a gingerbread man and a peanut got married. imagine the baby!

Today was cool.

I did laundry (not cool)
Watched THE SIMPSONS on dvd (cool)
Got my VERONICA MARS sets in the mail (v. cool)
oh yeah... and then Lily & I went to REVENGE OF THE BOOKEATERS!
It's a benefit for the tutoring program 826NYC that author Dave Eggers is involved in. I love Dave Eggers. Not just because he is the hottest author ever, either. His books are fucking amazing- Both A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS and the underrated YOU SHALL KNOW OUR VELOCITY!!! are incredible books. So Lily mentioned this to me a while back. Eggers, Sarah Vowell, John Stewart and Sufjan Stevens were involved. Little did we know, until tonight, that David Byrne of the Talking Heads would be performing as well. It was really cool, very entertaining. I dropped five (of Lily's) dollars into a bucket when Eggers came around collecting donations (I got a thanks. Others got hugs. *sigh*). Sufjan and his band were really great- he's kind of a mad genius. At least that's the vibe I get from him. Sarah Vowell was adorable. John Stewart was funny. DAVID BYRNE PLAYED!!!! I still can't believe it. He did two Heads songs. All in all, a good time.
Of course the other big thing I had planned pre-vacation was hanging with Norana & Jason tomorrow night. However, it seems that my dad is going to be getting here earlier than expected. And since Jason works the closing shift, we wouldn't even be able to start till around 11. We literally have been trying to get together since MAY with no luck but bad luck. Perhaps when I get back things will work out...

Finally, my take on World Music vs. New Age 'music' as discussed with Lily pre-show: I think they take different instruments & forms of world music, suck all the vibrancy and life out of them, and call it New Age.

title quote: Alex.
music du jour: Ani DiFranco- Sufjan Stevens- David Byrne
dvd player: THE SIMPSONS: SEASON 8
bookbag: OUT (oh shit... that's actually in LILY'S bookbag! FUCK!!)

i just wanna put down all the pressures and feel how i really feel

not much going on lately.
work=customers are stupid assholes.
life= same old blah vs. blah shit. leaning towards NY for the most part at this point. although over the last 24 hours been feeling like home is right. you know, someone actually wrote the words "flip a damn coin already" to me, can you fucking believe that?

the news is that i'm on vacation! and i'm going to road trip through new england with my dad, who i haven't seen in a year. i'm looking forward to seeing some mountains, i tell ya. he ought to be getting here sometime late tomorrow night. at least i hope it's late tomorrow night, as we're having norana & jason over...

erm. that's it.

-rick
really ought to be doing laundry.

title quote: Ani DiFranco, "Half-Assed" from REPRIEVE
music du jour: Ani DiFranco/REPRIEVE
dvd player: KICKING AND SCREAMING (That would be the 1995 Noah Baumbach film, not the Will Ferrell soccer opus)
bookbag: OUT by Natsuo Kirino
celebrity sightings: 0 {well, there was that model from Project Runway, but I don't think I'm going to count her.}
YTD Sightings-17.5 {okay, maybe I'll count her a little.}

This isn't good cop/bad cop. This is fag & New Yorker.

...or "Don't Quit Your Gay Job"

watched two movies tonight. PRIME. Eh. I liked the lead guy, felt Uma Thurman was miscast a bit- they had no chemistry whatsoever. Loved Meryl Streep. I really wanted to like this movie and totally expected to, as I loved Ben Younger's other film, BOILER ROOM. However, I didn't like it. Disappointing.

felt much better when, even though I wasn't really in the mood for it, we watched KISS KISS, BANG BANG. Fucking LOVED that movie. It's entertaining, witty, a mystery you wanna solve- just really great entertainment. AND, the writer/director is Shane Black, who wrote one of my favorite action films, THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT. (ok he also wrote some LETHAL WEAPON movies. whatever.) Plus, Val Kilmer of all people plays someone who is probably my favorite gay character in film since his co-star Robert Downey, jr. in HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. for so long I have wanted to see a gay man who's a fucking bad-ass, smart aleck, take no shit character. Who says "fuck" as much as me. Gay Perry is definitely that. This is a movie I have to own on dvd at some point so that every time I want to kill myself over NOAH'S ARC or WILL & GRACE, I can watch something with a character who is actually really fucking cool. Netflix it NOW!!

-rick
title quote: KISS KISS, BANG BANG
music du jour: Ani DiFranco, REPRIEVE
dvd player: BRICK
bookbag: OUT by Natsuo Kirino
celebrity sightings: 0
YTD Sightings-17

listen, this stands to reason; sure as the seasons, you know you & i can't be wrong; when you walk into the room, it's like a song...

Body:
Step right up for the new issue of Pictures & Frames!!

