Trying new things

So yesterday after my onerous work meeting at the buffalo wing buffet, I drove back to Clevo and hit up my favorite stretch in all of Northeast Ohio - Waterloo Road.

I popped into Music Saves and snagged a bunch of cds I'd been either wanting or had been (semi)recently released by bands I plan to see over the next few weeks. So far there isn't a disappointment in the mix, either, which is awesome. I particularly dig the Ra Ra Riot album (The Rhumb Line) and the Cotton Jones album (Paranoid Cocoon), but the Tokyo Police Club and Cut Off Your Hands discs are pretty good, too. The other ones I picked up were by Obi Best, Phosphorescent's Willie Nelson tribute (which kicks thing off with a fine cover of "Reasons to Quit"), and the first Coconuts Records cd, since I've been digging the new one that was recently and quite generously burned for me so much lately.

After that, I picked up Chris Ryniak's book at Shoparooni and then headed home, in time to change clothes and meet a colleague for dinner. (Side note: Ryniak's work is pretty stellar and yet another piece of evidence to support my argument that the art scene in this town is stronger than most folks believe. And I really dig how Shoparooni Steve is starting to cultivate that vibe.)

For dinner, we hit up Bodega on Coventry, which I thought was somewhere between "marginally ok" and "way over-hyped." The cocktail menu was ridiculous, with literally hundreds of drinks, though most were silly Sex and the City type concoctions, and the first three drinks we tried to get were not available. Velvet Tango Room, this place is NOT. The food was hit and miss - the halloumi special was great, the lamb lollipops above average, but the calamari might've been the worst I've ever had.

Afterwards we decided to get in the spirit of the dastardly weather in which we are trapped and went to see Revolutionary Road at the Cedar-Lee. That fucking movie is so hit-you-over-the-head depressing I can't believe it! My friend liked it, or at least said she thought it was well done, but I wasn't a big fan. I thought the acting was super-forced, with really cliche 50s personas, and there were moments where restraint would have made a wiser decision, especially the last two scenes. Anyway, the only other choice we had available to us was The Reader, since she'd already seen Milk and didn't want to see The Wrestler. None of them would've been upbeat, though. What is it with indie film in the winter - must it be as dreary as the outdoors?