(04.25.08) Recommneds:

A Survey!

This is the third installment of the series.

This installment:
Dawn Landes vs. Colin Meloy.

Dawn Landes is playing a show at Spaceland on Monday evening.
Colin Meloy is playing a show at the Henry Fonda on Monday evening.

Who wins out?

Dawn Landes' pros:

1. The show is free.
2. Her new album is one of our favorite of the year.
3. We love blogging about her.
   

Dawn Landes' cons:
None that come to mind.

Colin Meloy's pros:

1. We've been on this huge Colin Meloy solo kick lately, listening to Colin Meloy Sings Live! pretty much non-stop for a week now. Then, the other night, while out walking, we noticed his name of the Fonda marquee, so it seemed pretty fitting to go.
2. We've had this Decemberists-California connection for a while now. Nearly five years ago, when we first visited the Bay Area as part of the due diligence period that led to use moving there, we came with only a week's worth of clothes and a single CD: Her Majesty The Decemberists. We drove around the City, listening only to this CD, and falling in love with both. We're thinking this show would be a good close to an otherwise crappy month.

Colin Meloy's cons:

1. The show is twenty five dollars more than free.
2. Most events that we see advertised at the Henry Fonda seem way sketch, so we're curious why he choose that venue.
   

So, you get to decide. Let us know in the comments or in email which show we should attend.

(12.25.07) Recommends:

A Survey!

This is our second installment of A Survey! Last time's game is here. Today we're asking: do we like Portfolio, Conde Nast's new business magazine, or does it annoy us?

The Pros:

1. As we mentioned last time we blogged about the magazine, Michael Lewis is a contributing editor. And today, we gave a family member a Michael Lewis book for Christmas. We've gone this for about 19 Christmas' in a row. If, god forbid, Michael Lewis stops writing books, our family members will likely stop receiving gifts.
2. The stories are short and are informal.
3. There is a humor present in the stories -- stories that are more or less about serious subjects -- that you rarely find in other mainstream periodicals.

The Cons:

1. The shortness and informality seem to almost border on the flippant. This worries us.
2. The shortness also prevents any in-depth analysis. We know this seems like a preposterous thing to even have to mention -- how could shorts things contain in-depth analysis? Two words: James Surowiecki. His pieces in the New Yorker are never longer than one page (plus, there's also a cartoon in the middle, so it's actually less than one full page). And we always feel like we walk away with a grasp on whatever topic he explores after that one page. We were hoping Portfolio would be a magazine full of Surowiecki-esque pieces. We're not hopeful it's reached such heights.

So, Survey Time, boys and girls. Go out and read the magazine, and let us know what you think. Does this magazine have the chance to be a must-read, always-on-our-coffee-table magazine? Or does it just annoy us?

(09.05.07) Recommends:

A Survey!

Welcome to the first installment of A Survey!, an interactive game that will test your knowledge of things that may or may not have recently happened to us, and a game that, if played correctly and with vigor, certainly has the potential to become our next national dance craze.

The rules of the game are simple. We give you a survey question about something that might have just happened to us. We then give the most compelling reason(s) for believing that the event in question occurred (labeled as "pros") followed by the most compelling reason(s) for believing that we are crazy and are just imagining things (labeled as "cons"). Finally, you give us, in the comments, the likelihood that the event in question actually occurred.

Now, on to the game.

This week's survey:
Did We Stand Behind Brandi Chastain In Line At The Grocery Store Late Last Night?

The Pros:
*We were at the Safeway behind Buck Shaw Stadium, home of the Santa Clara University Lady Bronco Soccer Team!
*Brandi Chastain played soccer at Santa Clara!
*And now lives in Santa Clara!
*With her husband who is the head soccer coach!
*And there is a big tournament this weekend which would explain the need for a late night run to the store to get emergency food to settle those pre-tournament jitters!
*Plus, the woman looked athletic and was wearing clothes that an adult would wear only if she were a former athlete and thus still in athletic-type shape!

The Cons:
*When she finally got through the always long late-night Safeway line and paid for her groceries, she did not celebrate by sliding to her knees and taking off her top, revealing only a black sports bra :(

Now, your turn to answer A Survey! Did We Stand Behind Brandi Chastain In Line At The Grocery Store Late Last Night?