VAGUE SPACE

Jersey Proud

Courtesy of Switsky, here's a nice look into the mind (if you want to call it that) of a certain type of NJ beachgoer that these filmmakers are calling "Guido"s.  I think we've all seen them and I think this video is a pretty decent representation, and pretty damn funny, but the ending is hilarious, especially for anyone who wants to see a drunken chick fight.  Just wait until you see "Jen".  I know this isn't normally Vague Space material, but it's been a slow week.  This is all I've got.

Giro Recap #2

Russian Denis Menchov of Rabobank won the centenary edition of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, with relative ease, beating out 2nd place Danilo DiLuca by 20 seconds on the final individual time trial into Rome despite a crash in the closing kilometer on the slick, wet cobbles leading to the finish line.  Overall, his lead over the plucky Italian was 41 seconds, but in reality it wasn't nearly that close.  Menchov pulled away from the pack at the top of the mountain on the decisive 5th stage and then won the first time trial stage outright to give him the pink jersey.  After that, he simply defended every attack -- and DiLuca attacked relentlessly, but at no point did he ever put Menchov under pressure.  Rabobank has been criticized for years for coming up small in major races despite a big budget, but they came up big this year, or at least Menchov did -- he had little to no support on the mountains and still got the job done against the likes of DiLuca, Ivan Basso, Carlos Sastre, and third place Franco Pellizotti.  Perhaps now the stain of the Chicken is finally gone for Team Rabobank.

Menchov has actually fashioned himself an impressive career in big stage races, as this is now his third Grand Tour victory (to go along with 2 Vuelta d'Espana victories) and he has at least a couple top 5 finishes in the Tour de France.  He may not be able to climb the largest mountains of the Tour with Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, but in these smaller mountains of the Giro, he was very impressive.  Equally impressive was DiLuca's effort, as he came here to win and did everything in his power to do so.  And if it weren't for Menchov's lightning quick change of bikes after his crash on Sunday, crowd favorite DiLuca may have brought home his second Giro title.  Sadly, it was not to be, but it wasn't for a lack of trying.  On almost every closing mountain in the final week, DiLuca launched attack after attack on Menchov but just couldn't quite shake him.  In reality, Menchov probably could have sped away from the Italian if he wanted to, but he didn't need to, and so it provided for some very exciting racing in the final week.  This is the first time I've watched the Giro in its entirety -- it was the first time it's been available for viewing here in America, I think -- and I have to admit that it wasn't nearly as thrilling a race as the Tour de France (or some of the spring classics on Versus this year, FWIW), but DiLuca made it interesting in the end and turned it into some exciting viewing.

Reunion, aka Fuck I'm Old

Everyone looked the same, or at least similar, which is both surprising and impressive and I would detail how well everyone looked but I'd be afraid to leave someone out.  The scary part is... despite the fact that my old classmates hadn't changed much, I had such trouble remembering everyone.  Thank god we had name tags, because I spent all evening looking at everyone's chests -- to read their names (get your mind out of the gutter, Lenny) -- to place the face with the name because otherwise I had absolutely no clue.  I saw Heather when I first walked in, and I did recognize her at least, and we had a real nice chat but all the while I was looking around to see who else was there, and from a distance... I knew no one.  Is 20 years really that long of a time, or have all the brew fests in Vermont killed my brain cells?  I'm not sure.  But it's not good.  I saw Chris -- who I'd just seen at the Phillies game, so I had no problem recognizing her -- and then I saw my cousin Linda and my parents' neighbor Barb (who grew up down the street from me), so I knew them.  Harry was at Rowan with me, so I knew him, and Melody I'd seen during and after college (but not in 10 years at least!) and she looked the same (even after 3 kids!) so I guess there were a lot of people I eventually recognized, but for the most part, I struggled.  Even people who knew me and talked about things we'd done together I had trouble placing, a couple even with a name attached (agh!)  Luckily, Heather had her yearbook and Chris and Linda were pointing out everyone's old yearbook photos to jog my memory.  That helped a bit.  And clearly girls have a lot better memories than guys.  Or at least me.  The scary part was seeing my note/signature in Heather's yearbook, which I didn't at all recognize as my own, until the part I wrote about the science fair, which obviously had to be from me.  I was a big old nerd in high school.  So sad.  But we had some good times.  Everyone looked really, really good, though, and I was real happy to have gone.  Special thanks to Chris, Heather, Ronda and everyone else who helped organize it.  It never would have happened without your efforts.  And how the hell did it only cost $55 for the hall, dinner, a DJ, and an open bar?!  Very impressive.  And the open bar?  Very impressive indeed. 

