Current Favorites

Now that I'm back in Wisconsin, I have a little bit of time to write up a nice little Current Favorites. The problem being that I didn't really watch many movies or read much. I did get two new albums while I was on vacation, but I haven't gotten a chance to listen to them much. But I'll try to give a half assed opinion on them.

Of course, that doesn't mean this Current Favorites isn't special. Of course not monsieurs and madames! You will get reviews of Florida and Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC tourist attractions. Fantastic!

Music

Whilst on vacation, I found time to pick up the new Beck album and The Hold Steady album. The Beck album, The Information on its first listen was pretty dissappointing. I think the word for it was blah...But I'll give it more of a chance. I didn't like Guero much, but it worked it's way up from "awful" to get full on "mediocre" status.

As for The Hold Steady, it's obvious their still pumping out interesting music. When I went and saw The Hold Steady in Baltimore on October 2, I was worried because I felt like the new songs were inferior to their earlier work. But on my computer speakers, they're sounding better and better. What I don't like is that Craig Finn's pulled back on his vocal stylings to make them a bit more conventional. I liked how Finn's singing was a character in and of itself. But the sacrifice pays off on some songs, like "First Night" and the absolutely phenomenal "Stuck Between Stations", though it hurts songs like "Chips Ahoy!". I'm still getting to know the album, but my initial feeling is that it's not as good as Almost Killed Me or Separation Sunday but it's a direction the band had to take, and is going to pay off.

Travel

Miami - There are times when I'm in a place, and it just makes me think, "Wow, they specifically designed this place for _______." Miami was specifically designed for my sister, or at least South Beach is...shopping galore, beautiful beach right on hand, and she could get herself a scooter so that she wouldn't have to walk too much. That being said, while Miami was not specifically designed for me, there was plenty to enjoy. South Beach is highly recommended, as is a trip to a Marlins game if you get the chance. 7/10

Key West - I'm not sure if I know anyone that Key West is specifically designed for, but that's because I'm not big with the Jimmy Buffet crowd. However, Duval Street was a fun walk, plus I went parasailing, a highly recommended activity. 7/10

Washington DC - For a history nerd, there are quite a few cool things to be found here. I'm sure it's even cooler for politics nerds. The monuments are a must, as well as the Holocaust museum, which takes a lot longer than we thought it would, but it was worth it. The only problem is that we didn't have enough time to do everything, especially since almost everything is closed at five. Once that happens, the scene kind of dies. 8/10

Presidential Housing - I took the opportunity to visit Mt. Vernon and Monticello while in the area. Both are excellent ways of humanizing the founding fathers. If you only have time for one, I'd go with Mt. Vernon, there's just so much more there. However, the Monticello house tour is a bit nicer (mostly because the house itself is just nicer). Mt. Vernon gets an 8/10, Monticello a high 7/10.

Baltimore - I can't really give a review of the city itself, as I didn't spend that much time there. I went there to see The Hold Stead at the Ottobar, which wasn't the best venue in the world, but The Hold Steady played it well. Still felt they put on a better show in Madison, however. 7/10

On this manic Monday...Current Favorites is still here...later folks.

ZT in WI

Well, my vacation is over and I'm back in Wisconsin. I had lots of fun, but I'm happy to be back in the Upper Midwest once again (and just in time to see the leaves change). And while I apologize for the lack of posting lately I enjoyed the vacation a bit too much to be really sorry. Anyways, for today, there's going to be an NFL Picks (just in time for the games to start). Enjoy...

ZT in DC

Sorry about the lack of posting and the lack of features. I wasn't able to get on the internet until now. As the title implies, I'm in the nation's captial (well, actually I'm in College Park, MD right now...but I'm just a short metro ride away from DC...). I'm soaking up the sights, saw the capital yesterday, the Washington Monument, the Supreme Court, The Library of Congress, and the National Archives.

Some of the cooler things I saw at these places were:

1) The Gutenberg Bible (at the Library of Congress).
2) Declaration of Independence
3) Magna Carta

Then I headed up to Baltimore and caught The Hold Steady concert last night. It was super fantastic. The Ann was less than enthused as she was missing the Packer game...and I don't think she likes the Hold Steady. But I had fun, sang along a little, got to hear some of the new stuff...

As for today, I think it's off to Mt. Vernon where I'll get to know a little more about the original GW. We'll get back to the old format next week.

Miami!

Well, I've been in Miami since Tuesday evening, and it's been fun. Spent some time on South Beach, checked out the Everglades, went to a Marlins game. Today we're heading down to the Keys (I'm not sure which one yet, though I would like to go to Key West).

