Saturday, July 07, 2007
Best Bombs Bursting In Air
I know everyone put their fireworks pictures up a few days ago, but I was too busy writing a treatise of the Transformers to be able to. So here's my batch of blurry explosions. I had the good fortune of watching the Fireworks from Waterside Plaza, because that's where Dave lives. Pretty much had the absolute best spot for the fireworks in all of New York City, right on the water and directly across from the central Macy's launch-barge. Pretty unbeatable.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Best What I Was Trying to Just Keep to Myself
So a mysterious commenter known to me only as "M" left a comment re:Transformers under my Die Hard post that I couldn't ignore. Please don't consider this post an argument with M but more an airing of grievances I had with the film that were perfectly drawn out by his or her comment.
>brigham, clearly you were not in the proper frame of mind while watching this movie. you >went in as a jaded law grad.
I'll address this again in my last point, but really, I couldn't have gone in with a better frame of mind. I was the guy at dinners yelling at Collin not to be apprehensive about this movie, to just embrace the fact that we were getting a giant transforming robot movie and be grateful about it. And law school may have left me jaded in a number of areas (say, towards the law?) BUT it in no way diminished my ability to embrace the imaginative or fantastic. If anything, it made me hungrier for it. Last summer, as I was studying for the bar (not so different from this year, really) I set down my books for a minute and went and saw Superman Returns. I LOVED it. Loved it.
>just think back to when you were 14. this would have been the coolest movie you'd >ever seen. (except for star wars of course).
Going back to my formative years, the time when I was forming the fascinations that would stick with me throughout my life, Transformers are/were probably the universe that most closely approached my love for and obsession with Star Wars. Anything with an excess of back story to familiarize myself with and a wide (if not enormous) number of characters to know the names, functions, strengths, and weaknesses of appealed to me greatly. And this information hasn't left me. Sit in on a conversation with me, and when someone is saying "You know, I always liked the Lamborghini...err, what was he called?" I'm the one interjecting before the question is done with "You mean Sideswipe or Sunstreak? One's red, the other's yellow. I liked Sideswipe better." And while I haven't been maintaining a website dedicated to the Transformers since 1995, collected any of their new comics, or played with any since grade school, my heart stays true. In spite of all my love for the Transformers of my younger years, I was totally cool with the fact that the Transformers in this movie would look different than their previous incarnations and whatnot. I even understand how things like money make it necessary for them to all be GM cars. (Yet I cannot accept Jazz, who was a Porsche before, as a Pontiac Solstice, which costs only about $23,000 and goes from 0 to 60 in 7.5 seconds) And the 14 year old me would have been accepting of these sorts of things too, I bet. BUT certain things that were very, very wrong with this movie would still have bugged me back then. In fact, I pretty much have no complaint with the awesomeness of many of the action scenes (except that, eventually, I couldn't tell anyone apart or understand who was doing what and why). A main problem was that the humans were all so campy, if brainless. I just can't understand how I'm supposed to relate to this movie any more than I do an episode of the old Batman TV show with Sam's parents, Bernie Mac, Anthony Andersen, or John Turtoro acting like they did. I would say it was like a cartoon except for that it wasn't. The Transformers cartoon was more realistic than this movie, the humans acted like people, and most importantly, the robots had dignity and character. Optimus Prime was probably one of the most noble and inspiring heroes of my youth, full of dignity and wisdom. And it was definitely a big plus that his original voice actor returned for this movie, but, ugh, I hate to say it, the Optimus of this movie was not the Optimus of my youth. First, old Optimus wouldn't say "My bad." Second, dude just went on and on with his grand and sweeping monologues. But he sounded more like a robot GA than a hero or leader. Plus, could he have seemed any more nonchalant about the dead Autobot at the end of the movie? (I'm going to be only slightly spoilerish here) "We'll, we've lost an ally [a piece of whom I'm holding casually in each of my hands here] but we've gained some new allies..." Dude, oldschool Optimus would have been a lot more upset about his friend. And we would have been a lot more upset, too. Sure, for a 1/2 a second I was like "Whoah, did Megatron really just rip that one in half?" and that was it. That is NOT how I felt when Autobot after Autobot got shot through the chest in the Tranformers animated movie.
