Well, that was interesting

[annathepiper]

Murkworks.net was down for the count for most of today. solarbird has brought us back up tonight; the problem appears to be that our web server, lodestone, had gotten into a weird state and needed to be kicked in the head. We're still not entirely sure what happened to it, so we'll have to keep an eye on it for a bit.

In the meantime, we all went bowling for what's likely to be our last outing at Leilani Lanes, in honor of spazzkat's birthday; the place is closing down next spring. Sniff. We'll miss it. But we had good bowling, with Dara and Paul and myself as well as llachglin and poodlgrl and her family. Erik and Eric were definitely the best bowlers, though Dara and Paul were decent, too. Me, I lagged heavily behind, but did at least manage to get my highest score up to 62. But it was all very fun, and Kelli gave us tasty treats, and the children were charming, and Dara and I gave Paul a big box full of Thundercats DVD goodness.

Last night, of course, we went and saw King Kong. I've already discussed the movie in my last post, but I'll add here that it was kind of cool to be able to ride the 522 from downtown Seattle clear out to Woodinville even if it took about an hour to get there. Also, it was very, very cold in Woodinville; we're having a lot of cold and clear and dry weather here right now, so we've had days of frost building up on the grass. It looks weird and kind of cool.

I further note that totally by accident, I discovered a C.H.U.D.-arific section of the Real building downtown. Oops. I discovered that if you get off the elevator on the wrong floor, it dumps you out into a half-finished section of the building that looks like it's either still being built or got abandoned in the middle of the process--lots of empty office-type spaces and construction debris lying around. I got a bit antsy as I discovered that all of the doors out of that section were either locked or labelled as emergency exits that would set off alarms if I went through them. But finally I had to risk one, because I had no other way to get out, and fortunately it opened up onto the stairs that let me get back up to the main section of the building. I hope that if any security cameras got my image, the building security guys saw the distressed look on my face as I tried to figure out how the hell to get off that floor. And I made it out without getting jumped by any C.H.U.D.s too. Go me!

In "aw, kiss him, ya big lug!" news, silme711 points me at this new photo album of pics of Russell Crowe and Alan Doyle on their current little tour in Australia for My Hand, My Heart. I continue to giggle and giggle at the obvious pleasure these two boys have in performing together. I really like this one, while this one is absolutely giggleworthy just for the looks on their faces. Are they having a concert or about to jump one another's bods?

(Of course, any long-time veteran GBS fan will tell you that Alan's true love is Séan McCann, as the lads have been quoted as quipping at various shows. I particularly like these quotes:

Alan: "Myself and Séan have admitted in the last few weeks to having an inappropriate relationship."
Séan: "I thought we weren't going to talk about that."
---- Ann Arbor, September 29, 1998

Alan dedicates Boston to St. John's to a certain someone special.
Séan: "Why thank you, Alan."
---- Victoria, BC, October 27, 1999

Band finishes playing Boston and St. John's
Alan: "All right, enough singing about loves far away. Now we're going to sing about loves present. And I love Séan McCann!"
(Pause while Séan casts a few wary glances over his shoulder.)
Séan: "We're not singin' no love song now, eh? This song is about death and people dying! If that's your idea of a love song, then you're just a very strange person in a silly shirt. Anyway, this one goes out to all you dead people."
(Audience laughs.)
Séan: "Hey, it's only a matter of time, don't laugh. *clears throat* (sings) Oh the night that Paddy Murphy diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...(Alan starts to look impatient)...iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...(Sean checks his watch, keeps singing)...iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiied."
(Cue huge cheer from audience. And then, to make up for lost time...)
Séan: (quickly) "IsanightI'llneverforget! "
---- Hamilton, ON, November 25, 1999

Hee! It'd been a while since I looked at that GBS Quotes page!)

Friday evening miles: 1.4 (walking)
Miles out of Hobbiton: 547
Miles out of Rivendell: 89
Miles to Lothlórien: 375

Comments

[cow.livejournal.com]

Leilani's closing down? Dammit! :( I'd seen the sign on Greenwood counting down the number of weekends...I'm quite fond of that place (and it's so convenient from my current apartment). It's one of the only places I've really gone bowling in Seattle.

