Using Namespace

Happy New Years!!

2010-12-31T19:21:00.002-05:00

Been a great 2010 here in NYC. Reiko aren't ready for kids, so we did the next best thing and adopted a dog from the local shelter. He's a godsend, and his presence has definitely changed our lives since we both work full time and have to be around to take care of him.

Also was able to see the release of my first video game this year - in Japanese, no less! That's a huge accomplishment for me and very proud of that. Check it out here!

And finally, I started a new job this past spring and am very thankful for all the new friends & co-workers I've met in the process.

All and all, I'd say this year was a hit! Looking forward to hitting the ground running (literally, I'm going running tomorrow!) in 2011.

Cheers and happy new years everyone!

Beefie Social Club

2010-11-11T10:48:00.005-05:00

Hi there!

Just wanted to take this opportunity to talk about Beefie Social Club, founded this past weekend at our apartment in Brooklyn. All hail President Kramer and Vice President Reiko, who co-founded the organization after a canine flatulence incident Saturday morning.

We are currently seeking new recruits who would like to join the BSC. If you would like to become a member (and really, who wouldn't?) let us know! Membership is free at this time and we encourage all interested parties to join our club. It's a social club!

As part of our pledge to keep the public informed, below is a link for the audio to our most recent trip to the salon, aka our bathroom. Mr. President got a stylish do and a happy smells bath time!

Here's the audio!

Hats off to all yas,

A

Things I saw Recently around Union Square

2010-10-21T09:37:00.003-04:00

Everyday I pass through Union Sq. Rush hour is really fookin' busy. I've got a lot of alternative ways I could go to get to / from work, but as far as I can tell this is still the fastest way to get to work.

Highlights:

- A guy carrying a garbage-bag size clear sack of glazed donuts. Must've been at least 100!
- Two biotches screaming at each other and pulling each other's hair - ha!
- A picture of a sundae on the wall at Dogmatic - only they don't sell sundaes...
- A guy without a nose asking for money. Most people just hand it over because they're freaked out.

Sadly, due to inclement weather, ladies in tight skirts are now on hold until 2011. Wait until then, perverts!

Who's That?

2010-10-15T10:03:00.004-04:00

At the Deerhoof show the other night. We met Satomi! Took a few tries to get this - the first guy failed 3 or 4 times to the point where we thought shit! it's over. But! Thanks for patience and a competent second photographer, we got it!

How about their new tune I recorded? Poppy!

All this, at Le Passion rouge

Something I Saw Today

2010-10-11T14:20:00.003-04:00

A little bird lying on its side over a sewer grate, breathing its last breaths of air. Gasping for air but losing the fight. Maybe I'll remember to see if he's still there on my way out.

Well, I didn't know what to do, so I just kept on, heading into the office on my day off so I could get a day off when I really wanted to.

Death is weird.

New Umbrella

2010-10-05T09:51:00.004-04:00

Over the weekend, Octoberday happened. That's the first day of October. And amazingly, the weather decided to match. Saturday and Sunday were cooler, and by Sunday night it was cold and rainy. Monday was basically rat day, because everyone looks like rodents scurrying about between buildings, hugging the walls as they go. I'm no exception as I haven't had an umbrella in quite some time.

Knowing that I had to pay rent on the way home from work, I saw a street umbrella vendor and decided to pick up one of the larger types. Fuck those small types, they just don't last in the city. I wanted the kind with the curvy wooden handle. And for $10, there were no surprises that this was China's finest (POS). But anyway, it was raining, so up it went. And went and went until wheeeeeeeeeeee it was completely inside out. First opening and failure! I couldn't stop laughing. Fortunately, the issue was that some of the tips had come undone. That I could correct. The bad news is they still can easily come undone, and when that happens, inversion is inevitable. Which is kinda just like watching someone slip and fall - always good for a few laughs, but when it happens to you its just shitty.

Good News, Everybody

2010-09-29T19:18:00.002-04:00

Back in early August, I got pulled over for riding my bike on the sidewalk. It's not like it was a habit I had; it was more out of defense. Flushing Ave at rush hour, with its heavy industrial mix of trucks into densely car populated ghetto Bushwick, is not the best time or place to ride a bike, I guess. Anyway! Got pulled over by a full-size fucking police van... full of rookies! Nothing like getting pulled over by kids with braces and uniforms on. Seriously, one was talking about his orthodontist appointment the next day. Give me a break! as my dad might say.

The shittiest part (kid cops aside) was that the ticket was not a payable ticket. Nope. MANDATORY COURT. For riding my bike. I was told to wait a week or two to hear when things would go down. And from there, I'd have to show up to the court in the city before the end of September.

Fast forward to today. Today's the 29th! Still haven't gone to court. Still haven't even gotten a letter. Should I even go to court. Nahhhhhhhhhh....... I said after some research. They didn't hold up their part. I didn't get an invitation, and I'm sure as hell not about to take precious precious time off from work for that.

Got home, and found 3 LETTERS from court. I opened them up. They all stated the same thing: Case dismissed! THEY GAVE ME A BREAK. Awesomesauce.

Cloud Camera

2010-09-28T15:45:00.002-04:00

Sitting up high in the sky, we get a great shot of the city.
But I tend not to bring my camera to work.
I should just get a small one here to take pictures on days like today.
And then there will be more photos on here.

But instead of all that, today I offer you a haiku:

Wall of clouds, hanging
Dark wall covers up Midtown
In the misty air

A Million Thoughts

2010-09-23T23:32:00.001-04:00

Programming the brain to release the exact amount of chemicals to keep me functioning at maximum efficiency right now. Gotta go.

The Greaser with a Mohawk

2010-09-21T13:58:00.004-04:00

Recently there's been this greasy drunk hispanic guy with a mohawk and a really raspy, gritty voice that loiters out in front of my house. He just drinks on the street and talk incomprehensibly. Says stuff in slow motion like "Raahhhh llrreeer vegggell bbbrrrrahhh. " and "Ttrreahhh he he he he ssssrrrrrhhh".

Like someone out of level 4 of Double Dragon. I think he just sleeps on the ground.

He's probably been to jail a lot. But as long as he doesn't harm us, I'm cool with him being around. It's kinda like social comedy.

The I Told You So Card

2010-09-16T18:59:00.003-04:00

... is a card I typically do not play. Especially with friends, because its just annoying and easy to have it come right back and smack me upside da head. It also makes me sound like an old man.

But then there are times. Like now, when all the A/C units on my roof flipped the fuck over because of a near tornado here in Brooklyn, yes, Brooklyn. Three of them on the roof itself, and one of the I-Beam (bwahhh!!) supports they sit on also flipped. Had it slipped through, it could have very easily come crashing through my bedroom ceiling. A tad scary thought to think what the results would be had this happened at 5am, not 5:30pm.

And back on the subject of the I Told You So Card, I totally told the management company that they needed to anchor this shit in place when they first installed it. Of course, they didn't listen. And because they didn't, we have an electrical mess in place, and surely this will cost more to fix up than it would have been to anchor it in the first place.

I called up up the landlord and told him so.

My Friend went Dark

2010-09-14T16:03:00.005-04:00

Had a good friend who lives nearby who went totally dark. Like Jack Bauer undercover dark. Or the guy from Wired that went off the grid. Not sure why. One day, his phone stopped working and Verizon told me the number had been disconnected. Then he stopped checking his facebook account. Haven't heard a peep via email either.

Hope he's alright and has a really good story to tell about all this.

Good News & Bad News

2010-09-13T11:46:00.004-04:00

First, the good news:

On Friday, we were talking about hot sauce at lunch. My coworker Joel was like, hang on, I know someone who can get us free samples, and promptly sent him a text. No joke - his friend responded within a minute and said he was headed to the supply closet. Not only that, but he delivered a box with 6 huge bottles of various flavors of Frank's hot sauce in person over the weekend.

I'm super stoked about receiving one massive bottle of the tried-and-true Frank's, and one sweet chili, which looks amazing.

Here's the full package:

Now, the bad news:

Kramer managed to mangle his front left paw (the bad one) somehow yesterday. Not sure. Probably sprained it, or at least hoping that's all it is. Taking off work today at lunch to take him to the vet to have it checked out. Goodbye, sweet precious paid time off.

Hope the dog's ok!

High Up in the Clouds, Where I Work

2010-09-12T09:47:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was Sept 11th. Big day in the city. Actually was surprised to see the two Batman beams in the sky Friday night - they've been saying ever since I moved here they would have to go due to costs.

Anywhoop, I saw someone throw this together - a time-lapse video of the day in the life of construction at Ground Zero. Kinda cool, I like time lapse. And also, I work there now!

So I thought I'd point out where we work. Here it is!

Also, that little squabble about the mosque? Right nearby. Everyday a new camera crew and people with strong opinions. On Friday, they had this mobile Police tower set up to help monitor the expected yahoos that would come out over the weekend.

Original video link here.

Am I a Drag Queen Service Provider? Now that you mention it...

2010-09-10T11:13:00.005-04:00

From an exchange with my Aunt via text this morning:

Me: Hello! Just wanted to get a head count for dinner tonight. Any special requests?
Aunt: Cant come thanks
Me: Cool. Have Allyson give of (sic) a call later
Aunt: Who is tbis (sic)?

She thought I was from the Drag Queen service they had called last night and ultimately turned down. Thought I was going to take them out to dinner! Then panicked a bit when I knew her name!

Because that's how I roll - as a stalker type drag queen service provider.

ATP Blast

2010-09-08T10:03:00.002-04:00

Just got back from a wild weekend of music, fresh air, and the best view of the stars i've seen in years.

what is ATP? All the Parties, a UK based party / event organizer. This was their third NY show, held this year 9/3~9/5. Very intimate shows, very Shining-esque hotel. Our place was a step above squalor.

But lots of good stuff otherwise!

Here's some quick highlights of this year's ATP:

friday night was intense all around; mudhoney was probably the act i wanted to see the most of those three (and totally lived up to my expectations), but having not listened to sleep much i was pleasantly surprised with their set just the same.

saturday: shellac was above and beyond what i expected; their drummer is amazing live and if it weren't for this website project i'd be at the bell house right now watching them! sonic youth was also really good but i started getting really exhausted during their set and sat down for part of it, closed my eyes, and went to sonic heaven. also talked to Wata of Boris for a brief minute, though it could better be described as a brown moment as I knew she was in a hurry and I was taking her time. bah!

sunday: raekwon made me feel really good inside. never been a big wu tang follower but damn, it sounded really good live. also, boris + sunn was the perfect transformation music for the end of m' twenties into m' thirties. that was the darkest religious ritual i've ever been a part of. think about every dark ritual you've ever seen and you're still nowhere close. yes, it was that dark. it was... DOOM

Prickly Pears No No No

2010-09-01T16:23:00.002-04:00

I like fruits. I also like exotic fruits. They're pretty different, really. A coworker just offered me a wedge of prickly pear, and you know what? It was a mushy seed mess, with seeds of steel. I spat most of it back out.

I don't think I'll be eating anymore prickly pears anytime soon.

Instant Karma

2010-08-31T17:53:00.002-04:00

Do you know what's awesome? That sweet drum fill that appears in the pre-chorus on Instant Karma. The whole song has this swing-shuffle beat and then the straight fill comes in and sounds so out of place, but yet it still works. I like that. Organized chaos.

Explained as thus:

A distinctive feature of the composition: drum fills and turnarounds were played in a different time signature than the rest of the song.

Did you know that this song was written, recorded and finished all in one day, and pressed up and released 10 days later? Now that's some lightning production. And that George Harrison and Yoko Ono were on it as well?

All about Instant Karma

World Trade Center 7

2010-08-30T10:40:00.005-04:00

From today on, I work in World Trade Center 7, 32F. It's chaotic, like the first day of school but everyone's at a new school and no one knows where anything is. Which is awesome. And everything's new except our computers. New desk. New seating arrangements. Garbage cans are at the end of the rows.

And another fun fact: apparently, this is (one of) the building(s) used for Massive Dynamic from Fringe. They did that scene with the guy getting cut up by butterflies and falling out the window here.

iphone shot from our tour a few weeks ago. but today: sunnier! happy times.

A Hostel Situation

2010-08-27T11:26:00.002-04:00

My cousin Nick drove out here last night from Youngstown. Couldn't find a hostel anywhere - just super gay ones that wanted way too much for the evenin'. So they decided to stay on my roof instead. It was a clear night! Only, Reiko's mom wouldn't let them, so we ended up taking over the front room whilst the ladies slept in the bedroom. Too chilly up there! (debatable of course). Funny how mom's get there final word in.

Getting Pulled Over ... in a Taxi

2010-08-24T09:47:00.002-04:00

So what happens when you get pulled over while riding in a taxi? I'm not sure! But I watched it happen this morning. From where I was I couldn't see if there was a passenger or not, but lets assume there was. Does he get a free lift for being late? Or surely they would stop the meter? Or maybe they only get pulled over when there are no passengers in tow.

D&D game tonight. Hopefully finishing up a dungeon I've been in since February. That's a long time to be stuck in a dungeon!

Words of Wisdom

2010-08-23T09:37:00.003-04:00

Traveling somewhere new for the first time is a mission in and of itself. Whether one chooses to take pride and pleasure in that is what makes all the difference.

Came up with this on the long walk with Kramer on Friday. The last part definitely riffs on some Robert Frost. But good stuff to live by.

Got a zipcar yesterday and together with R, her mom, and Kramer, we went to DUMBO and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Muted grays from the rain, and a bit cold. Too early in the morning to do any shopping - stupid Sunday. Front St pizza was excellent and fresh up. Swung down to Manhattan Beach after that and took K to his first dog run, where he met 5 other motley dogs kept by a hippie with a soccer jersey. Also took him on the boardwalk around the beach there which was really windy from the very meh weather, and he loved the wind in his face.

After that, it rained so effing hard. Made getting around kinda crazy, and certainly eliminated the Park Slop portion of the trip, but... it sounded really awesome in the car. Hadn't driven in rain like that in years.

Birds that know Karate

2010-08-19T13:27:00.003-04:00

Having Kramer around these days is pretty sweet, because now I walk around the hood a lot more than before. I dig the morning routine of taking him out because at that time of the day, the neighborhood's quiet. I don't even really see that many people going to work, probably because they don't work and gamble instead. But a really cool part about walks is getting to meet all the other animals. Like the Karate bird that chills out down the street. He sits in his house and makes the sounds of a 6-year-old boy throwing punches as I walk by. That's way cool. I'll try and record it.

Resurrection

2010-08-17T23:05:00.002-04:00

So I got to thinking today: +3 to all knowledge mathematics checks, so take advantage. And that I should resurrect my thought stream, I'll think about it at a drive thru later in life. 4 sentences at a time. Which brings me to today's post:

Old school Enon!er (<-- the dog typed that last bit!) Found on an old disc my friend Marc burned me before leaving OU. Refreshment Pavilion is so 1998 it makes me want to ride a bus. Early Matt Schulz jams on the first track (though, nothing special)

Enon - Rare old stuff EP

New Hampshire Photos

2010-06-04T15:31:00.000-04:00

Neon Indian Show

2010-03-06T00:23:00.005-05:00

Well, just got back from my first neon indian show. Brown moment alert: i was asked to leave before i even got in.

there was some promoter in the city that was sponsoring and it was only $1 to get in, as long as you took two seconds to rsvp online. which i did! good deals like this are hard to find. the way i look at these deals is that even if i don't get to see the whole show, who gives a shit. couldn't get r to come out with me, so i was headed solo. my plan was to hang out for a bit, catch the better part of the show, drink a beer or two, and then take off.

i've been to hell today, i spell it dmv. anyone that's been there knows precisely what i mean. only NY, has a worse thing: you don't get your actual id that day; it comes two weeks later. and that it doesn't matter if you brought everything they tell you to but leave your ss card at home - 1 hour round trip right there to go get that guy.

back in hell, i waited in three lines; they took my picture and they confiscated my super-expired ohio dl (this weekend would mark the 6 mos. mark, meaning i'd have to do all the tests over, so i had no choice).and i left with this note card that has my address, DOB, and the NY state seal logo. was told i'll get my new license in two weeks.

