closer still

2.21.05
7:54pm
Do any of you remember Speedy Gonzales? Do you remember his lesser-known compatriot Slow Poke Sanchez or Slow Poke Martinez or some other stereotypical Mexican name? Remember how he spoke, very slowly and in a tired, beaten, pathetic sort of voice? Well, he is here in the security office and he has been here, speaking Spanish in that same fucking retarded, defeated, mournful voice since I fucking got here. Have you ever just felt like you’ve heard too much Spanish for one day? Or am I really the only person in the world who ever feels like that? Whatever. I don’t care if I’m a bigoted asshole or not, I would trade both my testicles for some chloroform right about now.
Speaking of being a bigoted asshole, the lite jazz station (the lesser of most evils) is on and I just heard the “soul” version of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five”, an essential jazz piece. Look, I know the black community is mad about Rod Fucking Stewart covering “What A Wonderful World”, but seriously, what about those in the middle that are punished by both remakes? “Take Five” isn’t supposed to be “lite jazz” just as “What A Wonderful World” isn’t supposed to be sung by someone who is neither blind nor Afro. I would be willing to kill Rod Stewart and whoever thought it would be a good idea to shit-up “Take Five” in the same bonfire.
What a terrible day. I woke up much earlier than I wanted to around 2pm to hear that Hunter S. Thompson has killed himself. Then, I downloaded the new Nine Inch Nails song that was leaked (good quality, just leaked) and I wasn’t even impressed let alone amazed, same with the first single from the album that was leaked in the form of a very shitty fourth generation mp3. The song went from CD (which was stolen from the video shoot for the song) to radio (three stations played it “without knowing it wasn’t supposed to be played” and are being sued) to tape (some fan) to mp3 (the fan with the tape put a microphone to her speaker and made the mp3) to my computer. Granted, this is the worst quality mp3 I have ever heard and I’m sure there is a lot of nuance that is lost in translation, but what I can hear is in the same vein as the high quality leak of the other song: Meh. Both songs sound just like the shit on the radio today. The lyrics are vague and powerless. Trent Reznor described his new album as “twelve good, hard punches to the face”; I have yet to feel sneezed on. To be honest, I have been preparing myself for let down with the new NIN album for the reasons I detailed in an earlier post. On the upside, the new Beck, eels and They Might Be Giants are all great. The TMBG was released officially the other day and it’s excellent, the new eels was leaked in its final, produced form and that’s amazing and finally the new Beck, which is in prototype form and can only get better. Anyway, I’m not destroyed over the (so far) substandard NIN music.
In case you’re wondering, I am taking obsessively about music (today) because the Hunter S. Thompson thing really sucks and I am initiating my usually defense mechanism by distracting myself. A lot of people know I like the movie based on his book, but really, his quote about Oscar Zeta Acosta really nailed me.
Also, the weather today was Kill Yourself weather. The snow has stopped and the small amount that hit the ground wasn’t enough to keep things white and quite for long, it was just enough to make people’s socks wet.
Pinprick though: I also woke up to a voicemail from Jen who wants to talk about her apartment. Hopefully that will become a flaming beacon once I converse with her and not a soggy match head.
P.S. That fucking slow mouse is still here.
P.P.S. My next DVD purchase will be “Where the Buffalo Roam”. If you don’t know what that is, find out before you talk to me next or I may react violently.
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8:52pm
I just got off the phone with Will and I told him that the only way I will be completely okay with Thompson’s death is if it was caused by something pertaining to “shotgun golf”
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11:02pm
All right, I think I crossed a line. There is this woman in a room here. She only speaks Spanish. She keeps ringing her goddamn bell, I keep telling her that someone is on their way, she keeps ringing her goddamn bell, I tell her to goddamn be patient, she keeps ringing her goddamn bell, I lose it. I opened the channel to her room, put my mouth right up to the mic and whisper “Stop…ringing…the…bell.” Then I started gurgling and hissing into the mic, then I put her on mute. So far, no repercussions, but I’ll keep you updated.

11:06pm
She just stopped ringing her bell. It’s going to be a good night.
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3:09am
Just went on break and burned the two new NIN songs onto a disc. I’ve been here listening to them a while and the second song “The Line Begins To Blur” is starting to grow on me. Took about 12 hours or so, but I’m beginning to enjoy the nuances. I’m still undecided about the first one (The Hand That Feeds) but that one might be too. I’ll be able to discuss it with myself once I hear a better version. I don’t know if it’s my eagerness to want to like the new NIN or if it’s really growing on me. It’s interesting the way people won’t like songs on an album or an entire album at first, and then get into it/them after a time of exposure. For me, a lot of my favorite albums were like that. Sea Change was only four or five tracks for me at first, eventually, the whole thing, same with Midnite Vultures, even Downward Spiral and The Fragile. In the case of They Might Be Giants, if I don’t like one of their songs, I usually don’t grow into it, same with some others. I wonder why that is. Maybe NIN and Beck just put more into their music, sonically at least, that you have to discover. That’s always a good sign but I can also see how that can make one a music snob. If something isn’t as layered as stuff they’re used to, I can see someone dismissing it as “boring”. Speaking of that, Beck said in that Norwegian interview that after he is done touring with Guero, he plans to work on an album that is just guitar and vocals. I guess we’ll see how funky he can be…