dyflvox's blog

Vox Hunt: Music - Hurry Up Already!

Show us an artist who you wish would hurry up and put out a new album.

Gavin Friday. For God's sake, Gavin Friday. His last (excellent) songwriter album, Shag Tobacco, was released in 1995. That's a Kate Bush release schedule! He's been active -- doing some film work (soundtracks and acting) and a lot of one-off performances in Ireland and Europe -- but for someone stranded here in the States who only gets the chance to enjoy him on record, the wait is becoming kind of painful. The good news is, his voice seems to have undergone a kind of renaissance in the last couple of years; the bits and pieces I've heard of his recent performances have sounded better than ever. So there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Also, it's only been a couple of years since Around The Sun, but the more I hear about the new R.E.M. album the more I want it now now now. Does that count?

Sep 14, 2007 8:11:07 AM

QotD: Today's Mix

You're the DJ: what are the next five songs coming up after the break?

Assuming I've started the pop-music radio station of my dreams, and that I'm adhering to some kind of modern playlist:

M.I.A. - "Jimmy"
Rihanna - "Push Up On Me"
Calvin Harris - "The Girls"
Justin Timberlake - "LoveStoned"
LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends (Radio Edit)"

I've been in a very pop mood lately. Not that my already-out-of-date selections illustrate that. Perhaps I should say I've been in a very "the pop of three months ago" mood lately.

Sep 12, 2007 8:01:56 PM

Beverage Magnates & Britney Meltdowns

To read today: Matthew's liveblogging of the MTV VMAs. I was hanging out at his place throughout the show, eating tacos and drinking Mexican Coke alongside the lovely (and fucking funny) Erik Bryan and Heather Rasley, and I think we got quite a little writer's room going there. Next up: our hostile takeover of TWO AND A HALF MEN.

If any of you are coming to this blog from that post, uh, welcome? Sorry this blog is about me doing laundry and shit. There's not much to see here, go read Erik's excellent Morning News pieces instead.

Sep 9, 2007 9:54:42 PM

The Many Labors

Labor Day is the official end of summer in my mind, and summer is definitely my favorite season, but it's also the time of year when my discipline and ability to stick to a schedule breaks down almost completely, due to all the days off at work and lovely weather and etc. etc. etc.

So I spent all day today reclaiming my ability to effectively manage my time, and it worked so well that I declare it my new Labor Day tradition -- think of it as a day full of New Year's resolutions for the fall, i.e. the season when you actually need to get shit done. Today's accomplishments:

Bought groceries. This is no small feat when you order delivery as much as I do. The hope is that the $60 of groceries I bought will turn into at least twice as many meals as ordering out would yield. I also paid for all but $18 of that grocery bill with the coins I'd been collecting since May or so, which is a great feeling -- like getting something for free. Coinstar machines totally rule.
Worked on my financial plan for the next few months. I recently got a raise at work (nothing ground-shaking, but every little bit helps), so I'm taking a more structured approach to my money for the foreseeable future -- finding ways to budget so that I can pay down my credit-card debt faster and start a real savings account. I set up a Google Docs spreadsheet with all of my monthly recurring expenses in it, so I know exactly what's left over on a weekly basis for food, entertainment, impulse buys, etc. The answer seems to be "not enough," but that might just be my self-indulgent side talking. I'm very curious to see how long I can hold myself to this (honestly very realistic) budget.
Got rid of a giant pile of comics that had been sitting on my bedroom floor for months and months -- I removed all the Vertigo and super-violent stuff, sorted the remainder into "All Ages" and "12 and Up," and labeled each stack as such and left them out on the street by my building. Either I'll grow a couple of new customers, or I'll scandalize some parent somewhere when they realize just how violent and dark superhero comics have gotten. Sigh.
Cleaned off my windowsill. That sounds really stupid, but it's a deeply recessed window, so the sill is actually desk-sized and has kind of become my generic dumping ground for crap I don't know what do with. Now it's all cleaned off and organized, and there are pegs on the wall for hanging my keys / sunglasses / earbuds / etc. I'm probably only a few weeks away from turning it into another giant pile of nonsense, but it's lovely for now.
Swept off our front walk and got rid of the hideous plastic chairs and dead plants that have been sitting out there for months. I maybe should've done that at the beginning of the summer so we could enjoy the space out there, but better late than never.
Signed up for the ridiculous-sounding "ActivTrax Pro" system at my gym -- basically, you tell the system a little about yourself, input the data from a test workout it recommends, and it builds a custom exercise regiment for you based on the specific machines available at your branch of the gym. I'm doing the test workout tomorrow evening, and we'll see what the results are afterwards. I have a strong suspicion I'll be ditching the NYSC soon in favor of the YMCA here in my neighborhood, since it could save me $20/month to do so, but that's not set in stone yet. I figure I'll exhaust all the options I can at my current gym before I make the switch.
Downloaded iGTD. Throwing myself wholesale into the GTD mentality would probably fry my brain, but a basic task-manager application is sorely needed in my life (I don't know that I love iGTD yet on the specifics, but there are other options out there to fill the niche if I decide I really don't like it). I'm on a Windows machine at work, and I get the feeling I'm going to need a task-manager there in a big way, since I have countless little things to do in a variety of areas that I simply can't stay on top of in my head alone. I feel like my productivity at the office has flagged severely this summer, so I'm looking to September as the month when I attack my job with a new vigor. Hopefully I can do it sustainably, without burning myself out and slacking off again.
Aaaaand folded a pile of clean laundry that had been sitting on my floor for over a week. (What? It was all socks and underwear, I folded the things that could wrinkle only... uh... two days after I washed them... ahem...)