(there's a whole side story here about the day at work. worse nightmare if you're in web dev: server was completely down this morning, while i was out, took until 11 to get it back. then, right before i was about to leave, it tanked again. no direct com with the system admin made for an ugly situation that will now certainly continue into next week as we scramble to find a new hosting service.)

and so i had no photo id with me tonight. just this note card that has my address, DOB, and the NY state seal logo. the bouncer wasn't gonna let me in, but the promoter said: "go ahead and let him in. but don't give him a drink bracelet since he doesn't have a photo id".

so whatever, i can't have a drink. already had a good buzz at that point, so if i can't have a drink, so be it.

then:
the promoter decided to be a dick: "since the promotion is for those 21 and up that can drink, and we can't give you a bracelet, i gotta charge you the door price of $15." really. because my expired license was confiscated and i don't have my OU id on me? Yep. That's what the web site said, the promoter reminded me. A Photo ID. Sorry bub. I started to question this but knew it was going nowhere. And just lost all interest in the show.

Pissed, and on my own, I said fuck the show and headed home, where the neon indian is free and brooklyn lager is $1.75 a bottle. and no rascals!!

Japan 2010: The Laptop Incident

2010-02-19T10:21:00.004-05:00

Man, I've been quiet on here. Haven't mentioned a peep about my trip to Japan yet, which was totally sweet. Got so absorbed with taking everything in while I was over there I never found the time to write about it. Then! I got back, and had the worst case of RCS (Reverse Culture Shock) I've ever had - clearly, the trip was too short, and it made me depressed to be back here again. Didn't help that I bought this Beatles CD that is all music box songs - even more sad!

Ahhhhh....

Well, I'm better now. Back in to the groove here, and plowing through 2010 with more steam in the boiler than a pressure cooker left on high. The goal: Find a new job that puts my programming skills back to the forefront. The current one just ain't cutting it and I need something more. Put my brain to work again, because currently I'm turning into a zombie.

So next up: Let's talk about Japan. It was a great trip, so many stories to tell! I'll start this off with the story of Andrew's laptop aka The Laptop Incident.

Before leaving for Japan, Andrew asked me to pick him up a new laptop. No problem. Except that the week I tried to go shopping was the week of CES in Vegas, where all the new models are unveiled and all the sellers are clearing their shelves for the new ones: slim pickin's. After about my 4th trip to different places, I settled on a nice Vaio laptop, which had the best rankings for laptops in its class. (Despite most of Sony's stuff being crappy, my Vaio laptop, Marlow, has held up well for me for the past 2 and half years). It came in a nice box, and so I put the nice box in a nice bag.

Our flight to Japan was a straight shot from JFK to Narita. For us, that means hopping on the L train two blocks away, switching it up to the super ghetto A, then the AirTran to the airport. And so we set out around 8:15 in the morning: two huge suitcases and the laptop bag. Reiko's bag in particular was a huge pain in the ass as its wheels only move one way, and that's the wrong way, and there's no easy grip handle to pull the thing, so I basically ended up doing a combination of a lift-pull-skate and straddling myself over the top of it while walking to get it to move.

That suitcase was quickly deemed that Japan would be its final destination. I hope it burns in a large garbage heap.

At the L train station: hundreds of people. Five times the normal amount. Which made sense: due to a police incident down the line, trains were running only every 15~ 20 minutes, as opposed to the normal 3-4 minutes during rush hour. It took a while, but the train finally came. More pains in the ass as large ass suitcases, one of them which didn't really roll, were not designed for the morning commute. Fortunately, we were headed opposite of the city, so it wasn't so bad.

We boarded the train. My mind was a blur from the people, the excitement, the Japan.

We took off. We're moving now. Reiko took a seat and I stood with the luggage.

Then, it dawned on me: I was no longer in possession of the laptop bag. Nor was Reiko.

Somewhere between our apartment and the train, the laptop went missing. A brand new, in-box laptop. Which I bought! AND IT WAS LOST IN BUSHWICK.

I ran out of the train at the Myrtle / Wyckoff stop (2 stops from our place) and told Reiko to wait for me at Broadway Junction aka poverty ghetto central. Poor Reiko. Still not sure where to go or what to do, I figured I'd hop on the opposite, city bound train, go back to start and figure it out from there.

And then I realized: oh yeah, trains aren't running normal today. You have no choice. Better get running.

I don't think I've ever had a more panicked run. Or such an unexpected cold-start sprint. Which was not easy as I was not really in any shape to run with my massive coat and a backpack loaded to the gills. But I didn't have a choice. Time was running out - I wasn't going to miss my flight - and I just HAD to find that laptop.

Sprinting from a cold start: I highly don't recommend it. The massive shot of adrenaline in my system gave me quite a boost but after about 4 or 5 blocks I was already choking. The rest of the way back home (13 blocks) was a combo of run a block or two, catch my breath, rinse and repeat. Though most of the run was also a blur, I remember running past police at one point that I was just sure were going to come and stop me, ask me what was going on. But they didn't.

During my run, I was able to trace my steps: I knew where the package was left. It was on the front stoop of our apartment. Out in the open. I had set it to the side to help Reiko with her luggage. And completely forgot it there. So at least it was not in a station or anything, where it surely would be long gone.

I rounded the corner, and it was there. Untouched. Though: the shady fat guy two doors down was already eyeing it. I didn't say anything, just ran and swooped it up, then ran back to the subway station.

Inside, I fell apart. I tore off my jacket and long sleeves and took a knee. My heart was pounding, my lungs were on fire and I could taste blood in my mouth. I was coughing up massive amounts of gooey phlegm. I had just punished the shit out of my body and put it to its limits. But whatever, I had the lap top back.

Eventually, the train came, and I met Reiko at ghetto central. We had to wait three A trains for the right one that goes to the airport, but made it with plenty of time. Reiko was rightfully pissed at me for making her wait and I felt pretty bad about it. But soon that would all be behind us, as we were about to hop on the big bird. To Japan.

Save States and Emulators

2010-01-13T09:37:00.002-05:00

Man. Got to Jefferson station this morning to fire up my DS to continue my progress on the 4th dungeon in Ages. Save state was gone. Fuck, I hadn't saved in a long time, but at least had something in there. Also gone or otherwise corrupt (save game started a new game for me). So back to the start I went. 8 hours or so gone to ... the Ages. Oy vey! Fortunately you can throttle the speed by holding L, so for times you need to move over X number of screens, you can get there really quickly, as well as speed up the time warping animations, dialogs, etc. BUT STILL.

New Camera!! Meet Herman.

2009-12-31T00:01:00.013-05:00

Leveled up my camera arsenal today 10 fold - invested in a Canon Rebel TSi (i believe its the Kiss X3 as the blokes in Japan call 'em) with an 18-135mm piece of glass w/ Image Stabilization. First foray into the fine world of DSLR's for me... can't wait to start getting the good shots now.

Dates are locked in for the big bird now: 1/15 to 1/31. Proceed with the filling of the dates therein. So far, it's Mr. Fuji (yes, r not the t) for the first leg, then Tokyo (early week of the 17th), Nagoya, followed by a romparound in Hokkaido (Otaru? Sapporo? getting naked in the hot springs in a glacier???), then back to Nagoya, with some Mie adventures. Perhaps a trip to the Kansai region? Well, they do have good food there and I like their accent. Nani nonndennen! (what are you drinking!?)

I gotta get back to work though. Burning the midnight oil to reduce the workload tomorrow, which I'm doing from home. Then, Settler's of Catan and *gasp* NEW YEAR'S!

And really, you can't find a finer subject than Conan on HD TV as a subject, right? whoo boy.

Windy

2009-12-29T13:28:00.005-05:00

Cold and windy today. Would not want to be in a tall building, nosirree. 24F in a brick building is enough for me. Which begs the question: how high can you get?

Blizzard Kicks off Winter

2009-12-23T08:26:00.005-05:00

Old man winter wasted no time at all over the weekend. We had another Nor'easter roll in, which basically dumps a crap ton of snow in a fairly short amount of time. It's been chilly here the past week so sticking to the ground was no problem. Snow started late Saturday afternoon while we were in the city, and by the time we left for a party that evening it had grown to five inches or more. I even broke out my snow pants to wear to the party - zzzhuupp zhzhzuupp zzhuuppp zzhuupp all the way there, which luckily was only a few blocks away. Blizzard continued throughout the party and into the night, and the snow continued to pile away.

Here's a clip I put together from before and after the party:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhlHMl4Lzss

By morning, the snow had stopped, netting us around 8 to 12 inches, with snow drifts up to 3 feet, depending on how the wind blew. And everyone was playing the move the snow game, which is much tougher when you've got nowhere to go with it. Walked around in it for a bit and it was an awesome site. Snow felt like corn starch, all eee eee eee eee. I love how the snow mutes the city.

Music of 2009

2009-12-22T17:39:00.004-05:00

End of the line... of the "ought" years. Twenty-ought-nine sounded awesome. So Goodbye, ought-nine: what will we call this decade? The big teens

Out of interest to see how full of shit Pitchfork is, I've taken the time to go through their list of the top 100 tracks of this year. No Scumbag Blues = fail, yet some of their so-called indie glory = total yawn. No JEFF the brotherhood either. And of course they wouldn't know about Bikes... yet.

That's not to say there wasn't good stuff. Of course there was. Most of it I hadn't heard, so I compiled my takeaway here. Ahem.

I've tried to denote songs of the year for given categories where applicable.

98. Future of the Left "Arming Eritrea". Love me some crunchy vacuum cleaner guitar. Lyrics reminded me of the Maxass rant Onion-O: "Eric, get off the roof!"

91. HEALTH "Die Slow". Sheet metal rock. Incidentally, I caught the tail end of their live set but didn't really care.

85. Wavves "No Hope Kids". Loser rock. I like writing songs like this and then drinking some more.

84. Junior Boys "Parallel Lines". Spark it up brutha, and let's head out to Long Island. I like the snare sound a lot, sounds a lot like the Konami snare from old NES games. There's some cool synth bursts here as well.

71. A Sunny Day in Glasgow "Close Chorus" Good use of texture.

68. Röyksopp [ft. Robyn] "The Girl and the Robot" Dance song of the year I've never heard at a club because I don't follow that scene?

61. Atlas Sound [ft. Lætitia Sadier] "Quick Canal" Atmosphere runner-up award.

58. Fever Ray "If I Had a Heart" Darkest song of the year. Alien chick vocals. And a sweet video.

56. John Talabot "Sunshine" Now we're getting to some serious beats. Love the tribal rhythms. Bit crusher curtain flusher.

54. Joker & Ginz "Purple City" Fat rubbery synth lines. Kinda like the Satanic Turd demo from Fruity Loops 3.

53. The xx "Islands" Late night bar music. Last call, then find your shoes.

50. Matias Aguayo "Rollerskate" Inspiring. Want to build a scary castle with legos now.

49. Yo La Tengo "Here to Fall" - Drums. Sound. Great.

42. The Big Pink "Velvet" - Computer beats

35. Micachu and the Shapes "Golden Phone" - was this the sound of nonsense in 2009? if so, very tastefully done. love the keyboard browness and the 8-bit tone banks. Skid marks at the end. Now don't forget to wipe.

27. Four Tet "Love Cry" - Need to pick this up on vinyl. This is the kind of music designed for record players, sending radio transmissions, and building a secret door to a hidden room.

19. Joker "Digidesign" - 8-bit synth rubber bee rolls. And the "doing~!" spoon-like hits spread throughout? win. and the synth part that sounds like "No no no no no no no no!". Brilliant.

16. The xx "Crystalised" - another groove for late night chilled pears.

13. Neon Indian "Deadbeat Summer" - brown beat of the year?

10. Washed Out "Feel It All Around" - pull down your pants song of the year.

And there you have it. None of their top labeled tracks seemed to do it for me.

Tales from The Subway Platform

2009-12-18T22:51:00.021-05:00

It's the slapstick you wait a long time for. But when it happens, you can't stop laughing.

It started with a glance, then I saw it. While getting off the 4 train and heading up stairs, I watched the figure of a guy below me, platform level, lose his footing and slip on something. "Gaww!" he shouted, and got bumped and unpopular for messing up the "escape" route for everyone around him. A crowd of people turned and stared: he stepped on a banana peel. On the busiest platform in rush hour traffic. Hah haw!

Book of the morning: Dummies book of Yorkshire Terriers. She was reading the chapter about "Doing the do: grooming". I can only imagine if you read it, you'd learn a thing or two about what do about the bow and those hair braids.

Michel Gondry
I picked up the new Michel Gondry DVD this week, came out in April this year. Another solid 3 hours of music videos, short films, behind the scenes. Here's a good one: Classic-yet-corny Paul McCartney's Dance Tonight, complete with a a rare but totally sweet live cameo of Michel playing drums at the end. Kinda hard to see in the Youtube clip, but it's totally him rocking this disco beat with Paul, and it's way cooler than the song itself. It's the best party ever, a funkadelic version of happy hell, Paul's discotech. Everyone parties hard, and the postal driver goes MIA.

Finally, I heard the news today, oh boy: Chris Henry, RIP. Jesus. Why.

Groove is in the heart!

2009-12-17T16:34:00.004-05:00

End of the year. Funny how stressful it makes folks: so much to prepare for Christmas, travel, visiting friends, family announcements, and more. People need to just chill the fuck out, settle their shit down. Bring on the slow life...

Working up my top songs of year list. Starting with going through Pitchfork's top 100 list, lot of interesting stuff there, some good, others head scratchers. Oh, the youth I think. Might be another day or two before that's all together.

Had the holiday party at lunch today. Italian and sweets galore, oh man it hurts to think about at this point. Also had a fun activity where lots of folks brought in pictures of themselves as children and we had to guess who's who. Tougher than I thought, well, everyone got old. Old photos with faded colors, or black and white, for those that lived in the world when it was only greyscale. I'm glad life's in color now.

And wouldn't you know it, R started a blog as well! It's here: http://life-with-r.panyamedia.com/ So for all the stuff that I could be posting about, but don't? It has a home now, as told by R! Leave her some comments if ya can. Dig?

Afro Season

2009-12-15T23:47:00.004-05:00

So. My hair fro'd out again. It's been three months since I had my hairs cut. And it's definitely got that bushy bushy thing going on.

I, for one, embrace the bushy bushy. A full head of hair at my age is alright. I work a weird job where hairstyles seem to be accepted in all styles (though no other afros!), so why the ef not?

This time, I decided to name it. So say hello, meet Harris. Previously known as "the Beavis". Also been referred to by a former half-black co-worker as "The Biscuit". It's not a true fro in the sense that it's not curly curly, but shit, it does have some lollipop properties. Everyone can pat it, just not at the same time because my head's not that big. Yet!

This is It

2009-12-14T12:28:00.004-05:00

Saw the Michael Jackson movie two weeks ago. Wanted to catch that sucka while it was still in the theaters as I may have missed it otherwise. The question had long loomed in my head, assuming he hadn't died, was MJ physically able to make a comeback, and if so, would it really have been all that? And also, how ridiculous was the set to be?

The flick was entertaining. Hard to call it a complete movie as it really seemed to be the content for an additional disc that would have accompanied live concert footage. Started with the dancers auditioning, the moved on to a lot of rehearsal footage. Here, MJ showed that he was in fact in good shape, moving around like the liquid alien he was. Just trying out ideas it seemed at times, it still looked very complete and would have looked very impressive in the live setting.

