distracted
2003.11.30 15.43
Got distracted although I meant to post a decent blog entry. What distracted me? This Japan FAQ Site. That, and I was searching for some kind of garage shelf product that you can park your car under. Haven't found that one yet. I'm back to the City of Brotherly Love tonight. See ya later, turkeys.houston calling
2003.11.24 19.42
I'm sitting at my old wooden desk typing on my fourth choice PC. My first, second and third choice machines are in Philly. The fourth choice machine is fairly old, although it does have XP Professional on it. I'm not suffering terribly. I just came back from doing a little exploratory surgery on the garage wiring. The guys who sided the house managed to somehow lose the ''black'' wire that gave juice to all my cool garage lights. The white wires were there, but no sign of Mr. Black. Upsetting. I think I'm going to visit Home Depot after I finish this entry and pick up some wiring and lighting goodies. I have a bag of returns I need to drop off. I briefly toyed with the idea of replacing all my outlets with grey hardware and stainless steel plates. This looked great in the kitchen. Horrible everything else. I probably already mentioned this 6 weeks ago in a previous blog entry, so please pardon the black cat.
I went to Number's on Friday night and really had a great time. I bought three of the Mix CD's from DJ Wes Wallace. He's really good. It's like having Number's in your car. I drove there in my mediocre Chevy Malibu rental. It's god awful ugly and has well over 13,000 miles. I miss my hot purple Kia rental from two weeks ago. Aside from the Number's visit, my roommate is also on vacation so I've managed to go out and do non-solo stuff. We saw ''Mystic River'' last night and I liked everything except 1) the incidental music (it was completely inappropriate whenever they used it, as if someone had accidentally cut the music in from another theater) and 2) the last three minutes where everything was wrapped up suddenly in a confusing whirlwind of resolve. That sucked, actually. I also saw a little bit of what I thought was either bad directing or bad acting on the part of Sean Penn and Tim Robbins. They gave double-takes every once in a while that were so fake that I felt I was watching myself act. I definitely recommend the film as the story is very interesting and engaging. B.
Okay, I'll post another entry after midnight and detail my Home Depot experience. I know. You're counting the minutes, right?
i have seen the paris hilton video
2003.11.18 11.37
Not impressed. I've seen better footage on Showtime After Dark. Good times. Not a big fan of NightVision recording. Turn on the lights, for crying out loud. Pamela and Tommy Lee knew a thing or two about proper illumination.My regular glasses lost a screw recently. I have both prescription sunglasses and contacts as a backup, but I get my share of weird looks when I'm walking around in the sunglasses.
''Can you even see in those?''
Me: ''Yes.''
''Is it too bright in here for you?''
Me: ''Yes.''
''Are you getting ready to go into the Matrix?''
Me: ''Yes.''
I watched the first episode of ''The Dead Zone'' from the Season One DVD last night. I saw a pilot episode that never aired back in 2001 and wrote a review for Ain't It Cool News. This version was similar to what I saw, but it seems a few things were reshot or excised. The sucky acting of the child actors at the beginning seems slightly more bearable, but not by much. I am actually giddy to get back home and watch some more. I haven't felt this way since I used to subscribe to Showtime. Ahhh. Good times. I'm reminded of an old Robert Hays TV movie called ''The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything.'' In it, Hays was given a watch by a deceased relative that could stop time but allow the wearer to continue moving. Hall is able to do this during the projections that he experiences and these are done very well. This is a nice mix of time travel type storylines and some decent dramatic development. I will withhold my recommendation until I get through a few more episodes, but I think this show can break the My Girlfriend Won't Watch Geeky Shows With Me barrier. This issue is, of course, second in importance behind My Girlfriend Won't Let Me Film Our Love With NightVision barrier. You're on your own with that one, bub.
subliminal
2003.11.17 0.04
I am in the process of redesigning the site and you may notice a few glitches here and there while I rearrange things. The world is my quality assurance team. I am putting my movies in their own section, separating them from my photography. You may note that a few things not related to either are still in each section. Pfshaw. Chill. I'm workin' here.I have finished up color correcting, rotating, and prettying up the Halloween photos taken this year at the Henri David Halloween Ball right here in brotherly loverly Philadelphia. The first group of photos were taken with my Sony DSC-S75 which has started to show its shortcomings as a point and shoot. I drove to the Circuit City in Wilmington, Delaware last week and bought the new Canon Digital Rebel. It retails for $999. Their web site had it on sale for $924.99. They beat their own price and sold it to me for $917. Not too shabby, eh? My two assignments? First, read the manual. I hate it, but I'll do it. Second, apply to istockphoto.com as a content producer. Getting in would kick ass. I have photos I've taken of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell that I hope make the cut. I wonder if I can embed subliminal messages on the side of the Liberty Bell. Hmmm.
