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December 3, 2005
The Areas of My Expertise, White Folk Singers, Haircuts, New Nats Home
It's very bizarre when a book becomes a "hit." And yet, that is exactly what seems to have happened with John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise. A reference to it on BoingBoing a month ago was my intro to the book - the article mentioned the now infamous 700 Hobo Names. My next encounter was finding people were uploading sketches of said Hobos to Flickr. These being sketches, they were subsequentially banished by Flickr.
Then one afternoon, my boss came in and told me to read the book. He pointed out the section on the most difficult beards, and the concept of Hair Blighter. After this, I went out and bought the book - I had just finished Blink and was looking for something new to read anyways. Slowly but surely I've been getting into the book.
Yesterday, while reading my usually diet of DCist and Wonkette I'd found that both had made mention of Mr. Hodgman himself making an appearance last night at the Warehouse Theater. That night, following a trip to the Mac Store my friend Sandy & I made our way to the Warehouse theater. And we didn't get into the 8:00 pm talk. But at that point they'd decided to add a second event, since SO many people had arrived to see this. So I hung out on the couch, drank a Harp, and read the book. At one point it occured to me to call my boss to inform him that Mr. Hodgman was there. And upon flipping through the numbers in my cellphone, I found that I did not know his number. Doh!
The wait was well worthwhile. The show opened with a brilliant piece by Adam Mazmanian (for whom, sadly, I cannot find a website). Following was cartoonist David Rees, who is author of a series called Get Your War On. His work ranges from fiercely political to the slightly surreal.
Then Mr Hodgman began his portion of the evening. He was accompanied on guitar by Jonathan Coulton. He read some Hobo Poetry, discussed the Hobo roots of the Big Rock Candy Mountain, had a question and answer session using Walkie Talkies (I got to ask whether he plans to write about any other transient groups at any point), and finally he read from he portion of the book detailing Washington DC. The reading ended, and Mr. Hodgman preceeded to sign the various books. When it was my turn, he asked about my Snakes on a Plane shirt. I explained it was a new movie. He asked if this film was about Snakes on airplanes, to which I responded "Yes. And Samuel L. Jackson". He observed that movies seem to now more than ever have their title based upon the content of the movie - I pointed out this started with Soylent Green. I then told him about my boss recommending the book, to which he asked "What do you do?" I explained how the company I work for makes software for Democrats. He smiled and said, "A worthy cause". We talked about '08 and he signed my book. And with that I was off, making the long journey home from the district.
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In our continuing efforts here at Carpetblogger to bring you the best in White Folk Singers covering well-known Hip Hop songs, I would like to point out that Jonathan Coulton does a fantastic cover of Baby Got Back available on his website. He performed it for us last night, and I would urge you to check it out.
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So I got a haircut yesterday. Short.
How short?
Before:
After:
I know it looks good, but it's not me. It'll take sometime to get used to, and I regret doing it. But what's done is done.
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It looks like MLB and the Nats have tenatively agreed on a stadium deal. On behalf of the DC Metro area, and the Nationals, I would like to say "It's about fucking time!" Seriously - MLB had no business agreeing to pay their rent regardless of circumstances. And they're greed has screwed the Nats for the year - perhaps that was their goal. We'll see. Maybe we can yet liberate someone from the Marlins fire sale.
Posted by MikeSager at December 3, 2005 4:34 PM
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Comments
*smirks* Will you never be happy with your hair? ;-P
Why so short, btw?
Posted by: Miss Rose at December 7, 2005 4:52 PM
Excellent "Do," Dude!
Love it!
Now, change the picture on your blog site...
*GRIN*
Posted by: Lois, your "Kerry Bud" at December 9, 2005 10:05 AM
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