That's a respectable day's work, right? It's really the next couple of weeks that will tell if all that work had the cleansing and revitalizing affect I intended it to, but right now I really do feel like it's put me in the right psychological headspace for fall. And it lets me think I've earned the right to flop on my couch with a pint of ice cream watching the Justin Timberlake HBO special (oh my God, I'm a thirty-five-year-old woman).

Sep 3, 2007 7:26:14 PM

OMG Makeover Time

Weird Little Chin-Beard Thingy

Good idea? Bad idea? I'm probably shaving it off for my trip in a couple of days anyway, but I can't figure out if I liked the concept or not. Apparently I'm still going through puberty, hence its scraggliness (this is a little over a week's cultivation). Sigh. You'd think I could grow a healthy beard at age twenty-fucking-five, but apparently not. Thanks for the lack of facial hair and the bitch-tits, God. You tried to make it up in other ways, I know, but it's still frustrating.

UPDATE: The people have spoken -- as of 8:55 on Sunday evening, my chin is once again nude.

Jul 21, 2007 7:02:24 PM

Vox Hunt: A Minor Indulgence

Show us a minor indulgence.
Submitted by Elisheva Chana.

BK Quad Stacker

If it's possible for a cheeseburger with four patties, four slices of cheese, and bacon to still be considered "minor," then yesterday's lunch qualifies. (I've had a tough week, OK? I totally earned this.) And yeah, it was kinda tasty, but not really all that great in the end.

And yes, this is the burger I blogged about here. I'm surprised it took me nearly a year to work my way up to the Quad (I've done the Triple several times), but I don't go to BK all that often.

Jun 22, 2007 7:54:33 AM

QotD: Just Five More Minutes...

What time is your alarm clock set for? Do you use the snooze button?

Currently, it's 8:06 AM. I did this so that hitting snooze once (a 9-minute snooze interval) brings you to 8:15 AM, which is a nice, even time that I intended to psychologically stimulate me into getting out of bed. So far it hasn't worked, though, and I keep snoozing until about 8:33 AM, when I generally drag myself up. Most of the time. Sometimes I sleep later than that. And yes, I'm supposed to be at work at 9:30, though arriving anywhere in the 9:30 - 10:00 zone is generally acceptable.

I am a constant, inveterate snoozer, and nothing has ever worked to stop it. This is actually the smallest amount of snoozing I've consistently done for a while -- I used to have the alarm set to 7:45 AM and I would consistently snooze over and over for an hour. And before you suggest it, putting the alarm clock across the room doesn't help -- I'll always stretch as far as I can to hit it (my room isn't very big), stand up and hit snooze and fall right back into bed, or half-wakingly move the alarm right back next to my bed so I can keep delaying the inevitable. Uncool.

Jun 18, 2007 11:18:46 AM

Dance, Dance

I AM HAVING A DANCE PARTY TOMORROW NIGHT. If you are reading this, you are invited.

The party takes place in the downstairs room at Loreley, 7 Rivington Street between The Bowery and Chrystie. It begins at 10PM and will likely last until 2AM-ish. Obviously it is free, and there is a bar. Josh Huffman and I are your co-hosts, and we are each DJing two one-hour sets in fierce competition. Whose grooves are the funkiest? Who will get you the most bodied? Come and find out!

Seriously, though, you should come: This is the dance party you've always dreamed of, where cool folks with no attitude make fools of themselves to pop music new and old. We don't care who you are, we just want you to come have a good time. And if you think you're a terrible dancer, don't worry: I guarantee you are not worse than me and I am going to dance until there's blood on the floor. So you've got no excuse, y'hear?

Come get sweaty with us! Come tell Josh how much better my sets were than his! Come watch me engage in white-boy overbite again and again and again!

Jun 15, 2007 1:31:51 PM

Sweep The Leg

Patada subte Times Square

It's disingenuous, considering how incredibly hard I laughed at this, to turn around and angrily demand that these guys be removed from all NYC public areas, right? Because they really do get on my nerves. Don't get me wrong, breakdancing is awesome, but obstructing traffic flow is not. This is New York, people! We've all got places to be!

Oh, and if you're worried about the kid, don't be. They're soft and flexible, I'm sure she'll be fine. Maybe.

May 15, 2007 2:28:18 PM

WANNA GO FOAR A RIDE?

So there was the Stereogum LOLZeitgeist contest which led me to I Can Has Corgan which led me to waste about an hour of my life this afternoon making this nonsense: