technorati claim post

Technorati Profile

Don’t worry, Eliot, I understand

A Gtalk conversation:
Married Life is Great: HOLY FUCKING SHIT
go to new york times site
now
wow. shit. fuck
Sent at 2:16 PM on Monday
MLG:CHECK IT MAN!~!!!
ErrantRemark:wow
that’s crazy
holeeee shit
MLG:what the hell???
MLG:what does this mean though? involved? ring? what?
was he running it?
patronizing it?
i mean, i assume the latter, but it’s so ambiguous
ER: But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the person believes the governor is one of the men identified as clients in court papers.
WOW
philandering politicians
MLG: fuckin a
ER: what else is new?
yeah
spitzer’s new nickname: Client 9
MLG:man, i feel awful
ER: As attorney general, he also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force.
yeah, this is NOT good for dems
well, anybody
he was the great white hope
MLG: he was awesome
ER:dammit
will this mean he has to resign?
MLG: i think so, but he’s stubborn
ER:jeeez
jeez
jeez
what
the
fuck
is right
Sent at 2:27 PM on Monday
MLG:
the stories are crashing on the site
ER:i know – the times article took forever to load
that’s huge
what a fucking moron
WHAT WAS HE THINKING?
seriously
he’s powerful enough he could have had affairs out the wazoo
LEGAL affairs
morally, whatever
i don’t care
MLG: yeah, just so, so stupid
ER: a fucking phone call to set this shit up?
HE COULDN”T GET AN ASSISTANT TO DO THIS?
MLG:the one story says the service charge as much as 5500 per hour
that may be a clue to why he did it
because, that must be some wild, wild shit fot 5500 an hour
ER:with victorias secret models
god, could you imagine the quality of that poon?
jesus
nevermind, eliot, i understand
i hope the details include whips, ball gags and furries
eliot spitzer: furry lover
MLG: i mean, hopefully he got his fucking money worth
oohh, insult to injury
the appearance he canceled today was with New York’s Catholic bishops today
ER: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
oh god
MLG: this. is. terrible.
somewhere, joe bruno is drinking champagne. lots of it
… and then banging a hooker

Turtlenecks & Wine 2007

Meat Loaf Review

By EVAN PARKER PIERCE

News Staff Reviewer

 

Let me get this out of the way to start: Meat Loaf was a rock star years before I was even born. That’s may not be saying a lot, but even with classics like “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and “Anything for Love,” the Loaf never had the same influence on my generation as, say, Led Zepplin, the Rolling Stones or the Beatles. But after seeing him perform Tuesday at Darien Lake Performing Art Center, I’m struggling with my preconceived notion that Meat Loaf was simply a rock’n’roll novelty.

True, his act was – and still is – an over-the-top operatic epic, but that’s exactly what current pop culture seems to love. Today’s big ticket trends are gigantic fantasies like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, while bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco traffic in pop theater; the songs that make up Meat Loaf’s Bat out of Hell albums are of similar stuff. They’re huge, dramatic and more than a little bit campy. And that’s what the Loaf gave his audience Tuesday.

Show opener “Into the Fire” established Meat Loaf’s larger-than-life persona very literally – giant inflatable versions of his entire band exploded onto the stage with the song’s first chords. His band’s sound was as massive as his image, with eight members lending to an almost orchestral-like fullness of sound.

But the trademark of Meat Loaf’s shows is the theatrics, and his band were a big part of that. His back up singers were more than just midriff baring babes, in “I Want My Money Back,” they were both audible and visual representations of temptation, clad in black and white, posing the questions of conscience from opposite sides of the stage. Slightly overwrought, to be sure, but it’s drama that even today’s most serious acts don’t even attempt.

But the Loaf also dodges pretentiousness that comes with heavy theatrics with a self-deprecating sense of humor and an ability to cut loose and simply have fun. In break leading into “Anything for Love,” the Loaf poked fun at his own hefty image (“I was in the shower with all of you, naked, and we all looked beautiful,” he said.). His show also had fun with his long rock star tenure. After an intermission, the band took the stage in garb that would fit in at The World’s Largest Disco, with fringe vests, zebra go-go boots and Meat Loaf reincarnating his younger self – long hair, sloppy tuxedo and red bandanna in his hand to mop his brow.