The Marlins game was fantastic. I'm sure you've never thought while watching on TV, "Wow, I'd love to see a baseball game at Dolphins Stadium, it looks so nice!". But it's a great place to watch a baseball game. While the crowd is small, it stays lively (as opposed to a Tampa Bay Devil Rays game, where the crowds are small and comatose). The night we went, the temperature was a perfect, though I can imagine it might get much too hot sometimes. We sat in the Outfield Reserved section (tickets there cost $14), and the view was good, we had a couple balls come our way (unfortunately they died at the track). In addition, there was an Edy's Ice Cream stand near our seat which sold pints of ice cream for $5 (which is cheaper than the hot dogs). With the crowd being lively when the attendence is under 10,000, I can only imagine the atmosphere with 30,000 people in the stands. Finally, my favorite part of the whole shebang was the big teal out of town scoreboard in left field. It's sort of like a smaller, "teal monster" or something. ZT approved...

All in all, Dolphins Stadium (at least for baseball) gets a 7/10...

Toronto!

Hey everybody, I'm in Toronto where I had some fun today. What kind of fun you ask?

1) I touched the Stanley Cup which was cooler than it sounds. This was at the Hockey Hall of Fame, which was a lot of fun. I don't follow hockey that closely but it was still a cool place to visit. They had this thing where I could try to score a goal on a goalie. It was really cool, though I failed to score a goal (I'm not very adept at shooting a puck). Ann did manage to score a goal though, which was cool. They also had in the interactive area some of those table top hockey games with the dome over the top and whatnot. Anyways, Blake and I used to play that all the time at the bowling alley and one of the guys didn't work, but the ones at the Hockey Hall of Fame did work. It was incredibly fun. I beat Ann 2-0. Oh, I also saw the goalie gear Jim Craig used in the 1980 Olymipics, which was almost as cool as touching the Stanley Cup.

2) Ate on a boat restarant called Captain Johns. It was good, the waiter was friendly and his first language was French, which was odd...

3) Walked all over the place, until we made it to Chinatown which was weird, as there was nothing actually announcing that we were entering Chinatown, it just became Chinatown. So for a couple blocks it was as if I walked into Beijing, and then a couple blocks later it was back to Toronto. Weird...

Anyway, I'll eventually get around to posting some pictures. Tomorrow I'm going to the CN Tower and a Blue Jays game. Later!

On the Bunny Bandwagon With the Love Lion...

You never know how your going to feel when a vacation is over. Regardless of how the vacation went, sometimes you can't wait to get home, and sometimes you dread that last day of the vacation and the Welcome to (insert home state) sign makes you a little sad. Actually, most of the time, my vacations fall into the former category. And only a few have fallen into the latter category. In fact, I can only think of three. One was a trip to northern Wisco with my family a couple years ago. I kayaked a lot on the lakes by my grandparents cabin and we went to Bigtop Chitaqua (sp?) and saw Willy Nelson perform. I also went to this restaurant in Ashland, WI (I think) called Around the World where they served a different ethnic cuisine each night of the week. Great concept, really. We were there on Italian night, and I got all you can eat spaghetti and meatballs that were pretty good. It was one of the most relaxing weeks of my life.

The second was a summer trip to Fort Lauderdale, FL, which wasn't relaxing per se, but it was definately fun. It was my first time ever swimming in the ocean and the wave action was just great. This is when a love for Extreme Wave Jumping first germinated, a love that would come to complete fruition in Florida this past summer. We saw the sights (Disney World, Everglades *my favorite*, and Sea World), and despite being trapped for almost an entire day by a condo salesman/pyramid scheamer named Darren (who showed us Dan Marino and The Rock's mansions before asking us how we'd like to be making that much money) a good time was had by all. The best part about the trip was really the group I was with. We took the Halbach family van, which is unfortunatley no longer in commission, with Ann's mom driving, Ann, Cristin (a friend from high school who we played ultimate frisbee with and much other fun stuff), and her cousin Steve. Between Steve antagonizing Cristin to the point she started rocking and repeating "I'll kill you in your sleep" to the games of Jeopardy, to the games of HOGI twenty questions, it was about the best car trip of my life. The Welcome to Wisconsin sign was just depressing.

Well, this past vacation was another one where I was sad to come home. I never wanted to leave. In fact, I still dislike the fact that I'm back in Winona. It doesn't feel right.

Things I learned on my spring break:

When attempting to board a full Greyhound, people will try to keep their seat to themselves by pretending to be asleep. The only way to get them to move is to sit on them and hope you don't get stabbed. If attempting to maintain your single seat on a Greyhound, look as intimidating as possible...

One of my favorite feelings in the world is being on an airplane when it takes off.

Cab drivers don't really appreciate driving from the airport to Woodbury, MN at 1:30 am, and will be disappointed with any amount you tip them.

I have no idea how Super Shuttles made any money driving me to Woodbury, MN for only $22, but I'm quite thankful for it. They win a ringing endorsement from me.

The Cuban baseball team is one of the funnest teams to watch, ever. I'm pulling for them in the World Baseball Classic final. Their enthusiasm is something else. I watched the Cuba-Dominican Republic semi-final game and initially cheered for the Dominican because of David Ortiz, but by the end I was firmly entrenched on the Cuba bandwagon. Just seeing everyone on the team standing at the top step of the dugout cheering on their teammates at crucial moments put chills down my spine. In addition, I learned that the World Baseball Classic is almost as good as October baseball. What a fantastic thing put on by MLB. The only sad thing is that the timing ensures that everyone in the US is paying attention to March Madness. Which is really their loss.

