Dave - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I read things and talk about them for a living. When I'm not doing that, I play cards, swing dance, or teach people about running environmental campaigns. I'm working on a reputation as the best heckler at my local bar. Every month, more and more people decide to nickname me "the professor." I'm probably your favorite Sierra Club board member.I think internet-based organizing is one of the most exciting developments of the last 30 years, and I'm a total luddite. I graduated college with some latin by my degree, but then proceeded to spell it wrong on my resume. I have a theory about pretty much everything, and can't decide if academia is right for me.

My Interests

Lindy Hop, poker, saving the planet, hiking through attractive parts of the planet (preferably ones that we've already saved), hanging out at leftist bars and independent coffeehouses. I'm thinking about getting back into ultimate frisbee again. I'm also thinking about knee surgery. Guess I'll choose one or the other.

I'd like to meet:

Old members of the Sierra Student Coalition and Montgomery County Student Environmental Activists.Lindy hoppers who will refrain from mentioning what happened at the most recent afterparty.Anyone with a wry sense of humor, good storytelling abilities, liberal politics, and an appreciation for fine whiskey.

Music:

Wilco, Decemberists, Postal Service, Death Cab, the Shins, the Roots, Jurassic 5, Ben Folds, Flat Possum Boys (Err, the Citywide Specials), Boilermaker Jazz Band, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, NOFX, Patty Griffin, Josh Ritter, Modest Mouse, Mike Doughty/Soul Coughing, Nickel Creek

Movies:

Kicking and Screaming (NOT the Will Ferrell travesty), Seven Girlfriends, When Harry Met Sally, V for Vendetta, Grosse Point Blank, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Matrix (only the first one), Fight Club, Rounders, Garden State, Serenity.

Television:

The Daily Show restores some modest amount of faith in humanity for me.Anything by Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly), Judd Apatow (Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared), or Aaron Sorkin (Sports Night, West Wing, Studio 60). I keep waiting for the West Wing to become awesome again, but I guess that's not going to happen.I have recently given in and started watching Lost. Other recent favorites includes Scrubs and Battlestar Galactica.

Books:

The Semi-Sovereign People (Schattschneider), Rules of Attraction (Ellis), The Lobo Outback Funeral Home (Dave Foreman), The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Joe Trippi), The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Kuhn)

Heroes:

I kind of think heroes are overrated. Paul Wellstone ranks pretty high, though. Dave Foreman too. And, er, well, kinda Gilbert Arenas.

My Blog

I win the week

Dear everyone, This week, I win. If anyone else out there had a good week, congratulations and all, but you're really an also-ran. I'm the big winner. Monday, I got re-electe...
Posted by Dave on Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:05:00 PST

I am convinced this sort of thing only happens to me

So I was cleaning up my place a bit today and also putting together a new table from IKEA. That required a socket wrench, which was under my bookcase. I wriggled it free, no problem, but that tilted...
Posted by Dave on Fri, 20 Apr 2007 06:13:00 PST

Albums you should own

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even SankDecemberists - The Crane WifeThe New Pornographers - Twin CinemaPatty Griffin - Children Running ThroughJosh Ritter - The Animal YearsThese albums ...
Posted by Dave on Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:48:00 PST

The Last Kiss

So I went to see the new Zack Braff movie last night, The Last Kiss. A heads-up from the outset: don't go into the movie expecting to see Garden State 2. It's a good film -- it has it's flaws, but t...
Posted by Dave on Wed, 20 Sep 2006 10:49:00 PST

best Thursday night ever!!!

Most of you probably don't know this, but a long time ago, I used to play bass. I started in junior high (with a brief stint with a band called Exposed Youth... which later went on to become the lame...
Posted by Dave on Fri, 08 Sep 2006 11:06:00 PST

You know what would be awesome?

So I genuinely appreciate all the comments I've received about my last blog entry. It's a difficult decision, and one that I've given a lot of thought to. I'm still thinking about it -- there are ju...
Posted by Dave on Tue, 25 Jul 2006 04:36:00 PST

big decisions

If you know me well, you know how much of a fan of "Kicking and Screaming" I am. All-time favorite film. My love of scotch and sports jackets stems from it. In a nutshell, it's about...
Posted by Dave on Thu, 22 Jun 2006 04:20:00 PST

Hilarious

Check this out. The Onion is uniformly good satire. For those of you who have heard me talking about "lifestyle environmentalism" before, you'll know that I'm smirking with a bit of a...
Posted by Dave on Wed, 10 May 2006 03:21:00 PST

Elizabethtown and some updating

So I'm re-watching Elizabethtown, which is something not a lot of people are ever going to do. A couple of things that I'm realizing about it:-Cameron Crowe? Really not all that impressive of a dire...
Posted by Dave on Sat, 06 May 2006 10:17:00 PST

Open letter to the Wachowski brothers

Dear Wachowski brothers:You are hereby forgiven for Matrix 2 AND Matrix 3. That is just how good V for Vendetta was. It was so good, I needed a *cigarette* afterward, and I'm not a smoker.Sincerely,...
Posted by Dave on Tue, 28 Mar 2006 10:33:00 PST