Half-Eaten Cookies 2.0

Jen and I headed to Red Rocks last night for one of the Film on the Rocks events: a couple sets by Boulder Acoustic Society, followed by a screening of Shaun of the Dead. Since it's nearly impossible to find a ticket to a concert at Red Rocks for less than $50-$60 after TicketMonster charges, it's pretty cool to be able to go see something at this incredible venue for a mere $12 ($10 in advance at King Sooper's supermarkets).

We packed a picnic: homemade gazpacho, hummus, veggies and fruit, but forgot to bring a blanket, so our arses were a wee bit sore by the end of it- Red Rocks has horribly uncomfortable bleacher-type seating, but you're rarely sitting during a rock show! The music starts at 7, and we arrived around 8. We got to listen to a DJ spin for a bit, and I thought we had missed Boulder Acoustic Society. They did come out for a second set, and it was about what I had expected- pretty good old-timey folk revival kind of stuff. I think they'd sound a lot better in a small club.

We had noticed a few people dressed in full-on zombie costumes wandering through the crowd, which was kinda cool. Then they announced that it was time for the zombie contest. They brought all 15-20 zombies on stage, and had the crowd vote by applauding. We couldn't see them well enough from where we were sitting, but the winner won a 2-day pass to the Monolith Festival. Not bad, eh?

Here's a super high-quality photo- that's a Sylvester cartoon that preceded Shaun, and the lights of Denver in the distance:

Nothing quite like the self-service car wash! One thing I've never really understood, though- what's the purpose of the foaming brush? I'm not sure what stuff the high-powered soap spray wouldn't take off the car that the soft brush would.

I saw Girlyman in concert last night at Swallow Hill- great stuff. They're a fun folk band, complete with stunning three-part harmonies, baritone guitar, banjo, mandolin, and more. Coincidentally, when I added the Hold Steady song "Girls Like Status" to iTunes tonight, I noticed how many songs I have that start with the word "Girl." So I decided to dedicate a post to these songs. But then I figured, why stop there? Here's a list of all the songs in my iTunes that have the word "Girl" in the title.

This doesn't include the bands Girl Talk and Indigo Girls, or the albums Boys and Girls in America (The Hold Steady), Some Girls (Rolling Stones), Girls Can Tell (Spoon), and Go Girl Crazy! (The Dictators).

Leading the way are the Stones, with 5 songs, followed by The Shins and Ryan Adams (3 each). After the list, I'll post a few of my favorite "Girl" songs.

By far the lamest part of any of the following songs is when Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson are talking at the end of "The Girl is Mine."

PM: Michael, we're not going to fight about this, OK?
MJ: Paul, I think I told you, I'm a lover, not a fighter.
PM: I've heard it all before, Michael. She told me that I'm her forever lover, you know?

Blah blah blah...and the worst part about it? Michael was probably talking about a girl. This is a pretty impressive collection of tunes:

