Who Wants to Read a 2 1/2 Year Old Review?

Hey folks,
I've been sitting in a Borders Cafe for the past hour or so, fidgeting, drinking coffee, nibbling at a chocolate chunk brownie and surfing the internet while not really working on any work. And it's been relatively quiet. So naturally, the minute I start to get anything done, some douche sits nearby, joined by a woman who he proceeds to talk too loudly at while generally just annoying me with his presence. And then some guy sits behind me and his phone doesn't ring so much as repeat "Uh oh!" until he picks it up. SO I figure the most productive thing I can do is finally finish typing out a restaurant/movie review that I wrote down in my notebook in the summer of 2007, with the intent on making it a regular feature of my blog, since, you know, eating and watching films were the most interesting things I was doing at the time. But, like everything else in my life, I never followed through with it.

I will probably find more of these soon, since I'm trying to write a novel, and as a result, have started a new blog cataloging the letters I've written to women on OkCupid.com that have not received responses. Procrastination is in my bone marrow, but at least now I'm procrastinating within the right paramaters (ie, writing). Now on with the much-delayed show!

J-Ro’s Day in Review Blog (originally written 6/19/07)

So, instead of being the weird guy who goes to diners or coffee shops alone, writing and staring at people, I’m the weird guy who sits at the sushi bar alone, writing and staring at people. But hey, I’m hungry and want to be outside (it’s officially dine on the patio season), and my movie doesn’t start for another hour, anyway. And the best part of eating here at Bonbori is that the waitress looks like an Asian Jennifer Aniston. I don’t know how it’s possible, but it is. I want to call her Rachel. How great would it be if that was really her name? I would totally change my name to Ross just to go out with her. She’s probably way way too young, though (side note: she can’t be WAY too young, because I saw her at the Nag’s Head on a Tuesday night).

A Myspace friend of mine had plans tonight, otherwise, I might possibly have had sushi not alone. But, such is not the case tonight. Maybe some other night. I have to say, though, that it might be nice to meet someone else. If I don’t end up moving soon, I might want to try that. Radiohead said that meeting people is easy. Which is a great joke, since someone who looks like Thom Yorke could not have gotten a lot of women if he wasn’t the singer in one of the biggest bands to come out of England in the 90s. I’ve been threatening to move for something like two years now. It really is time to shit or get off the pot, the pot being Long Island.

Boy, do I love sushi! I might try the Masago if there’s time. I should have ridden my bike again today, but I was actually cleaning my bathroom and vacuuming lightly. Hopefully this will keep me from getting sick all the time.

So, I had the sushi appetizer, which consists of one piece shrimp, two piece salmon, one piece yellowtail and one piece tuna (if I remember correctly). For a main course, I went with the Hotate roll, which is broiled eel, avocado and scallions, topped with spicy scallops. Hoo boy, was it tasty! When I finished that, I had one piece of Tako (octopus). Not bad. I did not get the Masago (smelt roe) this time. Maybe I will next time. I like trying different things, and so far, I’ve had the shitake rolls (great for vegetarians), the Red Bonbori rolls, the Louisianna Rolls...the sushi here is quite good. I also love Tomo Sushi in Smithtown (the Huntington location is good, too, and they even have hibachi there), but the sushi here is different.

Just in case you think that I will eat sushi anywhere and love it, that’s only almost true. Shiki in Smithtown (do your own search, the official website is for the Babylon location. Also, someone reviewed Shiki Smithtown, but didn't eat the fish, so what was the point of the review?????) is decent, but I’m not crazy about it. So, even though it is only down the street, most of my Tuesdays I get food from Tomo.
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Part Two: Movie!

Okay, I saw “Once” and it is fucking brilliant! It moved very slow and natural, never seemed forced, and was totally human. Glen Hansard is a fucking genius songwriter and my only complaint is that nobody ever told me that The Frames (the Irish band, also known as Frames (dc), not the American Christian Rock group) would change my life.

In the last year, my musical tastes have run from The Frames to The Hold Steady, with a steady diet of The Mountain Goats and Nick Drake. If you haven’t heard The Frames yet, their latest opus, Cost, came out on Anti-/Epitaph this February. All I can say is wow. With a voice somewhere between Cat Stevens and Van Morrison, and backed by a crack band that can whisper and scream at the same time, your life is incomplete if you haven’t heard them. I knew I was going to be obsessed with them as soon as I heard “Falling Slowly” in the movie.

So yeah, see “Once” - unless you don’t have a soul, in which case, don’t bother, you won’t like it.

Sometimes Rejection Is Better

Hey folks! I found this post from February on my Myspace blog. I totally forgot about this. I think it's awesome and forgot I wrote it.

sometimes rejection is better.
better than wondering.
better than wanting.
better than thinking things will ever change.
better than waiting around for someone who clearly isn't ready or willing.
for someone who says to wait for her.
wait for her while she does god-knows-what with god-knows-whom.
yeah, because that's clearly a recipe for success.

sometimes rejection is better.
when the message is crystal clear.
no crossed wires, no mixed signals.
no raising of hopes to be dashed again every couple of months.
the dumbest game of cat and mouse.

either put up or shut up.
don't tell me things that make me think you're human
and then contradict it all in a myspace survey.
how stupid do I look?