For each song, they played one complete musical take and then synced up multiple video takes - sometimes side by side, sometimes part by part (a verse here, a chorus there). Also had some interesting behind the scenes stuff, such as dancers working with trainers, MJ checking out the set, trying out the pyrotechnics, filming the new videos. Perhaps the most interesting was seeing MJ working with the band, working out a very down tempo, dreamlike version of the intro to The Way You Make Me Feel, which may have been the moment that I made me think, shit, this guy's a genius (and an alien!).

The band was huge - two of everything, one on each side of the stage. The hot blond guitarist Orianthi Panagaris completely shredded through the Van Halen solo in Beat It, and there's a scene later on where MJ was all, "This is where you shine. Shine for me".

Set was huge, of course. There were cherry pickers, holes in the floor that could shoot people up, a huge video backdrop that would have featured an all-3D extra for Thriller, explosions, fireworks, a bulldozer, and god knows what else. Hardly transportable, hence keeping the shows in London. They didn't really go into the specifics of the set, but it was easy to get the gist of it all from the movie.

And that's it, this was it. What could have been a comeback of a lifetime turned into an abrupt career end and a huge financial burden for anyone invested - I'm sure any figure there is MJ sized, astronomically (hey, he was an alien after all!)

Freakin' Mario Bros.

2009-11-26T10:34:00.003-05:00

Hooked on the brothers? I am. And so is Reiko. We're both dorks! And it's awesome. It's our new evening spectacular: forget crappy television programming, we've got New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

For the first time ever, we've found our game that we can play side by side - the co-op nature works beautifully. The gameplay is straight-up old school Mario: 2D side-scrolling with collecting as much loot as possible along the way before making it to the flag pole.

And it's total fan service this time, bringing back all the best elements of SMB3 and SMW (Yoshi!), and adding that to the formula crafted for New Super Mario Bros. for the DS. The new power-ups are also sweet; the beanie propeller hat may be best form of flying yet as it can really save your ass, and the penguin suit's special sliding and swimming abilities, coupled with the ability to throw ice, also make it a well-balanced suit.

Finished the game last Friday but going back now to unlock everything and get all the coins. Just completed through world 3 yesterday, working on 4 now. I'm an addict: I can't stop until I've got everything this time.

Live Report: Skeleton Key & Jesus Lizard

2009-11-26T10:25:00.002-05:00

Forgot to tell you that I saw Jesus Lizard on Monday night. Fucking awesome, down and dirty. I don't know how I missed out on them (and the Melvins) while growing up, but they're right they're in the same vein that spawned out Bleach. Anyway, David Yow is a total nut live and was diving into the stage (with wired mic) every other song, and came back to stage early on with a huge gash in his face, blood running down his face and hands. Hell yeah.

The write up on Brooklyn Vegan summed it up well:

"[It's hard to] understand how frontman David Yow & Co. have managed to bring back this band - essentially dormant since 1999 - with this much ferocity. Yow may be 10 years older and a bit worse for wear, but the man caterwauls with an intensity that most 20 year old pretty boys will never match. The Irving crowd - a good portion of whom, at this 16+ show, were not even born when this band began in 1987 - remained in a frenzy throughout the set, turning the Irving floor into a thrashing sea of bodies, flying beers and more than a few sets of broken eyeglasses. While Yow stage-dove, mic in hand, the band delivered their tightly wound hardcore like the experts they are. Covering a range of the band's catalog and with two encores, the 23-song set gave audience members a lot to scream about."

Indeed.

Skeleton Key was also rather bad ass, had this minor chord stylings that to me sounded a lot like Failure. Didn't realize how long they had been around - some white hair men in their band. Liked their noise percussionist, who was bangin' on some gas tanks, sheets of metal, and other rusty objects that I can only assume requires a good tetanus booster shot on a regular basis. The main drummer could have done a bit more though.

Martha Martha Martha!

2009-11-18T16:18:00.005-05:00

Early up today to do something a lil' bit different: attend a live taping of the Martha Stewart show at her theater in Chelsea. Never had been to a live taping before, but it was pretty awesome sitting in the audience. Very large and spacious studio, very well lit with these huge overhead light boxes. The "windows" in the background gave a nice shot of NY that wasn't really there but were lit well. There was also a warm up guy who was probably coked up (with a name like Joey Cola, how could he not be?) and got everyone hootin' and hollerin' at 9am.

Today's theme: Thanksgiving Side Dishes. Awesome.

But the "king" in my opinion was the savory roast pork crown. Hot holy Jesus did that thing look good. Had never seen one before. They even made gold pantaloons for its (awwwww!).

Here's the segments, videos from today should be live soon:

Roast pork crown
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/crown-roast

Green Bean Casserole
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/green-bean-casserole-edf

Creamy Califlower Puree
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/creamy-cauliflower-puree

Root Vegetable Gratin
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/root-vegetable-gratin

Crafts: Hand Bleached Place Mats (this was cool)
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/hand-bleached-place-mats

A couple of lame things though:
1. Martha is pretty much a bitch. During the set, she had a scene where she was talking with another special guest. And cut her off at everything she said. Second time, at the end, a girl was asking how to make a good pie crust ("they come out either too flakey or too runny. what should i do?") and after asking her if she read and followed her (Martha's) recipe, she said "If you're illiterate then there's nothing I can do for you". Crap damn.

2. No free samples! The beans smelled so good while cooking, and that roast looked awesome. None for us.

3. The camera man did not swoop on our section during the commercials! We were the only section left out. Made us all feel ugly.

A couple of cool things:
1. I got out of work to do this. Awesome.

2. Free stuff: a free 8.5-quart stainless steel casserole pot, a special knife for spreading peanut butter and cleaning out the jar, a packet of bouillon, cooking chocolate, a bag of peanuts, and some hand creams. Awwright!

So anyway, it was a very enjoyable alternative to work today, and really, I'd go to just about any tv set just to see the so-called magic that is show business.

The End of Baseball

2009-11-06T16:37:00.003-05:00

For the first time in I couldn't tell you how long, I followed the post-season of baseball a bit more closely this year. And with of course, due reason: the yanks were in it for the long haul. Never been a Yankees fan before. I still oppose their greedy get rich scheme by charging out the wazoo for tickets. But they are international superstars, and I guess I can appreciate them for that, so this year, I gave in and became a semi-fan. I'm not a fan, but a well-wisher in that I don't wish them any particular harm. Actually, I enjoyed Cliff Lee driving them up the wall and getting personal back-to-back wins. Game 1 was insane, he was a god on a mountain.

But then, there was the Gorilla. Fucking Matsui, the Designated Hitter. How American League! But game 6, whoa boy. Three consecutive at-bats with 2 RBI's each time? Outta control. The pride ran high: R was shouting with excitement, a sense of nationalism only experienced when you're on the other side of the world and you watch one of your own deliver the goods. Totally deserved it too, with his contract ending at the end of season. Talk about kicking it up a few notches for a performance review.

And so that's it: we're left with football and then it's good bye sports until the weather warms up.

Halloween Forever Part 2

2009-11-04T19:39:00.003-05:00

A nice Halloween, this one. Decided to go for the local party this time and ended up at the den of the Northeast Kingdom, a quick 3 blocks away. Love how I can walk down the street and end up in this totally midwest looking downstairs den. A friend's ex was playing drums in the band, which put on a good two sets, the first of which was a sleazy, 70's style porn throwback complete with a wah-wah and some slithery bass played by a drag queen. They have Yuengling out of a can, good portions of spicy beef jerky, and two meat pies, each order cost only $3 each. Deal.

Decided I had enough of that by the end of the first set and was getting itchy from all the facepoint. Thick oil on the face can't be good for my wimp ass skin. So I went home, took some final pics, and got cleaned up - to go back out and get in the middle of a construction zone that had 9 active cement mixers pouring concrete into my train station. Lots of awesome diesel noise, also some good blue collar new yorkers that came up to me: "what's the scoooah?" (yankees vs phillies game 3), "what's that foooah?".

Next day: sunny and awesome. Bottled up the Oktoberfest, so that's in line now. Appearance and smell alone gave me good hopes that this one perhaps came out better than the last batch, but now it's the part where we play the waiting game. The bitch! Afterwards, we headed down to Prospect Park, our first time since leaving the place. Totally gorgeous day for it, got there around 3:30 or so and just walked along trails we had never gone before. Spent some time feeding the ducks, geese, and swans, and got some excellent field recordings of them with my new Zoom H2. Made our way up to the northern part of the park and tossed the frisbee around during sunset, which was like 5:03pm - so dark so early. Good thing my frisbee glows in the dark, so we got some extra mileage there. Completely dark by the time we made it out of the park.

Got some pics from the weekend up on facebook.

And check out the ducks, geese and swans! There's some rippin' radimatudes in there, listen for the Prudence-like urp urp urps.

Halloween Forever Part 1

2009-10-31T19:17:00.003-04:00

Halloween, you are my favorite holiday. It's the only time of the year where you can get dressed up however the hell you please and it's totally cool because so is everyone else. It's the time when we stop to think about what scares us, and then we go out of our way to get spooked anyway. Classic horror movies are in constant rotation at theaters, haunted houses spring up all over, and everywhere suddenly tries to look dirty and covered in cobwebs. And then there's copious amounts of candy, which I've already a fair amount of and look forward to getting more tonight.

R and I decided to kick off this year's crazy weekend with the Zombie Prom @ The Delancey. Coworker Jacob and his wife were working the pictures (complete with a blood-splattered back drop), and very fitting that everyone was dressed up in their best Zombie outfits. Special nods to Baby Teardrops who took the stage first and looked like the crew from a downed airplane, complete with a sexy flight attendant on bass. Though I didn't get to play live, I came dressed in my best zombie drummer costume.

Tonight, the real craziness begins: I am death.

Oh, more zombie prom fun:

Horseriding

2009-10-15T17:18:00.002-04:00

It was brisk Columbus Day here, but perfect for a trek through the woods on a horse. We took the subway down to the LIRR, took that out a bit, and met up with my coworker Chris (narrator from the reception video) and his wife.

Two things about riding a horse: they totally have personalities that can lead to unexpected situations. At one point during our trip, we came to a stop, and I guess my horse did something to piss off the horse behind it, because suddenly he just started to take off into the woods with me in tow. I was able to whoa him to a stop but it could have ended up with me slamming into a tree. The other thing is, man, that's a large dump they take, and when you're in line with another horse in front of you, objects appear larger. Plop plop plop.

Getting up to a trot was awesome. And dangerous. Sadly, Chris' wife's horse has asthma, and kept on stopping anytime we tried to book it up a hill. And I was right behind, so it's like, well, there goes the ride.

Made a bonfire at lunch too. Nothing like a fire during the daytime, even if only for an hour. We got it roaring nicely.

We also saw Paranormal Activity, the new horror thriller that gave me the chills when I just thought about it again. The girl sitting across the aisle from R threw up just when it was starting to get creepy! Never seen that in a theater, so that set a new bar.

An Awkward Thought after Drunken Beligerrent Confrontational Rock, Go

2009-10-10T23:50:00.012-04:00

Today, Show day. Afternoon gig, early. 3:30 early. Practice at 1 to get the jets warmed up—that's the R. Mike wasn't there; he was doing his pregame warm-up—that's the DBC. Although, only three bloody Mary's by show time was hardly a dent. He did smell kinda funky though.

When I got to the practice space, there was a guy sitting outside the building on the dirty sidewalk. It was a bit chilly out, and furthermore he was in the shade, but I quickly noticed that he had just picked up something wicked shit cool: a brand new Canon Rebel. Turned out to be his first DSLR. Now, I don't own a DSLR, but I have wanted one for at least a year now—holding out for an affordable one with auto-focus HD video. (realistic? I want to think so...) It's more-or-less a good practice at my job, and why not—I have so much reference material and professional advice just an excuse to get out of my desk away. So I basically shared the enthusiasm. Then I went to the practice space, the "ps", grooved some beats, ran through the set sans vocals, came up with a cool space groove, worked on a new song (tigerrrs!), called a cab and headed to the LES. Before we left, we met the guy with the camera from before, heard they had a show today as well, and then realized who they were: Go!, the headlining act, that's been around since perhaps the late 80's or very early 90's (saw a 1990 vinyl of theirs today).

ABC no Rio: the thing I didn't know about until tonight was that it's getting torn down. No surprise there, as the place is an absolute wreck on the inside, and today was the second time we've had the duty of throwing down there. You can see the basement through the floorboards in the main "gallery", and every room is coming apart at the seems. (By art "gallery", I mean that there was a shitty collage piece hanging on the ceiling, but really, nothing but old velcro on the wall and a boxed-chart on the wall showing volunteer's hours. yes, it's like a cooperative that runs this thing. to quote vocalist Mike Braverman, "if you have any objections to the cooperative, you must speak to the counsel of elders in Swahili. None of the counsel of elders, speaks Swahili.") The whole place reeked of Kerosene or diesel fuel; if someone tried to light a fart, they could blow the sucker down. But as they announced, it's getting torn down, and apparently the cooperative owns the building now and can do as such, and they're building something better on top. So the end of an era there.

DBCR's set: Fire Drill set check in front of everyone; someone said it sounded like Sonic Youth. Haven't figured out if that's bad or good yet, but I'm gonna say that's good, but he was probably being sarcastic and we weren't doing anything crazy with it. Then: didn't see this coming, but they had to check the mic (first show, so they had just turned on the PA. no mixer, just one of those dedicated crappy PA's with built in mixer!) and out comes Jeeves*, who launches into this totally brown, urban-flavored diatribe rhyme poem, and then ends with saying DBCR! At this point, I forgot to ask the question until now: who the fuck was he? Then we played our set: Drop Down, Flamejob, Ken's Trunk, Donk, Reverse Broken Window Theory Part 1, and Let Them Eat Bikes. Played great, strong show. Also, had at least three decent photographers going nuts. Jason broke a string and did the fastest restringing live I've ever seen. And in the back of the gallery, there was a 71 year-young maverick, complete with hat and visors, fingers in his ears, but it was all good because today was...

Special parent / family recognition day!

Ken's dad came down for the show, which was awesome. And I had never seen Ken's dad before so I was a little bit surprised. Also in from out-of-town: Brianna's mom from Cali, and the guitarist from Go!'s mom was purportedly there.

After our set, Rob the adventurer, R and I headed down the street to The Johnson's, right next to Neighburrito, and got a round of PBRs for $1.75, a good price for this city. And it's dog friendly too, so a Mos Eisley of people and dogs. Charlie came up in discussion. Long live Charlie.

Got back to ABC no RIO for the #4 slot, Awkward Thought, Ken's old band. I had borrowed their drummer Brian's kit. He's a total bad ass heavy hitter, and even wears a shirt that reads "JUDGE" really big on both sides and has these mean looking mallet-hammers. So fuck yeah. They hung this awesome banner behind them with a cop, but I forgot what it said. Vocalist dressed up with a road-crew body suit and a black ski mask. I had never heard them before, but they had a good entourage that knew the lyrics to their songs, fighting for the mic midsong to sing along. Like live karaoke, but the genre is live New York Hard Core at a total shit box. It's practically gay if think about how close sweaty men are getting just to get their lips on the same mic. Scream me a river! Also, some serious moshing broke out during the set, which hits just about everyone in the room since its so small. I enjoyed my role as "pusher".

Between sets, I noticed two of the photographers talking to each other, so I went over to get their names and contact info. The first guy had taken several shots of me, so I wanted to make sure he was cool and not just stalking me. Legit. The other guy spoke very poor English and was having a hard time communicating. Fortunately, he had just come in a few hours prior from Tokyo, and there you have it—communication.