we'll always have paris
2003.11.15 21.55
the other half
2003.11.14 14.47
Let me finish off my weekend before another one sneaks up on me...It's Saturday morning and I hit the ATM and deposit some stuff I have like my Amazon.com referral checks and a JCrew card refund from when I accidentally paid my bill twice. I then accompanied my hunchback, err... roommate, to Pappadeux for lunch. Our waiter was either (A) high on crack or (B) a jock. Always hard to tell. I was then off to fetch the DeLorean from cold storage. The tires were all low. That would suck except for the Chevron nearby with free air. Nothing beats free air. I bought a tire guage from the Hi-Lo (or whatever it's called now). They freaked over the car. I played it casual. Other than driving in 5th when I should have been in 4th at one point, no problem. I barely got back before they locked the gates. 24/7 my ass.
As I drove back home in my ghetto purple Kia I had to pass my old high school. The band and drill team were outside practicing one last time before the game that evening. It looked good, so I figured I'd attend. Ken Pridgeon Stadium is nearly untouched by time. It is almost exactly as it was when I first entered it back in September 1983. Okay, the fence came in 1984. Whatever. I stayed for the first half and the halftime show. The football team was impressive and I bought a Falcon Football shirt. The band looked good, as usual. I was freezing my ass off so I cut the evening short and went back home after halftime. I wasn't home for five minutes before my phone rang. Rebecca was calling to see if I was interested in see ''Matrix Revolutions.'' Let me hear a ''Hell, yeah!'' It was even better the second time, as I suspected. You haven't gone yet? What's wrong with you? After the revolution was over we hit the Calvin Arms. Nice place. We then returned to my house and met up with my aforementioned semi-hunchbacked roommate and watched some Jennifer Anniston movie. I fell asleep halfway through it. Wimp.
It's Sunday and I had lunch with my parents at the Kirin II sushi buffet. Mmmm. Sushi. I topped off the day by replacing the dead dryer with the dryer my sister gave me. I had to do some spackling to the vent. I love the spackling. If you have any spackling to be done, call me. I'm there. The plug on the dryer didn't fit my outlet so I made a quick trip to Home Depot. After pretending to be an electrical engineer for 20 minutes, I plugged in the new plug and started up the dryer succesfully. Just before I left for the airport I visited with my sister at the new bank she recently opened. Their new surveillance system is awesome. I want some of that on my house. I left and went straight to the airport. Other than sitting next to a completely out of my league hot consultant on the other side of the aisle, the flight was uneventful. I stepped on some dude's shoe while I was unloading my luggage. He pulled it away, pissy. My position is if I step on your foot then it must have been in my way. Tell your friends... and watch your feet.
Been looking through my server logs and found that I'm being linked from Kwlablog.com. Not sure what that is, but if someone figures it out, let me know. David Shepherd, friend of mine from the olden times, now has a slick new site. What's the most stolen image from MarkShields.com? That would be my head to head comparison of Philly Cheesesteak makers Pat and Geno. Mmmm. Cheesesteak. If they could somehow create sushi cheesesteak, that'd be superfly. Honorable mention for linking to me goes to GheySites.com. They link directly to my Richard Simmons scissor-paper-rock game. I need to reprogram that as it still sucks of Hey I Programmed This While I Was Drinking Red Wine On The Plane.
One last note on site statistics. Here's the latest and greatest search engine keywords that folks are using to find my site. What have I learned from this? Well, for one, most people are filthy dirty little perverts. My people! Let's bond. Hmmm. The funny ha-ha stuff and my geek stuff also draw in my fair share of traffic. Nothing wrong with those guys. Have a look for yourself. I've removed all the x-rated and Why The Hell Would Some Sicko Search For This... And Find Me keywords, so you'll have to use your imagination.