Covered this month: Jay McInerny's book, THE GOOD LIFE; A trio of musicians, Sufjan Stevens, Johnny Cash & Matt Kearney; Plus, a plethora of new movies reviewed to make up for last month's lack of flicks: WORLD TRADE CENTER; LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE; LADY IN THE WATER; SUPERMAN RETURNS; SCOOP; CLERKS 2; The Bronx Tale on DVD and, back by popular demand, the Itinerant Saturday Night Brooklyn Gang take a deeper look than they'd like at Sharon Stone in BASIC INSTINCT 2.

All this plus new staff pics & bios, Canadian hottie Ryan Gosling in the movie of the month and a Spotlight column on filmmaker Ed Burns, is yours for the taking at: Pictures & Frames!

xxoo,
Rick
(who contributed the SCOOP review & will be quizzing randomly to ensure that you've read it)

title quote: Bic Runga, "Listen" from BIRDS
music du jour: *Songs I Know By Heart* mix: Bic Runga/Travis/Holly Palmer
dvd player: THE WEST WING: Season One
bookbag: HOUDINI!!! by Kenneth Silverman
celebrity sightings: 0
YTD Sightings-17

counting on a miracle

So today at work, Foxy Hillary asked me why I was single, when she totally wants to marry me. I was just like, "eh... i don't think i want anything at this point." which is somewhat true, considering that I don't know if I'll still be in this city come December. Later on I was thinking about it some more and realized: The fact is? I don't like most other gay men very much.

Incidentally, I'm so homophobic that I even hate myself.

I'm tired. And honestly, I didn't do much at work today... So my second realization was that this constant exhaustion is probably also due to stress. The Miami vs. NYC stress. Family vs. My Life. Because I think about it a lot. And honestly, unless I'm distracted with a movie or a book or my flatmates armed with Nerf guns, it's weighing on my mind. That includes being at work. When I'm busy with someone, or doing something that requires focus, I'm fine. But as soon as there's nothing going on or I'm doing something mindless, like scanning books, it's all I think about. It seems like I'd feel better once I came to a definitive decision, but it's just not forthcoming. I miss my family and I know they miss me. The thought of them feeling sad makes me depressed. But they are bound to Florida and it is not likely that this will ever change, that they will ever pick up and move closer to me. On the other hand, I have a life here. All of my friends from Miami are here now. I've made new friends here- honestly, I like people up here more. Back in Florida, there's really no potential for anything to happen for me. I will just go back to being the loser who depends on his parents for rides to work... Who does nothing, ever, and will probably end up never doing anything. But what it comes down to is that either choice I make, I have to give up something important.

oh right... you've read all this before.

it's like there's someone with a fever yelling at my pants!!

I haven't blogged in a bit.
Last week, I wrote down our itinerary on a balloon.
WED: Little Miss Sunshine; Project Runway
THURS: Have no fun without me!
FRI: GLOOM with Jason & Norana; Tacos!
SAT: WEEDS; Korner Pizza; Haute Tension
SUN: HOLLY PALMER!!

WED: By the time Wednesday actually came around, we had already decided to maybe see MONSTER HOUSE instead of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE as MH was playing at our favorite local theatre. However, I was really tired after work so we ended up not going to see anything. We did watch PROJECT RUNWAY, though. Why is Angela still on it?!?

THURS: I worked. I didn't make lunch as I planned on treating myself to dinner during my break. Of course... it rained. I ate garlic bagel chips in the break room. After work, went to the diner (where, as I was leaving, I realized two of the people I work with were sitting a couple of tables away from me. I wasn't very observant, as I was reading...) Turns out that if I had been able to go to the diner during my break, I would have run into X+J who had met there for dinner. They swore that they had no fun without me. Who knows if they're telling the truth.

FRIDAY: Norana cancelled GLOOM night. Which, btw- probably will never happen what with everyone's schedules & all. We are doomed! However, we still had tacos and got caught up on PSYCH. Then, Lily came home and we all watched the pilot for STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP- the forthcoming Aaron Sorkin show... it's freaking awesome. X+I watched the KIDNAPPED pilot (our station's in it! the Jeremy Sisto connections keep coming!!), which I didn't expect to like, but totally loved.

