I don’t recommend writing a soliloquy to a recently departed cell phone after watching a David Lynch movie, because this is what happens…

I write today with amidst a deluge of emotion. Over the past week I’ve watched my ole’ reliable, lime green phone die one system at a time. It has served me well ever since July of 2008 and I pretty much beat the ever living hell out of that thing and it somehow always came back for more…well up until yesterday when crucial buttons needed to communicate with others shut down rendering it almost completely useless. There was no intervention or treatment that could have prolonged it’s life. To do so would have been cruel and in the end I showed it the respect it deserved and just let the bastard die. I’ve gone through all the cliched stages of grief too:

Denial: The first signs of trouble were a couple of days ago when I was unable for a bit to hear calls that I was trying to make. I was somehow able to make this right for one last call. If only I would have known it was to be the call I’d make from it, the last series of noises for it’s received to pick up and then encode and send off to the ear of someone else, I would have paid more attention, paid more respect to the service you provided me, which was spotty at times, but (usually) reliable. Let’s accept the moment for what it was: fleeting and typical of the one-sided relationship we engaged in. I would demand and you would provide, alas you cannot provide no more.

Anger: I was pissed.

Bargaining: I looked up prices for the phones I could replace it with…does that count?

Depression: I became genuinely sad for about 5 minutes. Not about the loss of this inanimate object, but more about how dependent I was/continue to be to my cell phone and launched into a short lived inner-monologue on this being a microcosm of today’s society. I was then slightly depressed that I spent that much time engaging, of all people, myself in such a trite debate.

Acceptance: This morning I accepted the fact that it was time to go buy a new phone.

So, off I trekked with the little thing still in my pocket barely able to vibrate when an unanswerable text would be received. Here’s a mini live blog of what happened when I got to AT&T:

High Noon: Arrive at the store and immediately meet Chris the Sales Guy

12:02: Turn to my right after becoming annoyed with my salesman counterpart and see the iPhone display.

12:05-1pm: Blackout and come to calling my mom with an iPhone in my left hand with a quirky plaid case protecting it.

There you have it. I’m an even bigger member of the Wicker Park Hipster Clubhouse now that I have some more of the required gear to nonchalantly show off while I trek to my lovely coffee shop. Oh and this thing is so amazing that I did indeed do this entire post FROM MY PHONE! This really only means that I’ll be able to do actual live blogs. Watch out!

-Wine

PS Whiskey is taking a hiatus from posting. And by hiatus I do mean that he feels he’s gained all the answers he was seeking from this social experiment and I’m going to convince him otherwise. He can be so dramatic sometimes…

This is the last political post I want to share for a little bit. Sunday was an exhausting day to even watch, I cannot even imagine being apart of that circus in Washington BUT nevertheless this first step to righting our health care system has been taken so we’ll see what happens after this. The health care issue holds a special place in my heart due to my line of work and the loss of dear friend of mine a few months ago who really could have benefited from these fixes. I’m sure we all have some personal tie to the health care debate which may help explain some of the vitriol seen over the past few months. I’ll just let Mr. Olbermann say the rest in his first special comment section of his show after mourning the loss of his father who passed away 9 days ago after a prolonged fight with cancer and the complications thereafter. I need to rest now but just take a listen.

-Wine

I really don’t like engaging in political discussions.  These days, any discussion with someone with opposing viewpoints seems to be akin to me having a conversation with one of my patients at work; disorganized, tangential, delusional, and sometimes I swear I hear some clang associations.  I may be one of the last few people who thinks constructive dialogue is possible with the other side but my overwhelming optimism isn’t why I’m posting today.  Last night Jon Stewart took the entire first half of his show to mercilessly mock the McCarthy of the modern age, Glenn Beck.  Here are the videos:

I really don’t have to say anymore, it’s just genius.  It’s a sunny day in Chicago and I need to let the sun blast away some residual stress from the week.

-Wine

PS Glenn, when your bit of fame is over and your network turns on you (it will happen, just go check your chalkboard for the clues), I have an empty room on my floor at the hospital.