Spring (or actually Summer) Arrives

Wow.  It got hot fast.  I remember wearing my winter coat and complaining about it a week ago.  And then it hit 90 today.  Not that mind.  I'll take 90 any day over a winter coat, but you know, usually we have a little prep time in between -- something that is typically called "spring."  Of course, that was back before global warming trimmed the number of seasons in New Jersey from the unwieldy four to a much more manageable two -- "Hot" and "Fucking Cold".  And the fucking cold this year was pretty bad - snowy and miserable for all of December and January at least, although things did sort of calm down the last two months and now... "Hot" is here.  So, um, cool?  Yeah, I usually don't have my air conditioner on in April, but there's no way I can sleep tonight without it.  On the bright side, electricity is slightly cheaper than heating gas, so even though I'm going broke trying to regulate my home's temperature, it'll be at a little slower rate in the coming months.

I do need to make a request for my readers -- especially anyone who cooks.  I have been challenged to a "Throwdown" (a la The Food Network's "Throwdown with Bobby Flay") in the coming weeks, which will include celebrity guest judges (or friends of ours), a lot of trash talking, team names, aprons, and, hopefully, a victory by yours truly.  The only problem -- well, not the only problem, but the biggest one, is that I can't cook.  So that will make the winning a little more difficult.  We were going to have a chili throwdown but due to the "Hot" that I mentioned earlier, we were thinking of going a different direction.  But there's very few things that both of us can make, so right now, it's either the chili or buffalo wings or something else we can come up with.  So I'm asking my readers to make some suggestions of what might be a good dish to challenge with, especially one that an amateur might be able to make well.  Any good recipes would be nice too.  And if anyone from central Jersey wants to be on my "team" for the event, please let me know.  You don't have to be able to cook, although that would help.  You will get your own apron.   And anyone is welcome, other than Rudnick, who will not be allowed at the contest site for various reasons.   That is all.  I'm going to go eat some leftover ice cream.  It's fucking hot in here.

Chicago

Here's all you need to know about my mid-week journey to Chicago for business.  On the one night I was there, we ate dinner at Olive Garden.  Seriously.  I flew to Chicago and ate at Olive Garden.  Yeah.  Business travel sucks balls.  Don't let anyone tell you differently.  And nothing against Olive Garden -- the meal was tasty enough -- but the last time I went to one had to be at least 15 years ago, with my parents, and there's probably half a dozen of them within 20 miles of where I'm sitting right now.  So I didn't really need to fly to Chicago to eat at one.  Or the Panera where we ate lunch.  Both days.  Seriously.  Now, admittedly, we were in Downer's Grove, not Chicago (about a 20 minute drive from O'Hare, 30  minutes from the city proper), but we could have driven in to see the city if we wanted to.  Unfortunately, I didn't even have a car and was forced to go wherever the team of engineers from my company chose to eat... which was Olive Garden.  Joy.  We didn't even have to go to some nice Chicago steakhouse -- Guy Fieri's profiled at least a dozen Chicago restaurants on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  But no, Olive Garden was the choice.  If I'd had my own car, I would have certainly left them to their own devices and gone into the city, but alas, I caved and spent the night watching The Office re-runs on TBS inside my hotel room.  Woo hoo!  Windy City!  Of course it was freezing and raining the whole night there anyway, so maybe it was all for the best.  At least they had Sam's White Ale on tap.  Believe me, I needed them.