All the fun had the bittersweet feel of a farewell tour, however. Opening and intermission montages celebrated his career in music and the movies, but seemed like posthumous retrospectives. The Loaf also gave somewhat of a farewell address, saying, “I’ve never said this before, but it is an honor and a privilege to play here in Buffalo.” Lastly, and most disturbingly, it seemed Meat Loaf’s health might be catching up to him. Though laboring through shows is part of his schtick, cracks showed through. His voice cracked where his bellow used to shine, and a clearly out-of-breath Meat Loaf slumping on stools, monitors and microphone stands.

Regardless of whether or not Meat Loaf has another tour in him, the 56-year-old gave himself a send off that removed the tarnish of datedness from his material, refreshing his devotion to drama and theatrics.

I died again.

Hey everybody who no longer checks this blog, sorry I died on you.

Between working 3 jobs and being a miserable student, this space turned into yet again another aborted writing attempt. It won’t happen again I swear.

In the meantime, I’ll update you on where I’m at:

I’m not one to believe in anything, least of all fate, but the past few weeks have probably been the most trying time of my life. To start about 2 weeks ago, my car was broken into for the second time, with someone smashing my window for my inspection sticker. That same week a freak combination of bank and payroll errors at two jobs dropped me from semi-broke to completely broke. Then, five days after my window was fixed, I moved my car from the lot I usually park in, where it was broken into, to a “secure” lot next to my building. Less than three days after I paid for my spot, five cars were broken into, their stuff was loaded into my car, and my 1990 Buick LeSabre was the world’s shittiest getaway car.

The police found my car the next day, but here’s where I started to get the feeling that fate was fucking with me: the car was found in front of a house that burned down, killing two young boys. If you’re in Buffalo, you’ve probably heard of it. Freaky, right? Well, it gets better. Because of where it was found, my car was impounded about five minutes before I could rescue it, a problem compounded by the fact it had no inspection sticker from the previous theft.

Then I found out an incredibly good person I knew in college died in a freak car accident. His name was Stefano Moran-Guiati, a really great guy who had already dodged death from a bike accident in Italy two years ago. While we had lost touch since school, I always remembered him as a sincere, funny and excellent person, a good friend to my friends and an inspiration from recovering from the earlier accident that left him in a coma for a month. He was 23.

To top this off, my mother underwent tests all week for what started to appear as a liver or gall bladder problem, that led to the discovery of a growth on her lung. Fortunately, after several CAT scans and MRIs the doctors believe the growth is merely scar tissue, though they will be monitoring it over the next six months.

Needless to say, I’ve been a wreck over the past few weeks, and I truly believed that I turned into an astrological black hole, with anything I touch or care about turning to crap (random example: Driving home to Rochester last weekend, I called my sister to meet up with her while I was in town. Immediately after hanging up with me, she had a 60-mile-an-hour blowout, thankfully she’s safe).

But I think I’m finally emerging from this rut, though I can’t say unchanged, which is not a bad thing. I learned three things from this ordeal:

1) Don’t ever take for granted the fleeting nature of life. No matter what you have overcome, where you are in life, it can all come to a crashing halt in the blink of an eye. One caveat: This doesn’t mean despair – to use a cliche, only the good die young, and if you don’t live your life to its potential, you’re going to miserably live forever.

2) Never take for granted the people who love you. In my case, I was so wrapped up in myself the magnitude of what my mom was experiencing escaped me. I know that made me a prick, but I will never lose sight of who is important to me again.

3) Never own a car. Ever. They are bad for your health, wallet and environment and they only break and get stolen. Take the bus.

So sorry about the terribly personal nature of this post, I swear it won’t happen again. Until I forget to update for a while again, which I would not bet against.

Though keep checking back, if only for me to string you along and break your heart.