>yes, the high school love interest looked 25.
No, she looked like a prostitute.
And if Shia was going to live in the same house as he did in Disturbia, they should have used the same neighbor. I think the 45 minutes or so we spent on the "human story" between the Qatar attack and Barricade vs. Bumblebee was so insultingly insulting to my not-too-easily insulted intelligence that I was feeling a little too sour to embrace the action when it finally arrived. It's like if you give me a first course covered in hairs I'm not going to be excited when the main dish arrives.
>yes, the autobots are so ridiculously naive and dumb that it's hard to believe they lasted this >long against megatron.
I did most of my venting on this matter in my second paragraph, but let me take the opportunity to remind you that, if you go to see Transformers, you'll get to see Bumblebee urinate all over a Federal Agent. But I'm also upset about the Decepticons. So they were really all just sitting around in parking lots, waiting for Star Scream and the Boom Box (Frenzy, apparently) to rescue Megatron? I wish they had hung out more, planned and conspired. Just because Megatron tells Star Scream that he's disappointed in him doesn't mean their old tet a tet from the cartoon is back. Show us some scheming by Star Scream, so whining. They had character in each episode of a 30 minute cartoon from the 80's, so why don't they in a big huge summer movie from the 00's?
>but i'll bet you laughed when Drive by the Cars started playing.
Actually, I don't know that song. But I do know the significance of "freedom is the right of all sentient beings" and "one shall stand and one shall fall" (I'll admit that line gave me goosebumps)
>i think everyone should see it. it was fun to suspend disbelief (and maturity) for a few brief >hours and remember what it was like to be young, simplistic, and idealistic.
If I know how to do anything, it's suspend my disbelief. Ask Emily Asplund or Cassian, they'll testify that, to their frustration, I've stubbornly stood by many an unpopular blockbuster (Phantom Menace? Daredevil? Superman Returns? Loved 'em.) Suspension of my disbelief is why I can now say that, yes, I loved Live Free or Die Hard and, yes, you know what, I liked Spider-Man 3, and, as a matter of fact, I don't think I'm mad at Pirates 3 either. But what I can't suspend is my feeling that I'm being treated like an idiot OR my feeling that something is just plain lousy--and those are the feelings that Transformers gave me. Maybe some would accuse me of coming into this movie with my hopes too high or too much emotional investment in the material that inspired this film. All I can say in my defense was that I didn't go in expecting an masterpiece and I was ready to allow for liberties to be taken...but seriously, this was just not a well made movie. I don't know if it was even a movie. I was thinking about when the humans were trying to keep little robot Frenzy out of that one room inside Hoover Dam and how I didn't care in the least bit whether or not he broke in or not or if someone hit him with their gun or not. This scene could have been the reincarnation of the scene from Jurassic Park where the two kids are hiding from the Velociraptors in the kitchen. Do you remember that scene? Do you remember how afraid you were for those kids and how scared you were of those rotten dinosaurs? It was exciting! It was emotional! And Jurassic Park wasn't high art and certainly didn't contain a premise any more realistic than this movie did. And I think about Sam's relationship with Bumblebee, I had heard this movie was supposed to be about "a boy and his car" but consider the sequences where he's chasing after Bumblebee only to catch him transformed and beaming his signal into space or when he's acquainting himself with robot Bumblebee after the fight with Barricade. Do these scenes contain, like, a millionth of the charm, heart, or magic from similar sequences in the Iron Giant or E.T.? Those are movies for the young, simplistic, and idealistic. There was nothing idealistic about this movie. At best it was empty, at worst, mean-spirited and gross. And it contained enough unexpected references to adult material and lingering looks at that girl to render it not quite family friendly. Are you ready to explain Sam's conversation (you know, about "Sam's Happy Time") with his parents in his bedroom to a 7 year old?
