mrs. listmaker

as it seems like the only thing i'm capable of blogging about these days are lists, here's a link to an interview i just did with Wendy Mullin of Built By Wendy.

also here's a list of all the bands i saw at SXSW. not very many, i know - there are some i'm probably missing from some random day parties i walked into.

the thermals
i am kloot
adem
dr. dog
calla
stars
jennifer gentle
harvey sid fischer
vox trot
ratatat x2
m.i.a.
the double x3
the oranges band
stephen malkmus
pretty girls make graves
laura cantrell
burning brides
dead meadow
the national

so not a hater

just for the record there are plenty of things that i love (aside from the obvious - dogs, gilmore, etc...) including but not limited to:

noodles
seltzer
chris ware
crumpets
sufjan stevens
lost
stickers
spelling bees
bloody marys
salad spinners
zuchinni
letterpress

so there!

in defense of youthlarge; in defense of duke

man, i can not believe the vitriol being thrown at me for my love of duke basketball. all i do is profess my dedication to this team and i get socked left and right. let me debunk some inaccuracies.

myth 1: christian laettner is some spoiled rich kid.
what? laettner came from middle class angola, in upstate new york. want to talk rich dukies, let's talk grant hill. i also don't think shane battier's parents were hurting - he's from suburban birmingham, mi - which ain't exactly a blown out hole in the middle of detroit.

myth: duke is to basketball what the yankees are to baseball.
seriously, anyone who continually says this doesn't know what they are talking about. ucla, unc and kentucky have way more storied histories. it wasn't really until coach k came into the picture that duke finally stopped being the brooklyn dodgers of college basketball and won a couple titles. it still took a couple years under coach k to finally get a good team going and nearly ten seasons to finally win duke's first ncaa championships. duke has definitely earned its stripes.

as for shane battier being a phony, i'll stand by that claim. sometime early on in his career, someone decided to label him an intellectual - possibly because he could pronounce a three syllable word. and shortly thereafter battier totally began buying into the fact that he was this brilliant guy who could also play basketball. you ever hear him talk in an interview? the guy throws out more two cent words than anyone else. it's achingly obvious how he peppers in impressive sounding words into an interview. he eats that tag up. he may be a smart enough guy, but intellectual? i don't think so. i will say that battier was definitely one of the most hustle players i've ever seen play for duke.

i think the hatred of duke really started with the emergence of christan laettner as one of the best players in ncaa history. of course guys are going to hate an arrogant white boy who looks better than you, can rebound better than you and will be making a lot more money than you. i agree he hasn't lived up to his potential as a pro, but right now he's injured, so leave him alone, willya HWL?



this season duke has been a huge underdog. their roster is thin and has gotten thinner throughout the season with injuries, illness and ineffectiveness. shavlik randolph may have battle mono, but that guy hasn't been good since his first game as a blue devil - what a bust!n however, this team has a huge heart and there's nothing to hate about a baller with big love for the game.

so really, why do you hate duke? give me some valid reasons.

je t'aime / je vous deteste

a quick recap of things of late that have been great and not so great. first, what je t'aime.

Song - Basically Joya II, but only like 2 blocks from us! This is really bad news for Thai Sky a couple streets down, as they have smaller portions and higher prices. Listmaker gives Thai Sky less than a year.

SXSW - I'll be going for the first time since 1997 and I am very exicted to catch a bunch of great shows and eat some migas.

All You Need Is Sticker Graphics - A book devoted to sticker designs by some of my favorite designers. Amazingly packaged in a plastic yellow box that has all the designer's logos molded into it. I don't think I'll ever grow out of my love for stickers. I wish Trend would revive their Stinky Stickers line from decades ago!

The Double at Knitting Factory/Laura Cantrell at the Allen Room in the Time Warner Center/Interpol at Radio City Music Hall - Maybe I'll start going to shows regularly again? I did see three shows last week - easily a record for me since 2002.

The Concretes' s/t album - I'm like 6 months late on this record, but dammit, this is good stuff!

Gilmore Girls episode "So...Good Talk" - The first 55 minutes were pretty good, but those last 90 seconds just slayed me! Also the scene with Lane yelling at her mom for being in her head? Priceless.

je vous deteste:
Duke/Carolina - As much as I love my Duke basketball, I am by no means a Blue Devils apologist. I think the Cameron Crazies are a bunch of overrated nerds who think they are a lot more clever than they really are. Shane Battier is the biggest fake ever! That said, Duke totally got screwed by the refs in the last seconds of the game. Allowing a timeout during that tie-up at halfcourt was bullocks. Duke did enough damage by themselves, but they got a couple of bum calls to aid in their loss. I still love you Christian Laettner, even if you are a beat-up pothead.

Chip Shop on Saturday Night - Please don't tell me my delivery is only going to take 20 minutes and then have it show up after an hour. Furthermore, cold chips are not pleasant.

Degrassi - The Next Generation - The latest story lines are totally wack. Everyone on the show needs a haircut (and yes, I'm talking to you Craig and JT).

Lost (The Hurley Episode) - ABC makes us wait this long for Hurley's back story and this is what they came up with? Lame!

The checkout lines at Whole Foods (Time Warner Center) - It's bad enough that I recently found out the founder of Whole Foods is some conservative businessman. But you think this branch, which I'm sure cost a bazillion dollars to build could have figured out a more efficient checkout process?