SATURDAY: Another weekend, another weekend we didn't see WEEDS. We did watch the second disc of the first season of VENTURE BROS. Which rocks. Then H. came over and we all had pizza. Then HIGH TENSION- okay if you don't want to know how it ends, skip to Sunday. Because here's what. I always sensed that HIGH TENSION would be similar to WOLF CREEK. Characters go somewhere. Characters are shockingly attacked by bad people. Bad people do really fucked up, torturous things to characters. Rick is uncomfortable and nauseous. There's nothing scary, it's just really gory. And... I was right. BUT it was kinda entertaining- until the twist ending. Here's the spoiler: The twist is that the French girl we see as the hero is actually the psycho killer. Yep. It ends like five hundred thousand other movies. The thing with those movies, however is that they tie it up sweetly and you think- "oh my god, I can't believe it was them all along!" ...or you've already guessed and can't wait for this trend to be over. HIGH TENSION does not fucking DO that. And that's why I really, really disliked it. Anyway, afterwards, everyone was going to watch EULOGY. Which I gave 30 minutes, because I love Zooey Deschanel & Famke Janssen. It was just really dull and unfunny, though, so I stopped watching & did the dishes instead.

SUNDAY: Went to see MONSTER HOUSE with X+J. Another good movie. I'm glad... this summer has been full of overlong, uninspired movies. This one was just the candy I wanted it to be. Then... HOLLY PALMER. She played Arlene's Grocery- J. went with me to see her tonight. I saw her in May & it was the best show I've seen all year. I'm a big fan of Holly's, and before that show I'd only gotten to see her once- in 1997. And at the time, I had no idea who she was. Suffice it to say, I was happy to get the chance to see her play again. She did a great set (favorite moment: "La vie en rose"- accapella) even though it seemed a bit short. Afterwards, J. & I hung out so that I could get a tee- Holly was really sweet & actually seemed to remember me from the last show, and said "you change your name a lot" on Myspace. I wished her luck on the rest of the tour (she's still touring with Gnarls Barkley- but there are some solo shows, too- check out her Myspace page from mine!) and left. Oh yeah, she suggested I go with a green tee & I'm glad I did. Tonight made me very happy.

On my own, I had planned to watch 5 dvds over the weekend. Since my birthday in December, there has been a stack of dvds next to my television. The stack kept growing and I never had the time to watch everything. On Friday, I was finally down to 5 movies. I had three days off.
I have watched two. (WUTHERING HEIGHTS and THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE, OHIO) I don't know how much blame can go to pOKeCupid guy and AIM, but certainly some of it. I'm about to watch number 3, Wim Wenders' DON'T COME KNOCKING. Hopefully, at some point this week, I'll be able to watch the last two- V FOR VENDETTA and INSIDE MAN. I really would like to watch THE WEST WING from start to finish, and Lily has 'em on dvd... We'll see if it happens. Hmmph. Work. If anyone knows how I can get paid to sit in front of the air conditioner, drinking Kool Aid & watching dvds, please let me know. Thanks.

There should be a new issue of Pictures & Frames up soon- I will definitely post here & on Myspace to let everyone know.

-rick
title quote: VENTURE BROS. (can you say addicted?)
music du jour: Holly Palmer: SONGS FOR TUESDAY
dvd player: DON'T COME KNOCKING
bookbag: HOUDINI!!!
celebrity sightings: 0
YTD Sightings-17
Days till vacation: 10

All right, you little freshman bitches- AIR RAID!! ...That was PATHETIC!!

Is anything better than Parker Posey tormenting freshmen in DAZED & CONFUSED? I think not...

Laundry Day Mix:
Cat Power: I Found a Reason
Jane Siberry: Love is Everything
Sarah Polley: Courage
The Beautiful South: I'll Sail This Ship Alone
Ben Lee: In My Life
Ben Taylor: Safe Enough to Wake Up
Bif Naked: Lucky
Björk: New World
Blur: Beetlebum (Moby's Mix)
Brandi Carlile: What Can I Say?
The Caesars: It's Not the Fall That Hurts
The Carpenters: Goodbye to Love
Cat Stevens: The Wind
Chantal Kreviazuk: What if It All Means Something
Chet Baker: My Funny Valentine
Chris Isaak: Wicked Game
Chris Whitley: Big Sky Country
Citizen Cope: Sideways
Claudine Longet: God Only Knows
Cranberries: Linger
Dandy Warhols: We Used to Be Friends
Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism
Delfonics: Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time
Devlins: The World Outside
Dixie Chicks: Not Ready to Make Nice
Duncan Sheik: Barely Breathing

I also realized that amazingly, I didn't have Edie Brickell & New Bohemian's SHOOTING RUBBERBANDS AT THE STARS album on my ipod, or anything from her solo disc, PICTURE PERFECT MORNING, so added them to the ipod and listened for a while. X gave me 3 different mixes he made with some really cool stuff on them, too.

Cooked for everyone, watched Veronica Mars *and* Life on Mars. AND Psych, with the hot guy with the nose (aka James Roday) and am currently enjoying a cold gingerale in my room while watching the Criterion Edition of DAZED & CONFUSED.