PLUS, must I remind everyone, Bumblebee urinates on a federal agent. But I can't remember if that was before or after the Autobots forced him to strip down to his underwear.
AND I swear, if there's a whole lot of hacking or a "Best Hacker in the World" in Bourne Ultimatum I am walking out.
BUT these things I did like: when Barricade was going after Bumblebee and transformed back into a car AND Starscream's mid-air battle with the other jets. But by the end there, the action sequences had become such confusing, shambling affairs I could barely tell what was going on or who was hitting whom. If Optimus Prime weren't blue I wouldn't have known he was hanging from Megatron.
>brigham, clearly you were not in the proper frame of mind while watching this movie. you >went in as a jaded law grad.
I'll address this again in my last point, but really, I couldn't have gone in with a better frame of mind. I was the guy at dinners yelling at Collin not to be apprehensive about this movie, to just embrace the fact that we were getting a giant transforming robot movie and be grateful about it. And law school may have left me jaded in a number of areas (say, towards the law?) BUT it in no way diminished my ability to embrace the imaginative or fantastic. If anything, it made me hungrier for it. Last summer, as I was studying for the bar (not so different from this year, really) I set down my books for a minute and went and saw Superman Returns. I LOVED it. Loved it.
>just think back to when you were 14. this would have been the coolest movie you'd >ever seen. (except for star wars of course).
Going back to my formative years, the time when I was forming the fascinations that would stick with me throughout my life, Transformers are/were probably the universe that most closely approached my love for and obsession with Star Wars. Anything with an excess of back story to familiarize myself with and a wide (if not enormous) number of characters to know the names, functions, strengths, and weaknesses of appealed to me greatly. And this information hasn't left me. Sit in on a conversation with me, and when someone is saying "You know, I always liked the Lamborghini...err, what was he called?" I'm the one interjecting before the question is done with "You mean Sideswipe or Sunstreak? One's red, the other's yellow. I liked Sideswipe better." And while I haven't been maintaining a website dedicated to the Transformers since 1995, collected any of their new comics, or played with any since grade school, my heart stays true. In spite of all my love for the Transformers of my younger years, I was totally cool with the fact that the Transformers in this movie would look different than their previous incarnations and whatnot. I even understand how things like money make it necessary for them to all be GM cars. (Yet I cannot accept Jazz, who was a Porsche before, as a Pontiac Solstice, which costs only about $23,000 and goes from 0 to 60 in 7.5 seconds) And the 14 year old me would have been accepting of these sorts of things too, I bet. BUT certain things that were very, very wrong with this movie would still have bugged me back then. In fact, I pretty much have no complaint with the awesomeness of many of the action scenes (except that, eventually, I couldn't tell anyone apart or understand who was doing what and why). A main problem was that the humans were all so campy, if brainless. I just can't understand how I'm supposed to relate to this movie any more than I do an episode of the old Batman TV show with Sam's parents, Bernie Mac, Anthony Andersen, or John Turtoro acting like they did. I would say it was like a cartoon except for that it wasn't. The Transformers cartoon was more realistic than this movie, the humans acted like people, and most importantly, the robots had dignity and character. Optimus Prime was probably one of the most noble and inspiring heroes of my youth, full of dignity and wisdom. And it was definitely a big plus that his original voice actor returned for this movie, but, ugh, I hate to say it, the Optimus of this movie was not the Optimus of my youth. First, old Optimus wouldn't say "My bad." Second, dude just went on and on with his grand and sweeping monologues. But he sounded more like a robot GA than a hero or leader. Plus, could he have seemed any more nonchalant about the dead Autobot at the end of the movie? (I'm going to be only slightly spoilerish here) "We'll, we've lost an ally [a piece of whom I'm holding casually in each of my hands here] but we've gained some new allies..." Dude, oldschool Optimus would have been a lot more upset about his friend. And we would have been a lot more upset, too. Sure, for a 1/2 a second I was like "Whoah, did Megatron really just rip that one in half?" and that was it. That is NOT how I felt when Autobot after Autobot got shot through the chest in the Tranformers animated movie.