PPS The videos don’t quite work how I wanted them to, but just click on the link and you’ll get there eventually.  I never claimed I was good with HTML

I’m sitting here in my new favorite place in the world, Filter.  This is the ultimate coffee shop in terms of ambiance and people watching.  It only really seems to be lacking in the quality of drink category but that’s only because I’m a huge fuckin’ snob about my coffee and espresso but believe you me, the food more than makes up for it.  Well anyway, I didn’t want this to really be a review sort of post, just go to Yelp if you want that.  NO!  Instead I’m taking the time to procrastinate and do a pseudo-sociological survey of the crowd around me.  I should really be taking care of some work now that I’m in a setting that does include me getting paged every five minutes, patients knocking on my door, or tension caused by departmental politics to distract me.  Unfortunately, I may have picked one of the more interesting and stimulating settings outside of my job that requires an appropriate level of analysis on my part to feel fully comfortable within.  Oh that and this latte is making me WAY too jittery to be productive…

Filter, at it’s original location up the street, affectionately dubbed the “living room of Wicker Park”.  I kind of questioned this sort of dubious, self-serving sounding pet name, but to be honest the nickname is a lot more literal than I could have imagined.  The massive space is filled with all sorts of vintage furniture and instead of an entertainment center, the “family” has a big ole’ window from which to watch the masses scurry by, peer in, stumble in front of, etc.  The owners even let their kids crawl around between the tables!  All you really want to do here is curl up on one of the couches and hang out.  This is where all of the hipsters go to let their hair down, show off their sweet hipster wears (suspenders, headphones, crazy ass hats, obscene frames, etc.), and chat about whatever their trendy hearts desire. They somehow seem to mix in quite seamlessly with the more productive group of patrons.  There are plenty of students of many different persuasions keeping this place abuzz as well with their laptops, various highlighters, and page tabs that come in more colors than the largest Crayola box I could have dreamt up as a kid.

Yes, this is my Mecca, my own personal (in a way) bodhi tree to which I go to meditate underneath…do I need to dream up more hyperbole or produce any more pithy statements regarding my love of this place?  Yeah I didn’t think so, but just do me a favor folks, if you’re ever in Chicago come check this place out.  Well that is unless you’re trying to get something done, because if so this is not the place for you.

This sporadic and tangential post was brought to you by the magic of caffeine and a full day’s work.

Maybe you’ll hear from Whiskey soon…who knows?

-Wine

Wine here, and first of all just go peruse this article from the New York Times today: Texas Conservatives Win Vote on Textbook Standards

Now excuse me because I need to rant.

I had many reactions to this article, most of them visceral and exclamatory which some of the people in this lovely coffee shop did not enjoy.  I also do not have a well reasoned or researched response as I am simply reacting and not forming some elaborate rebuttal.  Mainly because if I had some academic response with footnotes (I’ve been reading a lot of David Foster Wallace lately so now I want to use them like he does) I would just be brushed aside.  Instead I will use short, easy to understand statements that these dumbasses can easily digest like a Fox News talking point.

After I read this I immediately flashed back to when Obama wanted to give a speech to kids when they were in school.  This was framed as indoctrinating school children with his liberal agenda and in the end it turned out to be a harmless, stay in school/do your best type of speech.  There were no undertones promoting his other domestic or foreign policies, just making sure kids took responsibility for and demanded only the best from their education.  Now these conservative school board members are doing exactly what I’m sure they lambasted Obama of doing – indoctrinating schoolchildren through a shift in perspective to favor their political views.  Their justification?

“We are adding balance,” said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leader of the conservative faction on the board, after the vote. “History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left.”

The rest of the article is full of quotes like this and I sat ready and waiting for this to be revealed as some sort of elaborate satire, but no.  This is real and incredibly disturbing.  I’m not going to sit here and pretend that this is the first time curriculums have been amended to favor certain philosophies or that even my own education wasn’t skewed in some way but – gah- it’s just frustrating, that’s all.  My favorite part is the lack of any expert opinion on these curriculum changes.  I’m not even surprised by this fact, it just seems like par for the course.  I especially love the quote where one of the board members sums up the entire field of sociology as a field that “just blames society for all of our problems” when they amended some curriculum to place special emphasis on personal responsibility.  There are far too many tangents to this statement and I only have about 20 minutes left on my free WiFi access here to properly expound upon…

…but oh my good God that may be the genius of the conservative strategy!  Just make sweeping and over generalized statements that put the liberal/academic/intelligent population up in arms and while they’re sitting in their coffee shops sipping on their communist cervezas (read: coffee) the conservatives will just make all of the changes they want!  The left-wing’s critical thinking skills seen as the reason why they are superior to the conservatives are immediately made into an exploitable weakness – a kind of sinister and calculated misdirection.  Maybe the democrats should use this strategy too.  Just agree with the conservatives about something and while they’re off celebrating and offering up sacrifices to a giant Ronald Reagan statue, the democrats can actually take advantage of their majority in both chambers of Congress and get something done.  Yeah no they’ll still find some way to screw it up and we’ll be stuck in this seemingly eternal push and pull for just a while longer.  But that’s OK, because in a few decades we can just alter the curriculum and all will be forgotten.