The magic is starting early

HOLEEE CRAP.

The Buffalo Sabres capped an absolutely amazing 3rd period comeback with a solid shootout performance to beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 tonight.

I thought tonight would be a comedown from the Sabs draining victory in Carolina the other night, but they proved they have the endurance to win consecutive overtime games. Ryan Miller appeared to struggle, letting 4 goals by even though he faced only 27 shots, but I have to say Montreal has some pretty damn good scorers, so I’m not too surprised.

The Sabres offense, however, was merciless. After a slow start, with Montreal dominating shots on goal early on, the Sabres absolutely terrorized  Cristobel Huet through the second and third periods. Huet even looked good, stopping 33 shots, but late in the game the Sabres team speed took over.

Max Afinogenov, Daniel Briere and Thomas Vanek were the NHL’s three stars tonight, but I’d have to say Vanek, Briere and Jaro Spacek were mine. Vanek showed he’s got the skills to dominate, but Spacek seemed to be involved with everything good the Sabres were doing tonight.

The turning point of the game seemed to be the middle of the third period, with the Sabres being penalized left and right while the officials seemed to ignore some serious Montreal violations. I’ll let BFLOBLOG commenter Val sum it up:

They got pissed. After they were all in the box and we were jipped out of a penalty shot- I think they decided then and there that they were gonna win…

What magic – the Sabres are proving last year was no fluke, and they’re built to dominate in the new NHL.

All My Best Friends are Metalheads, 2

 

It turns out there’s someone in the world that likes going to shows and taking pictures. That “person” would be Spin.com.

 Here are my latest two AMBFM’s, goofily called, “It Happened Last Night” on the Spin website:

 The Clientele, Mohawk Place, Buffalo, NY

The Eagles of Death Metal, Showplace Theatre, Buffalo, NY

 Have a look, and I’ll post more of the photo-tastic outtakes here later.

 -EPP

Facebook gets too personal

Facebook launched a redesign today, one that creeps out almost everyone I know.

Instead of simply filling out your profile and putting it up for all to see, facebook now gives you a feed on all your added friends – so you know not only when Kevin joined the “Mothafucking Snakes on a Plane” group or Rachel added pictures, but you also are now updated that Brett is now single or that Evan declined to go to “Steve’s Move In Party.”

I know that none of that information is particularly private, considering the community wide nature of Facebook, but the fact that there is a running RSS-type feed of all your Facebook activities is disconcerting – sure, Brett might now be single, but in changing his personal status on the website, Brett has now inadvertently notified his 500 “Friends” that Karen dumped his ass. It’s not cool.

Anyway, my big complaint isn’t that Facebook has this new system – it’s got its plusses – but the way they implemented it. They simply put everyone’s changes up, from roughly the beginning of August to the present before anyone had a choice, and the News feed posted all of that activity. They changed the privacy options to control what goes on the feed, however the system was implemented before A) anyone could enact the privacy options and B) anyone was actually aware of the privacy options. Everytime you accept a “poke,” an invitation, or change anything in your profile, the news feed picks it up.

That results in situations like this:

FriendofErrantRemark (1:13:26 AM): ahhh this is so weird
errantremark (1:13:56 AM): I don’t like it – you can’t really control what goes up there
FriendofErrantRemark (1:14:03 AM): that is so humiliating for her
errantremark (1:14:10 AM): like, if you get invited to something, you can’t quietly say no
errantremark (1:14:16 AM): really?
FriendofErrantRemark (1:14:24 AM): you cant even quietly break up
FriendofErrantRemark (1:14:28 AM): jesus christ
FriendofErrantRemark (1:14:45 AM): my friends paul and nancy split
errantremark (1:15:01 AM): yeah, I know
Here’s a pic, so you can see what I mean:

See what I mean? It’s not so much an invasion of privacy, just a bit creepy. Facebook should be about networking friends and keeping in touch – it’s greatest trick is that when people are out of school, they can still check in on what friends might be up to. It’s a phone book, not a bullhorn.