The Grand Canyon is awe inspiring. In addition, more thrilling than the airplane takeoff is throwing a snowball into the Grand Canyon.

Oak Creek Canyon has some wonderful hiking, and some fun stream crossings. Although I think my feet are still wet from all the melting snow.

Buying $600 worth of groceries is kind of fun, although the logistics of organizing that much food and transporting it in a Mazda 626 is a bit frustrating.

I learned it's hard to leave the bunny bandwagon.

Greetings From Snowy Flagstaff, Arizona

So I arrived in Phoenix on Wednesday spent Thursday through Sunday in Phoenix with Ann and her sister and sister's husband. We ate out a lot, which was fun. I also did a little hiking, something I don't do enough of. Other highlights from Phoenix:

World Baseball Classic: The venue (Scottsdale Stadium, the spring training home for the San Francisco Giants) was a letdown, it really wasn't equipped to handle the sold out crowd (about 11,000). It would have been better had they held it at Chase Stadium (formerly the BOB, home of the Diamondbacks). I have no idea why they wouldn't use it...I guess they didn't expect that many fans to see South Africa lose to the US 17-0. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. But I saw Ken Griffey Jr. hit two home runs, Johnny Damon strike out (muahahahaha, fucking traitor...suprised he didn't defect to the Cuban team), and Roger Clemens strike out a bunch of poor South African players (who only mustered two hits) with that nasty splitter. Also, they had good brats at the concession stands. Overall, a good time. I would recommend going to WBC games if you're in the Anaheim or San Diego area. Oh, I also saw A-Rod doing some laps. As far as I can tell he didn't try to cheat on them at all...but that's probably because he saw people were watching.

Gameworks: It rained on Saturday, so indoor activities were in demand, so I played some video games. I enjoyed the sports games more than anything else. I played this one football game that I was incredibly good at. I wanted to keep playing, but no one else was very good at it, so no one wanted to play. I always like finding new talents. I realized I dislike children a lot.

Renaissance Festival: It was pretty cool, probably the least fun thing of the weekend. The joust was cool, though apparently someone got trampled by a horse, which is a little scary. Afterwards we went to Chipotle, which I'm a big fan of.

Anyway, Sunday night we headed up to Flagstaff, which is covered in a blanket of snow. However, depsite rain on Saturday and over a foot of snow in Flagstaff, I think the weather here is much better than what I had in Minnesota. Minnesota is, well, Minnesota in March, which as Garrison Keillor says, "is God's way of showing people who don't drink what a hangover is like." Truer words have never been spoken.

Well, that's all from Arizona...Peace and peaches

My 100th Post! Vacation! Current Favorites!

Well, it took over a year (if you count the long drought last summer), but I've finally reached 100 posts. Sure, it seems pathetic, but my blogging has often gone in fits and starts, and, as it's become a little more regular lately, the post count finally started reaching these great heights. Well, huzzah I say, and Merry Wednesday to all!

It might stay at 100 posts for a little while at least, due to the fact that I'm going on Spring Break to shed the cold, rainy confines of Minnesota to explore the great state of Arizona with my comrade in arms, Ann. We shall watch baseball, attend rennaissance festivals, gaze into the Grand Canyon and in general whoop it up, Southwestern style. I've already begun adorning myself with turquoise for the occasion.

Well, I can think of no better way to celebrate the dawning of a new Century than to go to an old standbye, Current Favorites. So without further ado, Current Favorites as of March 8, 2006:

Music:

The Arcade Fire Funeral: Yes, make your jokes now, this did in fact come out in 2004. And yes, I've had it for awhile, and never paid it much mind. I liked the song Rebellion (Lies) and found everything else acceptable, but never really got into it too much. And then...I listened to it, cover to cover on a nice late night when winter has begun to yield to spring. It hit me, this is an amazing album. It breathes a sad but comfortable tone, like a Tolstoy story. It cries, but knows that everything is going to be alright. It is...perfect.

*****

Tapes n' Tapes The Loon: Okay, I haven't heard the whole album yet, I'm working on that. But I really like it, and want it. So I'll live with the three songs they have on their website.

No Rating (yet)

Movies:

The Return: A Russian movie about a father who left his family for twelve years suddenly reappearing and trying to pick up where he left off. The movie is a little frustrating since it leaves so many unanswered questions, though it also ratchets up the anxiety. The movie seems to take the point of view of a child, and remains frustrated throughout by the lack of information. A well done and fascinating film.

***1/2

MASH: This movie was quite entertaining. Plenty of good lines to go around. Sections lag slightly, but overall the movie is good. "No food, I want sex."

****

Books:

I'm lazy, and don't read any fun books right now.

So there you have it, the 100th post. Hope you enjoyed it, and keep reading!