The Mighty Quynh

Maybe it was the cocktails I had during dinner at City Crab & Seafood Company—probably the best value for any RW menu in the city—or maybe it’s because I love self-flagellation, but Rich and I decided on a whim to stop by the Jersey Shore Pageant at Sidebar last night.

The night was replete with Jersey Shore caricatures, insulting jokes about my home state, and tons of wonderful stereotyping. The guy who won was dressed more Euro trash than Jersey Shore, imho (I mean, if we’re going to stereotype…). See the link above for pictures. I think the runner up should have won. She not only had the look, but the whole character down. The whole thing was hosted by Justin Ross Lee, the guy who, as Rich had to explain to me, is heir to the Lee Jeans empire and everything you’d expect from a socialite. Why he was hosting a Jersey Shore party is beyond me.

At the end of it all, I realized the worst part wasn’t the smear campaign running rampant across the nation against my great home state, but that there are so many horrible Italian-American stereotypes being perpetuated and used as fodder for our entertainment. Like the show itself, this party was like watching a train wreck I just couldn’t pull myself away from.

Aside from the few people dressed up to compete in the pageant, the crowd there was not half as bad as what you see at Pacha. As far as I could tell, it was mostly bemused NYC denizens getting their usual jollies off by kicking NJ when it’s already down.

Quote of the night, from random crowd member: “You’re not a guido, you’re a hipster! You skateboarded here!”

I decided given my proclivity to going out and attending local music (okay, EDM) events I should put something up to reflect what’s coming up and where I’ve been (since I don’t always remember…). Also, I figured I wasn’t making it easy enough for stalkers to find me. So now I’ve got the Event Calendar link up top so you can see all the interesting things happening around town! …You know, all 2 events I’ve got on there at the moment.

At first it was just going to be public things I’m attending like concerts/shows that bored readers (HAHA) might also consider going to (HAHAHAHA), but I figured I might as well put in some personal stuff I wouldn’t mind talking about in this blog anyway, like travel. This would have been a better idea last year when I was going out practically every other night, but I’m sure the calendar will fill up once warmer weather sets in and all the gigs come to town.

But that doesn’t mean I’m still not bitter at him for scheduling it at the same time as Trance Energy. Given the choice it just made more sense financially to stay in NYC instead of going back to the Netherlands, even though I would love to go back to that wonderful mystical fairytale land of tiny cars and giant pancakes. So while I’m attending both ASOT nights, every time I write his name I’m going to throw in this guy:

It’s not like we get these things all the time, you know? Jerk decided to do his own thing with a big lineup of DJs and put us in this quandary. So yeah, I’m a little peeved at him.

To Armin:

I jumped the gun on Ramsterdam.

The original song kind of sucks, actually. It’s like 6 minutes of progressive dubby poop and one minute of the piano bit. Jorn van Deynhoven made ALL the difference in this song.

So I’ll name my never-to-be kid Jorn instead I guess.

Lemon and Einar K – “Anticipation” is similar to JvD’s “Ramsterdam” remix.

RAMSTERDAM is still fun to shout at strangers though.

At the trance party last night at LOVE.

Me, after every other song: Man, I would totally mix ‘Ramsterdam’ into this!
Rich: You would mix ‘Ramsterdam’ into ‘Ramsterdam’!

If I had voted in Armin van Buuren’s top five trance songs of 2009 poll this is how my ballot would have looked:
RAM – RAMsterdam (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix)
RAM – RAMsterdam (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix)
RAM – RAMsterdam (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix)
RAM – RAMsterdam (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix)
RAM – RAMsterdam (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix)

If I ever have a child I will name it RAMsterdam.

Next time I visit Netherlands I will ask the agent for tickets to RAMsterdam.

RAMsterdam.

Last night at LOVE I finally had my first run-in with Carpet Guy, a dude who goes to clubs, rolls himself up in a carpet, lays down somewhere, and likes to get stepped on. It was pretty funny—Rich noticed the rolled up carpet on the floor in front of the bar and half-joked, “It looks like there’s a body in there,” to which I excitedly exclaimed, “There is! It’s the carpet guy!” I had randomly read about him on some message board and looked him up a while ago, so I was pretty delighted to finally see him in person. In all my days of clubbing I hadn’t yet run into the guy until then.

When he relocated to a spot in front of the DJ booth, I got on and he started moving to the beat of the music, which was fun. After that he just laid there as usual. It is not as exciting to walk on Carpet Guy when he isn’t wiggling around.

I’ve had the thing only a little over 1.5 years, barely used it for most of its short life, and last month picked it up again to play Oblivion after which it started freezing and then went kaput. No Red Ring either. At first it just seemed like a disc drive issue, as I could get the main menu going (and probably Live, if I had an internet connection), but now the thing can’t even get past the initial splash screen.

It really pisses me off that a $300 piece of equipment (actually, I think I got it when it was $350) bought brand new and treated with the utmost care is already bricked and to fix it through official means would cost upwards of $120. Words cannot express my disappointment and frustration with Microsoft right now. And to think my Super NES is almost 20 years old and still going, after being shipped across the country and moved apartments 2-3 times. Plus I got it used, so who knows what kind of abuse it was dealt from the previous owner.

In my heart of hearts I want my XBox back in working order. I want to play FFXIII when it comes out. But I’m so pissed off right now that I want to write it off and never give them my business again. I am even tempted to get a PS3—everything is cross-platform anyway these days, right? I just cannot justify throwing away that $350+ or spending over $100 to fix it, making the cost of my unit over $450 which equates to over $25 a month for the ~18 months I had it. Even without the fix or including the cost of games, at $350 it cost $19.44 per month in entertainment.

The per-month cost of entertainment was greater than the cost of a WoW subscription, and that PISSES ME OFF. A brand new entertainment system lasted only 1.5 years, and that PISSES ME OFF. It will cost $75 to get it fixed at the local game store, or $120 to send it to MSFT, and that PISSES ME OFF.

Out of principle I do not want to support them anymore. But goddamn if they don’t have me by the balls.

First it was Jersey Shore. Now it’ll be this:

The Scene…L.E.S

Granted I am in the East Village (technically), but it’s close enough to feel the pain.

I cannot escape the big evil media machine.

I was back late Sunday night actually but I thought by delaying my “I’m back” post I could draw out my Euro trip a little longer. Last night was the first night since my return I didn’t dream about Amsterdam (seriously!) so I guess I’m really out of denial. Sigh.

It was a very good trip. I’d promise pics, but I still haven’t even posted the pics from Vietnam (almost one year ago) so I won’t lie. You’re not getting any pics.