AOL NetFind 4: 1989 batmobile 4: philly cheese stakes 2: batmobile replica 1989 2: ex revenge 2: keaton batmobile 2: your daughter kicked my dog 2: numbers night club 2: 1989 batmobile replica 2: picture of my ex girlfriend AllTheWeb 8: ex 5: girlfriend 4: markshields 1: flash 1: shields 1: copyright 2000 1: girlfriend topless Altavista 30: cute girlfriend 24: ex-girlfriend 20: ex girlfriend 14: naked girlfriend 13: girlfriend naked 12: nude girlfriend 9: exposed thong 9: 0 8: girlfriend Ask Jeeves 6: your+daughter+kicked+my+dog 3: packaging+on+store+brand+products 2: halloween+costume+party+photos 1: teens+night+club 1: topless+amateur+photos 1: remixes+for+popular+songs 1: is+telepathy+real 1: how+tall+is+oliver+north%3f 1: which+airlines+have+open+seating 1: movie+with+the+word+river+in+it Direct Hit 1: mark shields Excite 10: 1 5: 9 4: infospace_excite_search Google 73: philadelphia 68: back to the future 4 47: sex+toys 37: halloween party photos 27: your daughter kicked my dog 26: philly+cheesesteak 24: cheesesteak LookSmart 1: batmobile replica Lycos 3: exposed thong 3: thong non-nude 3: ex girlfriend 2: ex girlfriend nude 2: webcam portals 2: ex-girlfriend 2: naked girlfriend MSN 34: you kicked my dog 10: matrix parody 7: www%20tmnt%20playmates%20com 7: flux capacitor 6: your daughter kicked my dog 5: richard simmons pics 4: 1989 batmobile 4: deloreans forsale 3: your daughter kicked my dog 3: youkicked my dog Virgilio (IT) 1: philadelphia Yahoo 19: back to the future 4 16: philadelphia 14: sex+toys 10: halloween party photos 8: 1989 batmobile 7: sex+movie 7: sex+dolls 7: ex girlfriend revenge 5: photos of the houston flood 5: jerky boys- kicked my dog iWon 2: isoperfect pillow mamma.com 2: huntsville , alabama photographs 1: mardi gras 2002 flashers 1: time car delorean
46 hours in h-town
2003.11.10 11.23
I'm on the plane and order a Bloody Mary. I get handed a super-tiny bottle of vodka. I'm talking itty bitty. The stewart hands me a little plastic cup filled with Bloody Mary mix. I'm incredulous. ''Hello, is this all I get for five bucks?'' The guy is all, ''Well you can have the can but you have to ask for it.'' I know they have a new policy of You Must Ask If You Want The Can. If I'm laying out five dollars for a measily airplane cocktail then I'd better get everything I've got coming to me. As small as that bottle of vodka is, if I don't dilute it several times with at least one whole can of bloody mary mix, I'd most likely strip off all my clothes and run around the cabin naked screaming, ''LOOK AT ME!! I'M THE 30,000 FOOT STREAKER!!'' I'm sure I would be violently subdued in minutes and then stowed away somewhere. Can't they foresee what these terrible new policies might lead to?I'm at the Hertz Rental Car place and driving my ugly purple Kia out of the lot. I have to show my credentials before leaving the auspices of Hertz Proper. The guy says, ''You got a full tank of gas... and 14 miles on the car.'' I'm like, ''Excuse me? Baking powder?'' I look down at the guages and, sure enough, there are only 14 miles on the odometer. There are only 8 miles on the trip, so I'm suddenly impressed that I'm driving a brand new car. The downside is that they had sprayed some terrible deodorizer in the car that completely covered up that New Car Smell. What's up with that? It smelled like a combination of New Car Smell and Frosty Lemon. I drove the car at high speeds with all windows rolled down to get the Frosty Lemon smell out of the car.
