California Love

I just recently made a long overdue trip back to California to visit family.

During the time, I got to bask in the warmth of my grandmother’s love again. But I was also outraged that my family already had her name carved out in the space next to my grandfather’s tombstone. I couldn’t believe the nonchalant practicality exhibited by some family members.

And I had my heart broken at the sight of my great aunt, who recently had a major stroke. It was gut-wrenching to see a shell of a person with only slight signs of the loving human being that used to be there.

That said, I had been looking forward to the trip as it had been years since I last visited San Francisco.

It had been so long that it was the first time I would be able to go out drinking with my cousin, Jennifer, even though she’s now 25.

It’s scary to think that, since I only see my cousins in 2-3 year increments, I have only seen them about 5 to 10 times in our entire lives. Even on my flight westward, I had mental images of them as preteen brats despite the fact that most of them were in college now.

Jennifer was the one I was especially looking forward to see again. From random updates via my parents, I recently had an epiphany that she and I were very much alike. Looking back, I began to regret how whenever I saw my family, it was inevitable that I would desperately try to spend every minute with her older brother, Will.

Will had always been the kind of guy I wanted to be. Athletic, good-looking, outgoing, self-sufficient and a natural leader. His being the oldest of all the cousins sort of gave him de facto position as the leader of us all, but it was also in his genes. And I was always the loyal follower. He was the brother I never had. He was a cool guy, older than me and willing to hang out with me.

Will also had an incredible talent for mischief which resulted in many of my cousins risking bodily harm and basically doing stupid shit that got us (Will in particular) in trouble with our parents.

The last few trips to San Fran, I noticed that he wasn’t around as much anymore. He had discovered a knack and desire to coach girls volleyball. At the time, I dramatized him as abandoning his role model position in our clan of cousins in order to guide strangers. But I also began to see how our cousins never really saw each other anyway, except for whenever I came into town.

While Will’s absence saddened me, it also gave me the chance to spend more time with Jennifer. It dawned on me that most of my trips, Will was working or out of town anyway, and that I probably spent as much time (or more) with her than with Will. During those days, she and I would watch TV, order pizza, play video games, and go to the mall, all the while I was counting the seconds until Will came home. I never really gave Jenn the time of day. And throughout those times she would be pining desperately to hang out with Will and I, even though we were constantly trying to chase her away.

This particular trip was a turning point in that it was the first time that I was looking forward to spending time with Jenn more than with Will.

Will was unexpectedly around the first night so the three of us plus Will’s girlfriend hit the bars. It was one of the best times I’d had in a long time. We took shots and drank ourselves stupid, and it was very satisfying.

I discovered the joy in partying with my own flesh and blood. Sure I have very close friends who I view as brothers, but this was something that they could never achieve. It felt like a primal connection that, as an only child, I never had before.

And while Will went off to shoot darts with his girlfriend, I sat next to Jenn and had a blast, laughing and talking. Although I was too drunk to remember any of our conversation.

By the end of the night, Jenn had passed out while we were at the drive-thru only stirring enough to plop onto Will’s couch. I managed to joke with Will’s girlfriend, somehow mow down a burger, notice that Will was snoring in his bedroom and finally collapse onto the floor in front of Jenn on the couch.

I woke up to my cell phone at 8 am. It was my mom. She angrily asked where I was. Then worriedly asked if Jenn was with me. Then demanded that I get back because my dad was waiting for me so we could go wine-tasting in Napa. It was 8 am.

I eventually got to spend some time with each of my cousins, even taking out my 15 and 18 year old cousins out bowling, demanding that they stay in their tiaras and dresses. (Not worth getting into the tiaras at this point.)

After all these years, it was nice to really formulate each one of them as an individual. Some were just starting to come out of their shells, and others were still in the awkward, shy teen years. I wish I hadn’t missed out on all the years before.

It turns out that Jenn has a slight interest towards living in New York. Once I found that out, I tried my best to sell her on the greatness of this city. I was excited at the prospect of having her close by. I saw it as an opportunity to get to know someone that I basically consider as my sister.

Alas, it probably won’t happen. She loves California and being close to her parents too much. And her parents would probably hunt me down for convincing her to move away. I almost fell out of their good graces already by getting her to call in sick to work so that we could party more.

I just hope I can keep in touch with her and my other cousins, and that it won’t be another five years until I see them again.

Boston Pig Party

I was fortunate enough to have the chance to attend the 2nd Pig Roast Party held by friends in Boston and it definitely lived up to the hype.

Take a 125 lb pig on a spit, 100+ people, 3 live bands, 8 trays of mac and cheese, a pyramid of cornbread, free ice cream from the ice cream truck camped out in the front drive, a hot tub, and an obscene amount of alcohol, and you’ve got a recipe for a crazy good time.

The pig required over 12 hours of roasting over a spit, which meant that it had to be started at 3:30 am and be rotated every fifteen minutes.

I was a newcomer to this group, but was welcomed with open arms. A testament to everyone’s laid-back friendliness was that the neighbor's kids (4 and 5 yr olds) wandered over early in the day and were not only welcomed into the party but taken care of throughout the day. At no point did I witness anyone react in a manner that was less than great with the kids.