>yes, the high school love interest looked 25.
No, she looked like a prostitute.
And if Shia was going to live in the same house as he did in Disturbia, they should have used the same neighbor. I think the 45 minutes or so we spent on the "human story" between the Qatar attack and Barricade vs. Bumblebee was so insultingly insulting to my not-too-easily insulted intelligence that I was feeling a little too sour to embrace the action when it finally arrived. It's like if you give me a first course covered in hairs I'm not going to be excited when the main dish arrives.
>yes, the autobots are so ridiculously naive and dumb that it's hard to believe they lasted this >long against megatron.
I did most of my venting on this matter in my second paragraph, but let me take the opportunity to remind you that, if you go to see Transformers, you'll get to see Bumblebee urinate all over a Federal Agent. But I'm also upset about the Decepticons. So they were really all just sitting around in parking lots, waiting for Star Scream and the Boom Box (Frenzy, apparently) to rescue Megatron? I wish they had hung out more, planned and conspired. Just because Megatron tells Star Scream that he's disappointed in him doesn't mean their old tet a tet from the cartoon is back. Show us some scheming by Star Scream, so whining. They had character in each episode of a 30 minute cartoon from the 80's, so why don't they in a big huge summer movie from the 00's?
>but i'll bet you laughed when Drive by the Cars started playing.
Actually, I don't know that song. But I do know the significance of "freedom is the right of all sentient beings" and "one shall stand and one shall fall" (I'll admit that line gave me goosebumps)
>i think everyone should see it. it was fun to suspend disbelief (and maturity) for a few brief >hours and remember what it was like to be young, simplistic, and idealistic.
If I know how to do anything, it's suspend my disbelief. Ask Emily Asplund or Cassian, they'll testify that, to their frustration, I've stubbornly stood by many an unpopular blockbuster (Phantom Menace? Daredevil? Superman Returns? Loved 'em.) Suspension of my disbelief is why I can now say that, yes, I loved Live Free or Die Hard and, yes, you know what, I liked Spider-Man 3, and, as a matter of fact, I don't think I'm mad at Pirates 3 either. But what I can't suspend is my feeling that I'm being treated like an idiot OR my feeling that something is just plain lousy--and those are the feelings that Transformers gave me. Maybe some would accuse me of coming into this movie with my hopes too high or too much emotional investment in the material that inspired this film. All I can say in my defense was that I didn't go in expecting an masterpiece and I was ready to allow for liberties to be taken...but seriously, this was just not a well made movie. I don't know if it was even a movie. I was thinking about when the humans were trying to keep little robot Frenzy out of that one room inside Hoover Dam and how I didn't care in the least bit whether or not he broke in or not or if someone hit him with their gun or not. This scene could have been the reincarnation of the scene from Jurassic Park where the two kids are hiding from the Velociraptors in the kitchen. Do you remember that scene? Do you remember how afraid you were for those kids and how scared you were of those rotten dinosaurs? It was exciting! It was emotional! And Jurassic Park wasn't high art and certainly didn't contain a premise any more realistic than this movie did. And I think about Sam's relationship with Bumblebee, I had heard this movie was supposed to be about "a boy and his car" but consider the sequences where he's chasing after Bumblebee only to catch him transformed and beaming his signal into space or when he's acquainting himself with robot Bumblebee after the fight with Barricade. Do these scenes contain, like, a millionth of the charm, heart, or magic from similar sequences in the Iron Giant or E.T.? Those are movies for the young, simplistic, and idealistic. There was nothing idealistic about this movie. At best it was empty, at worst, mean-spirited and gross. And it contained enough unexpected references to adult material and lingering looks at that girl to render it not quite family friendly. Are you ready to explain Sam's conversation (you know, about "Sam's Happy Time") with his parents in his bedroom to a 7 year old?