Cuatro de Abril

My annual Final Four party took place this weekend and mostly went off without a hitch.  Well, besides the chicken wing soup disaster that Crystal miraculously saved and the fact that a 14-year-old scooped me on Facebook with his own, wholly inaccurate reporting of the night's events.  Oh, and all the teams that I needed to win lost in games that were mostly unwatchable (although I didn't actually watch any of them).  But other than that, things went well.  Everyone seemed to like my chili -- or at least they were being kind in their compliments -- and the meatballs also got raves, even if they were the same frozen meatballs with jar Ragu sauce that I "make" every year.  I had a beer or two (or three or four), but I was not as drunk as Tyler made me out to be, even after my unprovoked double shot of tequila when I heard Aaron had been into the Jose Cuervo.  You really couldn't blame me, though, with a combination of Jews, Puerto Ricans, Asian Americans, Irish Americans, and Switskys all gathered in my kitchen.  Not to mention a handful of kids running around my house and leaving Dorito crumbs all over my bedroom.  The party was fun.  The cleanup afterwards?  Not as much.

For Dan

I don't know what to say except that now I understand why so many people "cling to religion" as Obama once mentioned.  For your sake, I sure hope there is an afterlife and you're looking down on us and smiling.  You were a great friend, a great guy, and one of the first people to teach me the truth about politics after so many years in the Republican wilderness.  I wish I could say something -- anything -- to ease your friends' and family's pain, but I can't; my pain isn't going away either.  I don't know what else to say.  I'm truly sorry I never said it before.  Go Blue.

• Download Explosions in the Sky - "Once More to the Afterlife".mp3
• Download American Analog Set - "A Good Friend is Always Around".mp3
• Download Bonnie Prince Billy & Tortoise - "Daniel (Elton John cover)".mp3

Dim Sum

The only think I knew about Dim Sum was that the members of The Amazing Race forums on TWoP always meet the day after the big season finale party in NYC for Dim Sum at a local Chinese restaurant.  It seemed like a cool thing, even though I had no idea what it was or why I thought it was cool.  Today I found out.  And here are the results.

I walk into the Crown Palace off Route 18 in Marlboro to meet my party -- a table of twelve, including 10 Jews, a Chinese-American, a pregnant woman, several children, and Robyn Switsky.  No, this is not the beginning of an off-color joke.  This is my life.

Waiter 1:  "Huānyíng guānglín"

Jon:  "Xièxie."

Waiter 2:  "Wǔān."

Jon: "Zhèiwèi xiānsheng huì qīngdān/máidān."

Rud: "What the fuck did you just say?"

Waiters and Jon:  "Ha ha ha ha"

