I did a little bit of reorganization in the site. There were a good amount of posts mostly under Keep Austin Weird and Austin Nights that didn’t really fit in so well.So I created Life of Marcos and moved a bunch of old posts there.In case you care, which you don’t.
All posts by kirsch
South by Southwest 2008
It’s been a rough week. The SXSW Music festival started on Wednesday and for four days in a row I endured the trip downtown and the concerts and the partying. I know, it’s a tough job but somebody has to do it. Nathan came over from Dallas for the whole thing. A bunch of the local usual suspects were here too. Moi and Beto joined us for a last day of all-Japanese rock.
If you’ve never been to SXSW, you should go. It’s by far the largest of the two big music festivals in town (the other being the Zilker park based ACL) with some 1,400 bands from the whole world spread over all of downtown Austin. Last year sadly I couldn’t attend.
We saw some cool bands, some known (to me) and some new: Fobia, Moby, Sussie4, Presidents of the United States of America, just to name a few.
Some photos and shaky digicam YouTube-quality videos I took embedded below (or go to The MKX® Photo Central). Enjoy!
Sussie4
Fobia – Regrésame a Júpiter
Fobia – No eres yo / El Diablo
The Presidents of the United States of America: Peaches
The Presidents of the United States of America: Ladybug
The Presidents of the USA: Truckstop Butterfly / Lump
Moby
Top Yelper
Recently, at a dinner party, I learned about Yelp. Yelp is a website where people review all sorts of things. I’m particularly interested in restaurants because I like to eat. So I started making bookmarks of restaurants I want to try and I started reviewing restaurants I know. You can see my Yelp profile here.
In this week’s Yelp newsletter, I was granted the honor of being a Top Yelper. This distinction lies somewhere between a Nobel prize and getting a root canal. Even my photo made it to the newsletter:
If you think I photoshopped this (right, like I can do that), then I’m greatly disappointed in your lack of faith. Just see for yourself. If you design to sign up yourself, please be my friend. I could use a friend.
Keychains
Wonderful timing by big brother Jaco who got me a replacement for my old and battered Lego Darth Vader keychain to go with my new car keys.
At first, Lego Darth Vader lost his hand, which I thought was cool, you know, because it was like in the movie.
Then it lost both its legs, most of the chest paint, and the sharp angles of the helmet were reduced to… rounded angles. Suddenly it dissolved into thin air, leaving behind only the black cape (cue The Imperial March).
My new keychain is the lower ranking Lego Stormtrooper. Pretty cool. If you want to be more like me, get plastic surgery. For something less drastic you can get your own keychain at the Lego Shop.
The end of an era
A few hours ago, I sold my companion of countless adventures in the last six years: My beloved Focus (a.k.a El Tlacuache).
We went to countless unforgettable adventures together, like the time when I accidentally left a full gallon of orange juice after grocery shopping in the trunk, which decided to break and spill all over the back including the replacement tire one day at midnight. Good times indeed.
May you find care and love with your new owner Tweedledum, who can be seen in the back talking on the phone.
Staple!
Yesterday I did something I haven’t done since right around the time Superman died: I went to a comic book convention.
Unlike in previous occasions, this time I did not wear my Spider-Man tighties. Not because I don’t look good in them anymore, but because Staple! is an event for independent media (read: not Marvel nor DC Comics nor any of the other big boys).
Some cool stuff there. Lots of comics I’ve never heard of before and lots of local talent.
Similar to videogames, I never stopped liking comic books. I simply all but stopped reading them because I don’t have the time, or because I’d rather do other things with my time (like work). Maybe I should win the lottery so I can spend more time reading comic books again.
More photos in Flickr.
MacWallet Air
Thin is in, and even though I did not end up buying the fashionable MacBook Air (for now… ed.), I was able to shed a few millimeters in a different area.
You see, I’ve always hated thick wallets and have always struggled to maintain my wallet thin. It’s comfortable and stylish, unlike my haircut. I just can’t stand the bulge in my back pocket. Nor unsightly panty lines, but that’s a different story. So this time I took some action. After a long and arduous search, I found the perfect wallet: The Bosca Nappa Vitello.
- Thin
- Beautiful
- Made of Nappa leather: soft yet durable.
- The pockets I need… no more, no less.
- Folds in half (not in three).
- The precise height of a dollar bill.
This thing is great. Filled with everything I need (but nothing more) it’s less than 1 cm thin. This means that I no longer look like the Tower of Pisa when I’m sitting down. For comparison purposes, I took a photo of my wallet side by side with two of my friend’s wallets. The difference is remarkable:
Yes. It’s a thing of beauty. Right now I’m working on another little project: I figure that if I scan my insurance card, my drug prescription card, and my contact information card I can print them all scaled down in a single piece of paper that would get laminated, thus cutting thickness down by another millimeter (a respectable 11%). Better stop wasting time on this blog and get to work on what’s important!
HaDag Nachash and Soulico in Austin
This week I had the luck of going to not one, but two concerts by Israeli musicians. Keep reading for photos and videos.
Photo of the day #16
“When I grow up, I want to work in a circus”
Joelle Kirsch, lion tamer
Apologize for the fake posts
Faithful RSS and email subscribers may have noticed a bunch of posts that came up and went away last night.
I’ve been testing a new (but not ready for prime time) very cool feature for The MKX® that will automatically insert my del.icio.us links as posts, instead of secluding them to the no-man’s-land that is the sidebar (does anyone notice those links on the side?).
I apologize for the fake entries you may have been notified of. Stay tuned for this to go live very soon. I hope.