PLUS, must I remind everyone, Bumblebee urinates on a federal agent. But I can't remember if that was before or after the Autobots forced him to strip down to his underwear.
AND I swear, if there's a whole lot of hacking or a "Best Hacker in the World" in Bourne Ultimatum I am walking out.
BUT these things I did like: when Barricade was going after Bumblebee and transformed back into a car AND Starscream's mid-air battle with the other jets. But by the end there, the action sequences had become such confusing, shambling affairs I could barely tell what was going on or who was hitting whom. If Optimus Prime weren't blue I wouldn't have known he was hanging from Megatron.
Best Just So You Know...
This blog is the #1 destination on the internet for searches involving "espn hot dog eating championship harry potter spoiler" and any combination or variation of those words.
Best Praising Highly
This one, however, I stand behind. It has a much better world's best hacker. And it tickled Collin the whole way through.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Best Hot Dog Live Blog
I'm watching the Hot Dog championship on ESPN. Why? A combination of curiosity, wanting to see the American win, and happening to be home and remembering that it's happening today.
Impressions so far:
Impressions so far:
- First ad of the first commercial break: Heinz ketchup. Come on! This doesn't help.
- Did the camera just cut away as a contestant held up a sign revealing the rumored #1 spoiler of Harry Potter #7? That's what I saw, at least.
- I do not care so much about Harry, but I do like hearing Harry spoilers.
- I would love it if it Kobayashi were faking his injury.
- Footage of the American holding back tears after getting second place last year make me excited for him. You realize he already broke Kobayashi's record by 5 1/2 hot dogs, right?
- Once I ate 4 hotdogs.
- Seeing the crowd at Coney Island on TV right now, it erases any notion I ever hade of wanting to watch this thing in person
- Ok, the American is named "Joey Chestnut", ok, I won't forget that again.
- All right, I've already muted this show to watch videos about the iPhone on my computer. When does this really start, anyway?
- Wait! There's a Project Runway 3 marathon on Bravo right now! It's the dog episode right now! My first episode ever. Oh man. There's Alison! It's Bradley's birthday!
- Back on ESPN they're announcing the eaters. This first guy holds teh world pork n beans eating record.
- Just switched over to Bravo. Oh, Uli. There you are.
- "The Undisputed Pigs Feet Eating Champion of the World!"
- Seriously, listening to all these Eating CVs, it's ridiculous. Don't do it if you're worried you've never done anything with your life.
- Oh Snap! There's the Harry Potter poster again! Eater X, you're a troublemaker.
- I'm getting hungry. Are lots of restaurants closed on July? I want Saigon Grill. That's what I eat now.
- There's these ads for the Espy's with Jimmy Kimmel and LeBron James and they're funny. LeBron:"We don't win superbowls." Jimmy: "Not with that attitude."
- Oh! The dogs have taken to the runway!
- Oh! The hotog race has started!
- I have to watch this for 12 minutes?
- The announcer just said "It is so on right now!"
- And now he said: "Kobayashi is bringing it!"
- Chestnut just ate 20 in two minutes.
- I like this guy.
- This one guy is wearing a sweatband that says "Joe Delaney", who, if you forgot, was a pro football player that died trying to rescue 3 boys from drowning in 1983.
- Chestnut is still leading after 6 minutes, buy Kobayashi is hanging in there. Oh man. I'm getting nervous!
- Meanwhile, Keith is in trouble with the judges for not making a costume for his dog.
- "A singular instance of valor" That's what they're calling Kobayashi's performance.
- With 3:20 minutes left, Chestnut has broken the Nathan's record.
- I think Chestnut was counting on leaving Kobayashi in the dust with a strong start, but dude has stayed steady and it's neck and neck now with 2:30 left.
- Come on, you American.
- 60 dogs! Chestnut breaks his World Record!
- Oh, this is ugly. This is painful.
- It's neck to neck.
- 62/61, Chestnuct. Come on!
