A Long-Expected Journey

Well, with a potentially disastrous start to the day taken care of (my refrigerator was spraying water out of the back when I woke up), I can now finally leave for Alaska. After planning this trip for over six months, it's finally here, and I couldn't be more excited. It's going to be wild, no doubt, but there is now potential for even more excitement, thanks to recent activity in Mount Spurr, a volcano outside of Anchorage. The Alaskan Volcano Observatory has been tracking the activity with daily updates. There doesn't seem to be any imminent danger of an eruption, but it's still kind of cool to think that I might be able to witness something like that (from a safe distance, of course). One of the things I loved about my last trip to Alaska was how even in the city, the wildness of the place forces you to respect the power of nature, and a volcano eruption would only add to that effect.

I'll be back soon, hopefully with lots of cool pictures. Se revoir.

High expectations

I just got back from seeing Garden State. As I've said before, the trailer for this movie could be the perfect movie preview, not to mention it was named for and shot in the state of my birth, so this film had a lot to live up to before I even got into the theater. Well, I'm happy to report, I was not disappointed. It was alternately quirky, sad, haunting, silly, and beautiful. The cinematography was gorgeous (and if you can make New Jersey look beautful, that's saying something) and the soundtrack was excellent. And I am totally in love with Natalie Portman. She's a pretty talented actress, although you'd never know by the way she gets misused in big budget films (*cough*Attack of the Clones*cough*). There's a scene where she and Zach Braff are just getting to know each other and are sitting on the bed in her room that is one of the most realistic things I've ever seen in a film. The awkward anticipation of two people who have just met but are already attracted to each other is dead on. The only thing that felt a little forced to me was Zach Braff's relationship with his father (Ian Holm), and the film's resolution. But that wasn't enough to keep me from enjoying it. I'd recommend it, I'd go see it again, and I'll buy the DVD. Good stuff.

Entourage

As I've mentioned before, my new favorite show is HBO's Entourage. The series follows an up-and-coming actor named Vincent Chase and his group of friends as they adjust to life in Hollywood. It's funny and smart, has a fantastic cast and a great soundtrack, and provides an opportunity for my favorite character actor, Jeremy Piven, to chew some scenery as Vince's complete scumbag agent. Because it's set in Hollywood, there are plenty of opportunities for cameos. In the past two weeks, we've been treated to smart turns from Val Kilmer as a drug-dealing Sherpa and Gary Busey, who has apparently has assumed the mantle of Hollywood's most eccentric actor now that Brando has passed on, as himself. If you have HBO and you're not watching this show, you're really missing out on something special.

After each episode, I find myself wishing that they would run music credits at the end of the show so that I could find various songs. Well, clearly, HBO has been reading my mind, becasue they've just updated the official Entourage website with an episode guide that lists all the music in each episode by scene. As a list, it sometime appears to be a strange mix, but usually tends to work with the scenes pretty well.

The Hoosier syndrome

There are lots of things that I like about living in Indy, but there are also some things I just can't get over about this state. One of these is the prevailing Hoosier attitude that if you're not married and pumping out kids by the time you're 24, you're clearly some kind of freak. The panic on the faces of single women nearing their 25th birthdays is a sight to behold. Because of this, I tend to meet a lot of people here who are married to their high school sweethearts or the first person they dated in college (IU or Purdue, of course—nobody seems to go anywhere else). Some, I must admit, are quite happy. The others make me realize why this country's divorce rate hovers around 50%.

Only in a state where this type of thinking is the norm would you find an article like this one be the front page story on the Indiana Living section of the Indianapolis Star. Now, no one would ever expect the Star to challenge the New York Times or Washington Post in terms of quality, but you would think they could do better than the bombshell that maintaining a long-distance relationship with your high school sweetheart is difficult when you choose different colleges. Thank goodness we have a daily paper that can give us shocking revelations such as that. To most normal Americans, this is common sense, and your high school sweetheart remains that forever—a nice memory from your teenage years. But in Indiana, when college is just a way to kill time until your wedding, this is a big issue. Big enough to be front page news, apparently.

When is it too early to start packing?

Now that I've finally finished my shopping for Alaska, it's time to pack. I'll be with my friends Todd, Cynthia, P.I., and our gracious hosts Nikki and Tom (thanks so much, you two). We've been talking about this trip for what seems like a year, and planning it almost that long. Now that it's almost here, I am so ready to go. I've already got everything sorted out into piles, just waiting to be packed. This is going to be a tough week of work. Staying focused is going to be difficult, knowing that in just a few days I'll be on my way to a week's worth of camping, kayaking, and some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. Having only gotten a brief taste of Anchorage and Seward on my last trip, I'm itching to get back and spend some more time there. And if my pictures turn out as well this time as they did the last time, I'll have some great stuff to share when I get back.

