Glee as a whole, but the pilot for that show was fantastic, and pretty much defined by the performance of "Don't Stop Believin" at the end. Add that to this Sopranos episode and even a pretty solid moment in a third season episode of Scrubs and I feel like it's become the go-to TV-moment song. "Hallelujah," you're yesterday's news.

So, as a sort of instant, reactionary exercise, a few indelible moments from the series as a whole. Those who don't want to be spoiled should probably stop reading now, if you haven't already....

Livia and Junior conspire to kill Tony
1.10: Nobody Knows Anything
YouTube

I have to admit that it took me a while to appreciate how amazing Livia was as a character. The way she played the "poor me" (not to be confused with "oh, poor you") angle while subtly manipulating everyone around her was a pretty terrific character study. Her ability to put the idea of whacking Tony into Junior's head and then back away from any responsibility in these scenes is amazing.

The failed hit on Tony
1.12: Isabella
YouTube

The first really memorable action sequence involving one of the main characters, this scene was also a good example of how well The Sopranos utilized music to create a certain mood. Sure, The Wire's ability to avoid it altogether was admirable, but sometimes the right song, edited the right way, can have a huge impact. Here, it depicted Tony finally snapping out of a depression-induced haze and saving his life.



Livia's wake
3.2: Proshai, Livushka
YouTube

I'm glad this Youtube sequence is as long at is, but I wish it was even longer. Because the scenes leading up to the wake, showing how the various characters prepared for it, were tremendous too. But man... this scene just brings one great moment after another. Janice awkwardly forcing people to try to something nice about Livia. Fanny, the woman who Livia once ran over with her car, being the only one to say something nice about her. Chris, high out of his mind, delivering a nonsensical monologue that ended with him unable to remember what his point was. And finally, Carmela and her dad telling it like it is.

Ralph kills Tracee the stripper
3.6: University
YouTube

This was the episode that killed any notion I had that these characters weren't that bad. It wasn't just this horrifically violent scene, where Ralph destroys Tracee's dreams, then kills her and their unborn child. It was the treatment she received from a slew of the series' protagonists over the course of the hour. Because of this episode, the Kinks' "Living on a Thin Line," which Tracee dances to at one point, still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.

Jackie Jr.'s failed attempt to rob the card game
3.12: Amour Fou
YouTube

One of the best action sequences of the series, this reminded me of the episode in the second season of The Wire where Ziggy Sobotka seals his fate by shooting up Double-G and company. Jackie Aprile Jr. had been established as a screw-up, but to see him ruin his life in such dramatic, devastating fashion was mesmerizing.

Christopher's intervention
4.10: The Strong, Silent Type
YouTube

All due respect to Arrested Development, this is the most hilariously disastrous intervention I've ever seen on television. I'm not an expert on these things, but I don't think they're supposed to end with the subject of the intervention cracking his skull after being attacked by his supporters. The sequence also features one of my favourite exchanges in the entire series:

Silvio: "When I came in to open up one morning, there you were with your head half in the toilet. Your hair was in the toilet water. Disgusting."
Christopher: "I told you I had the flu!"
Silvio: "I said my piece, Chrissy."

It's impossible for me to watch this without laughing.

Tony and Carmela separate
4.13: Whitecaps
YouTube

The acting throughout the entire series was mostly superb, but if I had to point to one episode as a tour-de-force display of acting prowess, it'd be "Whitecaps." The domestic problems between Tony and Carmela came to a head in this one, and James Gandolfini and Edie Falco just nailed it in every one of their scenes. Incredible.

A.J.'s suicide attempt + Tony knocks Coco's teeth out
6.19: The Second Coming
YouTube + YouTube

One of my favourite episodes of the series in large part due to these two sequences. A.J. immediately regretting his attempt to kill himself but unable to save himself until Tony came home was one of the most devastating scenes I've ever seen on television. I have to admit there was times during the series when I wasn't a huge fan of Robert Iler (A.J.), but that sequence... wow. As for Tony's retaliation on the New York crew after Coco harassed Meadow... well, the series had some brutal moments, but Coco getting his teeth knocked out was the only one that made me yell at my screen in shock/disgust/whatever-else. Brutal.



The final scene
6.21: Made in America
YouTube

Everyone's already said everything that can be said about this scene and this episode, so I'll just add: I love it, and I'm totally on board with David Chase's style of television-making. I really like something he said in regard to the Russian from "Pine Barrens," whose whereabouts remained unknown: "They shot a guy. Who knows where he went? Who cares about some Russian? This is what Hollywood has done to America. Do you have to have closure on every little thing? Isn't there any mystery in the world?" I think the same could be said about the series' final scene. Who knows what happened after the screen went black. Whether Tony was killed, arrested, or continued to eat onion rings in peace is up for the viewer to decide, with the help of a slew of hints. And that's all I need. People who want everything spelled out explicitly are the most irritating kind of TV viewers, and I imagine I'll be saying the same thing on Monday, after Lost's series finale. Do you have to have closure on every little thing? Of course, in fairness, I also don't expect Lost to leave questions unanswered as effectively and interestingly as The Sopranos did. Kudos, David Chase.

OTIDT Outtakes: Tuesday April 27

Other things I did on Tuesday that could've been turned into One Thing I Did Today entries:

• When I was taking the Spadina streetcar to the baseball game, we passed a policeman on a horse walking down the street. Whether or not this is a typical occurrence (I certainly haven't seen it since moving here), it was such a bizarre thing to me. If this police officer sees a crime being committed, would he chase the criminals on horseback? This is 2010. Why are there horses roaming the streets of the biggest city in the country?
• At the Jays' game, we had the pleasure of sitting near a pair of attention-starved blond girls for an inning or two. They were so desperate for everyone in our section to notice them that they sported homemade Boston shirts and constantly cheered for the Red Sox despite admitting they didn't know a single player on the team; they loudly demanded to know where the beer guy was every couple minutes; they got the guy with them to take photos of them kissing.
• Part of my job for MLB Trade Rumors is to monitor our Twitter feed (made up of local and national baseball writers) for stories we can use. These writers often include lineup updates, and last night one Flordia Marlins beat writer made an unfortunate typo in one tweet. Rather than announcing that Cody Ross would miss the evening's game because he was feeling a little sick, the writer wrote that Ross was out because he was "feeling a little dick." That one got deleted quickly.