- Photo finish? What do the judges say? They're looking at the tape.
- Another commercial break. Another shot of disgusting ketchup on hotdog action.
- I've been reading more about this Joe Delaney. It's really a sad story.
- The announcement...
- USA! USA! USA! 66/63! USA! USA!
- Dude, he broke the Nathan's Record by 13 hotdogs!
- USA!
- USA!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Best Low-Def Content
As an avid snapshotter known to have his camera on hand in nearly every situation, I've never been a fan of the camera phone. I had one a couple of years ago, it got stole (if you never have, or haven't lately, you ought to read the post about that), then I had a nice little no-camera phone, it got left in Australia, now I've wound up with another camera phone and I've found myself using it approximately 4 times now...mostly when I run downstairs to the store real quick and see a product that catches my eye for some reason.
For example, I nearly bought this deodorant just because it was called "Showtime." How awesome would that be to get totally psyched up every morning post-shower as I prepare to apply my deodorant and say to myself "It's SHOWtime!" Unfortunately, Old Spice Showtime was not also an antiperspirant and I personally worry more about personal perspiration than personal odor. (Not that I condone or endorse the latter) I don't care that my underarms are caked in aluminum, I don't like them feeling slippery and that's how it is.
Here's something that I definitely did NOT almost buy, instead I rolled my eyes at it four or five times before photographing: "Peace Cereal" Oh come one!
The thing about Peace Cereal is that if you buy it, 10% of the profits go to Peace. To Peace! Peace Cereal Inc. places a dime from every dollar earned into a piggy bank and when the bank gets full, they stamp it and address it "To Peace." It must be so reassuring to start your day with a bowl full of something that saves the world.
Another place I might be without my camera: Sitting in church behind Jared Clark when he's showing off his latest work, a suitcase full of a child's art supplies.
If this blog becomes a place full of things I have snapped at with my cell phone then I will hang my head in shame.
For example, I nearly bought this deodorant just because it was called "Showtime." How awesome would that be to get totally psyched up every morning post-shower as I prepare to apply my deodorant and say to myself "It's SHOWtime!" Unfortunately, Old Spice Showtime was not also an antiperspirant and I personally worry more about personal perspiration than personal odor. (Not that I condone or endorse the latter) I don't care that my underarms are caked in aluminum, I don't like them feeling slippery and that's how it is.
Here's something that I definitely did NOT almost buy, instead I rolled my eyes at it four or five times before photographing: "Peace Cereal" Oh come one!
The thing about Peace Cereal is that if you buy it, 10% of the profits go to Peace. To Peace! Peace Cereal Inc. places a dime from every dollar earned into a piggy bank and when the bank gets full, they stamp it and address it "To Peace." It must be so reassuring to start your day with a bowl full of something that saves the world.
Another place I might be without my camera: Sitting in church behind Jared Clark when he's showing off his latest work, a suitcase full of a child's art supplies.
If this blog becomes a place full of things I have snapped at with my cell phone then I will hang my head in shame.
Best Promotion
Tanner, please tell me you've been here.
(It's a link to a flickr gallery of a 7-11 that has been turned into a Kwik-E-Mart. People, you need to check it out)
Look at the donuts! So genius!
UPDATE: I just found out they've done this in New York. If I only had the time for a field report! I've got to make this happen.
(It's a link to a flickr gallery of a 7-11 that has been turned into a Kwik-E-Mart. People, you need to check it out)
Look at the donuts! So genius!
UPDATE: I just found out they've done this in New York. If I only had the time for a field report! I've got to make this happen.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Best Continued Expansion of the Blogosphere
Ah snap! Collin Mapp's got a blog!
and he's already posted a long-rumored to be in development project. Go check it out!
And Collin, get a sitemeter!
and he's already posted a long-rumored to be in development project. Go check it out!
And Collin, get a sitemeter!
