Greetings. It's been a busy week around these parts. ("These parts" being New York. Not Bisbee, AZ. Though I can assume that Adam had a non-stop week of drunken debauchery in a place called Bisbee, AZ.) Tuesday night wasn't a huge deal. Just went to the gigantic Barnes and Noble in Union Square where Regina Spektor played a handful of songs for free. You know, your typical yawn-fest. Tell me when something exciting happens around here.

In all seriousness, though, it was awesome. It was part of the Upstairs at the Square event, where writers and artists share the stage. Sadly, the entire crowd was there for Regina. No one seemed to know the name and/or gender of the writer. (It was a guy. Don't ask me for his name, because I don't know it. But hey, I do know it's a guy, at least. [Actually -- and this is just an excuse for me to use an embedded parenthetical -- his name is Kurt Anderson. You can check out a video of the performance/reading here.])

Yesterday was another big day. I went to go see a taping of The Daily Show. It involved lots of waiting around, but it was totally worth it. After the show, Jon came out and discussed the health care issue with us. He wanted to hear some people's opinions in the audience. I already admired the guy, but this was just incredible. It wasn't a long discussion -- five minutes, maybe -- but still. Just the fact that he took the time to hear what we had to say, then to respond extemporaneously and articulately. Damn, it was cool.

After that, I went to the movie theater in Union Square for the nation-wide live screening of the Rifftrax event. I can see I've probably lost most of you. You were on board for Regina Spektor and The Daily Show. But what the hell is Rifftrax? After the (second [and final]) cancellation of Mystery Science Theater 3000, three of the primary writers/cast members formed a similar venture called Rifftrax. Same exact idea as MST3K: they take cheesy movies and add their own commentary that makes the movie hilarious. Last night they did a live riffing of Plan 9 from Outer Space. Now, I had never seen Plan 9 before, but I'd heard it's considered one of the worst movies ever. And, sure enough, it's bad. Real bad. But it's so bad it's funny. The commentary was pretty good, but there were times when I just watched the movie itself and laughed.

On the horizon: Christopher O'Riley Monday night. I cannot wait. He takes popular songs (mostly Radiohead, but his new album is a bunch of different artists) and transforms them into solo-piano pieces. Unfortunately, the songs up on his MySpace page aren't my favorites, but it gives you a sense of what he does. I'm really hoping he plays "Fake Plastic Trees," "Black Star," "Let Down," and "Karma Police." We shall see.