Sadness. :(

[annathepiper]

Yeah, we're bummed about it too. :( We don't bowl often, or at least have not historically even though we keep telling ourselves we should because we have fun doing it. We're thinking of scouting out Kenmore Lanes since it's so close to MurkNorth, but we'll be missing Leilani Lanes big time.

[cow.livejournal.com]

I've been googling now and I see the reasons--it does make sense. It's a 2-acre lot, and prime real estate (Greenwood south of Holman? oh yeah). And it looks like more apartments and shops, which, yay better density and hopefully new interesting things.

Still, sad.

Of course, I haven't been in at least a couple of years, since I don't know many people who bowl anymore anyway. Most of my friends think it's a lame hick thing to do. :(

[annathepiper]

Well, now you know that the Murkworks crowd bowls! ^_^ We'll keep you in mind for the next time we get a bowling crowd together.

Yeah, though... we are sad about the closing. We wanted to buy souvenirs or something to commemorate it, but their Pro shop was closed while we were there today. We wanted T-shirts. Sniff.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I hate that we missed this. I was really eager to go.

[annathepiper]

*snugs a bunch* There are noises of bowling next month! We'll let you guys know!

[kohaku1977.livejournal.com]

I don't even know Séan! Yet I still giggled and grinned. <3 What a graceful kiss on the hand that is!

Also? I'm not writing anything to do with two certain gentlemen touring Australia. No, no, no. *squeaks*

[annathepiper]

Séan is the other primary singer in Great Big Sea--it's his voice singing lead on several of my GBS favorites, like "General Taylor", "Mari-Mac", and "Paddy Murphy", and he sings solo on one of the contenders for my all-time favorite GBS song, the magnificent "John Barbour". I tend to think that while Alan's voice makes me swoon harder, Séan is actually technically a better singer. I frequently think of a Boromir quote from The Fellowship of the Ring, when it comes to Séan's voice: "the clear ringing of silver trumpets". Especially when he's belting out "John Barbour". :D

So since he sings lead a lot, he and Alan do most of the banter at any given GBS show. As the quotes page indicates!

[kohaku1977.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* I should have known that, really.

I adore the quotes page! They make me laugh so much, those boys. I downloaded the podcasts to listen to on my way to work :D

[annathepiper]

The Quotes page is one of my very favorite GBS sites! And a prime example of why I love my B'ys so much!

The Podcasts are other prime examples. Especially #3 with Alan starting off with that scary crack about cutting his hair. ;)

[silme711.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I love the 2nd pic you pointed out. Mmm...that look on his (Russell's) face is so....devouring.

The quotes are so great! *hearts them*

[annathepiper]

Russell and Alan both look rather devouring in that pic. ;)

And I love the entire Great Big Quotes page. Many, many reasons why I love those boys! Even if it doesn't have more recent gems such as Séan's intro of "Paddy Murphy" from the webcast they did last January:

"This is a song I sing every night with this band. Every night, because of this song, someone has to die. Shall we kill him? Shall we kill him, people? Shall we KILL PADDY MURPHY AGAIN?!"

[raise-a-jar.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting the quotes page! Those two just crack me up :) Having joined the GBS fandom rather recently, I've missed out on a lot of things, so any of the past stuff is just gold!

And the pic of the hand kiss...LOL They're so subtle :)

[annathepiper]

You are very welcome! That's one of the finest GBS things I've had the pleasure of reading, topped out only by a fan's writeup of a hypothetical GBS appearance on the Muppet Show. ;)

And yeah, Alan and Séan are fabulous that way. I'm VERY much looking forward to seeing them live again. :D

[raise-a-jar.livejournal.com]

The Muppet Show?! Oh, now wouldn't that be an experience? :)

I can't wait to see them live, even if it means driving to Minneapolis in February! The closest I've come is the DVD...things should be a bit different from the front row ;)

[annathepiper]

The writeup is hysterical. I've forwarded it to you. :) I got it passed to me by another LJ user, who got it from another LJ user, who I believe originally saved it off the OKP some time ago.

So this show will be your first? BITCHIN'. I can't think of a better way to see a GBS show! :D :D :D