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Best 4th of July Vacation Reading
Recently I read this interview with John Krasinski (you know, Jim from the Office) in Mean Magazine that made me think "Oh crap, he's a real, real nice guy." And just recently I found scans of the interview online. If you're some girl that loves Jim and wants to fall more in love, this would be the article for you. And if you're just an Office fan...probably still worth clicking on.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
And here you can find the pictures from the article and everything.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
And here you can find the pictures from the article and everything.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Best "This is the Worst Trip/I've Ever Been On"
While I was eating my Baconator on Monday I got a curious call from Jeff inviting me sailing that night which I summarily declined on account of my being afraid of sailboats. As the effects of my Baconator began to wear off, I started to feel I had been too quick in my declining...and also, I felt like I needed an adventure. Jeff explained to me that his co-worker's boyfriend was a hot shot yacht racer who needed to sail his boat down from Sag Harbor to City Island in the Bronx and that we'd be motoring down, not sailing...this made me feel better...and when Jeff told me that the boat was named "Tastes Like Chicken" well, then I knew I was definitely going.
So after a car ride and a bar dinner we were ready to start our voyage at around 12:30-1:00 am. I stayed up for a few hours before catching an hour or two of sleep below deck. (I don't mean to be so technical with my boat language, "below deck" means the downstairs, inside part of the boat.) Also, that third picture? It's of our skipper charting our course on his amazing course charting computer. I'm sure these computers are commonplace to sailors around the world, but to me, it was fascinating. It had a button called "M.O.B." that you were supposed to press if a man fell overboard to mark the position where you lost him.
And when I woke up, Jeff was driving the boat like he owned the thing! I felt like Han Solo coming out of carbonite to find Luke calling himself a Jedi Knight.
But before long I was at the wheel and slowly but surely erasing my unease over sailboats.
Sailing is like camping, except on water and you're moving. You sit around and watch the water like you'd watch a fire and someone cooks you steak and eggs that taste delicious. And when you get tired of watching the water, you just go and lie down for a while.
And also, sailing is easy. You just match the headings on two LCD displays and there you are, on your way in the right direction. Also, lots of times people will go to the front of the boat and say "I'm sailing! I'm sailing!"
See how the main sail sets?
This is our skipper, Steve. Just because you're out to sea doesn't mean you don't take care of your teeth.
And here's his first mate, Ed.
As we got closer destination we started to see lighthouses
And ridiculous coastal estates (please click to enlarge and contemplate)
After 12 or 13 hours we made it to City Island and a short, hmmm, 2 hours later our ride showed up and got us back to the city. Just like that.
This BLT was a logistical nightmare
So after a car ride and a bar dinner we were ready to start our voyage at around 12:30-1:00 am. I stayed up for a few hours before catching an hour or two of sleep below deck. (I don't mean to be so technical with my boat language, "below deck" means the downstairs, inside part of the boat.) Also, that third picture? It's of our skipper charting our course on his amazing course charting computer. I'm sure these computers are commonplace to sailors around the world, but to me, it was fascinating. It had a button called "M.O.B." that you were supposed to press if a man fell overboard to mark the position where you lost him.
And when I woke up, Jeff was driving the boat like he owned the thing! I felt like Han Solo coming out of carbonite to find Luke calling himself a Jedi Knight.
But before long I was at the wheel and slowly but surely erasing my unease over sailboats.
Sailing is like camping, except on water and you're moving. You sit around and watch the water like you'd watch a fire and someone cooks you steak and eggs that taste delicious. And when you get tired of watching the water, you just go and lie down for a while.
And also, sailing is easy. You just match the headings on two LCD displays and there you are, on your way in the right direction. Also, lots of times people will go to the front of the boat and say "I'm sailing! I'm sailing!"
See how the main sail sets?
This is our skipper, Steve. Just because you're out to sea doesn't mean you don't take care of your teeth.
And here's his first mate, Ed.
As we got closer destination we started to see lighthouses
And ridiculous coastal estates (please click to enlarge and contemplate)
After 12 or 13 hours we made it to City Island and a short, hmmm, 2 hours later our ride showed up and got us back to the city. Just like that.