Naoki Rakuman, aka Luckman Photo. He pulled out his iPhone and thumbed some galleries. Solid fucking A list of famous actors, musical performers, talents, new anchors. Mostly Japanese but an honorable amount of Westerners as well: Nicholas Cage, Halle Berry, John Legend. Another section: nude. j-glamour and j-nude. Very, very hot. And Naoki also got some DBCR in there.

Bought two 7" from the vocalist for Go: Death or Glory, which has 4 songs on each side, and Backdraft, which has a handwritten white label on the outside of the sleeve that reads "Intense". Both recs from the vocalist. Too bad my turntable here has needle.

A note about Go! and 7" vinyl: that is their thing. Seems like much of their catalog has been released on 7". Thing is, their songs are typically in the range of 45 seconds to 1:30 tops. So they can get by with a 10-track release that's like 14 minutes long, ie two 5 track sides that are 7 minutes a side. And maybe I'm completely wrong about all this, but they certainly had a lot of vinyl there today, as well as all the other bands.

Now, let's Go! Special note at the start about ABC no RIO's 20 year anniversary of NY hard core. They opened up with their seven second opus, "ABC no RIO", their tribute that dates way back. Then they launched into their set, which were a series of quick blast riffs that typically consist of two riffs, one of them being the "lightening round". Vocalist, despite his age, looked in good shape and gave his all. More crowds of men were happy to help funnel lyrics when they knew the song, which happened at a much lesser frequency than the previous act.

The vocalist gave me the notion that this is probably what the guys from Corrosion of Conformity and DRI probably looked something like. Jean shorts and a chipped front tooth, well spoken. PA should have been up more but it was squealin' bad so it had to come down.

Also liked the drummer's cymbals: Zildjian 19" medium crash for a nice big ripper, and 22" medium ride to balance. Paiste's version of Fast Hats / Quick Beat as the HH, but I saw the bottom on top. Don't know what was underneath.

Go's setlist ended up being two full columns on page of around 20 songs each. Made it through in about 1:15. Another jolly good show!

Things going on right outside mah door

2009-09-22T10:44:00.002-04:00

So this is a special time for us here in the city.

The UN is about to start their General Assembly tomorrow, and I had to ask the question, what the hell goes on there? among other things, Obama just showed up this morning, and with all the heads of state around, security gets extra tight here, as well as numerous protests that follow them around. i guess there's a big Iran protest tomorrow, so I'm going to film one of our photographer's talking about how to photograph it from a photojournalism aspect.

Among other VIPs, Japan's new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama will be there, as well as Qaddafi from Libya: his first time in his 40 years in power.

Here's the full answer to what's going on behind the doors.

Lock Stock and Five Cloudy Towers

2009-09-17T21:20:00.003-04:00

Saw this awesome special on one of our Spanish channels earlier about the bridge viaduc de Millau, which connects Northern Europe to Southern France and Spain. From what I read and saw on tv:

Its architect, Sir Norman Foster, has said driving across at a record 270 metres (885ft) above the Tarn valley should feel like "flying a car".

In the clouds, indeed:

Holy crapolinies!

Check out this awesome flyover (brown moment at 2:09 ~ 2:11 with the cars):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbQc5QgH4Ws

Also, we got the front door finally fixed today. Always good to have the door fixed. We've been coming in through the roof. Which is not so bad, because the ladder next to the front door is fun to shoot up, unlock the door to our private roof entrance, and then boulder down the stairs to get in. Or, when that's been locked, really ninja it down the back fire escape. Yes, I can say with full confidence from my metalurgy studies at OTC Daihen, that crawling over the edge of the top of a tall three-floor building via an old, rusty ladder, is not only dangerous, it ought to be illegal. I did it once, poor R had to do it twice.

At least we can lock that window now that the door's fixed!

Live Report:: Deeeeeerrhoof

2009-09-16T15:21:00.003-04:00

After a lengthy session of recording some DBCR vocals last night, Ken and I headed out for the Deerhoof show at Le Poisson Rouge, which sounds like it could be "the red poison", but actually just means "the red fish". Because, Deerhoof was playing! Ah those rascals.

Welp, they managed to sell it all out, so we started asking for tickets. Apparently we were not the only ones as there was a line in front of us. Crazy part was when we found two tickets available, two folks that had been there longer than us through a big stink since, in theory, they were next in line. As if. We kept asking for close to 45 minutes before the show kicked off. Right then, Ken was able to score a single ticket. We kept asking around, but the door staff didn't want to let anyone in, despite the fact that they were not a full attendance. After the third song, I told Ken to head in and I kept asking around.

After about their fifth song, I gave up. Just didn't care anymore. A guy who walked out said if he could transfer his ticket to me he would have, as it actually was totally packed inside. So this confirmed, it was like well, don't waste your time. So I went home and to bed, and that was alright. They'll play again, and I'll get my ticket in advance.

Live Report:: Sleepy Sun and Autolux

2009-09-15T09:00:00.006-04:00

Late shows on Monday nights: it's like, man, you're asking a lot of me. 7:30 doors open but the first band doesn't play until 9, well that's just selfish when you're charging $7 a beer. End result is getting home around 1:15ish on a work night.

So the upside is we saw all three acts last night. First up was Bridezilla, from Sydney. Basically, all a bunch of cutey pie girls with a stud model named Josh Bush on drums. Alto-sax + violin melodies usually aren't my thing but they managed to pull off some neat tricks so, we're cool.

The next act was the tough one to follow. Sleepy Sun from San Francisco is hands down the most psychedelic attempt to throw back to the 60's I've ever witnessed. Thank god the crowd wasn't the same way or I would have choked from the Patchouli. But as an act, they were actually totally sweet and at some points so ridiculously doing their thing that I just couldn't stop laughing. Not at them, but with them, and the whole concept that this was the way it used to be. High marks, check them out.

Autolux was very awesome too. Mixed set of material from the first album and the unreleased new album. I was a little bit surprised to see they had no lighting rig with them, something which I think was really big in all their early years and also incorporated when I saw them open for NIN. If I could do it over again I'd stand closer to Greg Edwards on guitar, rather than right in front of the bass, which puts up the better part of the fight when it comes to making noise. Carla on drums is also interesting to watch - nobody really plays traditional sticking on a kit anymore and I like how it forces her to come up with different fills to accompany that. Because coming up with new fills? Almost always happens by accident.

Elevator Man

2009-09-14T15:13:00.004-04:00

Busier than before these days. Like, work all day, play house all night. To rephrase:

Well you say I'm twenty something and I should be slacking. But I'm working harder than ever, and you could call it macking.

New home is coming along nicely. Very nicely. Fire hydrant was open again yesterday and continued to flow all night. Probably a waste of water! Will get a video of this soon, and set it to some classic Collective Soul.

Awesome DBCR show this past Saturday - our best to date. And, so as long as you bought a beer, you got a ticket for a free pizza. Not a slice, but your own 9-incher. Which is beyond cool. As Ken our bassist summarized:

It just goes to show that if we go in relaxed and prepared, we'll nail it. The soundcheck was a good idea. That way we know we sound good level-wise, so it's one less thing to worry about and we can just focus on playing. The long practice before probably helped too. I thought we were all on point.

And I'm in "love" with this "blog":
http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/

Finally, I'll leave you with this:

After my 3pm cookie run to Subway today, I came back to the building and took the next elevator. Normal. But the business man in a suit with his pants partially down and belt loose? Not so normal! I didn't notice anything on the floor, so I'm just going to hope he was doing some adjusting and that the elevator speed was quicker than he anticipated. Then again, we do have the Temple of Understanding on 16F. Who knows!

New Way Home

2009-08-28T09:42:00.007-04:00

Wednesday night, and we picked up the keys to the new place. Couldn't go in that night due to the second coat on the floors. So we went yesterday instead. Or rather, I went, got off the train, walked into C-Town, which I imagine is other-worldly and awesome, similar to the Big A my brother frequents, except it was way more King of the Hill Puerto Rican: signs are in Spanish, as is the radio station and commercials, as is the staff and most of its inhabitants. Dedicated sections to Goya foods. In other words, welcome to Bushwick!

When I realized they didn't have cerveza fria for sale, I walked into the bodega right at the corner of our street. 24 oz tall boy of Coors Gold for $1.25, hot damn!

So let's see the new place...

1. Here's me in the living room. The crap on the left was cabinets for the other unit. It's not there. Towards the ceiling, its now got the A/C venting. Stairs to the roof on the wall. Chandelier suspended from the 10' ceiling, with recessed lights.

The other guys in this picture are presumably the guys moving next door. Because, they were there to sign the lease. Only we were too, and technically they should have never seen it because we had told the landlord the night before we wanted it, and agreed to pay the deposit the next day. Only it got listed anyway, and these guys jumped on it via a broker, who got more money from them, and wanted to appease them (because they paid more!). But we were insistent, we found it first, claimed it, and the landlord was able to talk them into the other unit. Good for us!

2. The stairs. They go to the roof. The top is so bright because we have a sun roof, that is brighter than the sun. Hence, white! I really like the single bar going up the middle.

3. The kitchen. Featuring double appliances in this picture (sadly, they're gone, went next door I assume.) All new everything: stainless appliances, cabinets, floors. Added to ceiling now are the pipes across the top for A/C.

4. Front door. Look up: in addition to the window and skylight, there's an extra door up there. Which sharply drops off! Gotta watch out for these sorta things.

So that's the first round. We're starting to mobilize and get some stuff up there this Sunday, then next Saturday is the big moving day. Excited!

On the L

2009-08-21T20:11:00.004-04:00

On the L train this morning:

The rider next to me, a portly gal with some interesting fashion trends, was blasting Windowlicker. One of my favorite beats of all time, well, it sounded really funny coming through the tinny exposure of her factory iphone earbuds. I guess I was proud of myself that I could pick it out - how many times have you heard someone else's music and tried to figure it out? And hear what you think is one thing when it's totally not? No mistaking this one!

And then, gramps got on board, sporting the ever awesome old person VR visors. And, couple that with his huge headphones and it looked like something you might see on a "Take me to your leader" or something. yeah. awesome. Viva old person visors!

Moving Again

2009-08-20T13:07:00.002-04:00

So, after the taxing 3-week search to find a new home, it's decided. Signed the lease on Monday night. Get to pick up the keys next Monday. We're officially moving to Bushwick.

The decision, like most moving decisions, was a hard one to make. Compound that with the cost of rent in NY and it's all the more a harder decision to make. And then you've got the fact that folks seem to love paying Broker's Fees (who the fuck thought that would be a good idea?) and you can really get yourself into a corner. The whole endeavor has is bittersweet but we're moving on.

In the end, it came down to what we want vs. what we could get for our money. We really like the our neck of the woods in Prospect Heights right now; 5 blocks to an awesomely awesome park is going to be hard to let go. I don't think I'll miss the 7th and 5th Ave crowds and double-wide strollers as much, nor outrageous $12/lb. bacon, but it was nice having the variety around.

But that's just it. We've been priced out of our neighborhood. Without getting too much into the financial side of things, if we were to stay where we're at, what we want runs for a good $500+ more per month than we're willing to spend. Obviously, people will pay that, as it just seems to have become an acceptable rate for the area. I will not, I can not. Can't just say goodbye to my hard earned monies so easily.

A key component for me was the outdoor space. It's hard to describe how pissed off I've been about not being able to use our existing yard due to landlord negligence. My grill currently sits parked next to the fridge in the kitchen. We lazily leave shit like papers and loaves of bread on its side rack. Meanwhile, he just sits there, mocking me for not turning on the gas and throwing some ribs on. Enough! That's so going up on the new roof.

The place we've found is the shit though. 2BR, full gut renovation: all new electric, water lines, windows / insulation / dry wall, individual hot water heater, deep bathtub, stainless kitchen appliances, full cabinets / drawers, oriental paper lighting (round in the bedrooms, cool squarish in the stairs), private stairs to the huge roof (shared just with whomever ends up next to us), view of the city, 2 blocks to the Jefferson L station. Renovation style was done as a "modern old building": they've kept brick exposed, all hard-wood floors, and even left some original ceiling rafters in place. It's not fully completed, but I've seen enough at this point to be won over and then some. And it's brand spanking new on the inside.

To all the naysayers who are like "ewwww.... bushwick? are you fucking serious? you're gonna like, get killed!" ..... well, i highly doubt that. Basically its a straight up Puerto Rican block, kids running around outside, and the good news is you can't hear any of that from our floor. I think our block is smack in the middle of a transitional neighborhood on the rise, so it's interesting to see how this will grow.

To all the Park Slopians we're leaving behind: I'm serious about joining BKB this fall so look for me there. And I hear (and can vouch from one ride last Friday) the G is running more frequently now. So we'll head down there, and you can head up here, we'll rock.

Zombie Blasting & the Power Shot

2009-08-14T14:05:00.003-04:00

Cashed in some amazon credit and picked up House of the Dead: Overkill and a Nyko Power Shot on the cheap the other day. It's rare that I can find a game to play with R, but the thought of a handgun with unlimited ammo flew with flying colors. So beers in hand, we sat out last night to see what this B-movie knock-off was all about.

Let me preface my quick review by stating that I didn't have high expectations for this game from the start. In fact, I was looking for something with potentially shallow depth, good for a one-time romp, and then perhaps pass it along to the ages. Found it here. The story, which intentionally tries to be ridiculous, is only made more annoying by the fact that I can't figure out how to skip the cut scenes, which revolve around an African-American spewing the f-word as if it was going out of style. Nice.

As for the game, it's mostly fun, but my major complaints are this: slowdown when more than three enemies are on screen, and the gun cursors are both white (with colored tracers when moving). The latter of which wasn't as much of a problem for me but it got R pretty lost feeling at times.

Also ran into a technical glitch during the first boss. Had him at about 3/4 destroyed when one shot into him locked up everything. My wiimote was stuck buzzing, with a high-pitched stuck sound coming through the stereo. Really annoying bug, wonder how many other people have seen it?

Made it through 3 stages last night, hopefully the game picks up a bit. The carny stage was pretty sweet now that I think about it. One thing's for sure, the game definitely needs to be played 2-player, because otherwise it'd feel way too much like a chore to complete.

Bodyboarding Jones Beach

2009-08-12T18:23:00.010-04:00

Woke up, hit the market, hopped on the LIRR and went to Jones Beach the other day. Awesome day with a nice hot sun and clear skies, and 5 foot waves made for a hella good weather. I always wondered about the beaches here and if they'd get warm enough to swim and play around in the surf. Good news is, they do!

By the time we got there, the beach was getting a little bit crowded, too much for surfing at least. So what's left? Body boarding. Had to buy one but a small investment for some good rides. Or maybe.

In actuality, the waves were fiercer than anything I tried to ride in the past with a board, and relentless too. The kind where, after recovering from the last wave, you're about back to where you were before the next big wave comes in and sweeps you back. It's like putting your finger in front of an ant always. The little guy's just gonna lose, every time, but eventually he'll make it somewhere. Here, these waves? Trying to fight mother nature? No no no no ... not gonna happen. Even diving through, especially with the body board, was a bit tricky.

To tell the story, I busted out the water paints. Reiko added the pen work. Here's me waiting for a wave...

So basically, I noted that there were three kinds of waves I was getting for potential rides. The best and of course hardest to find was what I would consider the good ride wave: the incoming wave picks you up and pushes you in for a good slick ride that can be 25-30 yards or more on a good boosty. These are the reason to ride waves obviously.

The second kind, a new phenomenon to me was what I call the "alley-oop", which essentially pops you up on the brink of the wave, giving you maximum view over everyone else in the surf, a peak-a-boo if you will, before pulling you back, behind the wave. An interesting view, but a cheap thrill, and usually wasted because the one after it might have been "the one".

