What else is on my mind grapes?

I just returned from a wonderful weekend reuniting with friends and family in Boston while celebrating my birthday. I won’t recap the entire trip, because that’s not really interesting for anyone, but I will share run-ins I had with three different men in the city. One and two sum up the mess I tend to attract. Three is just what always happens to me when I visit another city.

Guy No. 1:

My friends and I are sitting at a bar, enjoying $1 drafts, laughing and recapping the previous night’s insanity when I get a tap on the shoulder by a guy who looked like he probably tried out for “Wannabe a VJ” or any other MTV reality show back in the day and didn’t make it. You know what I mean.

VJ: Do you know what a napkin is?

Me: Yeah …

VJ: Well, could you get me one?!

Me: That’s kind of an asshole way to ask for something.

VJ: I’m sorry, you’re just so exotic looking, I wasn’t sure if you spoke English.

Silence. He puts his arm around me.

VJ: Well, I’m glad you do, you’re really cute.

Me: Hold on, let me just tell my friends how you just approached me.

We make fun of him to his face, he keeps saying I’m cute/exotic/wants a picture and stands behind me nearly the entire night.

Guy No. 2:

Again, we are sitting at the same bar, minding our own business, when a guy approaches my friend, demanding a beer since we are near the bartender, but also tells us we’re the most attractive girls there and can’t believe there isn’t a line of met to meet us. Gross. I’ll paraphrase the rest of the conversation with “Just a guy from South Boston” (his words) because I won’t repeat some of the words he chose.

SoBo continues to rank us against other girls there, my friends turn away, leaving me to nod my head and fold my arms. He tells me he works for one of the universities and has to deal with “(insert racial slur here) from (insert any country here)” and it drives him crazy.

He then invites us to a party, I say something about why we can’t go, and why I don’t want to go, thinking he’ll maybe politely leave, as the bar was closing.

Instead he says “I’m really sweating you right now. You’re F’in’ adorable.” I say I’m from out of town. He still wants my number.

Guy No. 3:

This is actually a good run-in. Mark Ruffalo was walking with his kids near Government Center and was behind my sister and I when were waiting to cross the street. So cute, especially with his kids. Hot voice.

I think he’s there filming the new Martin Scorsese movie “Shutter Island” with Leonardo DiCaprio. I have no shame: I love celebrity spotting. But was proud of myself, and didn’t bug him. Just smiled.

I took a peek at my blog stats this morning and realized a good amount of people have stumbled upon this site by searching for “Jason Segel” in Google. 

Leading them here is an entry I wrote in November about Segel, “Freaks and Geeks,” “Undeclared,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and a weird dream I had. Boring! So 1,000 apologies if you were in search for something a little more juicy about the actor but instead ended up, well, here.

Let me make it up to you: “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” has really utilized viral marketing. Here’s a list of the sites I could find from the movie’s campaign. I’m sure there are more, but these offer plenty of Segel photos and youtube clips. Get your fix!

• http://www.ihatesarahmarshall.com/
• http://sarahmarshallfan.com/
• http://www.nbc.com/Crime_Scene/
• http://www.myspace.com/officialinfantsorrow
• http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=325493096

According to Bob Odenkirk and David Cross’ blog, the two are working on a new HBO show! 

This may be the cure for my current national depression, which - if you read their blog entry - is what they’re working to eliminate via laughter.

Sadly, I’m not the only one down about things lately, as evident by Gawker’s list on why things have been rough.

read or listen to Obama’s ”A More Perfect Union” speech here. Don’t watch the edited clips or listen to shortened sound bites, because it should be taken in from beginning to end. Why? I believe it’s the most honest, mature political speech I’ve heard on race issues in our country and media. But form your own opinion after hearing it in full at least.

Political views and the presidential race aside, the points made and the discussion at hand are worth lending an ear, or your eyes, to.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Today, play your special leprechaun flute, get that gold and watch this classic video.

 But avoid the Shamrock Shake.

Mitch Hurwitz will be writing and producing a new show, “Sit Down, Shut Up.” It will be an animated remake of a short-lived, live-action Australian show and is set to air on Fox.

