Nazario Scenario

Addendum: Pizza

When I was eating sushi last night I was arrested by the image of the Domino's storefront across the street from the sushi place. This was in the neighborhood just south of Columbia University that's an elegant mix of "gritty" and "collegiate," and outside it was raining and cold. What I found moving about the Domino's -- spare, functional, harshly-lit, bearing the requisite branding and a blue and pink neon sign  that advertised hot wings -- was not just its ugly-American grossness, but also its familiarity. It wasn't comforting to me, but I appreciated that it could be comforting to someone. I was reminded of the kids I hung out with during my NYU semester abroad in London, who were happy to eat five meals a week at the Burger King near St. Pancras Station. Also of my old roommate Tim from Wisconsin, a deeply conflicted young guy who hated his job in sales and his life in New York. I'd come home to find him watching HBO in the dark, drinking Miller Lite and almost always eating a gross fast-food pizza. Domino's was good to him, a constant in this fast-paced, cruel, unstable environment. That made me kind of almost like it.

Also, I think I have an over-developed sense of pop culture and kitsch which is made glad by any fast food chain, its logo and the cult that surrounds it.

Anyway, it was an emotional moment for me, weirdly. This isn't the first time Domino's has evoked a passion that is perhaps disproportionate with its role in my life; see here.

For those keeping score, this is Nazario Scenario blog post number 800.

On Tap

1. Walking around in the goddamn rain.

2. Depositing two checks so that I may write two other checks.

3. Babysitting an epileptic dog until Thursday.

4. A party in Red Hook; a second party in Bushwick.

5. Telling myself I need to write more.

6. Actually writing more.

7. Organizing travel plans for the Sewanee conference in July (yay!).

8. Existential crisis?

9. Delusions of grandeur.

10. Pizza.

Hermit

Suddenly I feel daunted by the 2-3 parties I'm planning to go to this weekend. But my productivity is really low right now, so I know that if I stayed in I'd just watch DVDs and nap. Gaaahhhhhhh.

Oh, also, FYI: New Kids on the Block are back together and touring. It's not such a big deal for me, but I couldn't help noticing in the main photo on their website that Jon Knight is now the best-looking New Kid on the Block... which may mean he always was.

I remain a Donnie Wahlberg girl, myself. I mean, not really, but you know.

Reasons To Listen To My Show

1. It is on on Wednesdays from 7 to 8 PM, a time when absolutely no one is ever at work, commuting, or eating dinner.

2. When I talk I am like way super articulate d00d.

3. There is always at least one piece of errata in my mic breaks that can serve as a subject of email vitriol later.

4. I refer to ELO reverently as "The Electric Light Orchestra" and, sometimes, "the Light."

5. MODERN ROCK RADIO HITS OF THE 1990s!

6. 1970s TORCH SONGS!

7. The above two items are sometimes sung by the original artists, sometimes by the DJ.

8. (Most important) I am not cool. You aren't either, so the hour affords you a safe haven you douche.

9. WHFR

Rocknrolldating

I've been shown more pop-ups about Rocknrolldating, a site for singles who love rock music, than any other kind of ad in the past few weeks. Should I be flattered or offended that I fall so squarely inside their demographic?

They should know, anyway, that I have enough game to crash their server irreparably. YES, I WOULD DESTROY A DATING SITE WITH MY UNNATURAL AMOUNT OF GAME.

Sigh.

I Have Noticed

I'm not as good at Scramble (Facebook app similar to Boggle) when I have glasses on as when I am wearing contacts. DUMB.

Lovely Day, Lovely Day, Lovely Day, Love-ly-day

(I hope everyone who reads that title is now singing the Bill Withers song from which it is taken.)

It's a beautiful day today, and it has been so nice to walk around the neighborhood seeing people carrying flowers. Middle-aged women dolled-up for brunch, holding bouquets; young thuggy-looking men with paper-wrapped flowers tucked under their arms; even a little boy of like seven running towards his apartment building with a daisy and a big smile. Awwww.

.

 

Also!

I'm a big enough Simpsons geek to know that May 10th is Whacking Day. Happy Whacking Day! Enjoy the occasion and observe it appropriately, please.

An Incomplete List of Songs I Will Never Dislike No Matter How Often I Hear Them

Dion, "Runaround Sue"
Pearl Jam, "Daughter"
Wilco, "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart"
Manfred Mann, "Pretty Flamingo"
The Queers, "Surf Goddess" (and, really, every Queers song ever)*
Nothing Painted Blue, "Another Child Bride"
Jackson Browne, "Running On Empty"
Warren Zevon, "I Was In The House When The House Burned Down"
Steve Earle, "Christmas In Washington"
Christina Aguilera, "Beautiful"
Tom Waits, "On The Nickel"
Most songs by the Hold Steady
Television, "Venus"
ABBA, "Under Attack"

***

Seriously, why can't I stop listing things? Why the list mania? This is the kind of thing I do when I can't think of anything else to do. It's why I'm so much fun on road trips.

I could probably continue that list of songs until I had mmmaybe two hundred of them, before I got tired of it. But I'm not going to do that, because THEN you'd all think I was crazy.

_____

*I found out earlier today that Joe Queer was once a guest on Michael Shelley's radio show on WFMU, which I listen to religiously, but I guess had not become a fan of yet at the time. So now I have to find that interview in FMU's archives and nerd out on it. Also: a couple of days ago I considered getting a "Queers cat" tattoo until I realized it was the dumbest idea in the world. For the record, though, I would have chosen the design on the cover (back cover?) of the album Pleasant Screams, of the Queers cat (a bastardized Felix the Cat) screaming with wide-open mouth/visible uvula and tongue sticking out. I am not actually going to get this tattoo.

Miscellany

The latest annoyance is that MySpace doesn't load on the computers at the writing center, which is where I am now. I'm assuming it's been blocked. This is probably for the best, but it still annoys me.

Pursuant to yesterday's post, another annoyance is that it rains today, which means that the coffee hand has become the umbrella hand and is, as such, much less fun.

Now for the good news: Supper Club is back! Last night I enjoyed an alfresco Italian meal with Justin, Alison K, and Shay at Covo, which recently opened RIGHT near my home. I can confidently say this is now the nearest restaurant to my building, so I'm relieved that it's decent. It should be remarked upon that Shay, who draws a comic about an ugly bunny that goes to grad school, ordered the roast rabbit.