-Wine

Wine here and I am still trying to figure out what just happened earlier today.  So I’ve posted about The Hood Internet before but the other day I signed up to be an extra in a music video they were making to go along with a 7 inch they’re doing with Kid Static.  Well in true Whiskey and Wine fashion, it’s time for a mother f-ing live blog, because this was all kind of absurd.  Here’s the detailed email I received with the details for today’s shoot:

Awesome. Just meet us at 410 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL at 8AM.

Some of us will be wearing bright orange shirts, so just look out for that.

Ryan

7:50am: Arriving outside of the Wrigley Building downtown, I realize that my usual promptness isn’t a quality these DJ’s and video people and what I assume will be throngs of hipsters who also signed up share but regardless I’m pretty giddy with excitement so I may have walked a little quickly after getting off of the train…

7:53am: My suspicions are confirmed and the only person I find in the place described is a security guard who has no idea about what I’m talking about but threatens me for some reason that I better have my permit in place to film…blah blah blah

7:55am: Caffeine consumption begins and I take up a perch on a planter awaiting these orange shirted people or other people (probably from Wicker Park) that will co-star with me in the nebulous role of “extra”.

8:05am:  There’s one other guy with an abnormal amount of bags and things around him sitting about 5 feet to my right that I have done a good job of ignoring but hark! I glimpse an orange t-shirt and approach him awkwardly fully expecting to be denied any answers but lo and behold I find the producer aka Ryan.

8:06-8:15am: Making small talk until the cameras and the “guys” arrive.  Also find out that I’m the ONLY extra to show up today…does this mean I’ll actually be in the video for more than just a crowd shot?!  You could say that…

He explains the treatment of the video:

“This takes place in the future when Chicago is trying again to get the Olympics in 3016 and the guys will be taking part in a few events such as extreme ironing, wife carrying, boxing, etc. and you’ll be a part of the crowd basically cheering them on and whatever.”

Hmmmmmmm….

8:16am: Steve and Aaron aka ABX and STV SLV aka The Hood Internet turn the corner looking generally cool/tired.  My heart jumps a bit and I remind myself over and over to NOT sing some of their mash-ups that I may or may not have been waking myself up with on the train…this proves to be harder than I thought.

8:20-9:35am: I get my first assignment from Ryan: Go out with Nick and Jac and a handheld to get the good citizens of Chicago to hold up “Chicago 3016″ t-shirts and look excited.  I may have been on some sort of drug or just reverting back to the days spend making videos for a capella groups but I leave whatever sense of shame I had left back with my headphones at the Wrigley Building and go chase people and talk them into being filmed.  Here’s a sampling of the cast of characters we convince to be on video:

- Two Japanese tourists who were generally confused
- Yuppies on a smoke break
- A Dachshund hound who we were able to get the shirt on over it’s argyle sweater vest but only after it almost darted out in front of a bus
- A well-groomed homeless man who turned out to be the only compensated member of the video shoot
- A choir from Alabama and their families who didn’t fully understand the concept and really thought Chicago was getting the Olympics in 3016 and who were having a tourist aneurysm being asked to be in a music video while waiting to take a group photo by the Bean

9:45am: We arrive triumphantly back at base camp where THI and Kid Static are finishing a scene and looking odd in their tracksuits and aviators.

10:00am: This is the moment I take my self-respect and drop kick it back to Ohio.  Ryan is going over some shots we have to do and getting them in order of importance, stops, looks at me and asks, “OK, I will totally do this one, but we want Kid Static to autograph your tongue”  I agree without hesitation, alarmingly, before being told it’s not toxic.