Hopefully the network uses better marketing techniques with Hurwitz’s new show than it did with AD.

But since the man’s a genius, I’ll tune in.  

I read Spoon is playing SXSW today, and have been listening to them all morning. Here is the band with Sir David Cross … a scrumptious combination.

In other news, I’ve been trying to catch up on “Lost” during any downtime I have (my progress is a little slower than I’d like). The shots of the Pacific and talk of Australia have made me more nostalgic than usual. I’m really missing New Zealand, Oz and Hawaii, which is strange considering the show associates the general area with disaster and confusion. But whatever; here’s some muthaflippin’ FOTC, ’cause that’s the way I get by:

Lastly, as a new New York resident, the Spitzer scandal has been the most prominent thing on my mind. I’ll reserve my thoughts on why I’m glad the NYT did such a good job of reporting the entire story, and why I’m slightly weirded out by some of the ads/headlines/jokes emerging from the mess for another time because we’re running out of Internet! [via Gawker]

First, I have to say that everyone should read Paste Magazine. It’s excellent at featuring quality, new music.

That said, its Web site is outlining suggested bands to see at SXSW. For people like me who aren’t lucky enough to go to the festival, the article a nice way to get exposed to some of the music.

I listened to most of the site’s recommendations for today’s shows, and really liked Anathallo, Headlights and The Blow.

The Headlights were one of the few bands with video. Here’s how Paste describes them:

In a word, Headlights are “charming.” Think dreamy, nostalgic road trips at night, like Broken Social Scene in a good mood.

Pretty truthful … also, I really like the lead singer’s hair. Here’s a video from the band’s 2006 release “Kill Them With Kindness”:

If it’s possible to feel depressed over national events, then that’s the feeling I’ve been feeling. Political scandal, rising gas prices (and rising prices of nearly everything else), war, the fear of recession, fear-mongering campaign advertisements, etc.

It’s difficult to remain positive, but I’ll throw back some Cloudmir and think of the more delightful things, in list form, of course:

1. Clips from the second season of “Human Giant” - the only good thing coming out of MTV right now - have been posted on funnyordie. The Will Arnett clip is hilarious. Even when completely crass, Arnett can do very little wrong. (I avoided “Let’s Go To Prison” so in my mind, that statement is accurate.)
2. I’ve been following the SXSW Interactive Festival vicariously through my friend Nick and his blog, as well as Whitney Matheson. It sounds like Frank Warren of Post Secret is pretty captivating, and that makes me happy.
3. Speaking of SXSW, I heard “Super High Me” was surprisingly good and well received during it’s screening. It has a lot of my favorite comedians in it, so that’s something to look forward to.
4. Spring is coming!
5. Floppy hats seem to be making their way into stores, and I’m wondering if I can pull this one (in red) off. I’ll probably get it even if I look ridiculous.
6. Though it means I’m a year older, and no wiser, my birthday is fast approaching, and I get to spend the last weekend of the month in Boston! My mom and sister will be joining me as I meet up with some other friends as well.
7. The AD movie has an imdb page!
8. I think SNL is still hilarious, despite the haters, and have watched this clip several times since it aired.
9. I finished a race, in a storm, in decent time and am now going to start training for other runs with a few people from work.
10. Tomorrow is payday.

I guess anything helps.

The ‘Just For You’ feature in the iTunes Store is sometimes dead on, usually featuring artists, songs and albums I already own, but weren’t purchased online (still purchased legally!). These featured choices don’t really do me any good, but it shows the store is generating a good idea of what listeners to certain artists like, most likely based on sales. 

However, sometimes, I’m just plain offended.

This week, a song from “Eragon” was in my recommendations, and to make matters worse, it was by Avril Lavigne. Ashlee Simpson, Daughtry and that “Bubbly toes” singer were also in there. Apparently my purchase of Vanessa Carlton (which I will defend!) and the soundtracks to “Juno” and “Eagle vs. Shark” triggered these and other not-for-me choices.

Thanks for trying iTunes, but no thanks.