Third, and most common, was "the dredger": you get locked in and perhaps a good ride for the first half a second, and then shit! the wave spills over with a sharp push that brings you straight under, and drags you to shore, underwater in the wake. These are not only disorienting, but downright dangerous because you get the shit kicked out of you, can't breathe, snapped neck, and even scraped knees. And there were lots of them. I let my buddy Chris try out my board, who promptly returned it to me after getting caught in one of these. And this is the kind of chaos you'd have to make it through to get out to the breakers.

The other thing that was interesting about the beach was that it would see weird cycles of relentless surf, followed by a calm patch, and then the waves would start breaking way out there. Wrecking any chance for a ride, of course, but at least giving something to play with.

All and all, the surf was awesome but a bit rough for riding. Felt awesome for swimming, and I could easily dive through the waves. But I bought the board and will definitely hit it up once more before summer's over. The beach man. It's there. It's eternal.

The Triple Entendre ... in Japanese

2009-07-31T14:04:00.003-04:00

As a fan of general linguistics and conversation, I'm all about the casual use of double entendres. I mean, talk about spicing up a conversation! Even rarer to this I would say would be a triple entendre, though for this rare gem I'm going to say that you have to cross multiple languages and semantics for it to get in play. Obviously, the context and listeners language abilities also comes into play in this case, making it that more of a well-played item when it shows up.

So what the hell am I talking about? I'm talking about something I said the other day that managed to link up a discussion about Honda CRV productions and itchy girl's parts. All by accident!

Down at Brighton Beach last Sunday, and a Cadillac Escalade followed by an Acura RDX turned past us. Reiko made the comment "looks expensive...", and I asked which one. She meant the Cadillac, which I later found out has a starting sticker price of $62K. I though she meant the RDX, which is actually much less at $33K, but started the discussion that the RDX is basically the deluxe version of the CR-V and that my previous company gained a lot of business from the model change project (codenamed the WQ & ZQ) for both vehicles. Essentially, we designed and implemented the manufacturing systems for Honda's partners.

And on and on I go, explaining in a mix of Japanese and English:

We had a partner who purchased equipment from us that had interchangeable tooling so that they could run 10,000 parts for one model and then 10,000 parts for the other model.

And that's where I got busted.
Reiko:

Chotto matte! Ima manko o itta desho!? (Wait a minute... you just said manko, didn't you!?)

The last part I said while counting the car parts, in Japanese, got me in trouble. In Japanese, 10,000 parts would be ICHI MAN KO (一万個), which is like counting 1 x 10,000, then the counter for items, ko (個). Double entendre: manko is slang for a girl's parts, on par with the p-word in English. So ichi manko, then, would be "1 girls' parts" (一つのマンコ?). But then we have the double play on ichi - literally, itchy, which can also be applied as a modifying adjective in context. So the triple entendre was an "itchy girls' parts" (痒いマンコ).

Anyway, we had a good laugh. The more I thought about it, it was an amazing slip, though I don't know if it could be considered Freudian.

Garlic Scapes

2009-07-29T20:47:00.005-04:00

More things on my list of new things, smelly, that rock: garlic scapes.

All over our market right now, garlic scapes are the rage. Never seen 'em before, but really, they look fresh from the garden. Kinda like the little feelers on the end of a squid, but green and garlicy. So we started buying them recently, and they're great. Cook like you'd expect and fit into any corner of your meal. Buy 'em today, I say!

One tasty recipe we just had:

Cut the garlic scapes like green beans. Saute in light olive oil, and add whatever. Tonight, we green pepper and double smoked sausage. Served it with corn starch based sticky flavor juice, it was awesome when served over white rice. It's pretty much up to you to give it the flavor, but just think of them as awesome garlic spikes for your dish.

Good Ribes

2009-07-26T12:29:00.003-04:00

These days, I'm hooked on ribes. I'm talkin' red currants and gooseberries, man.

Local vendor at the Grand Army Plaza market has been bringing them down from upstate. First time I had ever seen them for sale, too. Those who know me well know that I'm a huge fan of gooseberries, of which we have a bush back at my parents place. We used to have currants to, but the damn DePompei's tree took over that area and killed it off. Though, the motherlode and parents of both said ribe plants are still thriving at Baba's place.

If you ever need a sapling for growing your own gooseberries, my old man could probably hook you up. Talk to Gener!

Anyway, ribes, man. Awesome.

Buying My Own A-Team Van

2009-07-24T13:29:00.002-04:00

If I only I had a place to park it.

And what a cop out and weak sauce down my throat for saying it. Because I just found this: A sweet as shit 1979 black van with red stripes... cue the intro fanfare... and A-team van! For less than a thou. Shit.

It's funny too because when we were little, our parents had an '86 Chevy van that was an absolute eye sore until we were old enough to drive. Did not want to be caught seen in there! Yet, once my brother and I realized that the potential that absolute power house had for videos, the course of our lives veered on a new direction: yes, old gnarly vehicles are the shit. Especially because you can drive the hell out of them and they just keep coming back like the T-1000.

Here's the listing (via Craigslist).

Arf Arf the dog

2009-07-13T13:36:00.002-04:00

Alright, time for a more j-flavored entry. Let's start it with a joke:

What's the most popular topic of conversation in Japan in the summer?
Answer: "It's hot!" (暑い!)
Seriously, everyone says it. I'm reminded daily by R.

OK, moving on. I've often thought that Japanese onomatopoeia is more often than not a shade closer to the real thing than our equivalents in English. For example, pigs go "buu buu", which is a hell of a lot closer than oink oink. Other words tend to be less as distinct, but when listened to closely, I think the Japanese beat out the English. Perhaps this is due to their manga culture, where the comic books are fill with written out sounds.

One area where the Japanese obviously struggle with is anything that requires a hard r sound, because it just doesn't exist in the language, period.

I heard a yesterday at the park a sound though that couldn't have been more spot on: this little whispy dog got all riled up and was doing a perfect ARF ARF! ARF ARF! He ran around in circles about this girl with a hula hoop. ARF ARF! One of those instances where I failed to have the camera there. Looked kinda like the Chihuahua - Shibainu mix in the pic but was way more wispy.

Amber Ale In

2009-06-16T12:40:00.005-04:00

Last Sunday I brewed up an Amber Ale beer. Unlike the previous Brewer's Best kits that I had used, this was a very generic Amber. So I cooked it up as usual, making good progress on the time. The only real change up compared with previous batches was that at the end, I first reactivated brewer's yeast in a half of cup of water, let it stand for about 10 minutes, then added it to the wort. Stirred and then capped it off.

I got really concerned a couple of days later when I noticed that the water-stopper was not bubbling. At all. No bubbles to me translates as to no CO2 gas, means no fermenting beer. Did I brew it too fast? Was the yeast DOA? What was going on? I emailed friends and family and got some good advice, like stir it up and get them microbes moving.

I popped open the lid the next day, and immediately noticed that the smell of alcohol was there, so something was definitely going on, just not sure what. I mixed it up a bit while I was at it. By Saturday, I cracked it open again to catch a whiff, which nearly knocked me on my ass it was so strong. Gave it one more day for good measure, and bottled it all up last night.

The color was distinctly lighter my last batch, almost like the color in the picture above, despite it being an Amber Ale. I did use a bit more water than usual this time - around 5.25 gallons - so it is a bit more watered down. Unfortunately, while cleaning up after the initial brewing, I dropped and shattered the hydrometer, so there was no way to get a good reading this time. I'm just guessing it's going to land at the 4.0 to 4.2 % alcohol range.

Anyway, I swigged a bit of the leftover after bottling, and as raw as it still is it's got a nice bing to it. Excited to see how this translates 3 weeks from now!

NIN | JA

2009-06-15T12:17:00.004-04:00

And... I'm back. It's been a minute, I'm alive and well, just busy busy where the blog's priority gets set to low.

Next topic of discussion before it's too late: the NIN | JA show @ Nikon Jones Beach Theater.

Took a trip last Sunday via two Long Island RR commuter trains out to Jones Beach area, which is about 20 miles or so from my place, but takes a bit to get to. Kind of like the old days when we would drive across town to get to Grandma's. As the crow flies, not so far! But as the wheels roll, strap in for the ride. At our exiting station, I ran into one of my coworkers, who upon hearing about the show on Friday told his wife, who happened to be a huge NIN fan, so they came. Took a 10 minute bus ride from there to the amphitheater, which is this huge cement outdoor venue right on the water. As its now Nikon's place, Ashton Kutcher is all over the place as well, yowzers.

Anyway, was totally psyched about the show going in, knowing that this is said to be the end of NIN for awhile (5-8 years is my guess), and Janes Addiction is Janes Addiction, knew they were going to be good. Gotta love those shows.

And why not kick it all off with who else than Tom Morello and the Street Sweeper Social Club, "they're not a band, they're a social club. Street Sweeper Social Club." (as vocalist Boots Riley pointed out after nearly everysong). Their songs were solid; I guess I didn't realize that they've been together for some time now. The better half of their set had Tom producing some sweet licks, some very Rage-esque, and entertaining all around.

NIN kicked off their set with a slightly altered, more explosive version of The Fragile's Somewhat Damaged and kept it going from there. The setlist was heavy in older material, in particular 6 tracks from The Downward Spiral, with no new material until the 15th song, Survivalism! (With one song each from the most recent 3 albums; no Ghost tracks here.) Simply put, they rocked it from beginning to end.

Full set list here: http://reflectinginthechrome.com/20090607.php

Compared with previous sets, the visual were surprisingly sparse, with nothing more than some overhead yellowish lights, wall strobes with white / red lights, and a smoke machine that was off the hook. Almost too simple: they could have done a bit more with the overhead lights. But the tradeoff was that the focus was on the music and its performance. For the most part things came across great, but it became apparent that beefy uncle Trent just can't hit some of the high notes he used to, not without sounding entirely constipated anyway. Hurt as a closer, while almost cliche in a sense, was more powerful than I can ever describe and was a perfect ending to see these guys off.

Janes Addiction: Simply fucking amazing set. Everything I had heard up til then regarding the band's reunion sounded too good to be true, but really, they were spot on, tight as ever, and put on one hell of a show. Perry Ferrel floated around the set like some kind of impish drunkard, sipping on his bottle of wine the whole time, givin' respect to the crowd. Solid rhythm section set a perfect backbone for Dave Navarro to create a lead guitar solar system of heavy gravity proportions. (did i just write that? ha!) Visually, the band had a better back drop, with prettier colors and black and white naked ladies, and also used a partial drop down video screen, which took a pretty good beating because...

... it was cold and windy as hell down there. I made a critical error in that it was 80+ degrees when I left our house in shorts and t-shirt and of course didn't think it would be so bad. Yeah right! It was 55 degrees with the wind gushing off the cold water, and on top of that, started to drizzle at bits. Fuck me, that was brutal. Never doing that again.

My other complaint: the venue is dry. Outside of the VIP section or performances, there was no drinking what-so-ever at the location. Seriously? We found out after the fact that you can drink on the LIRR... just bring it on and chug away. Will definitely keep that in mind for next time.

Anyway, awesome awesome show, and worth the trip.

Life in the Fast Train

2009-05-28T17:47:00.002-04:00

'Sho gonna make you lose your mind... or keep wishing for more.

One things for damn sure: this ain't no shinkansen.

Took the Acela yesterday from NYC to Boston here for the Flash on Tap conference. First time riding Amtrak in years, and certainly the first time riding their big guns, which they boast to be the fastest line in the US. Supposedly, the stretch between Boston and NYC has some parts wher speeds can surpass 130 mph - and its possible we obtained that speed, if ever for only such a short moment - but for the most part, it really wasn't that fast. Or it didn't seem that way.

Built on a foundation of old rails, it's very clear that it can't run fast for a reason - the cars would simply go flying off the tracks. Not good! But what really got me was how bumpy it was.

Case in point, I went back to the Cafe car (sweet that they had one, but $2 for a can of ginger ale? really?) and as I was walking back to my seat, we hit a bump and I fell over on top of someone. Thankfully for him, my drink only managed to spill on me. Sticky shirt express! Later on, after back in my seat, same thing: two guys were walking, we hit a bump, and I had to push to brace one of the guys from completely falling onto my lap. The seats ain't so easy to grab either.

It was craptastically cloudy yesterday, so I'm hoping for some sun on the way home. Will try and get some good video of the fast parts then, because when it does hit the fast speeds, it is slick. Just beware of the bumpy.

Holy Fuck, A Place to Bury Strangers!

2009-05-25T10:13:00.005-04:00

Following on the tails of last week's Melvins show, saw the incredible liquid energy show of Holy Fuck Saturday night @ Bowery Ballroom. Hella good show, just a bit late for me: start time was 11:30pm. Didn't matter, I was really looking forward to the set; when former Enon drummer Matt Schulz came out to set up his drums, I knew it was on.

After standing around since 9:30ish for Crocodiles and then A Place to Bury Strangers, the feet were killing us, and we were lucky enough to grab a table with great view from the upstairs balcony. The show kicked off with a series of songs that sounded new (including "Jungle", which seems recently added to their MySpace page), and once they warmed up the crowd they started throwing some of the older tunes into the mix. A move they did, because the whole venue turned into this electric dance floor, at the very least heads were moving, and for some of the more flamboyants, total dance party USA.

Despite all this energy, at some point about 45 minutes into the show, I started feeling past my bedtime syndrome, probably in part due to staying out nearly 1:30 the night before for a nomikai with Reiko's coworkers. Thus came the weird surreal state of semi-consciousness - falling asleep in small bursts but all the while aware of the awesome show going on around me. Kinda like zoning out while riding the lawn mower and your neighbors are having a pool party, grabbing the wheel in time to make the turn and not crash into the fence. But I came to, and we headed downstairs and caught the rest of the show there. Up close, things looked so busy but with everyone having a good time.

Matt Schulz in particular is a real treat to watch - his style is the epitome of fast and aggressive. The thing that really gets me is his speed and ambidextrousness: He plays a regular 4-piece drum kit, but uses his left hand as the lead for hi-hat work, right hand for ride cymbal. Drum fills seem to be right-left-right-left patterns, but again, everything is lightening fast so its hard to say for sure. The results of the mixup seems to allow for some nice change ups and patterns I've never heard elsewhere, hence my fondness for listening to him play. And, perhaps it was the lack of seeing him at that Enon show last month that left such a meh feeling in my mouth.

As for the other bands, Crocodiles had a modern new wave sound going for them, but as only a 2 piece, they lacked from where they could be with the addition of a solid drummer and bassist. Mostly good tunes, albeit intentionally dated sounding. A Place to Bury Strangers: let down. After hearing all this hype for them ("New York's Loudest band!", "THE band to see at SXSW!"), their opening song came out of sync, with the drums behind the guitar behind the vocals; this happened on a few other tracks. Another track, a slow noise builder, finally came to an end, and... wait for it... they played the exact same fucking thing for another two or three minutes, no double-time beats to save the day. I don't know if it was the venue being mean to them or what, but I was not impressed, move along folks, move along.

Japanke

2009-05-23T10:46:00.002-04:00

JAPANKE.

That's the word my cell phone spit out when I put it in word mode and hit the keys for k-a-r-a-o-k-e. Now that I've added the word, it should input it correctly. But hot damn, JAPANKE sounds like a much better word now that I think about it.

Saint Seiya, as sung by Robert and others, was a total hit. My version of Loser got everyone going too.

Head hurts.

Punch-Out!!

2009-05-21T22:15:00.003-04:00

Lack of posts here recently... sorry. Quick follow up to the last post: The Melvins were totally sweet last Friday and played an absolute solid set for 2:15. Didn't realize how much the core of the band is King Buzzo and Dale Crover. Well, it rocked, hard, and finished at a good hour. Wish more sets were like that...