I hope this is better than a drunk dial or email would have been.
exactly six hours of sleep awaits.
awaits a way to forget about you.
but then I wake up. damn.
'nuff said.

Another 6am Epiphany

Naturally, my epiphanies only come at 6 in the morning. Hours after trying and failing, yet again, to actually fall asleep. My mind, it doesn't tend to shut itself off, even after my body has begged and pleaded for sleep. Not that this is surprising, in and of itself, as the sun rises over the river that my window looks out upon, but I digress.

I was thinking about calling a woman I met up with for drinks last week. Did I say the right things to her? Did I try too hard? Did I try enough? Did we really mean it when we said that we had a really nice time and we should do it again? Sometimes I can't see through the pleasantries and read the subtext. I am really good at over-analyzing everything, though. Sometimes I wonder if I have even lived twenty-five percent of what my life should have been, or if I have squandered way too many precious moments thinking about living. I'd like to think that I've gotten better at not doing that, but sometimes I'm not so sure.

Thinking about that led me to thinking about the bigger picture. Maybe these internet dates are doomed for failure in and of themselves, irregardless of whether the woman in question and I have chemistry, witty banter and maybe even similar lawn ornaments that we keep on top of our respective television sets. I think aforementioned failure is inherent in the design. I don't like picking out dates from a catalogue. I want to be surprised. I want to be smacked in the face with fate. Slapped upside the head.

And here I am, the clock now reading 7:37am, taking myself entirely too seriously and yet still watching Dawson's Creek. Still thinking about how the best romantic moments in my life have all taken me by surprise. They were few and far between, fleeting, but all completely unexpected. No pre-screening or auditions, like some lame casting call for the walk-on part of the love interest in the movie adaptation of my memoir. I'm not putting out a craigslist ad for this. For once (again) in my life, I am trying to bury my head in the sand and not look for love in all the wrong places. I don't want to look for love at all if it means I am never going to find it. Or is that why I obsessively keep looking? Just like that itch I will scratch until it is raw and bleeding, I keep picking at it obsessively, this scab on my heart. Also, I really want to use the word alacrity here. Don't ask me why. It's 8am and I haven't slept at all.

Punk Rock Midget

I found these lyrics on the back of a flier for a show at Ren's House in Lynbrook. A lot of my friends know the person referred to in these lyrics, which are probably 5 years old at least. I still have never met her, though I do know who she is.

Punk Rock Midget

Punk rock midget
You disturb me greatly
Punk rock midget
Why were you sent here?
Punk rock midget
It's nothing personal, but
Punk rock midget
You scare the bejeezus out of me.

You go to all the punk rock shows
you've got a piercing in your nose
You've got really short, spiky hair
just like a punk rock guy
and you're only 3 feet high
Punk rock midget
please tell me why
you make me want to flee in terror

Punk rock midget girl
is there a punk rock midget guy
Do you go home alone after the show
and just lay down and cry
like you make me want to do

Oh, punk rock midget, oh punk rock midget
oh, punk rock midget girl
I hope you find true love
'cause the very thought of you
is just too sad for me to bear
dragging me down like that big backpack you wear
oooh oooh oooh punk rock midget girl

Salon Beards and Korean Instruction Manuals For Life (and how NOT to live it)

Would someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong? I get the feeling lately that the universe is trying to fuck with me. When I was growing up, I was taught to work hard, do what you love when you're not working hard, and everything should fall into place. I don't think this equation works anymore. Or at least, it never seems to work for me.

I must completely suck at life, but I guess that's to be expected when you get the manual and it's all printed in Korean. It's not similar enough to Hebrew for me to even fake understanding it. All the skills I thought I had are becoming more apparent to me to be like how you think you're all smart and special when you're in junior high and high school, until you start applying for colleges and find out that there are literally a million other kids applying for the same schools and some of them never got a 64 in Calculus in 12th grade. Although I do wonder how many of them broke up with their 8th grade girlfriend who went to another school because one dude said she was a slut.

They say good things come to those who wait and also that if you aren't looking for it, you will get it. Well, I'm 35 now, so how much more waiting do I have to do? As far as not looking for it, the only thing I'm not looking for is a punch in the nose, so I suppose tomorrow morning will greet me with one of those.

But enough about me, maybe its time for me to rant about something else that is driving me crazy. I was watching the new "90210" the other night and some shitty band that should be selling motor oil and beer was playing a party. Not only was the music trite and watered down, but they had perfectly trimmed beards that looked like they were done in a salon. SALON BEARDS!!! That is what music is to people? Manufactured pabulum with salon beards???? So of course, now VH1 is telling us that you oughta know about them. Also, I am not mentioning their name because I do not want to help their hype machine.

Go and listen to this band instead:
The Capstan Shafts.
I highly recommend 2007's Environ Maiden as a starting point.