Oh, also finished reading V FOR VENDETTA. I still like the movie better, but it was pretty good. I usually enjoy the basic story behind Alan Moore's stuff (WATCHMEN; FROM HELL; V...) but have to force myself to get through the actual reading. I still like WATCHMEN best. Tomorrow I'll get back to the Houdini biography, after which I'm going to re-read Philip Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy. Oh... and I really wanna read Natsuo Kirino's novel OUT, but I've got that one at work for um... moments of peace. I still can't believe I managed to read so much Harry Potter at work. Lately it seems like I'm always... er, working.

-rick

Stranger Danger!!

music du jour: I've had a Sinéad O'Connor song stuck in my head since I woke up
dvd player: THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW: SEASON FOUR
bookbag: HOUDINI!!! by Kenneth Silverman
celebrity sightings: 0
YTD Sightings-17

but you must always know how long to stay, and when to go away...

Jessica Simpson is covering a Patty Griffin song. "Let Him Fly" was previously covered by the Dixie Chicks on their "Fly" album, and it was good. Because... they're the Dixie Chicks. Jessica Simpson is not good. Jessica Simpson covering Patty Griffin is really, really not good.

:::try to think of it this way, rick... Jessica sells albums. millions. mysteriously. for each one sold, Patty gets royalties off of the song. then gets to continue making *her* music and bringing you joy:::

i still want to vomit everything i've ever eaten. this is so much worse than when she covered the Robbie Williams song, "Angels"

title quote: "Let Him Fly" by Patty Griffin from LIVING WITH GHOSTS
music du jour: I started the day with Sinéad O'Connor, then switched over to Björk for the rest.
dvd player: I'm on the last episode of CHARLIE'S ANGELS: SEASON THREE and tomorrow I think I may watch THE GODFATHER pts. I & II
bookbag: HOUDINI!!! by Kenneth Silverman.
celebrity sightings: 0
YTD Sightings-17

what if it's all dust? that's it, just star stuff- and the light that i see burned away long before me...

I had to write up a bio for Pictures & Frames today. It's fun to write about oneself in the third person.

Rick Sayre was born the same year those two cinematic masterpieces, THE WAY WE WERE and THE EXORCIST were released. You may correctly assume that he is a homosexual with a penchant for horror films. He has always loved music (First album: The Go-Go's/VACATION; Favorite musician: Bic Runga) and books (Favorites: The Time Traveler's Wife; The Secret History; Good Omens). He credits the early 90s for instilling a love of film in him after the 1-2-3 punch of FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO and the Keanu Reeves' classic, POINT BREAK, left him in awe of the visceral power of The Cinema. His tastes have changed (somewhat) since then & he includes among his favorite films MY MAN GODFREY; BRINGING UP BABY; ROPE; REAR WINDOW; CHARADE; WHAT'S UP, DOC?; EMPIRE OF THE SUN; EVE'S BAYOU; ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and of course, CLUE. His cinematic heroes include a few of the usual suspects (Hitchcock; Kurosawa; Tarantino; Woody Allen; David Fincher), but he also loves the ladies (Kasi Lemmons; Lisa Cholodenko; Rebecca Miller; Allison Anders). He has a special place in his heart for the films of Carole Lombard, Julianne Moore and Christian Bale. He has a VERY special place in his heart for the films of Keanu Reeves. He has a special place in his garbage disposal for the films of Brett Ratner, Michael Bay & Jennifer Lopez. Rick spends his days selling books to the masses (Favorite titles: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Being a Model and Snakes on a Plane: The Novelization), but secretly believes himself to be a writer. He has been an accessory to crimes committed by Mr. The Fink Productions, acting in the short films "Mystery Showcase" and "The Poker Game" (which is available on video through the Fink website). Rick is a proud member of the Itinerant Saturday Night Brooklyn Gang and, as such, has been traumatized by the likes of CATWOMAN; NATIONAL TREASURE; HIDE & SEEK; and BASIC INSTINCT 2. And he still liked them all much, much more than CRASH.


With 1/2 of the flatmates out of town, I came home, got a pizza and have been watching CHARLIE'S ANGELS in front of the a/c and messing with my Myspace profile. I spent most of the week thinking that I had tomorrow off, only to discover that it was an oversight and that in fact, I won't be spending the day... um... eating leftover pizza and watching more CHARLIE'S ANGELS in front of the a/c. Blimey.
-rick

title quote: Paul Bryan, "Star Stuff" from HANDCUFF KING
music du jour: Paul Bryan: HANDCUFF KING; Holly Palmer: SONGS FOR TUESDAY
dvd player: CHARLIE'S ANGELS: SEASON THREE
bookbag: HOUDINI!!! by Kenneth Silverman (although I may hold off so that I can re-read the Philip Pullman HIS DARK MATERIALS novels)
celebrity sightings: 0
YTD Sightings-17