Briscoe, RIP

I am really upset about the death of Jerry Orbach. Lennie Briscoe was the muthafuckin' man. The only TV cop better for me is the great Andy Sipowicz. I remember being in a really shitty mood one evening. I was on my way to meet friends for drinks in the East Village. I was walking up the stairs of the 2nd Avenue F stop and I saw a trailer. In the window was Jerry. I had seen L&O filming tons of times (my home subway stop was a favorite for all the station scenes), but I had never caught a glimpse of Jerry. It made my day. I'll be raising a club soda with lime to you tonight, buddy. (Oh, and Pico, I know you're as upset as I am.)

america's next top whaaaa?

Miss Eva. Oh well. At least it wasn't Yaya.

Dando didn't disappoint, rocking my trifecta of "Hannah and Gabi," "Stove," and "Mallo Cup." When, however, did the man get such a, um, male fanbase? I'm talking flannel-shirt-and-white-baseball-hat-wearing "guys" who make up dumb rituals during the shittiest of songs. I felt like I was at a Phish or TMBG show. It was very strange. I thought it would mainly consist of 30something women like myself who were totally hot for him in the early '90s. It was fun, though.

Finally, as is L'il Erika, I'm a fan of my morning CNN crew. I just watched my girl Daryn Kagan blubber all over Dennis Quaid, mentioning, "I've been a fan since Breaking Away." It was way too cute. And she mentioned Breaking Away!

i've never been too good with names but i remember faces

Those of you who knew me in college will appreciate this: Tomorrow night, for the 8 millionth time, I'm going to see this guy. Why am I such a geek? Especially since I will probably be wildly disappointed. Oh well. Should be a fun time. It's good to get your 1992 on every once in a while.

twiddling the knobs

John Vanderslice is immensely talented and one of my favorite people on this planet. He has started a recording diary for his new album, which is due out next August. It's heavy on the technical stuff, so my darling fiancé will understand it a hell of a lot more than I will. I just think it's fascinating that JV's documenting his creative process.

like on jeopardy...

...it's potpourri day.

First off, this truly sucks. I can't say I've ever been a Pantera fan, but I get really upset whenever something like this happens at a rock show. I was choked up about that horrific fire in Rhode Island a few years ago as well. As someone who has spent her own fair share of time in nightclubs watching bands, it upsets me that people can be killed just for deciding to go out and have a good time. It's a shame. But enough of being sanctimonious Debbie Downer.

Kieran, this is for you. I love when mainstream media try to cover an academic journal article because it's so "wacky" that people study certain things. It really pisses me off when the media try to make some piece of effects research into incontrovertible proof that TV turns children into sociopaths. I'm not trying to be an elitist asshole (because lord knows how much I hate them in academia), but there are subtleties to the research that just can't be relayed in a 500-word piece on CNN.com. And don't get me started on the whole "wow, look at how much time and money these people are wasting studying things like the word 'dude'" tone of these stories. Ugh. Rant over.

And finally, a question: Should I go see Ted Leo tomorrow night? Honestly, I realized three weeks ago that the reason I find his music slightly grating is because it kind of sounds like Rush. (Seriously. Think about it the next time you hear him.)

coffee hangover?

Are these even possible? I woke up this morning with a splitting headache, something akin to what occurs after a long night out. All I did yesterday was drink a crapload of coffee. Who knew caffeine withdrawal was so sudden? Of course, I am now out of coffee and am drinking tea. Fascinating, I realize...

I had some kind of commentary about some kind of pop culture crap, but that's forgotten now.

exhausted

28 page paper. Written in two days, down to an hour before it was due. I'm exhausted. I'm watching The Daily Show, but only because I refuse to go to bed within an hour and a half of getting home from school.

cranky mccrankypants

I'm in a foul mood today. I'm sure much of it has to do with the 20-25 page paper due tomorrow that I'm writing right now. ("Right now" actually is a lie. I've yet to write a word, but I have done a whole lot of formulating in the past 4 days, including watching 10 hours of Freaks and Geeks, American Dreams, and That '70s Show. I don't want to watch TV anymore. That is how bad this is.) I just want this thing done, which it will be by tonight. It's just the actual writing that I despise.

everything old is new again

Why is it that the last few albums I've bought have been by artists I dug (heh heh) when I was in my late teens? American Music Club, U2, Paul Westerberg...am I becoming nostalgic too early? Is it because today marks the beginning of the last month of my 20s, therefore causing me to go back a decade to when I actually looked forward to getting older? Am I asking too many questions? Probably. I just felt the need to fill some space here since I haven't updated.