I'm at home and I'm greeted by my hunchbacked roommate. ''Dude, I'm a hunchback,'' he says. He'd had a car battery lifting mishap earlier that had rendered him almost immobile. After stopping at the Walgreens and purchasing the proper anti-hunchback drugs (and my flirting with the short Walgreens cashier with no success), we drove to That Steak Place We Always Go To. I forget the name. It's on the corner of 249 and the Beltway. The hostess girls there are total flakes. They tell us the wait will be 30 minutes, but they have a robotic glint in their eyes that tells me they always tell everyone it will be 30 minutes, regardless. In fact, we only wait 10 minutes. They stick us in this stupid little sideroom at a table set for 6. I'm like, ''Six chairs and there are only two of us.'' The seating hostess is like, ''Well if you want to wait longer, I can get you a different table.'' I look around and notice a disgusting half-eaten wedding cake mass on a table not five feet away from my table for 6. The room is definitely one of those overflow rooms and sucks in the way of atmosphere. I agree completely to waiting ''as long as humanely possible'' in order to avoid having to eat in their closet. We are led back by the now stiff and dejected hostess to the waiting area. We end up waiting a whole 10 seconds before getting a decent table. Can you feel the love tonight? Once that bit of awkwardness was over, the dinner was great, as usual. If you have the means of going to That Steak Place I Always Eat At, make sure they don't stick you in the linen closet. Trust me on this.
I'm at Number's Night Club and some band called Thrice or Thursday or Thursday Thrice has finished playing their set. The club is reverting to We Are Still Open mode while the concert attendees disperse. My buddy Rich who left for Kuwait to do IT work was back. Apparently Kuwait sucks. Good to know. I finished off the evening watching a cute goth girl named April (or Apryl) bawl her eyes out because ''some guy wasn't paying attention to me.'' I was all, ''Hey, I was paying attention to you...'' and she was all, ''Why won't that guy pay attention to me? Am I ugly? Am I too skinny.'' At this point I figured I didn't exist so I dropped the idle banter. I drove home in my bad ass purple Kia with only 45 miles on it and that was that.
More tomorrow. I'm burned out on sharing today.
back to the houston
2003.11.07 12.14
Returning to Houston tonight. Been 5 weeks since I was last there -- a new record exceeded only by my 6-week European Vacation with Dawn in 1992. The dryer died. I have an extra dryer and two extra washing machines in the storage room. I've been hoarding them. My ''roommate'' Daniel informs me that two chairs left by my former ''roommate'' Paul are super ugly and must go. I agree. Considering holding a Passive Garage Sale. That's where I put them out on the drive way with a sign on each chair that says, ''Chair $20 -- Ring Doorbell To Purchase.'' If somone walks off with them, I won't care. If someone pays me $20 each for them, I won't care. If someone haggles with me, I imagine the conversation going something like this: ''I'm sorry, but these chairs were purchased by my ex-girlfriend Paris Hilton. They are very dear to me. I couldn't let them go for any less.'' I would then start to cry like a baby until the person either A) walks away frightened or B) hands me two crisp $20 bills, pats me on the shoulder and says, ''I'm so sorry'' and carts the ugly ass chairs away. I'm hoping for A) to happen, myself.Saw ''8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter'' on Tuesday. Disappointing, although not entirely as awkward as The New Chico episode on ''Chico and the Man.'' Not completely weird like when Valerie Harper's character was ''killed'' and her show was renamed ''The Hogans.'' Valerie Harper, by the way, not really dead. Phil Hartman's death in ''News Radio'' I heard was handled a bit strangely. Even Katie Sagal, the costar of ''8 Simple Rules'' had a similar problem on ''Married With Children'' when she was pregnant in real-life and they wrote that into the show until she had a miscarriage, which of course is terrible, but then they had to figure out how to write that plot point out. They were brilliant of course, making it all out to have been a bad dream for Al Bundy. So, the ''8 Simple Rules'' show still had high ratings sans Ritter. I think they need to rename the show to make it complete. ''8 Simple Rules'' implies the father's rules. My suggestions? Keep James Garner or Susanne Pleshette and rename it to ''8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Grand-Daughter.'' Hire Howard Stern as a recurring character and rename it ''8 Simple Rules For Dating Teenage Daughters.'' Oh! What if they hire Suzanne Summers and Joyce Dewitt and have them move into the basement? They could call it ''Eight's Company.'' Or hire Dick Van Patton and call it ''Eight Simple Rules Are Enough.'' Hey, man, come on. They can't all be winners.