So! Last Saturday, Punch-Out!! day at the Nintendo World Store. What this meant was the game went on sale exclusively there, and a tournament was held. Interesting idea in holding a tournament when no one had played the game before... where have I seen this before? Got there around start time at 1pm but was already too late to make the tourney, so we saw walked around, saw the game, and I bought it on spot (they even threw in a free t-shirt and chocolate bar.)

Without getting too reviewish here: if you're a fan of the original or even the SNES release, you'll totally dig this version. At its core, nothing has changed about the game other than a graphical face lift; controls with a tilted to the side Wiimote will feel right at home. Haven't even tried the Waggle control scheme yet!

Yes, there are only 12 main people to contend with, mostly from the original release, with two from the SNES (Aran Ryan and Bear Hugger), but the title bout defend mode where you battle everyone again gives the game plenty of replay time: so far, I've spent as much time on my "second round" of bouts with the Minor Circuit flunkies as I did on the whole first pass through the Minor, Major and World Circuits combined.

To do: multiplayer. Reiko wants nothing to do with this one, so it's up to y'all. Stop on by if you want to play.

Oh, and Doc Louis' famous chocolate bar? The plainest bar I've ever seen. Reminded me of my "FOR BIG MISTAKES" erase from back of the day. Yet, in honor of the late Darren McGavin, "Not a finger!"

The Roots

2009-05-15T19:04:00.003-04:00

Heading out soon to go see the Melvins play. Very excited about this. It's funny I'm even very familiar with their tunes so well but just have the feelin' it's gonna be sweet.

And also, we used up our vegetables in the ref. Usually, we try and time it so that we don't have a lot of vegetables sitting unused over the weekend, but sometimes it just ends up that way. But this time, we're down to just a small bit of lettuce, and we're ready to stock up again. Chinatown funny roots ahoy!

Gonna brew up a beer this weekend also, a classic red ale. I'm a bit surprised because the recipe sounds surprisingly simple to follow. Not sure if that's a good thing or now, but will share the eventual results! As for the last batch, a Brewer's Best IPA batch, the flavor has been really solid, a bit crisp perhaps and could have used just a bit more water. Problem we had this past time was some of the bottles appeared to seal fine but have opened up surprisingly flat, 'specially the three or four Negro Modelo bottles, screw them for wasting my beer, you know? You like, know?

The Fears!

2009-05-13T23:27:00.004-04:00

Found this pretty exhaustive list of fears earlier. Some of the latin roots make sense here, but I'm thinking somebody was really trying to stretch a few: scatophobia? really?

Here's a few I thought were pretty awesome or just downright out there. Really though, the whole list is just littered with 'em.

Alliumphobia- Fear of garlic.
Apotemnophobia- Fear of persons with amputations.
Equinophobia- Fear of horses.
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia- Fear of the number 666.
Phallophobia- Fear of a penis, esp erect. vs. Medomalacuphobia- Fear of losing an erection.
Scatophobia- Fear of fecal matter.

http://www.phobialist.com/

Where We Live

2009-05-11T23:10:00.002-04:00

Saw this link earlier on a co-worker's Facebook status. Pretty sweet Flash app that lets you view some cool aerial shots while floating over Manhattan and the East River. Kinda like a stripped down version of Google Earth you might expect to find at an airport, if 9/11 had never taken place. Would be really cool if you could lock the camera; had to keep zooming in while finding my office in Midtown. Good atmospheric muted beat music for the experience.

http://www.pixelcase.com.au/vr/2009/newyork/

The Weekend

2009-05-10T23:15:00.005-04:00

Quiet weekend around here; busy during the days with relatively chill evenings. Finally checked out the nearby Japanese food-ya-san Geido around here Friday, and scored some excellent Gyoza, Udon, and decent mentaiko (cod roe) maki rolls. Saturday, I discovered a nearby community garden that was having a cool plant sale and offers grow boxes where you can grow whatever you want - within legal bounds of course - so as long as you pay the annual dues and do some volunteer work there. Too bad it's already past the prime planting season for veggies! Still considering this anyway as our sandbox project. Afternoon involved a mission to a craft show that allowed for exploration of some parts of Prospect Park I had never been to - had a blast doing that - and trying to find Reiko a bike. Made an evening out of checking out the SNES Zelda hacked rom Parallel Worlds, a bit of Xenogears, and finishing the 007 flick Quantum of Solace. Today we made it up to visit our Greenpoint friends Joe and Kate and went out for some excellent Bahn Mi sandwiches, and then a trek down to Ikea for apartment ideas and reception decor. No crazy nights, just busy days with bike trips, listening to some good music (thank you Adam W for that Brazilian piece - wtf!) drinking while playing video games at home, part time jobbin', and simply relaxing and enjoying life.

Then of course, I saw this clip from the ever classic (or was it?) Palmerfest in Athens, OH, which went down this past Saturday. Man, my weekends have changed! Let's take a minute to reflect on those couches.

Yep, they're toast, as well just about everyone else there. Meanwhile, I was busy saving the world in Xenogears, and that was just fine as well.

Back at it Again

2009-05-01T16:46:00.007-04:00

Good excitement last night: got behind the kit live last night for the debut show of DBCR (Drunken Belligerent Confrontational Rock). Good excitement tomorrow: we're playing again.

And damn, it's been a while since I played out, perhaps February of last year? Way too long. This new act is pretty sweet, the first time I've played in a 5 piece that was worth a damn. But I tell yeah, fitting 5 guys into a tight space is not a safe bet. We ended up working it such that our vocalist was on the floor lumbering around, mic swinging (watch out!) and all. The bass rig was coming off the stage and unfortunately caused it to cut out during the first couple of songs. Floor tom gave way during song two. But! We kept it going, and had a really good crowd response for a nearly packed bar, which come to think of it, it's been a while since I've played for that many people. Sweet.

Pictures coming soon.

UPDATE:
Show audio here. (Thanks Chris & Laïs!)

Shots Fired!

2009-04-23T10:39:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I did it. Brought the guns in and fired the first shot to what could very easily become a nasty war with the landlord. Hopefully not!

Yesterday, I made the long phone call with 3-1-1, which is like this weird omni-service call center for NYC. The topic? Two complaints, one for the shit ass cat pee ventilation system, the other for the on going roach infestation, to which we've tried most everything at this point including Borax powder around the edges.

Just waiting for the next shouting bout to launch the 3rd missile to 311. Letter also to follow soon. Though, I don't know if he can read it. I've heard rumors...

When its all said and done, all we want is a decent place to live, without all the riff-raff. Yes I said that, bring it back to your conversations.

Spot On: Yen and the Dollar United

2009-04-22T07:40:00.003-04:00

I look at this chart like Al Gore stands on a mini-lift: in utter awe and wanting to share.

As far as I can recall from my many trips to Japan, the dollar had always edged out the yen. The first time I went in 2002, the rate was a nice conversion (for Americans), around 120~127 yen to the dollar. Ie, cashing in $500 yielded me ¥60,000, which felt like giving $500 to get $600. It's like opening up a cash register and taking a Franklin. When determining the value of something in yen, I always had to put in a fudge factor for what I thought it probably was in dollars.

Generally speaking here, I think that it's pretty normal for most folks who go abroad to think in terms of their own currency when determining the value of something.

With time this rate has fallen. Last spring, this rate was around 105~110 yen to the dollar. Not hateful, but a sign of change.

But with the fall of the economy, and the declining markets of both the US and Japan, the yen and dollar rates are out of whack. Last November, the yen actually overtook the dollar. With no planned trips to Japan at the time, I didn't feel any direct effects, but thinking about it was weird. 96¥ for my $1? Buh?

And then this image, which popped up in my Vista converter, taken on April 8, 2009. All the digits, all lined up. I call it the Spoton. An exact 1 to 1 ratio, how often do we see that?

The Jesper Bench

2009-04-20T09:33:00.002-04:00

Here, we have the “Jesper” bench. I don't own one, but I think I saw one the last time I was at IKEA. They didn't quite have a full gaming rig, so it's hard to say how it would work out.

From Tiny Cartridge:

It combines the function of a lounge chair with all the comfort of sitting on a stationary bike. I’m headed to IKEA this weekend to pick one of these up, unless they happen to have a hobby horse.

What's the most bizarre furniture or comfort setup you've used for gaming? Me, I remember back in the day we were draping blankets back from the tv to create a Nintendo cave, and that did me wonders.

DC Quickie

2009-04-16T07:41:00.004-04:00

Made our first trip to DC this past weekend via the bus (DC2NY, about 5 hours thanks to traffic.) The idea when we planned the trip was to go down for the National Cherry Blossom festival events, though by the time we got there, the trees were mostly peaked, and a storm had come through and taken off most of the flowers. This made it more of a quest for finding the few trees that were still blooming! Which is exactly what we set out to do after checking into the hotel.

Friday was really pleasant outside, sunny and 60's. Spent the whole afternoon just walking around the Mall green parks area. Saw all the memorials - too many to count. Really, if you think about it, DC itself is basically a giant memorial. Thai food for dinner and then back to the hotel, where we had to move rooms because the tv wasn't connected to the wall. (Honestly, wouldn't that be the first thing you check when you install a tv?)

Saturday saw a stark change in weather, cold and rainy. Cold spring rain. Figured it would be a good time to go check out the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian. Thing is, that's what everyone else was thinking. So, so crowded, I started getting dizzy when we entered the main hall. And with all the kids coming in from cold rain, I'm surprised we didn't catch anything from the cough cough cough in there. Anyway, cool exhibits with some cool illustrations made for some cooler photographs. After that we were a bit burned out on museums for the day, and spent the rest of the day walking around town, watched a bit of cable tv in the hotel room. Just felt good to relax. There's only so much you can go out for in cold rain anyway.

Sunday was sunny / cold, made for a good walk around the block and trip to the zoo. And what a nice zoo, for free! In contrast to the lazy pandas we saw in San Diego, these blokes were all munchy munchy on their bamboo, pretty awesome. Also, had no idea that the maned wolf, which looks more like a fox, can pee urine that smells like a skunk sprayed the area... but surely it does. The capybaras and komodo dragons were also neat to see, each impressive in their own right. Also: cool / strange critters at the Invertabrate Exhibit, a dark room of sea creatures and insects, made for some good videos.

One other observation: the DC Metro subway is a freaking space gateway. The stations, which are so freaking far underground, felt way more out of this worldly than anything I've seen otherwise and were more reminiscent of Space Mountain. Seriously, space warp. And those escalators, man, we spent more time on them than actually waiting for a train at the platform.

And finally, here's a quick photo album for the event [facebook].

Enon Show

2009-04-13T09:42:00.006-04:00

One thing I've really come to appreciate about living in NYC is the chance to catch one-off shows, some of them in my hood. The Bell House is great for this: not much more than a month after the Miho show, I biked it down to neighboring sludge town Gowanus to see likable Enon play with These Are Powers and The Forms.

The Forms: got there a bit too late and only caught the tail end. What I saw sounded good. The drummer was solid and played a sweet kit with a mounted electro pad and had a redneck mohawk that made him look akin to Joe Dirt. I'll try harder to catch them next time.

First and foremost: These Are Powers are absolutely amazing. Slamming, as I say. Before you read the rest of this, open up their myspace page and get that going. Distorted 808-beat loops with a synth sound pad / mini drum kit (designed to be played standing while grooving), Asian-slick chick vocals, and cover-all sound textures bassist got The Bell House moving. Loud, heavy bass put the PA through its paces just the way you wanted. Want to see white people shake it? Bring these guys over. These Are Powers couldn't have brought more energy to the table and to that, I say thank you.

Now: Enon takes the stage. Notable are the new drummer and the amount of electronics (everyone's got something), John having, a Midi sequencer connected to a laptop in the back with Ableton Live. Also, during sound checking, everything sounded too hot - the mic sounded like it might have been going flakey; in my opinion the drums sounded like shit. And then they opened with what might have been the coolest opener: Rubber Car, the first track from Believo. First few tracks were sequence heavy and it was apparent Enon was taking a very regressional approach to their sound, headed back to its roots with sequenced beats and drums over the top.

While the set was good, it wasn't their greatest for a couple of reasons. One, I couldn't get into the drummer. With sloppy technique, uneven fills, and the lack of doing anything cool over the top of a 60% loop based set, this guy was a very far cry from the impressive Holy Fuck stylings of left hand lead Matt Schulz. And part of that was the second issue: that poor sound in the Bell House. I still can't figure this one out as These Are Powers had sounded so full and rich. The drums were hosed and fake sounding, the guitar lost in the mix, and everything was just a wash. Sound quality can really make or break a set, this time being the latter.

But with everything the way it was, there was a nice, shiny bit of brown nugget here that in my opinion, summed up the whole evening: the douschebag in front who just tried to get love from the band and couldn't. I'd call him the gaijin, because he looked just like one of the trolls I've come across in my Japanese studies. And totally fixated on Toko-chan. Long hair in pony tail, glasses, likes manga where he can see comic butts. Started his act by pointing and making a loud comment to John before the set even started, to which John replied, dude, you don't have to point. Midway through the set, when Daughter in the House of Fools busted out, he tried oh so hard for the entire song to get skin from Toko, who was singing with just a mic in hand, by stretching his arm way out and onto the stage. Denied! Finally, by the end of the set, he just stood there, screaming like Charlie Brown, auuugggghhhhhhhh, weirdo. Even funnier was watching security come over and give him the boot, at the last minute of the encore In This City, effectively meaning nothing.

Day Note: In DC

2009-04-11T09:38:00.004-04:00

Saturday morning here in DC. In contrast to yesterday's mostly sunny and 65, today is cold, rainy, wet, shhloppy out there. Should make for an interesting day. If it dries up, we're headed to the zoo. Because free zoos are free zoos!

Got a lot of things I want to talk about here like the Enon set, the equalness of the Yen to Dollar ratio, part 2 of the stomache bug, and what else - our trip to DC - but for now they're going to have to wait. People are wrapped around the corner to use the two computers they have in the Business Center here of the Dupont Hotel. Gotta get me a netbook, preferably one that runs Mac OS X software. Thinkin' I'm going to do that once I get back.

Out on the town for now though!

The Science of Sick Sleep

2009-04-07T14:55:00.005-04:00

Had one of those nights where I'm having the same weird recurring dream over and over. Doesn't make any sense to me now (and mostly I've forgotten it), but it's the kind that I only get when I'm sick. Something about solving puzzles, perhaps like tetris, trying to get everything to fit and match perfectly. But I'm left with the sour taste that it was all work related, that perhaps the pieces I was trying to fit were part of a marketing scheme and I was trying to sell courses for the school. Like a Girl Scout selling cookies, perhaps. (For the record, I have yet to see any of those yet here in the city, and do miss me some Thin Mints right about now).

The interesting part is that I woke up probably half a dozen times that night. You know, sick sleep. Every 60 ~ 90 minutes, I gotta get up and get a drink of water. And everytime, I'm taken out of this puzzle solving factory of a dream, trying to figure out what the hell that was all about, and soon forgotten by the time I crawl back into bed. 5 minutes later, here we go! Solving puzzles again.

Backstory: I came down with something funky starting Thursday, and due to late band practices and friends showing up from out of town, couldn't seem to fight the inevitable need to just take it easy and let it pass. So my body finally forced itself to heal-or-die mode when I went to bed around 11pm on Saturday in order to wake up for a Sunday morning band practice.

30 Firefighters Outside My House

2009-04-04T20:27:00.006-04:00

Around lunch time today, the lights in our place started flickering. Really bad. We've seen occasional flicker before, which I chalk up to shitty, outdated electrical in and around our house, but nothing like this. There was even this really scratchy static zappy sound coming out of the tv. Scratchy, electrical. Not good, not good.

Then, the sirens came. And flashing lights. And the crowd of fire department, Verizon folks, and the electrical folks started to gather.