I’ve already deactivated my account – it’s a shame Facebook’s feed doesn’t show that on its updates, because I have a feeling it would be one of the most regular updates ever.

UPDATE: Here’s the canned response Facebook reps send to complaints:

From: Christina from Facebook <info@facebook.com>
Date: Sep 5, 2006 9:28 PM
Subject: [rt.facebook.com #730517] Facebook Suggestion
To: jgburton@buffalo.edu

Hey,

We understand that some people are unhappy or concerned about the recent changes to
Facebook. Your feedback is welcome and appreciated because our goal is to make a website
that is in line with our users’ expectations. As we consider future changes and modifications,
we will certainly keep everyone’s opinions in mind. We think, however, that once you become
familiar with the new layout and features, you will find these changes just as useful as past
improvements such as Photos, Groups, and the Wall.

We introduced News Feed and Mini-Feed because we wanted to make it easier than ever
before to see interesting, relevant pieces of information from the world around you. News
Feed automatically generates the most recent news stories about your friends so that you
have a resource available to guide your movement throughout the site. Mini-Feed allows you
to quickly and easily see the latest developments in the lives of people whose profiles you
choose to visit.

What is important to remember with all of these features is that we are not allowing anyone
to see anything that they wouldn’t normally be allowed to see. For example, if you join a
secret group, any friends that are not members will not receive a News Feed story about this
action. Similarly, when they look at your Mini-Feed, they will not be able to see a story about
you joining the group. The settings that are established on the My Privacy page and the
settings that apply to Photo albums, Notes, Groups, Events, etc. dictate the stories that are
displayed in News Feed and Mini-Feed. Although there is no option to completely turn off
Mini-Feed, all users have the option to hide individual stories. If you select the ‘X’ button to
the right of any of your own stories, that content will no longer be visible to anyone viewing
your Mini-Feed. Facebook prides itself in giving users complete control over the information
that they share with others. Let us know if you have any questions about the privacy settings
that we offer.

Thanks for using Facebook!

–
Christina
Customer Service Representative
Facebook

THANKS FOR BEING AN ARROGANT JERK XTINA.

Crickey!

Steve Irwin, the famed Crocodile Hunter, died this morning after a stingray barb punctured his chest. He was 44.

There are going to be some people who are going to say that Irwin deserved what he had coming to him – case in point:

FriendofErrantRemark (12:18:48 PM): the devil rays should totally redo their logo with it killing steve irwin

ErrantRemark (12:19:13 PM): don’t disrespect the croc hunter dude
FriendofErrantRemark (12:19:30 PM): im not disrespecting.. im just saying, its not like we couldnt see this coming..
FriendofErrantRemark (12:19:43 PM): like, i feel bad for his family, but its surprising the guy didnt die years ago
ErrantRemark (12:20:03 PM): yeah, I know what you mean
ErrantRemark (12:20:17 PM): I have a feeling everyone was waiting for that call
FriendofErrantRemark (12:20:39 PM): most people get stung by rays on the foot and its whatever.. he was probably trying to fuck it in the ass or something to that extent

And that’s the fallacy – people always assume Steve Irwin was in some way harming the animals. It’s true he took unnecessary risks, but it was always to his own life, never the animals. Irwin was a pioneer in conservation and education – he dearly loved the animals he studied, and while his antics may have struck some people as Jackass-level foolishness, it’s undeniable he cast a big spotlight on these endangered species and may have done a lot to save them.

All My Best Friends Are Metalheads – Tesla

This is the long-delayed first post of what I hope will be a regular feature here at Errant Remark. I went to the Tesla concert at North Tonawanda’s Gateway Park last week. I did a review for the Buffalo News, but I also interviewed interesting people and took their pictures. Here’s the full photoset.

Just so no one gets the wrong idea, I didn’t take these pictures to make fun of people – these are simply the most interesting people I found at the concert, and they were nice enough to talk to me and let me take their picture. I do not wish to make fun of these people, and I’m not attempting a sarcastic knock on any of them – they represent the best of everyone you know.