matthew’s alibi

You may have noticed, if you came to this site via punkrockboy.com, that you’re not at punkrockboy.com anymore! I finally decided on a new domain name.

I have vague recollections of a point in 101 Dalmatians (I know, I know. I can’t believe it’s a reference to a Disney movie either) where the dogs communicate some vital piece of information via a doggy sort of game of ‘telephone.’ They called it the midnight howl. I may totally be making this up - I’m like that sometimes.

So, as I mentioned in a post earlier this month, I’ve been looking for a new domain name for a while now, since I feel like I’ve grown out of punkrockboy.com. Midnight Howl seemed like a pretty fitting name for my blog, given my proclivity for howling (no, I’m really not kidding. It scares the hell out of my friends) as well as the whole dog thing.

Which dog thing is that? Well, I trace the whole phenomenon back to my parents vague disappointment that I turned out to be human, when I think what they really wanted was a puppy. (To this day, my mother refers to my childhood as ‘when you were a pup.’ She also never used the word doctor - she always told me she was taking me “to the vet.” I didn’t mind so much, but the flea collars gave me a terrible rash…)

Which I guess is a tangential way of saying welcome to midnighthowl.com! If you’ve got any old links or bookmarks to punkrockboy.com (and why would you really?), you should update them. Punkrockboy.com will continue to forward any traffic until June 2005, at which point it and the punkrockboy.com e-mail accounts will shut down. If you don’t have my current e-mail address and you want it, you should ask!

There’s a lot of things going on under the hood of the site at the moment that has to do with the transition. I won’t bore you with them, but that’s why the updates have been a little slower than usual over the past few days. I’m in the process of moving the gallery over, adding some bells and whistles, and changing the look of the site a bit. If you get weird errors over the next few days, that’ll be why (although I hope that won’t be the case.)

Again, welcome to the new site! Awooo.

Since it’s been nearly a week since anyone’s heard from me, I figured I’d give the lowdown on what’s been going on… and it’s a lot. I’m getting tired just trying to remember it. Day by day:

Wednesday, May 26

I turned 23. To celebrate, I took the day off work - and then wondered at the wisdom of that, thinking perhaps I would just end up wandering around town alone. But when I woke up, I had three happy birthday text messages, and a couple of really sweet e-mails. It was a good start to a great day!

I started off by going book shopping, treating myself to some books on philosophy and stand up comedy that I’ve been wanting for a while. I crossed the street to Foyles then and got a signed copy of the new David Sedaris book - apparently he wandered in off the street one day and signed a stack. Still haven’t opened it - I’m saving it for a rainy day.

I was ambling down Charing Cross Road, stopping in at the theaters, trying to figure out how to get cheap tickets when I found myself at the Garrick, where Oleanna is playing. I noticed a crowd headed in, checked my watch, and realized the matinee was starting in ten minutes. After bargaining with the ticket clerk, I got a seat in the sixth row for ₤20 (woohoo!) sitting next to a woman from Northern California who was pretty chatty.

The play was great. As it was a matinee, and being a Mamet show, it took most of the first act for Julia Stiles and Aaron Eckhart to really get into the swing of it, but once they did, it had some real power. Julia Stiles is one of my favorite actresses, I decided after the show.

That night, Marcus and I went to see Jet at Brixton Academy. It wasn’t a great show, and was made much worse by the hordes of Australians who seemed to be there primarily because they were Australian. A flashback to the Barenaked Ladies show and the Canadians, but the thing about Canadians is, they’re not Australians in lots of obvious, good ways. More on the Jet show when I have a minute to write it!

After the show, Marcus and I went for one more (last?) late night meal at Balans Cafe on Old Compton Street (”the OC,” as I like to call it.) And home to bed, after talking to the parents and hearing from lots of friends and family, including some really surprising e-mails from folks I never would have expected. One of the best birthdays ever.

Thursday, May 27

Nothing much exciting here. Went to work (work countdown said 6 days left!), came home, went out to Grand Theft Impro for what may be the last time (since the few left are filling up). They’re playing with a new long form format called Uncle X, where a crazy patriarch tells the kids about his involvement in some famous 20th century event, which is acted out in flashbacks. It’s a cool format because when the improvisers get stuck, they can go back to the scene with Uncle X and get clarification or a retelling of a certain bit. Despite the new format, though, the show wasn’t one of their better ones - but it wasn’t awful, either.

The week doesn’t stop there. Still to come… birthday hijinx on Friday, musical theater on Saturday, and lots of sleep on Saturday.