Across the street, a Verizon utility box was spewing out nasty, brown smoke into the air. Perhaps something had shorted out inside, but it was clearly on fire on the inside. Problem was, it was somehow tied to the electrical, which meant using conditional water spray was a big no-no. Further to that, it was right at the edge of the sidewalk, where three cars were parked, the owners not in site.

The box smoked for a good half hour, before finally a couple of firefighters got in there and busted it open. That's when the huge brown cloud was set free. The box continued to smoke for while, and at some point, water was used to blast the area. I saw a quick flare up right below the back of one of the cars - but quickly extinguished.

At some point our crazy hermit landlord ran outside, pissed as hell. The firemen had attempted to get him to come to the door by ringing the bell several times, and when he didn't come, they broke the lock off something to access our basement (emergency electrical shutoff, perhaps?). All it took was a good ax hit and he came out, yelling at everyone, calling it discrimination, and pissed in general that he had to be outside.

I'm not sure what exactly happened with our place - as the blinky blinky of the lights continued, I went around and shut off the lights, unplugged tvs. After a walk outside to talk to the fire fighters, I came back to find that our hallway absolutely reeked of some kind of electrical smell. We had to crack the windows open for a while before it finally dispersed.

Needless to say, we decided it was best to keep an eye on the situation here this afternoon. As of this writing, it's been about 8 hours, and the Verizon teams are still outside working. Power seems to be back on fine, but all the phone lines around here are down. And then there's these loud, diesel engines, just outside our apartment!

Check out a clip from it, that's the landlord shouting about 19 seconds in.

Free Shows

2009-04-01T13:33:00.003-04:00

Every once in a long while, I end up at a free show that becomes an unforgettable experience. Something I anticipate to be cool ends up just taking me by surprise, opening up the doors of perception and creating more cranial activity than normally takes place.

Saw just that unexpected show last night that blew my mind: Steve Wynn & The Miracle Three. I have the fortune of knowing Jason Victor, their lead guitarist / hand freakout master / sound texture artist, who happens to play in my own band DBCR. Up until last night, I had no idea he was even active in another project.

It's rare that I'll find another band that kicks so much ass, but is otherwise pretty low key about it. Last night, there were maybe 50 people in the room, the intimate back room of The Lovin' Cup in Williamsburg, in a new venue called The Cameo. The group leader, Steve Wynn, reminded me of a younger Robert Pollard, and similar personable live presence. Linda, the beast behind the drum kit, kept everything perfectly in line where it needed to be, built off a solid foundation of driving rock beats and impressive technical fills. Same could be said of the bassist - everything in it's right place.

Funny that I would think of it like this, but almost seemed like some uber version of Guitar Hero, where everyone was playing the most difficult level and just drilling everything. If somebody missed something, it didn't matter - the pieces still fit.

Awesome Indie Rock sound with good pop hooks, but with some serious solo sections. Also, the sound guy was also totally impressive - that was the best live mix I've heard in a long time - levels were perfect.

Check out some of the tunes from the drummer's myspace page.
http://www.myspace.com/lindapitmon

Venture Into the Unknown (and how we ended up in Jamaica!)

2009-03-28T10:57:00.007-04:00

Friday night = adventure.

I like adventure, and was up for the quest: to check out the MFA student galleries held at Queens College (in particular, to check out fellow OU grad Billy Steinman's latest and greatest). The school itself is way out there, deep into the heart of Queens, further out Long Island than I've ever been. Required us to take what I'll call the forever train (also known as the F) to get there. Once we got there, we had to transfer to a bus for the rest of the trip. Altogether, this easily took over an hour from Manhattan.

The event was really cool. Basically, about 20 of the MFA students had their individual studios open for viewing, and friends were invited to check out their works, say hi, see where they go to school, etc. There were some really interesting pieces there, mediums I had never seen before. One type of work I was fascinated by were these 3D latex pieces that had strings running through them, with interesting color arrangements. They looked like what might be the text book diagram of a cold sore or hypochondria. Then there was the bag lady, who had these incredible nets she had made by weaving together hundreds, maybe thousands, of plastic bags. Just wanted to climb them!

After we left, we waited a good 20 minutes or longer for the bus to come and pick us up. After getting totally passed up by one bus, we finally caught a bus which we thought would take us back to closest train station, the 7 station in downtown Flushing. We were wrong. We ended up going East, deep, into a part of town called Jamaica. Jamaica is far away from home. Very far! And we had still not eaten dinner either, and were in desperate need to get to a bathroom.

So we headed in this Mexican dive restaurant, which clearly had "Restrooms are for custumers [sic] only" across the door. El barracho met us at the end of front table / bar, and though I couldn't get him to understand that we had taken the bus the wrong way, he was kind enough to tell us it was ok to use the bathroom there. Thought about buying food, but nobody had said anything after we all took our turns, and maybe because the waitresses were all getting felt up by the other latino clientle, we just decided to duck out.

Still hungry, we loaded up on fried chicken and rolls at walk-up Kennedy Fried Chicken and headed down to the F train, which amazingly came within a couple of minutes. We killed the food and made good time back to the reality that is Manhattan and Brooklyn. We had clearly stepped outside our comfort zone, but with no real losses other than time and perhaps a quality dinner, had an unforgettable Friday night.

Snow on the First Day of Spring

2009-03-20T12:21:00.004-04:00

Hello again, it's been awhile. I've got some catching up to do!

But for now, a short and sweet post. Today is the first day of spring. I like spring, it's a great season. We've been warming up a bit the past few weeks, hitting around 55 ~ 60 on the better days. So it was a bit of a drag to wake up to snow this morning! The ground is too warm for it to stick, but still! Big white floppy flakes in March. I guess I just can't escape it.

My friend John is having a BBQ party tomorrow... here's to hoping the weather hits its target sunny and 52!

In other news, just purchased my tickets and reserved my hotel for an Easter weekend getaway to DC. Never been before! We're set to arrive at the peak of the National Cherry Blossom Festival (sakura, everyone!), which ends officially on Sunday, April 12th, but hopefully there'll still be some trees to gaze upon. Might even try to slurp down some sake under one... via a 20oz bottle, of course.

Warm Temperatures Set My Building On Fire

2009-03-10T12:47:00.004-04:00

Nice weather this past weekend. Parts of Saturday were gorgeous. Made for some good strollin' and joggin' times. And whadayaknow: my workplace building was on fire, and there's one less Japanese restaurant in the city now.

Now I'm not one to speculate, but I overheard part of a conversation from my boss to the building manager. Apparently, a fire broke out Sunday morning at Yakitori East, the everything Japanese restaurant located on the northern face (backside) of our building (44th St.). Believed cause is electrical. (Yikes for me!) No one was eating, no one was there.

As a result, the building smelled a little bit funky yesterday. The other two Japanese restaurants in our building, Sakagura and Totto, remained closed Monday and should open up tonight. Haven't heard one way or another on Yakitori East - no signs in the glass-less windows (which were open for a bit yesterday, closed by the metal protective gate today). No idea whether they'll try to reopen it or move elsewhere.

The other thing was that all the bathroom locks were busted out with axes by the fire department. Our own guys room just has a loose handle now. But the ladies room? No handle! Just push and go.

The Miho Hatori Show

2009-03-07T18:19:00.003-05:00

Found out through Miho's blog about a one-off show the other night at this new venue called the Bell House. Located only a couple of miles from our own place in the industrial area of Gowanus (kind of an armpit of the area). Inside, we were treated to a great show, a memorial in honor of Connie Converse, a local songwrite who suddenly disappeared in 1974, leaving behind a legacy of music. Miho was among the group of performers there to cover it.

The Miho set, which started around 10, was certainly entertaining AND totally brown! The lineup consisted of a nervous Miho armed with a Protools macbook, an accordion / moog japanese player (Shoko?), and this American cellist who looked like the bride of Frankenstein. The set was two cover songs by Connie Converse, and then 4 tracks from the new album, which were all much more jamming Protools sessions. 2 of which, took a few tries to get off the ground. One song got stopped at like 1:30 in, and they went back to start and redid it - the look on the supporting musicians face was a priceless you're fucking kidding us, right?

Some slammin' new beats for sure though! I'll take a free live set with debut material any day of the week. Looking forward to the new album.

Winter Storm Smash!

2009-03-02T10:18:00.002-05:00

Welly welly well! Just when it starts to warm up a bit, you think it's all over. But in the back of your mind, you know its coming. I'm talking about the good ol' fashion Nor'easter, which hit us last night, and round two kicked off around 8:30 this morning. So far, we've got a good 6 to 7 inches in Brooklyn, a little bit less in Manhattan, but it jus' keeps coming.

But rather than write about, how about the word from the weather folks themselves:

ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL OF 2 TO 4 INCHES IS EXPECTED TODAY. THIS WILL BRING TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS UP TO 6 TO 12 INCHES IN ORANGE AND WESTERN PASSAIC COUNTIES... 8 TO 12 INCHES IN THE NEW YORK CITY METROPOLITAN AREA... 9 TO 13 INCHES IN SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT... AND 10 TO 15 INCHES ACROSS CENTRAL AND EASTERN LONG ISLAND.

Think I'm leavin' early to go play.

I am the Tourist, Goo Goo Ga Joob!

2009-02-27T07:29:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, we had some special visitors from out of town. Reiko's long time friend from high school and college had got married on Valentine's Day, and set their honeymoon destinations for Lima, Peru, and New York City. We set out Sunday morning amidst cold rain to show them around town. Because let's face it: when you have two days to see as much as possible, you can't let that damn rain stop you!

The thing about having others from out of town to visit means that we also get to become the tourists, doing things we usually don't do. For example, the Water Taxi from Pier 17. The one hour tour took us from the financial district into the Hudson River, a pass by Jersey City, right past Ellis Island en route to temporarily park right in front of Lady Liberty. Several pictures later, we turned around, shot up a bit of the East River, then came back to the dock. Was the closest I had ever been to many of those sites, definitely neat to see. Also notably interesting was seeing Brooklyn from the water - I've never really seen the cityscape outline of the city I call home.

That afternoon, we also followed up on a couple of Sex and the City cites: most notably, Magnolia Bakery for their cupcakes and Carrie's brownstone (the actual film location, which is different from the address from the script.) Thing is, that much overrated cupcake was really not that great: the extra icing was all straight sugar with no flavoring, and the cake was a thick dry cake that couldn't have been much more than flour, egg, and sugar - skimping on essential oil / butter to give it the right fluff and moisture.

Monday night, amidst some cold, windy conditions, we made it down by Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park for the impressive view of downtown NYC. Words can't describe this site, which gives an incredible sprawling view from the financial district to midtown, revealing the beauty of the downtown city skyline. Too bad it was so cold, and I didn't have a tripod!

I AM: Pepper and Kolache Smuggler

2009-02-20T09:25:00.005-05:00

Last weekend I headed back for Ohio to visit some old stomping grounds and meet up with friends and family. A late flight on Friday put a minor setback on everything, but all things considered, I think it was a pretty productive weekend. Which included, 3x beer pong champion, Heroes of History crooning with Kyle's weimaraners, Skyline Chili, Maxass recording (with guest stars Nick Baker and the real (Fat) Max from Athens), free mega nachos plates, Schmidt's Sausage Haus, Kolache, and finally, some pepper smuggling.

Baba's spicy banana peppers are the shit. Full of zing and punch, and a little bit oily makes them fit alongside most any Euro-inspired dish. Damn thing is, I couldn't bring the jar back this time due to the sad fact that US Airways charges for any checked bags, so instead, I brought back a full Land-O-Lakes refrigerator tub (1/3rd of a large jar's worth). But even better than the fact that I brought this back was how I carefully wrapped them.

I pepper prepped by wrapping the container in two seperate ziplock bags, then wrapped that in a thick paper bag, which I marked with a sharpie, "HOT PEPPERS". I used this orange bomb-sealing duck tape at Andrew's house to run a clean, orange seem up the side of the front. It just looked so damn funny and looked highly suspicious. After all, they were hot peppers! Placed them on top of the three rolls of Kolache I got from my parents. Anyway, to me, it looked pretty funny, filling up the better portion of my suitcase, which was otherwise full of all this recording equipment I had - no laptops, just gadgets with dials and cables and ports, and the security had a head scratcher when my bag and suitcase passed through. Someone else got called over to take a peak... and then my bags came right on through, no problems. Peppers and Firepods are ok folks!

Happy Mega Weekend

2009-02-13T10:58:00.004-05:00

Friday the 13th, Valentines Day, Presidents Day. What a weekend!

Headed back to Ohio for the first time since Thanksgiving. It's time to see the folks back home and lay out some new Maxass tracks. Been some time since our last session, looking forward to this one. Also notable is that this is the sendoff of sorts, as my brother prepares to depart the country to move to Japan.

Been a busy week here. From freelance to band practice, to more freelance, been a bit slammed. Time to take a break!

A bit concerning are airplanes these days. Last night came the news that 50 people were killed when a plane crashed into someone's home in Buffalo. Of course then there's the epic flight of 1549. Thing is, both of these flights have been from this area. Couple that with the superstitions of Friday the 13th whoooo~~~! Should make for an interesting trip.

See you on the flip side!

Skiing Expedition

2009-02-09T21:52:00.002-05:00

Saturday morning R, myself, and our friend Midori made the trek to Hunter Mountain via the Emilio's Ski Shop tour. Not a bad deal, just early hours: up at 4 to leave at 5 to catch a bus that leaves at 6:30. Yowza! But really, it's worth it in the end: there's nothing quite like hitting the slopes early in the AM. Too bad the rental lines were so long: gotta get my own gear, but that's a separate story.

Beautiful day out there nonetheless. Huge vertical on the main mountain. Temperature was about 40 at the base, low 20's at the top of the 1600 foot vertical, and so windy! Had some good rides in before we stopped for lunch.

In a way, I wish we hadn't stopped for lunch.

Was doing just fine in the morning, a little bit of the boot pain setting in. Then, after lunch, we made it back to the top. And my legs just didn't want to work anymore. I don't know how to describe it, other than, I just couldn't turn to the right gracefully anymore. Turning to the left, no problem. But trying to shift back to the right - not so good. Like damned dangerous. I'm on top of a mountain, on a decently slick slope, and I cannot stop. I will crash. And die. This is not good. So I did the only sane thing to do: slide it down to safe territories again and figure out what the hell is going on.

In the end, I determined that due to muscle strain on the inside of my lower leg (gastrocnemius perhaps?) coupled with some tiredness in by upper right (gluteus, yes), with a bit of slick ice caused by the sun, was enough to throw me off.

I worked my way down the black diamond part of the hill, took my skis off and chilled for a minute. My legs at this point did indeed feel pretty much shot. Fortunately, there was an easy glide the rest of the way down, which I could navigate no problem. And that was pretty much it - time was running out and we had a bus to catch. Before long we were on the way home, with the bang bang movie Rock and Rolla playing on the bus tv.

Personal firsts from the trip:
Early morning weekend train trip... some dude was leaking puke (not that interesting but worth mentioning)
Traveling to Harlem, hello UES
Traveling to the Bronx, seeing Yankee stadium
Going upstate in NY
Driving through suburbia and missing the convenience of having a car
Not being able to ski down a hill (g'hoh!)
Stopping at NYC's first Juice Bar, Papaya King (the papaya drink really is damn good!)

Down By the Virus

2009-02-06T19:53:00.003-05:00

My company's busy, bustling pace came to a near halt the past few days.

An apparent virus breakout ("Sality") on our parent company's server basically left us unable to use the internet. It's funny - I use a mac and have zilch problems, but there was the fear that I could propagate the damn thing, since technically everything we access first passes through our heavily infected parent company.

