2002-10-11
Music, movies, weekend, posted at 6:41 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Even though I only taught three days this week, I am very ready for this weekend. My lessons have gone better than could ever be expected this week, but I'm still feeling a bit out of it. I haven't gotten as much sleep as I should have since returning, and I haven't gone to the gym yet this week. The one day I decided to give my body off after the tough five days hiking has turned into two, and is in danger of turning into three. I do plan on going this evening, though, so hopefully the big three won't occur.The weekend is unfilled and should be relaxing. I plan on going to Soundgarden and using the $15 gift certificate I got from Andi and Rob for my birthday a couple of months ago. I'm not sure what I'll buy, as India Arie and Sinead O'Connor both have new albums out. Plus, I've been wanting to repurchase John Mayer's CD for a while now, since apparently I lost my copy of it; it was an older version of Room for Squares that I got way back in August 2001 before he exploded. It's probably a collector's item now, and I lost it. Shit.
Then again, I could buy something totally unexpected. For example, is Justin Timberlake's solo CD out yet? The more I hear it, the more I'm convinced that "Like I Love You" - with its addictive acoustic guitar loop, Timberlake's surprisingly impressive vocal range, and the spoken word part where he says "drums" in the middle of it and the drum machines turn on - is the best song released this year. I guess my appreciation of silly pop music has now reached full swing. But the guy sounds like a modernized version of Michael Jackson, circa 1985. The song came on the radio on the way back from the camping trip, and I was surprised that all of my city kids loved the song as well. We all seat danced, and one kid, right before the drums part, said, "Okay, shhh, shhh, listen for it..." and then it came on and he screamed, "Bam! I love that part!". I had to agree.
I'm also digging that Cam'ron song "Hey Ma (We gonna get it on tonight)," which has got to be one of the funniest and funnest songs released in a while as well. It's got such a relaxed groove thing going on with it, and the goofy lyrics make me grin.
Then, there's the issue of Tracy Chapman, one of my all-time favorites, releasing an album on Tuesday the 15th. I love the single, and I know I'll get the album - I'm just not sure when. It's a tough time to be a broke music fan. What I do know is that I'll only buy one CD when I head to Soundgarden, using that gift certificate.
I also hope to go to the movies this weekend. I've been slacking on my film viewing, and the number of films I want to see has pretty much reached double digits. My priority viewing for the weekend is Michael Moore's documentary Bowling for Columbine, which I've wanted to see for months and is the featured film at the Cinema Sundays series at The Charles this weekend. The series occurs on Sunday mornings, and features a viewing of the film (usually one that hasn't been released yet), a continental breakfast, and a discussion afterwards. Hopefully I can find someone to go with. The film should be a doozy; I pretty much like anything that Michael Moore has done in the past, and this film - an examination of America's cultural hardon for guns and a look at why our annual shooting tallies are several times higher than any other country - is right up my alley.
Other films on my wish list include a couple of oldies that I can't believe I haven't seen yet - Road to Perdition (currently at the cheapo movie theater) and My Big Fat Greek Wedding - as well as a bunch of newly released films, like Igby Goes Down (I've heard it's sort of like a modern day The Catcher in the Rye, and stars one of my biggest crushes Claire Danes), White Oleander (I haven't heard one bad review about it), and Moonlight Mile (I've read a couple of good ones, and the trailer looked really good). I've got to get around to seeing them, because the movies are just about to get really good. Chicago sounds amazing and is the odds-on favorite to sweep the Academy Awards. Adaptation should be great. Ditto About Schmidt, 8 Mile, Solaris, Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers and Antwone Fisher. It'll be a good fall/winter movie season.
I spent a lot of time after returning from the long and pointless School Improvement Committe meeting last night (the meeting was over two hours, and I didn't get back until after 8) on adding photos and upcoming schedule dates to the website for my house concert series. It's looking good, and is all booked up through the end of the year. Sam Shaber's show next Saturday should be fantastic and I'm getting really excited about it. Next month, David Morreale is performing, booked on Goovie's recommendation. In December, Matthew Kahler, songwriting partner of Shawn Mullins and Atlanta-based performer, will be the musician. I'm also beginning to get more and more CDs from artists wanting to perform. I have a hard time saying no to people, but I'm doing my best. I have a little bit of concern with the website. I'm about to send out the big mailing list update tomorrow, and that, as well as all the fliers, advertise the website as http://get.to/nameoftheserieswhichisnothardtofigureoutbutijustdonotwanttojustgiveittoyouwithoutyouworkingforit, but I just tried it, and it didn't work. It's connected to my old college website, which has a really long address, and that site is working just fine. The http://get.to people are just redirecting the site, not hosting it. But the redirect isn't working at the moment. This is a big bummer; not sure what I'll do about that.
Oh well. It's Friday and payday.