Business Time
Went with my friend Ashley to Ann Arbor for Flight of the Conchords yesterday. Beautiful. Just....beautiful. FOTC, I mean. Ann Arbor was OK too, I guess.
I've never had the opportunity to just wander about AA before. It was nice, pretty much what I expected. Lots of kiddies struggling to out-hip and out-edgy each other. Yawn.
The best thing I saw yesterday was a woman who, perhaps unwittingly, was the personification of Pretentious Douchebag Americanus. She was walking along, wearing one of those fuzzy Tibetan vests, 600 or so shell/feather/bead necklaces and carrying an environmentally friendly tote with some slogan or other on it. The best part, however, and the detail that told me everything I need to know about her life, was that she was "reading" while walking(making certain, of course, that the book's title was prominently displayed by holding it directly in front of her face, instead of in a more natural reading posture). What was she (pretending) to read? "The Celestine Prophecy" (though I do suspect that it might have been more along the lines of "Tuesdays with Morrie" wrapped in a "Celestine Prophecy" dust jacket). True story. I couldn't have made it up, because it would never have occurred to me that anyone would, without irony, display so many stereotypical behaviors at one go.
There also lots of homeless people there. My change purse was emptied within the first hour. I suppose if homelessness is one's lot, Ann Arbor is the place to be, among the soft-hearted and socially aware (and the kids who still get allowance). Better than Detroit, I suppose, where many of those who have a place to live aren't all that much better off than those who don't.
A nice day with good mock all around, but then, at 8 p.m. came the moment I'd waited for. After Arj Barker (who plays their friend and advisor on the show), my beloved Bret took the stage (with Jemaine, of course). Brilliant. Fabulous. Astonishing. My vocabulary is insufficient to describe the event.
Met Arj Barker in the lobby afterward. Nice. So I thought the evening was complete. I didn't imagine it could get better. But it did. We met our friend Natalie, who directed us to the back entrance of the theater. So I met them. Bret. Bret and Jemaine. Got photos. Didn't flinch when Bret put his arm around me. A terrible sin? Maybe. Am I too old to be this giddy about meeting "New Zealand's 4th most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo"? Yes. But the fact remains, I was giddy as a schoolgirl and my picture with Bret is going in the album right between the one of me with Robert Fisk and the one with Sy Hersh. Bret replaces Ralph Nader. Does that make me shallow?
Edit: Forgot to resize the photos first time, sorry. I know the pictures are fug, thanks, S., for letting me know. And to my LJ friends who've not met me in person; I'm much better looking live (and to the LJ friends who do know me in real life; shhhhhhhh, don't say anything).
I've never had the opportunity to just wander about AA before. It was nice, pretty much what I expected. Lots of kiddies struggling to out-hip and out-edgy each other. Yawn.
The best thing I saw yesterday was a woman who, perhaps unwittingly, was the personification of Pretentious Douchebag Americanus. She was walking along, wearing one of those fuzzy Tibetan vests, 600 or so shell/feather/bead necklaces and carrying an environmentally friendly tote with some slogan or other on it. The best part, however, and the detail that told me everything I need to know about her life, was that she was "reading" while walking(making certain, of course, that the book's title was prominently displayed by holding it directly in front of her face, instead of in a more natural reading posture). What was she (pretending) to read? "The Celestine Prophecy" (though I do suspect that it might have been more along the lines of "Tuesdays with Morrie" wrapped in a "Celestine Prophecy" dust jacket). True story. I couldn't have made it up, because it would never have occurred to me that anyone would, without irony, display so many stereotypical behaviors at one go.
There also lots of homeless people there. My change purse was emptied within the first hour. I suppose if homelessness is one's lot, Ann Arbor is the place to be, among the soft-hearted and socially aware (and the kids who still get allowance). Better than Detroit, I suppose, where many of those who have a place to live aren't all that much better off than those who don't.
A nice day with good mock all around, but then, at 8 p.m. came the moment I'd waited for. After Arj Barker (who plays their friend and advisor on the show), my beloved Bret took the stage (with Jemaine, of course). Brilliant. Fabulous. Astonishing. My vocabulary is insufficient to describe the event.
Met Arj Barker in the lobby afterward. Nice. So I thought the evening was complete. I didn't imagine it could get better. But it did. We met our friend Natalie, who directed us to the back entrance of the theater. So I met them. Bret. Bret and Jemaine. Got photos. Didn't flinch when Bret put his arm around me. A terrible sin? Maybe. Am I too old to be this giddy about meeting "New Zealand's 4th most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo"? Yes. But the fact remains, I was giddy as a schoolgirl and my picture with Bret is going in the album right between the one of me with Robert Fisk and the one with Sy Hersh. Bret replaces Ralph Nader. Does that make me shallow?
Edit: Forgot to resize the photos first time, sorry. I know the pictures are fug, thanks, S., for letting me know. And to my LJ friends who've not met me in person; I'm much better looking live (and to the LJ friends who do know me in real life; shhhhhhhh, don't say anything).