Friday, June 09, 2006

At My House, My House

Continuing with the theme of Europeans acting like robots, my second summer obsession is Daft Punk. This is the thought process through which I began listening to Daft Punk: sitting in my room alone (this, by the way, is how most of my stories begin) I was listening to the LCD Soundsystem album, and I realized that I had been listening to that song incessantly since last summer, and I didn't really know what Daft Punk sounded like. All I knew was that their album had a picture of glowing television on it, and it freaked me out (reminded me of 'Poltergeist'). So, bored, I got some of their songs. Soon after I had fashioned a hat out of tin foil and was practicing my robot dance while repeatedly listening to 'Technologic'. As much as I enjoyed it, I wasn't proud of myself for liking it, because even now, I still have no decent way to explain why I like it so much. One of the most awkward moments I've had at school so far was one night, my roommate opened the door to find me, in my pajamas, with tinfoil wrapped around my head, dancing like a robot. I couldn't even eek out an "I can explain...", because what was the point? I couldn't. No possible way to make yourself look good in that situation. Luckily he was cool with it (he said he was jealous of my moves, but I think he was being factitious).

I wasn't planning on talking about any of this (especially the last part) when I got home, but somehow, Daft Punk came up. And apparently, people love Daft Punk. Or, at least enough of my friends like them enough that I don't feel like such an odd nerd anymore. Though, sadly, people actually like to dance to this music, so when I bust out my sweet robot thing, I look kind of foolish. But then again, anyone trying to dance next to Sam will look foolish. The man is a machine.

Anyway, for anyone who cares, there's an excellent recording of the Daft Punk show from Coachella a few months back here. YouTube is full of videos from the show, which was apparently a once in a lifetime experience. And not because they were dressed like robots, because they do that all the time. Why you may ask? Because they're kind of fucking awesome.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

I'm Worried

I don't what it is, perhaps the fact that summer so far has been a parade of the dreariest fucking days imaginable, but I've just started producing this extra energy, a way to compensate, mental warmth I suppose. Burning through unhealthy obsessions with random pop culture figures is nothing new for me, obviously, but I've been going at them at such a break neck speed in the past few weeks, I'm afraid I'll burn myself out before July gets here. My plan for the blog here over the next few days is to breakdown the things that I've become obsessed with, as a way to share, and hopefully, detox. So to start:

- Football. Like, the actual one, with the feet and all. After watching the champions League Final with actual soccer fans, I've begun the mental preparations necessary for giving my life over to the World Cup for the next month. I've actually spent the time reading up on teams and the like, and not that my time is especially jam packed and precious, but the fact that I've been able to tear myself away from the Shiloh Nouvelle Jolie-Pitt coverage is, in itself, a miracle. Football has also exposed me to my newfound hero, Peter Crouch, who has taken what was once the most shameful of white boy dances and turned it into a beloved sign of national victory.