Ah, nothing like being met with the stench of sewage and a rip-off cab ride back in New Jersey!

Saw Death Cab on Friday at Bumbershoot - they were great. The singer was really funny; they did a cover of "World Shut Your Mouth" which he introduced thus: "This next song is a Julian Cope cover....I can see that's real exciting for you youngsters. Well, I'll dedicate it to my sister, then!" The median age of the crowd had to have been 18. We sat in the bleachers at the huge stadium and tried to figure out why people had formed a mosh pit and were crowd surfing. This also prompted the singer to comment it was the first time he'd seen such hoopla at one of their shows. Maybe they were getting all revved up for The Presidents of the United States of America, who were the headlining band, which prompted the other enigma of the night: who is a fan of that band anymore?? They certainly got a raucous cheer when their name was mentioned. I also had the best falafel of my life - they put feta on it! Amazing! It was so good!

On Saturday, after a lovely BBQ at Alki Beach it was off to see The Unicorns. This was a totally bizarre show, complete with heckling, counter-heckling, a (presumably) Gibby Haynes impersonater, and a "terrorist," which was a person covered in a sheet with eye-holes cut out and red boxing gloves.

Saw Napoleon Dynamite. I don't know what to say about this except to go see it immediately because it totally rules. Also saw Unsung, which was made by some friends of my Seattle hosts.

Hmm...what else? Visited Pike Place Market where we picked up some fancy cheese made with rosemary from a rosemary plant supposedly brought over from Italy in 1902 or something - basically it had no flavor except for the Rosemary. Oh well. I am also now officially obsessed with Trader Joes. Of course NYC has every bleepin' store under the sun except Trader Joes. They make the best soy cheese ever!

Oh, and of course my trip could not have started any other way than with a run-in with a Republican ho-bag on her way home from the RNC. I sat down at my gate and looked up to see the gaudiest-dressed woman on the planet with a giant Bush pin and Unfit for Command on her lap, blabbing on her cell phone about Kerry's "questionable" Vietnam record. About ten minutes prior I had been debating on buying "Bushwacked," but this sealed it: I marched right back to the book stall, bought it, and plopped down in front of her again and held the book up to my face making sure my "Ban the Bush" pin was clearly visible on my backpack, which was on my lap. Yes, this was quite passive-aggressive of me. I should have just tackled her.

WATCHING (Well, watched)
Director's Series Vol. 3: The Work of Michel Gondry

READING
John Adams's A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America with an introduction by Neal Pollack.