10:01-10:30am: I mentally prepare to have a man grab my face and use a washable marker to sign my tongue in the midst of all of the tourists on Michigan Ave while the three stars do a few takes walking down the sidewalk doing typical rap video hand gestures to the music being played from some portable speakers.  I give up saying I’m an extra at this point and act like a part of the crew when people come over to ask what’s going on.  I feel (self) important.

10:40am: IT’S GO TIME!  We find the right placement, I’m handed paper towels to dry off my tongue because Ryan (who practiced on himself and assures me I won’t die) says the marker shows up better that way.  My scene goes as follows:  I, with my tongue already out and ready to be tagged, wave emphatically towards Moses (Kid Static’s real name…yeah we’re “tight” now) who walks over, craddles my head gently as he writes “KS”, admires his work and walks away, I then break to the camera and gesture wildly (read: awkwardly, embarrassingly, stupidly, etc) toward the camera as it ZOOMS IN on my tongue.  After the second take I decide I never want to see this video…ever.

11:00am: My tongue is restored back to it’s normal color and it’s time to shoot some more shots around the Wrigley Building cheering the band on as they warm up and shadowbox and look goofy.  Meanwhile we enlist the services of trio of street brass musicians to be in a shot and dance while Moses raps into the camera.

11:30am:  The last shot I’m in includes standing up on ledges and realizing that, while my sense of shame may be gone forever, my acute fear of falling to my death is not.

11:31am: Camera’s rolling.  Fear of falling gone.  Be sure to watch me jump around and make hand gestures I remember frat guys making at intermural sporting events while being an inch away from falling…

12:20pm:  Everyone’s pretty tired and realizing THI have a show to get to, so I take my leave and one of the t-shirts we used for the shoot as some sort of souvenir because after all I will never ever watch this video…ever.

Yeah, so there you have it.  I was in a music video today.  I’m tired.  My tongue feels violated.

-Wine

Dave Hause of the Loved Ones (Hause. Like, it rhymes with pause. or cause) is playing solo acoustic tonight at Ronny’s bar in Logan Square. I’m going to the early show, I think.

kisses,

-whiskey

Wine here, and I am taking full advantage of the free wifi that Megabus provides. This little treat for my ride to Oxford was such a great way to kick off this very necessary weekend away from work/stress. I’m probably going to be even more absent from the blog in the coming weeks as I’ll probably be logging an insane amount of hours digging through charts and getting ready for our massive annual survey. But, before all of that stress can happen I’m going to regress back to college life for a weekend in a vain attempt to “recharge” somehow.

I’d live blog my experience through Indiana but I mean come on, it’s Indiana…driving through this state only gives one a good excuse to do some good hard thinking because there’s really nothing else to hold your attention. Since I’m not driving though I’m currently diving into my first bit of David Foster Wallace. I had a number of friends try and do the Infinite Jest summer thing last year and I’ve only heard great things about this guy…well other than the fact that he died wayyyyyy too soon.

Alright, battery almost dead and the rambling will cease too.

Cheers,
Wine

and hey, buy me a drink. i’ve got no money for a few days. love ya!

kisses,

-whiskey

That video is from newcomers Two Door Cinema Club who are so far looking to be this year’s obligatory Brit Rock One Hit Wonder of The Year.  All of the elements are there: Jangly/awesome guitar hook, pretty great bass line complete with the brooding one of the band who is slightly more attractive than the two other non-threatening band members, the semi-surprising but in hindsight totally predictable addition of some electronic elements.  All of that smashed together with a chorus so big that it’s threatening to span the length of the Atlantic Ocean and invade our American ears!  Every time I listen to this song, which according to my iTunes now stands at 6 listens, I’m reminded of another song cut from the same cloth which I was similarly obsessed with a couple of years ago.  Here’s the video for Tape It by Winterkids:

Now of course there are differences.  The “surprise” element is the use of the glockenspiel and I must say I like this bands wardrobe better but yeah the bass line is there, the same use of the off beat in the drumming, the usual breakdown before returning triumphantly to the massive chorus.  Hell they both even sing about what a certain “she” spoke about!  Part of me wants to be up in arms by this music by numbers but come on we all need a helping of sugary sweetness to cleanse our palettes of the typical overload of dense, gourmet, multi-course music…well unless all you listen to is chock full of this sort of sweetener in which case you might have some sort of type 2 musical diabetes…

Yes that is my second post of the day, and yes its just as pointless as the last one.

Boom!

-Wine