The West Village is Full of Pirates

It’s November! Boy, did that ever sneak up on me.

So, in addition to watching Veronica Mars, I actually went out and did a totally New York thing last night. OK, true, at this stage “leaving my house” and “not wearing pyjamas” kind of qualify as “New York things” in my head, since they require effort and shoes and dealing with subways.

But this was a real New York thing! I went with Kari to a BAR and heard a BAND. An honest-to-goodness, struggling-artists, maybe-they’ll-be-famous-one-day band named Dodo Bird. And let me tell you, I hope they’ll be famous, because they were awesome. And it’s just two guys! I couldn’t believe two guys could make so much noise, but it was very exciting noise.

Check them out: www.mericlong.com and www.myspace.com/mericlong. You can listen to some of their songs there. I bought their album and I’m probably going to play it on repeat until Adam defenestrates me (so if this blog abruptly stops, alert Mars Investigations!).

[Defenestrate: To throw out of a window. Seriously! That’s a real word! Isn’t that the coolest word ever? Who knew there was a whole word for that? It’s like how in Japan they have a word, karoshi, which means “death brought on by overwork or job-related exhaustion.” This is true! Now see if you can work both those words into a conversation. Like: “OMG, I have so much homework, I’m totally heading for karoshi here. I should just defenestrate all my schoolbooks and go watch Veronica Mars instead.” ]

But back to my new favorite band. I should mention that the reason I went to hear them is that my sister’s friend Rachel’s boyfriend Gavin’s brother Logan is the drummer in this band, so if that makes me an unreliable source, keep that in mind.

Have you seen the trailer for Marie Antoinette where Kirsten Dunst and a bunch of people in elaborate outfits are running around Versailles to this upbeat, happy, running-sounding song? (Trust me, this is related.) Well, I saw the trailer and thought, ooh, that song sounds cool. So I went and downloaded it from iTunes; it’s called “Age of Consent” by New Order. And it is very cool, but it is not the exact blow-me-away amazing song I thought it would be.

“trades and tariffs,” by Dodo Bird, however, is precisely the amazing song I wanted that song to be. And “the ball” is pretty fantastic, too. Yay exciting new music!

So, that was my thrilling Halloween discovery. Also, the West Village on Halloween night is a very bizarre place to be. I was surprised by how many people had tails. And: many, many pirates. None as cute as the bulldog in the previous post, though. Not even any as cute (or perhaps I mean alarming) as this guy:

My goodness. Sunshine would definitely not approve.

P.S. Just a note to mention that you should check out the totally awesome writing contest Harper is running at:  HarperTeen FanLit

Here’s how the site describes it:

“From October 17th to December 15th, HarperCollins editors and four bestselling HarperTeen authors invite you to join thousands of fans online to collectively create an original short story — one chapter at a time.”

It’s a chance for teens to post their writing and read/comment on each other’s writing and win fabulous prizes! Plus the judging panel includes Meg Cabot, Rachel Vail, Jodi Anderson, and Laura Ruby, who are all completely amazing. And throughout the contest, a different author or editor will post each day on the “Daily Blog," which has been very cool so far.

I’m the “Daily Blog” author on Monday, soooo…I have to go write that today, instead of this blog. But no worries! I’ll be back to talk about it, because there’s a word limit over there, but over here…none! Mwa ha ha!