This BLT was a logistical nightmare
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Best Question for You to Start (or End) Your Day With
What were you doing at 5am on Tuesday, June 26? Was it piloting a sailboat through the Long Island Sound?
Monday, June 25, 2007
Best Days of Future Present
Here at Steady Mobbin' I sometimes pride myself on bringing you the hottest and most important news on the hottest and most important trends. Less than 12 hours after my Baconator post of last night I bring you My First Baconator Adventure!
Where should I start? Should I start with the fact that my Baconator came wrapped in two wrappers?
Or that by this point I had already been overwhelmed by the smell of bacon?
Or that I wasn't really sold on the Baconator until I read it came with mayonnaise? (But really, can't you smell the bacon just by looking at this picture?)
Or should I just say that the Baconator...was amazing?
But don't just take my word for it...have you ever noticed that girls love Wendy's? Chauvinists, relying on outmoded notions of who loves meat and who loves salads and Frosties, would suggest the Baconator is a sandwich for men, an attempt by Wendy's to get guys to go there once in a while. Well here's clear photographic evidence that the Baconator is beloved by women as well!
Even if it is hard to keep all that cheese out of their hair.
In closing, I'd like to suggest declaring a moratorium on jokes about the Baconator making you die played out. It's not really that big, and yes, it's 850 calories...but if you skip breakfast, basically you just need to have a Baconator for lunch and then a sensible dinner, there you are. You've had your 2000 calories, you've received the energy necessary to keep you living one more day.
Now go, my readers, go and get your own first Baconator.
Friday, June 22, 2007
And maybe something is wrong with me, but I thought lots of stuff in this new Simpsons Movie trailer was funny. I can't wait for July 27th!
I can't remember the last time I sat down to watch that show.
I can't remember the last time I sat down to watch that show.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Best Wacky Neighbors
Dear Fellow Members of the Union Square 3rd Ward (and other patrons of the 15th Street building),
You know the townhouse that got torn down down the street from the chapel? The internet can't stop talking about the apartment building that's going to be built there, an excessively balconied monster topped off by a . . . uhm, escape pod?
Here's the website for the development, it's nutty. But I'll post the floorplans here, too:
If you've been struggling to find a reason to go to church every week, maybe monitoring the progress of this place going up is the excuse you've been needing?
BUT WAIT, there's more.
It turns out that the people that are building this building live in the townhouse next door and even though it looks absolutely normal from the inside, guess what? It's nutty on the inside! They've got a waterfall, fishponds, clear stairs, cavelike rooms, you know, all the normal stuff.
Here's a slideshow tour of their home from the New York Times that's worth watching if like shaking your head and saying "That's crazy. That's crazy."
Some Links:
Curbed coverage of the development (I stole all their pictures)
New York Times on what the neighbor's think. (Guess what? They don't like.)
You know the townhouse that got torn down down the street from the chapel? The internet can't stop talking about the apartment building that's going to be built there, an excessively balconied monster topped off by a . . . uhm, escape pod?
Here's the website for the development, it's nutty. But I'll post the floorplans here, too:
If you've been struggling to find a reason to go to church every week, maybe monitoring the progress of this place going up is the excuse you've been needing?
BUT WAIT, there's more.
It turns out that the people that are building this building live in the townhouse next door and even though it looks absolutely normal from the inside, guess what? It's nutty on the inside! They've got a waterfall, fishponds, clear stairs, cavelike rooms, you know, all the normal stuff.
Here's a slideshow tour of their home from the New York Times that's worth watching if like shaking your head and saying "That's crazy. That's crazy."
Some Links:
Curbed coverage of the development (I stole all their pictures)
New York Times on what the neighbor's think. (Guess what? They don't like.)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Best Tour Announcement
LCD Soundsystem and the Arcade Fire to tour together this fall? Billboard says so. That's something. James Murphy and Co. will be stealing some thunder.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