So Wednesday was spent going around the office scanning computers, yesterday I got sent home right away and got to work from home. The problem is finally getting fixed but sucked out a fair amount of production time.

The irony is, known of our computers seem to have been affected by this - just a big bug hunt for the bogeyman.

Cyclops Robot

2009-02-03T12:44:00.004-05:00

Next up for gaming: playing robots.

Just saw this short clip of this cyclops robot made by Dutch designer Ivo Vos (sweet name) showing a robot with an integrated webcam that will Pong you to oblivion. Made me ask, could this be part of the future of video games? Imagine going to an arcade and seeing one of these!

Pong Robot from Ivo Vos on Vimeo.

Which brings up a good question: how would this work in an ethics tournament? If the robot were set at some ridiculously high AI, most folks wouldn't even stand a chance. In the case of this little guy here, the first thing I imagine you'd see is either a covered up camera, or worse, ripped off appendages. Rather, the gameplay would have to include the robot in some way so that the player didn't feel like they were getting completely cheesed over.

Ah yes, but didn't somebody already try this?

Touch Me I'm Sick

2009-01-30T09:51:00.004-05:00

Monday, man. Better known as ton of bricks day. Woke up with a sore throat, not feeling the best but not the worst. Should have been fine - a full eight hours of sleep and only one beer for dinner. Made it to the office and perked up a hair over a nice warm cup of green tea. For five minutes, I felt great.

Then I started going downhill.

My head grew heavier and heavier as my sore throat torqued itself back to its painful position. Energy levels quickly depleted and I knew damn well that I was going home early on the sick train. Lunch didn't do much for me, and by 12:30 I knew I might as well get the hell out. In reality, I stayed around the office until 2pm and then caught the first train out. I nearly fell down the stairs things had gotten so heavy.

It was a long ride home. Not helping the matters was the absence of my Q train at Union Square. Trains during the day are slow to come, and I must have just missed one and had to wait the long one. After the train, I stopped in the local grocery store for DayQuil and OJ, then finally made it home. A warm shower and then lights out, bed. Barely got up for dinner, I ate one piece of toast, half a bowl of soup and a chicken nugget, which took me 5 minutes to eat. Head pounding all the while.

I've gotten better since then, of course, but still haven't made the full recovery. Every morning, I'm full of this nasty phlegm. I have coughing bouts. I get headaches. I spit up loaves of bread that are brown and sticky.

I also get weird energy spurts. For example, I ran quite possibly a personal record of 3 miles in barely over 25 minutes last night at the gym, which is like an average of 8:20 per mile or 7.2 mph.

But the sickness: it's still around, and reminds me of Mudhoney's classic: Touch me I'm sick.

What's With All the Fightin' & the Fussin'

2009-01-28T10:30:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we saw more disturbances in the Force than ever before.

Saturday, we were out for the usual grocery runs, hopping a train to get us to Palumbo's. All of the sudden, we hear these women screaming from the back of train. Stuff getting thrown! I tried to peak over the crowd, but getting a good glimpse across a full train car is kind of like peeping around an 18-wheeler on the highway. We hopped off at the next stop, and mosied over to check out the scene: two women, a latino and a black lady, tearing each other apart, screaming loud obscenities at each other. A guy with the latino girl was trying to pull her back in the train as the black lady tried to break free, tears running down her face. Not sure what it was all about, but a bystander who was right there thought that the latino started running her mouth at the other lady on the train, and it was all out war from there. The train was even delayed a bit while the door situation (which couldn't get closed due to arms blocking) got resolved.

Shortly after, and maybe due to a slip on an ice patch, we found a guy on the stairs, bleeding everywhere. There was a lady taking care of him, so it seemed like the situation was under control. Saw a huge gash on his forehead. But definitely busted.

Then on Sunday, a Typical Self-Riteous Prospect Heights Girl started running her mouth to another lady about her bed sheets. Basically, the other lady had brought in clothes wrapped in a bed sheet, and placed them in basket cart. Nothing shocking. "But this is how bed bugs spread! You people don't care at all about us." said the Typical Self-Riteous Prospect Heights Girl. "Excuse me, mind your own business, I don't have bed bugs" said the other lady. And then it started. The Typical Self-Riteous Prospect Heights Girl went on and on and on about how this is why bed bugs are so critical and you should move away from the neighborhood and it's people like you, that make this a terrible place. I didn't say anything but secretly wanted the police to show up and hose this lady down. The other lady looked pretty upset, but having just put her clothes in the dryer, just walked out, with the Typical Self-Riteous Prospect Heights Girl yelling at her the whole way.

It didn't end there either: 15 minutes later, a young man entered the laundromat, sheets in tow inside a bed sheet, which went plop! into the laundry basket. Didn't take but a minute before Typical Self-Riteous Prospect Heights Girl had met her knew match. This guy was a bit more able to stand up for himself, telling the mad lady to mind her own business, even inserting the classic "settle this issue away from me, pig!" line, "Write your congressman!". I laughed at that one.

So I gotta ask, what's with all the fightin' & the fussin'? Is it just cabin fever season or what?

The Rules of Bryant Park Ice Skating

2009-01-24T10:24:00.004-05:00

Went ice skating yesterday in Bryant Park. Hadn't been ice skating in a long time, last time being some mall in Dallas in the late 90's. Admittedly, I thought it was pretty sweet skating right in the middle of downtown. Was a bit crowded (this was a Friday night in Manhattan after all), but not too ridiculous. Waited maybe 5 minutes in line to get in.

In retrospect, though, I don't think I got the best bang for my buck. Here's 3 things I could do improve this:

1. Bring my own skates. I don't own skates, but I'm guessing used pairs are not hard to find around here. Plus: ice skating is free if you bring your own skates. Renting is $12 a pair for some shitty plastic boots that inevitably push on your ankles it feels like a linebacker is on you.

2. Bring my own lock. Lockers are free, but locks are not. They are $9 a piece for something you could pick up for $2 or 3 elsewhere. We didn't get a locker in the end - rather, just shoved our stuff in bags, and put my shoes on top of the lockers.

3. Don't bring bags on the ice. We got busted for this. Reiko took a seat while I did a few more laps. I thought about going longer but my feet were absolutely killing me by then.

Haven't checked out the other places yet, namely Central Park and Rockefeller Center (I'm sure there's others). Any recommendations?

Free Big Trouble

2009-01-23T07:45:00.004-05:00

One thing about living around here: you can get some pretty amazing stuff for free.

In this area, it's very common for folks to put out their unwanted items on the sidewalk: books, CDs / tapes, furniture, kitchen items, etc. are all fairly common. Makes sense when you think about it: no one has a car to haul their junk off to Goodwill. The most recent find? A copy of Dave Barry's Big Trouble, which I laughed my ass off during the first chapter. Prior to that we picked up a folding dish drying rack (practical!) and a little cabinet with shelf and door that fits nicely in our tiny bathroom (also practical!).

A lot of good freebies are also passed via word of mouth. Shortly after our arrival here, we were offered a new queen size bed from a friend, who had to move out of his apartment after continued bed bug issues. (We were told the mattress was purchased after the incidents. We turned it down at the time, due to our landlord situation.) Take a quick peak on Craigslist and you'll find all kinds of crazy goods for free here.

All very reminiscant of those good college finds - couches, chairs - that really helped round the place out.

Back to my book now.

4 Minutes Til Departure

2009-01-20T12:31:00.004-05:00

One thing about working for a mail correspondence based company is that we're off work for all government holidays - if the post office can't serve, nor can we. Thus, I enjoyed a nice MLK day yesterday. With the snow falling outside, nothing seemed finer than an afternoon of gaming! Made the trip to my friend George's apartment in Bushwick to do just that, and after a few hours, got called back to fight off the invading army of cockroaches (separate post for that). So coming back, I decided to take the L line.

To the unfamiliar, the L line holds a certain distinction in that they really do their best to give updates with the times the next train will depart. Even gone as far as to install overhead countdown signs, much like the densha's in Japan. So right when I got to the platform last night, I heard the announcement:

"The next Manhattan bound L train will depart in 4 minutes."
I decided to time this.

Now, I didn't have my watch with me and didn't want to waste any time trying to figure it out on my cell phone. So I started counting. 1. 2. 3. 4....

I did my best to keep them as evenly numbered as possible. There's bound to be some error to it, but I was thinking, ok, I'm clock. Let's tick!

At somewhere during the 2 minute mark (I reset my counts at 60, so let's say it was the third time I hit 30), another announcement came stating that a Manhattan bound L train would soon be arriving and to stand back away from the edge of the platform.

Meanwhile, I kept on ticking. The fourth minute came, so I rolled back to 1. 2. 3. 4....
Around 18 or 19, I could see the lights of the train coming. Damn, I thought. Not bad.
At 43, the train passed me by, slamming its breaks.
By 48, it had come to a stop.
A second later at 49, the doors opened.
50 I started walking.
51 I stepped on board.
52 and I turned around.
55 and the classic "Stand clear of the closing doors, please."
58 and the doors started to closed.
59 doors closed, everything quiet.
00 and the breaks were released. We started moving.

And just like that, holy damn, everything was spot on. Again, there may have been some small human error involved, but damn. Not that I even wanted it to necessarily happen so tight like that. Maybe there's some weird human psychology coming into play here - but again, I tried to make that not an option. Or there was a telepathic robot driving it. I don't know. But it was wow.

But exactly at 4 minutes after the first announcement came, we were off, and the system worked.

Plane's Falling Out of the Sky

2009-01-15T16:32:00.005-05:00

Today has been a different day altogether.

Today marks Reiko's first day of employment as a full-time temp in the city. This is good: she's been looking for a job now for a few months, and given the current economic situation, she took what she could get. Not a dream job, but something solid, and for the time being, that will do. Though, definitely a bit nervous for it, as she kept waking up throughout the night. You know, that feeling that you have in the back of your mind, "Can't be late... can't miss this..." and wakes you up way too much.

Today was a snowy morning. A nice white out on the way to work had traffic all sorts of backed up. The train wasn't too bad, perhaps a little bit less than usual. The second one crawled though, taking up the better part of two songs to move three miles. Just a nice steady pace, but not quick enough for everyone: I recall a lady shaking her head many times. No no no just not quick enough. But what can you do?

Today I found out the three-day expo I had purchased tickets to in April was canceled. Known as Flash on the Beach, this was an attempt to bring an established Flash conference from the UK to Miami, FL. However, due to the economic situation, the registered attendance was lower than the projected amounts to keep the boat afloat. And it sunk - at least I got a refund.

Today also had a New York moment: Flight 1549 from La Guardia to Charlotte ran into an unexpected flock of geese shortly after takeoff, forcing an emergency landing right into the icy Hudson River (which, I learned is west of where I am, not the East River... to the east!). They've just announced that all 148 + 5/6 crew survived the crash, which is amazing to say the least. Good thing for the river! But certainly a distraction at work, because for awhile all I could hear were non-stop sirens. Can't work when there's lots of sirens going on.

Tonight is band practice. Despite a frigid forecast, I'm wondering if this marks the return of normalcy. And if not, you'll hear about it here!

Grocery Shopping

2009-01-11T09:57:00.003-05:00

Woke up yesterday to a near empty fridge. Not a bad thing, we had deliberately held off on buying anything, using up what we had before getting the new. And it was time to stock up again.

Fortunately, we didn't have anything big planned for the day, and with a winter storm weather forecast on the way, we decided to do a bit more of a piecemeal operation. In the end, we went to 6 different vendors to get the goods, spread across Brooklyn and Manhattan. Here's the breakdown:

Farmer's Market at Grand Army Plaza:
Every Saturday, there's a farmer's market held not too far from our place. Though the vendors are less in the winter, there was still maybe a dozen different booths yesterday. Good place to stock up on veggies and fruits. Stopped by another vendor for a panini / pizza bread snack

Met Foods:
The local neighborhood grocery market. More veggies, bread, juice, fresh turkey, etc.

The Meat Shop (as previously reported):
Reiko calls it "Palumbo's", just like the magic meat shop of West Middlesex, PA. Here, fresh country ham, Polish noodles, and garlic kielbasa. I still think they're making fun of my requests, but I don't understand their language so whatever.

JAS Mart:
Japanese store. Yesterday, we stopped in for a bag of nori (seaweed) and salt potato chips, better than it may sound.

Chinatown:
Enoki and shiitake mushrooms from one place, lotus root and thin-sliced beef from another.

Local Bodega:
Beer, bought by the bottle. They tried to rip me off too, charging me a dollar more than what was written on the bottles. Gotta watch your back in these places.

Altogther, it took maybe 4 hours for the trip, including coming back to the house in the middle for lunch. Not something we can do every weekend, but great when we can!

Surviving the Elements

2009-01-07T17:51:00.003-05:00

One thing about not having a car, it's back to walking around everywhere. And when it's cold and raining outside, you bundle up and get to where you're going at lightspeed.

Last night, I had to take back a game to the video store. From the train stop, the store was a good mile away. And pouring outside, the coldest possible rain. And so I ran, sprinting through the streets of Lower East Side. Kind of fun walking into the store after that, soaking wet and frozen: I looked like crap I suppose, but my heart rate was pounding.

New Year's eve was also no walk in the park, unless that park is the instafreezer. Cold cold winds made for quite a nice of "kya~~!" from Reiko. But the point is, you have a choice to either go out and enjoy the evening, or stay at home wondering what it would have been like. Being the adventerous type, I said go for it. Plus! Puts a serious challenge into the night that you'll never forget.

Fat Ass Squirrels & Birds

2009-01-04T11:41:00.002-05:00

All things considered, our neighborhood seems to be pretty normal for the area. Sure, the rent prices are above and beyond anything I've paid before, but I can look beyond that. And as we need to walk a bit to get around, I've noticed that most folks around here are in better physical shape than the Midwest. Obese folks are few and far between. All in all, everything seems to be on par with what we expected for living in Brooklyn.

Except the weight of the animals around here: they are downright overweight and obese.

We should know. Our landlord seems to enjoy contributing to this facet as we often find large piles of food outside for the local animals to prey upon. Yesterday morning, we looked out the window to find a huge (at least 4 servings worth) of rice, just piled outback. Sure enough, the squirrels had gathered 'round to feast upon it. These squirrels are every bit three times larger than anything I've ever seen. Most squirrels are either living off of nuts or dying in trees this time of year. Ours waddle around to viking meals of free piles of human food.

The birds are no better. I've never seen so many fat birds around here. They are seriously round. I'm convinced they must have issues flying any kind of long distance. Not like they need to fly, as it seems like the free handouts are all around. Fatbirds.

Will be interesting to see how the winter plays out, and the effects it has on their bellies. Maybe they need sweatbands!

Year In Review 2008

2009-01-02T10:28:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year 2009! Hope yours was a warm one... we trekked through some seriously cold weather to get to our party. Face numbing! But a good party, complete with decorate-your-own-cookie. The funny part was that we had no working tele for the ball drop, and by the time somebody figured out they could amplify the the antenna with their own body, it was 2009. A collective "yay~" ensued.

In between all this, I put together a year in review clip for 2008. Here's the description I put up for it:

"2008 shall forever be remembered as a turning point for me. From taking a sabbatical from work to go to Japan, to getting married, to moving to the Big Apple, 2008 was nothing short of thrills. Fortunately! Most of it got documented... in video. Here for the first time is a collection of said videos which appear in no particular chronological order. "

It's one of the longer videos I've put together but was a lot of fun to make. The background tune is "Paris (Aeroplane Remix)" by Friendly Fires [ft. Au Revoir Simone], found on Pitchfork's Top 100 tracks for 2008. (Though, the original is quite horrid!)

Here's the video:
Year In Review 2008 (via Youtube)

And in other reflective news, today marks my 6 month anniversary of getting married! Boy did that go by quick.

Cheers!