wake me up inside
2003.11.06 14.47
I saw The Matrix Revolutions last night with my buddy Kevin at the King of Prussia Megaplex. Prior to attending had dinner at Champs where we spent mealtime leering at our waitress Jody and imbibing nutty beer. I was actually more guilty of the leering. The line to enter the 7:40 PM showing had already been let in the theater. We ended up sitting in the back section but we had rail. Having rail is good because you don't have anyone to kick in front of you. Some high school kids were sitting behind us and the girl behind me was constantly bumping into my chair. She needed rail. Oh, and now I'm having a random thought. When I used to do project work for The Big Computer Company in Houston, we'd often play Quake II after 5 PM and spend it entirely in The Rail Room. Nothing was in there except a spiral walkway and rail guns. If you have the means, I highly recommend letting me shoot you in the rail room with my rail gun. It's not as good as having rail at the movies, but close. Unless I kill you a lot. Then it sucks to be you.Back on topic. The Matrix Revolutions is yet another film that requires both multiple viewings and time. The viewings so that you can catch all of the information streamed to you. Time so that you can think about what you saw and draw your own conclusions. There aren't a lot of movies that defiantly leave questions unanswered or vagaries unresolved with the sole intention of making you use your brain. We tend not to think about our films anymore and that's a problem. It's safe to say that *all* of the negative reviews that you'll read about the film (go to Rotten Tomatoes to see them) were written by folks who didn't bother to reflect. They wanted their Hollywood ending and when they didn't get it, they go off and write eye-catching headlines for their reviews (like ''The Matrix Revolutions Sucks'' -- Rolling Stone). If you're worried about liking the film then just wait for it to come out on DVD. Friends of mine did this for Matrix Reloaded and we've since had lots of cool conversations about its meaning and interpretation. This used to happen to me all the time while I was majoring in English. I guess I miss that. If you'd rather see Bruce Willis blow up some bad guys then this film isn't for you. If you like philosophy or any form of intellectual stimulation then this film is for you. In summary: Great film. Can't wait to see it on the IMAX next. Thinking about naming my first kid Neo.
running
2003.11.03 15.50
Congrats to Dude Spellings on completing the 26.2 mile Portland Marathon this past Sunday. Not impressed? He ran 31.1 miles the day before. How about now?viva la revolutiones...
2003.11.02 18.50
A small group of us from work and our respective friends attended a huge 1000+ people costume ball held at a downtown Philly hotel Friday night. I attended as Batman. I have a brief history of the suit posted on my Halloween 1999 page. When I first got it I was about 135 lbs. Yeah, I know. Shhh. I'm talkin' here. I was 185 lbs. earlier this year when I was last Batman. On Friday I was 150 lbs. and the suit fit like a freakin' glove. I experimented by wearing a perspiration-wicking UnderArmor spandex body suit and didn't break a sweat once. Nice. My friends (now that I'm done talking about myself) came as Star Trek Classic Series Vulcan Science Officer Girl, Angel Girl, Devil Girl, Naughty Girl, Caveman Guy, and Bruce Lee Karate Guy. There was one other Batman in attendance: Old School Batman. Dude was dressed in white tights with the 60's style black bat symbol on the chest. He was also quite tall. I don't think Batman works as well if you're over 6 foot 5. I've been face to face with two guys who've played Batman. George Clooney at the premieres for Perfect Storm and Three Kings. Val Kilmer at the Red Dragon premiere last year while he was channeling John Holmes for Wonderland (he was filming it in NY at the time). Both guys are my height so unless I meet Michael Keaton and this pattern drastically changes my view, I'm going to stick with the fact that Batman works best at my height. Yeah, yeah, I know, Batman isn't real. Thanks for ruining it for me. At least I still have Santa.Saturday was kind of a wash. I am still recovering data from my dead older machine. I can resuscitate it for brief periods and grab as much crap as I can. I'm aware that I can pull the drives out and mount them on the new machine, but there's a lot of fun in trying to bring back the dead. I did take Chew to Petsmart for the Top Dog Wash. I saw ''Scary Movie 3'' while that was going on. It was tolerably funny. I laughed consistently until some jerk one row behind me answered his phone during the movie. Him answering the phone wasn't what made me mad. This fool talked for NINE f***ING MINUTES. Nine. Yes, kids, that's right. Couldn't believe it. I think he was picking out colors for a sofa with someone on the phone. Insane! I was about to go grab a manager when this tool finally figured out he was pissing off everyone in the theater. They didn't play that ''Inconsiderate Cell Phone Guy'' commercial during the trailers. Maybe that was partly to blame for his indiscretion. I'll bet Sue's to blame. Hmmph. If this happens again on Wednesday when ''Matrix Revolutions'' comes out, someone's getting bitch slapped.