A good start

Well, good stuff from the Blast today. After a shaky 1st quarter, they came back from a 2-1 halftime deficit to win 4-2. They played really well once they settled down, and I'm continually surprised at what a talented group of boys we've got on our team. I'd love for the coaches to be able to take all the credit, but we really can't. There are still a couple of guys who look uncomfortable on the field, and I think the challenge for us is going to be to make sure that they're having fun and not getting left behind by the really good kids. Overall, it was a lot of fun, and I felt surprisingly proud to see them play so well (and win).

I'm off for a run. I got drafted into being a sideline ref at the game today, and after running up and down the field for 48 minutes, I realized I need to get back to running more often. Plus, with my Alaska trip coming up next week, I don't want to run out of breath when I'm running away from the bears.

New music and the Coach

I did get to Best Buy yesterday to pick up Metallica's Black Album. That disc has aged really well. But I also picked up a disc by a new band that has me really excited. The band is called Coheed & Cambria, and the disc is called In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3. If you think the title sounds kind of like prententious prog rock from the 70's, you're on the right track. These guys sound like Rush, if Rush was just starting out now and had been raised on a steady diet of Metallica and punk. It's almost like if Geddy Lee was the lead singer of Hoobastank. I know that description probably turns off just about everybody who will read this, but that's OK. C&C is one of the 75 bands on this summer's Warped Tour, so they'll win some new fans on their own.

So I'm off to the first game of the year for the Blast (the team that I'm helping to coach). After raining all day yesterday, it's gorgeous today. Hopefully, the boys play well, but as long as they enjoy themselves, that's all that's important. I'll have a report later today on how the game goes.

Metallica Loves Me

Perhaps you've seen or are at least familiar with the movie "Some Kind of Monster", a documentary about Metallica's sessions with a therapist and lead singer James Hetfield's stint in rehab. Well, it seems old James is buying into his 12-step program a little too enthusiastically, and so those of us in the audience at tonight's show were constantly reminded that Metallica loves and appreciates its fans, and they were so happy to see us there tonight. Well, you know what? The kinder, gentler approach might have bothered me, but not only do Metallica still rock, they rock!!! With three exclamation points!!! My friend Andy and I dropped $57 on these tickets, and they were worth every penny. The show turned out to be in the round, so the 12th row meant that there were times where one of the band members would stop right in front of us, just a little below our eye level. It wasn't perfect by any means, but the band pretty much stuck to old favorites, did two encores, and played for over 2 hours. I'm going to have to buy the Black Album tomorrow. I forgot how much good stuff is on there. I think Metallica will have to hang it up before too long, though. They're starting to show their age a little bit, and pretty soon, it's going to be hard to take those guys seriously when they're in their 50s and pudgy.

On a side note, you haven't lived until you've been to a metal show in Indiana. The sheer number of mullets, acid-wash jeans, straggly goatees, sleeveless t-shirts, and devil signs flashed could easily overwhelm a person of lesser constitution. We weren't even inside Conseco for 5 minutes before some dude behind us in the beer line was trying to pick a fight by calling another guy a "fucking faggot". It brought back so many fond memories of high school.

Music therapy

I'm off to see Metallica in about 15 minutes, courtesy of some unused (but not free) tickets from work. This will be my second Metallica show. The first was back in '91, when they were touring with Guns 'n Roses and hadn't cut their hair yet. Now they've had makeovers, gone through therapy, changed bassists, and are supposedly much happier with themselves. But can they still rock? If their last album was any indication, no. But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until I see this show. Last time, I was at the far end of RFK Stadium. Tonight, I'm in the 12th row. Let's see if it makes any difference.

Lunchtime quickie

Since I've started blogging, I've been reading a lot more about other people's blogs. Here's a very interesting story, which is a perfect example of why I'll be sticking to movies and music and not writing about my dates.

I also wanted to share this quote with everyone. As our president, the man who the rest of the world sees as the face of this country, was signing the latest $417 billion defense-spending bill, he had this to say:

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

Seriously, does W. ever think about what he's saying before he opens his mouth? I can't help reading this and hearing Will Ferrell's voice. It is a testament to the monumental mediocrity of John Kerry that he's not crushing Bush in the polls.

I saw the update of The Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep, and all I can say is, save your money. Rent the original on DVD, because there's nothing better about the new one.