• About A Girl    Nirvana
• All the Pretty Girls Go to the City    Spoon
• American Girl    Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
• Another Girl, Another Planet    The Only Ones
• Back Street Girl    The Rolling Stones
• Be My Girl/Sally    The Police
• Black Girls    Violent Femmes
• Border Town Girl    Los Lobos
• Breaking The Girl    Red Hot Chili Peppers
• China Girl    David Bowie
• Cinamon Girl    Neil Young
• Classic Girl    Jane's Addiction
• Country Girl    Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
• Cowgirl In The Sand    Neil Young & Crazy Horse
• Daisy Girls    Haley Bonar
• Dancing Girls And Dancing Men    Robert Pollard
• Distopian Dream Girl    Built To Spill
• Down Home Girl    Old Crow Medicine Show
• English Girls Approximately    Ryan Adams
• Extraordinary Girl    Green Day
• Factory Girl    The Rolling Stones
• Find Another Girl    The Hives
• First Girl I Loved    John Hartford
• Girl    Beck
• Girl    The Beatles
• Girl From The North Country    Bob Dylan
• Girl From The North Country    Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash
• Girl In The War    Josh Ritter
• Girl Inform Me    The Shins
• Girl On A Wing    The Shins
• Girl On Fire    God Street Wine
• Girl Sailor    The Shins
• Girls, What's Your Name?    Vicious Vicious
• Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine    The White Stripes
• Girl/World    Tim O'Reagan
• Girlfriend    Michael Jackson
• Girlfriend In A Coma    The Smiths
• Girlfriend Is Better    Yonder Mountain String Band
• Girlfriend is Better    Talking Heads
• Girls    The Beastie Boys
• Girls In Their Summer Clothes    Bruce Springsteen
• Girls Like Status    The Hold Steady
• Girls On Film    Duran Dura
• Glad Girls    Guided By Voices
• Glittering Girl    The Who
• Good Girl / Carrots    Panda Bear
• Good Morning Little School Girl    Grateful Dead
• Here Comes My Girl    Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
• Hey, Schoolgirl    Paul Simon
• Indian Girl    The Rolling Stones
• Jersey Girl    Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
• Joyful Girl    Ani DiFranco
• Let's Play Boys Chase Girls    The Blow
• Little Orphan Girl    Doc Watson
• Long Island Girls Rule    moe.
• Mama's Got A Girlfriend Now    Ben Harper
• Mountain Girl    String Cheese Incident
• My Girl    The Rolling Stones
• Nitemare Hippy Girl    Beck
• Nobody Girl    Ryan Adams
• O Girlfriend    Weezer
• Pretty Girl    Ween
• Pretty Girl From Chile    The Avett Brothers
• Pretty Girl From San Diego    The Avett Brothers
• Riga Girls    The Weepies
• Single Girl, Married Girl    Petra Haden
• Soldier Girl    The Polyphonic Spree
• Some Girls    The Rolling Stones
• Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others    The Smiths
• Southtown Girls    The Hold Steady
• Stole My Girlfriend    The Big Wu
• Sunken-Eyed Girl    Mike Doughty
• That's Really Super, Supergirl    XTC
• The Deaf Girl's Song    Cloud Cult
• The Girl Is Mine    Michael Jackson
• The Girl Underground    Cloud Cult
• The Long List of Girls    The Blow
• The Train That Carried My Girl From Town    Doc Watson
• The Vivian Girls Are Visited...  Sufjan Stevens
• These Girls    Ryan Adams
• To All The Girls    The Beastie Boys
• Two Guys (For Every Girl)    Peaches
• Typical Girls    The Slits
• White Girl    Soul Coughing
• You're A Big Girl    Bob Dylan

And, finally, one NSFW song. Don't ask why I have a Peaches album. I must have lost a bet, or something.

Well, kind of halfway between snow and hail- giant, heavy, wet chunks of slush plummeting towards the ground.

Telluride Bluegrass

Wow- it's been three years since I've been at a Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Too long. Leaving tomorrow morning, and boy, am I excited. Here are a few photos from last time:

One could argue that no sequels should ever be made (I'm talking specifically about flicks here). What are the odds that a sequel is worth watching? 10%? 5%? 1.5%

But, this one makes my blood boil:

S. Darko. Yep, a sequel to Donnie Darko. Apparently Donnie Darko creator Richard Kelly had to agree to sell a bit of his soul in order to get the original film picked up by a studio. Here's what he has to say:

I haven't read this script. I have absolutely no involvement with this production, nor will I ever be involved. I have no control over the rights from our original film, and neither I nor my producing partner Sean McKittrick stand to make any money from this film.

Although it's only an hour from Denver, I had only been to Lyons Classic Pinball once, when Steph visited in September. It was time to change that. I worked until 5 on Sunday, and then headed up towards Boulder right after work. The wind was absolutely insane- keeping the car on the road took a lot of effort, and I felt very bad for anyone I passed on a bicycle. I stopped at VG Burgers for a quick bite on the way up, and got to Lyons around 6:30.

When I got to the pinball joint, the owner was gone for a bit, which meant I couldn't get any quarters. So I headed next door to Oskar Blues, which was packed full of people grooving to the Spring Creek Bluegrass Band. So I grabbed a beer (they make some tasty brews there, including Dale's Pale Ale and Old Chub Scottish Style Ale), checked out some kickin' bluegrass, and played some old-school video games: Donkey Kong, Star Wars, and Tron.

After a bit, I made my way back over to the pinball joint, and played for about an hour and a half, spending seven bucks or so. They've got 36 machines, so I didn't come close to playing them all. I scored one replay (Simpsons Pinball Party), while also matching once for a free game. But overall, I played like crap. Just an off day, I guess.

Afterwards, I went back to Oskar Blues to watch the Celtics-Lakers game. With the Celtics dominating, and up by 24 with less than 8 left, I left for home. Then this morning, I read that Kobe led the Lakers on a 31-9 run after that, nearly pulling off the miracle comeback. Wow.

Here are a few photos from last September.