Mates of State T-T-Tonight!

Mates of State is playing tonight at the Fine Line, touring for their most recent album, Re-arrange Us, probably my favorite record this year. Come wearing a mildly creepy animal costume and be ready to sing and dance your heart out. Doors at 7:00.

Thinking of You.

My mom forwarded me an email with the photo below, saying it made her think of me. Sweet, right? Surely the picture would be one of me when I was a toddler, making a ridiculous mess with paints or a chocolate cake, or something along those lines. Nope.

Behold: people drinking from gynormous cups.

Thanks, Mom.

And you better believe I googled "giant plastic cups" only to discover they are hard to find and uber expensive. Bummer. Imagine the flippy cup possibilities.

Everyone is Becoming Actors

We Became Actors played a last-minute show this weekend at the Nomad, finding a drummer in a matter of days. It was fun to finally see the guys play; after a few months with no shows I was beginning to wonder if all of this "We're in a band" business was just a ruse to attract the ladies. But turns out they are a real, performing band, even one that brings in more than half the crowd. Nicely done, gents.

But enough about them, on to other big news... I'm going to be in a movie!!! The next Coen brothers' film, A Serious Man, is being shot presently in a Minneapolis suburb. Auditions for extras were about a month ago, and after not hearing back from them I assumed I didn't make the cut. But last Friday I got a call informing me that I was picked to be in a classroom scene that shoots on October 20th. And in a few weeks I'll go in for hair and costume consultation; since it's set in the 1960s everyone gets a custom-made outfit, bullet-bra included.

Now I'm not expecting much, especially after watching the BBC show Extras, I'll be lucky to have my arm in a shot for a couple seconds. Mostly I'm excited to see the behind-the-scenes action. At the audition we were given guidlines telling us we couldn't bother other cast or crew members, but I can't help hoping that one of the Coens will spot me doing something ridiculous and develop an immediate fondness for me, like Kramer and his Woody Allen movie: These pretzels are making me thirsty.

Best of Craigslist

Wow. Christian just rocked my world by introducing me to the Best of Craigslist. Enjoy.

Oh Craigslist, you've done it again.

A month or two ago one of my friends came across a Craigslist post offering a single Chumbawamba CD, and several of us emailed the poster, feigning interest in the album. Maybe this was cruel, but surely the woman had to have a sense of humor about it? After all, she took the effort to post a CD that peaked over 10 years ago and that you can find at most Goodwills for 75cents.

Well ladies and gents, Craigslist has delivered again. Kate found this post and thoughtfully informed me, maybe hoping I could round up a bunch of sarcastic jerks to torment this poster. And clearly, they deserve it. $20 for a chip?? The thing doesn't even have Florida.

It's Done! It's Done! (Amazing Nickel Quilts).

Nine months in the making, the third installment of Nickel Quilts is complete. Introducing: Amazing Nickel Quilts.

Am I a quilter? No. But I stare at little quilt blocks on my computer all day and design page layout and other miscellaneous graphics. So, search your mind for any quilters in your family that might be interested in an (Amazing Nickel) quilt book and send them to patspeth.com. The official release date is going to be October 23rd at the International Quilt Market in Houston, TX, but will be available a few weeks earlier through the website.

The idea is to make an alphabet of books, "A" is for "Amazing, "B" is going to be "Borders" etc. So... one down, twenty five to go. Wowza.

The thing about renting.

The thing about renting is that you have no say in the matter. Any matter. When creepy painter guys start putting up ladders to redo your window frames at 9:00am you can't tell them to go away, that you want to shower without having someone on the other side of the not-blurred-enough glass. Or when you complain about the low water pressure, that when any other faucet is turned on in the house while you are all sudsed-up in the shower that the water turns off indefinitely, and all you get for an explanation is, "That's old houses for you."

Old house or no, if you were living here, Mister Landlord, you wouldn't tolerate these things. Oh, none of your cupboards shut? You have unfinished, sharp-edged countertops too? Most of your doors don't stay properly shut (which allows one's cats to become quite the escape artists)? Whatever. But you'll shovel and mow the lawn? No? What the hell kind of operation is this? What's that? No, I'm not yelling. Please, please don't kick me out. You what? Found some pipes that were about to explode and they're being redone and my shower will now actually operate like a normal shower? Alright, I'll put up with all that other shit, I guess.

Highbrow vs. Nerdy

I came across this image while shopping for t-shirts online. It's entitled "Who vs. Whom" and appears in the "Highbrow" section of One Horse Shy. Now I find the fact that they have highbrow and lowbrow categories for t-shirts quite amusing, but I don't think any actual highbrow individuals would be caught dead in this t-shirt. Me? I want it as a tattoo. Or I suppose a tote bag might suffice. So I'm thinking they need to change their "Highbrow" classification to "Nerds Would Love These."

And seriously, dibs on this merch.

Newsies

Not the Christian Bale variety; the WCCO Channel 4 kind. Jess is quite the celebrity, interviewed last Thursday whilst waiting in line to see The Daily Show. Sadly her standby status failed to get her into the show, but got her on the news instead. I can't figure out how to embed this video, so if you want to watch you'll have to follow this link. Make sure to take notice of Jake in the background, casually ignoring the camera. I might need to get some autographs.

Lawn Games Galore

The jokes just write themselves. A game named Cornhole? What were people thinking? Most of the time I simply call it "bags," but admittedly "cornhole" is funnier. I suppose some of the bags are filled with corn, and the board has a hole in it, but still. Then again, I would hate to miss out on questions like, "If I get it in the cornhole am I fucked?" (Jake).

Since making a set of cornhole boards this year and keeping them in my trunk, the amount of lawn game playage is at an all time high. I scoff at other people's boards- they are too bouncy or slick, clearly not regulation. There is plenty of room for rivalry and shit talking in this game. And dirty, dirty jokes.

Recently I was also introduced to a Swedish lawn game called Kubb, where you throw sticks at blocks, trying to knock them over. Not as easy as it sounds. Add silly rules that have you bending over, tossing a stick between your legs, along with Socialist ideals that give the losing team an advantage at the end, and you have a hell of a game. And if a player is wearing a dress (Jess), Kubb also lends itself to bawdy hilarity.

Setting up Kubb.