Ash Wednesday

Today at my office, the parking lot we share with the Roman Catholic Church next door was filled with parishioners heading to church at lunch time to get ashes on their foreheads.  For those of you who don't know the reason for the ashes, I'm probably not the best person to explain this ritual, but I know that Ash Wednesday is the official start of "Lent," a six-week period leading up to Easter, in which Catholics are supposed to be extra vigilant in their lamenting and atonement for their sins, I guess in order to feel a little more worthy of Jesus' sacrifice on Good Friday, when Mel Gibson and/or a bunch of Jews staked him to a cross and grossed a few hundred million dollars at the box office.  Or something like that.  I grew up Catholic and went to CCD every week for like 8 years (including several retreats where we played basketball and swam and learned all about how premarital sex was a sin), but I don't really remember the specific origins of Lent.  I know that we weren't supposed to eat meat today -- or on any Friday for the next six weeks, although fish is ok, so it's not an anti-protein thing -- and we're also supposed to "give something up," which typically was a food product that you love but is bad for you -- something like ice cream or all desserts, or if you're feeling particularly pious, all sweets.  You could also give up something else "bad" that you do -- smoking? drinking? whoring?  I'm not sure because as a kid, I always gave up food.  It was usually ice cream.  I mean, it's too cold to eat ice cream for the first few weeks of Lent anyway and I wouldn't exactly miss it for the rest.  I remember one year I gave up gum, because I used to (and still do) chew a pack of gum a day.  My dentist was probably grateful but I'm not sure if anyone enjoyed a conversation with me during those six weeks.  The point is -- when you're young, you'll believe in anything, and if your parents and your teachers and your priests and your relatives all tell you that it's perfectly normal to stick a big swatch of black ashes across your forehead on one Wednesday in February, you just do it and don't ask questions.  And you may moan about having to eat your mother's flavorless attempt at baked flounder yet another week, but hey, there's always pizza, and you can survive without pepperoni for a little while if it means you'll get into heaven.  Because that's really what this day is all about -- and all these religious rites that we choose (or are forced as children) to follow.  We're looking for eternal salvation at the end of our lives, for some mystery fantasyland described in our scriptures and our paintings and our stories and our myths.  And that sounds a whole lot better than an eternity in that really hot place down South (not Jacksonville, necessarily).  So if I had to brown bag peanut-butter-and-jelly or tuna fish for lunch for a few weeks, it seemed worth it.  Plus, there's the whole feeling of moral superiority (or at least spiritual significance) at believing that your sacrifice is for some greater good, even though, let's be honest, the only thing affected by your Friday eating choices are the sales of plain pies at the local Pizza Hut.

Happy Anniversary to Vague Space

On February 4th, Vague Space passed its 4th anniversary as a blog, 48 months of service to you -- the indie rock fan and/or Syracuse fan and/or friend of mine and/or bored reader of my strange brand of blog writing.  When I started this blog, I really didn't know what it would lead to, other than giving me a place to write what I wanted, when I wanted, about stuff I wanted to write about.  It has evolved into, I guess primarily, an indie rock/MP3 download site, because (a) I like spreading the word and talking about the music I love, and (b) hits have increased dramatically as a result.  I'm not sure what the future of the blog holds at this point.  At one time, I thought I could maybe get enough of a readership to make a little money at this, but that hasn't happened and isn't going to.  The Google Ads to your left barely cover the expenses of the site itself.  If more visitors clicked on the ads that might help (hint, hint), but I've long since hoped that this site would generate any worthwhile revenue.  But I never thought that I'd get the level of readership I've achieved and anytime I get an email or comment praising a post, that's worth a hell of a lot more to me than any few cents a click-through generates.  So I hope to continue writing for the indefinite future, if only for the joy that I can provide in a few readers.  And for more links like this -- someone appreciating all the time and effort that goes into making a post like this.

I myself used to read a bunch of personal blogs on a daily basis when I started this project.  Tomato Nation, Aaron Gleeman, Jeff Jarvis's Buzz Machine, and many others I've sadly forgotten in the past four years.  I used to go to indie rock blogs like Brooklyn Vegan or Stereogum or Gorilla v. Bear on a daily basis as well.  I'm not exactly sure why, but I really don't visit any of those sites anymore.  I'm busier now, I'm sure, but I still take time out every day - if possible - to visit USS Mariner and Beer Leaguer and Daily Kos and 538.com.  Each of those sites focuses on a specific interest of mine (Mariners, Phillies, liberal politics) while the sites I used to read were more general in nature -- just about the blogger's life and the subjects that interest them, which is how I fashioned this blog from the start and how it's continued through its existence.  I've thought at different times of having a more focused blog -- one that was only about indie rock, or one that was only about sports, but I never could decide and at this point - four years into the experiment, this blog is what it is and it's probably not going to change.  As long as I keep attracting readers, that's not such a bad thing.  And four years is a lot longer than I ever thought I'd go.  So happy anniversary to Vague Space.  Congratulations on a job... done.

• Download Stephen Malkmus - "Vague Space".mp3
  
• Download Smog - "Our Anniversary".mp3
• Download Morrissey - "Reader Meet Author".mp3
• Download MGMT - "Future Reflections".mp3
• Download Los Campesinos! - "We Are All Accelerated Readers".mp3