Moving right along

Let the countdown begin! I'm down to 50 days and counting. Theres shitloads of work I need to wrap up in that time. But much more importantly, theres much yet to do. Two weeks from right about now I'll be on a plane in the air on my way to Christchurch, New Zealand. Tickets are booked as are some hostels. I'm getting really excited about this trip. The place looks phenomenal and I've put together a solid trip if I say so myself. Christchurch may be the second largest city in N Zed but it looks like I'll see little of it. Because saturday morning I'll be on one of the best trainrides in the world. After that (same day) its down to the glaciers. I'm hoping the weather will permit a helicopter ride up the glacier and a few hours hike thereabouts, but after talking to someone oday on the phone, I'm not all that hopeful. Then I'll make my way to Queenstown. I think they call it the adventure capital of the world. This is where bungee jumping got its start. theres tons of other high adrenaline activities - jetboating down rapids, 4WD, skydiving, etc. Its also a starting point for other, less hormonally charged activities. I'll be making my way to the Routeburn Track for 3 days/2 nights. Then its over to Milford sound. The big thing to do there is a) take a trip on the cound or b) hike the milford track. That was my original plan, but theres this wacky booking system on the major trails there, and the milford is booked until March. So I'll take the obligatory sound cruise and then hop on a bus to a real city again, this time Dunedin. Apparently it was settled by the scots, and dunedin is gaelic for Edinburg. Its also home to N Zed's best university, and has a strong music scene. The Clean are from dunedin. I know they toured recently, opening up for some young indie whippersnappers whose name escapes me.

File under: Useless Internet diversions

sholda than show

Got this link from a friend; I thought about making one of 'em my AIM icon, but that probably wouldn't go over well. And I'm lazy.

Pretty t- l- ame weekend; summer is (nearly) here - daylight savings began here on saturday night, but winter/spring/standard time didn't go down without a fight. Hail storms in the area on saturday afternoon forced me to seek refuge in a local watering hole for the afternoon. But not before hitting up the record shops. Picked up the new Shins, Decemberists, Strokes, as well as the Sleepy Jackson and a two album on one CD thing of Mike Nesmith and the American National Band. Nesmith is pretty much the man. First he had the Monkees gig (which unfortunately for him most people remember him for). Then he made two albums that established him along with Saint Gram Parsons as a founding father of Country Rock. Again staying ahead of the curve in the 70s, he made rock videos well before this was the norm. Then you have his full feature masterpiece, Repo Man. Harry Dean Stanton saying "Ordinary Fucking People...I hate 'em" ranks way up there in my book. This movie was probably my first introduction to the punk scene of Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies, etc. And of course his mom invented liquid paper which was pretty huge until the whole internet thing changed the way we prepare, present and forward documents.

I still have to spend some more time on these releases but the early impression is that the new Strokes is decent. I'll be the first to say I wasn't expecting the world from these guys. Is This It was perhaps too good for their own good - theres not a weak track on the cd. That sort of pace is not sustainable. And while Room on Fire may have a few weak tracks, its got some GREAT tunes as well. Can't stop listening to What Ever Happened and Under Control.

Now that baseball is all over, I'm turning my attention is earnest to the Rugby World Cup. Just kidding. While its true that the cup is held in Australia this year, the truth is that only 4 of the 16 teams have a legit chance of winning, and it would be a monumental upset for one of these teams to not be one of the final 4 teams. France, England, Australia and New Zealand are the NBA equivalent to Spurs, Lakers, Mavs, and Kings. Do you really think Romania (or for that matter, Golden State) has a chance against these guys?

New Zealand is looking good for the third week of November. The more I read up on it, the more impossible it will be to see everything I want to in the 10 days I'll have. And I'm not even thinking about going to the north island (thats where Auckland is).