We brought sexy back

My fiancee and I traveled to St. Paul, MN on Saturday to attend the Justin Timberlake concert. In one word: awesome. Great show, and if you get the chance to see it, don't hesitate. Pink opened and she was very entertaining. Upbeat, funky, and she ended the show singing "I'm Coming Out/Get the Party Started" while hanging upside down from a big fabric/rope. It was very Cirque du Soleil-esque.
Then Justin came out. He did some tunes from his last album, Justified. Such as "Rock Your Body", "Like I Love You" and my favorite, "Señorita". And of course, the majority of the songs were from his current album. We like "What Goes Around", not one of the bigger hits, but a good tune. He surprised with his talent, playing guitar and piano during the show. In fact, there were several segments where he just sat at the piano in the middle of the stage (which rotated while he performed). There was an intermission, which featured a 25 minute performance by Timbaland. This part was the low point. It wasn't anything I couldn't have heard in any club. It was alright for a few minutes, but it started to get a little long. Thankfully, Justin returned and closed the concert with a fantastic, rocking, kick-ass version of "Sexy Back". It was sweet.
The encore was tight. JT came back out in just a t-shirt and warm-up pants, rather than the suit he had worn the rest of the show. He sat at the piano and played one of the ballads from Justified. He also was more chatty here, making the concert seem a little more intimate. He gave the usual "I appreciate my fans" speech, but he comes off as such a cool guy, I found it to be pretty believeable.
And then it happened. The girl two rows in front of us, dressed in a black button-down shirt (her cohorts were wearing the skank uniform--tigh jeans, crazy high heels and some slutty almost-shirt) made me almost go into convulsions of laughter. She stood up at the end of the ballad (nobody else in the second balcony was standing at this point), made the punk rock/devil sign with her hands and screamed at the top of her lungs. It was so out of place and random, it was hilarious. It was almost as out-of-place as the music they played to warm up the crowd between Pink and JT--"Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. The same girl in the black button-down sang along to Nine Inch Nails at the top of her lungs before the concert, so come to think of it, her post-encore antics should have been somewhat expected.
Anyway, it was a kick-ass concert and even better because out hotel was connected to the arena by the Skyway system, so we didn't have to fight traffic or walk outside in the bitter cold. And the Xcel Energy Center is a great place to see a concert--much better than its cross-town counterpart, the Target Center.

Here it comes...

The standard, quick blog update. The bulleted list.

• I have realized that I haven't addressed my engagement on here. Part of that is just a privacy thing (mostly a work issue, but God knows who reads this), but now that word has gotten out, I think it is time to tell the cyberworld that I am engaged to be married. So there.
• Christmas was great. Nice to get away form work , spend time with family, yadda yadda yadda. Next weekend I get to enjoy one of my Christmas presents--a trip to St. Paul to the Justin Timberlake concert. Oh yeah--he's bringing sexy back. I want to know where it was all this time. Maybe he'll tell us at the concert.
• Work is interesting (well, at least the ancillary parts of it). Last week a bank robber came into the building to hide out and change clothes. He left without causing any harm and was quickly apprehended afterwards, but my question is, "Why don't we lock the doors during the day so that unsavory characters like this can't get in?" The administration looked at me during the meeting when I asked that, then proceeded as if they hadn't heard it. I guess ignoring the problem can make it go away.
• Winter sucks. My car doors freeze, I have to shovel snow for the first time since I lived with my parents, and it is just too damn cold. There. My annual griping about winter is done and my life can continue.
• Film awards season is upon us. There really isn't a movie that is contending that I am rooting for. Other than The Departed, which I thought was fantastic. But without any individual recognition for Matt, it is hard to really jump on the bandwagon :) If you get the chance to see Volver, the latest Pedro Almodovar film starring Penelope Cruz, do it. I saw it in Spain last summer and it is outstanding! Stupid Clint Eastwood making films in Japanese that will steal the Oscar.

There. I think that does it. Consider yourself updated.