Best/Strange Moments:

- Wii Tournament, watching the spastic flailing of limbs instead of watching the screen. I’m also secure enough with myself to admit that I lost to two girls in Wii Boxing. (But I rocked the house in Wii Bowling.)

- Two girls screaming at 3 am, wondering "Oh my God, where are Jenna and Jenna?! They wouldn’t just leave us, would they? They’re sooo lame!"

- Parallel parking in front of the Thirsty Scholar in a giant white van with blue racing stripes with all the smokers gawking as we hop out of the monstrosity.

- Having a bit of a Little Miss Sunshine moment with said van while it died on every hill and inched forward with people jumping out to push it along the two lane highway.

- Standing near a guy and a girl and overhearing this conversation:

Guy: "Did you see that they stuck the pig’s head on a spike?"

Girl: "Oh yeah? Kind of a Lord of the Flies tribute?"

Guy: "Uh, I don’t think I ever saw that movie."

Girl: "It’s a book."

Germ warfare

I don’t consider myself a hypochondriac or OCD cleanly. I can apathetically step over dog poop on the sidewalks, workout next to the guy who refuses to apply deodorant before going to the gym, and I can see someone vomiting on the street without it causing me to lose my lunch.

But one thing does really bother me: sneezing.

Okay, bear with me.

I remember years ago seeing some cold or flu commercial claiming that when someone sneezes, the force at which mucus and whatever propels out of the nose and mouth can equal 100 mph. They demonstrated this by showing a person sneezing in a crowded elevator, and having animated particles shooting out of the person’s oraface, bouncing around the walls and landing all over the other people standing in the elevator.

This animated 30-second commercial has haunted me for the last 10 years.

Fortunately, I haven’t been caught in that scenario yet (knock on wood). But I am 100% sure that when that fateful day comes, I’m going to lose my shit. I’m talking a Cold War duck-and-cover reaction, and I’m not discounting the possibility of hysterical screaming.

I live in freaking New York City, one of the most densely crowded, dirty cities in America. People here can drink their SmartWater, eat their all-natural Guy and Gallaird salads all they want. None of that curbs my amazement that there’s such a low frequency of people simply keeling over on the street and dying.

All I’m saying is we can all do little things like covering our freaking mouths when we sneeze. Try to deflect that 100 mph germy spray from other people.

Granted, the elevator deathtrap sneeze is a low risk occurrence. So here’s another, more pressing issue on my mind: people eating on the subway trains.

Can someone tell me who in their right mind wants to consume their food in the most rank, disgustingly dirty place in the city? The environment is composed of garbage, homeless people, rats and roaches, yet someone will still willingly bring on a bag of fast food and eat it like their dining in Bryant Park.

I can admit to occasionally being enticed by the smell of fries and forgo common nutritional sense to give in to a fast food craving. In the right context, they can smell great. But if I smell that same smell walking onto a train, it can be worse than feces.

But I know it’s not just the smell of fries. Just last week I sat across from a young, normal looking, professionally dressed woman who, as the train began to move, busted out her Whole Foods salad bar box and began munching on her salad. The sight of this began to make my stomach churn.

I’m sure some people are wondering what’s the big deal? I think that, like the sneezing thing, my mind is working on a microscopic level. Just because your food hasn’t touched the floor of the subway train, doesn’t mean it hasn’t been defiled by the environment.

I once stood in a station and had a cockroach the length of my middle finger fly and land on my neck. I’ve waited for a train and watch rats drink from a black puddle of grime with a half of a dead rat floating in it.

The subway is a dirty, dirty place.

Can we all just practice a little restraint and hold off on the consumption of food until we get topside?

If not then I propose that the MTA attendants should be instructed to expand their inspections beyond firearms and other weapons.

“Excuse me, sir. Are you carrying any firearms? How about explosives? Okay fine. Wait, what’s in the bag? Mickey-Dee’s? Okay sir, you’re going to have to come with me.”

I think the world would be a better place for it.

Spider-Jerk

(The following rant contains spoiler info...)

So I just finished watching a rather disappointing Spiderman 3. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I honestly tried not to get too hyped about it.

I’m not going to go into a full review, but one thing particularly bothered me...

So Peter Parker gets full of himself goes to show off in front of his girlfriend while she’s at work, humiliates her, beats up some guys trying to come to her aid, and then actually hits her! Later on, he waltzes right back into the same bar, she hugs him and all is forgiven. (Cue end credits.)

That’s great for the movie, I guess, since we’re all on Spiderman’s side.

But try to think about if this scene happened in real life. If I was a coworker or friend and found out Mary Jane took the creep back, I’d be thinking, “The stupid bitch just took back that future wife-beater?! Has she no self-respect?”

I’m sure everyone knows some girl who dates “an asshole” who she constantly defends as a nice guy. Don’t we all end up dismissing her claims, thinking that she’s blinded by some mysterious need to cling on to the guy and that she’s better off ditching him ASAP?

Even if the guy acts like a cool person around other people, even if he never acts out of line again, even if he’s swinging around and pulling people out of flaming buildings, wouldn’t we all still have a hard time erasing the perception of him as “that dickhead who hits chicks”?

Maybe I’m too unforgiving of a person. But I know plenty of people who have had the same reaction to friends’ boyfriends. I’m thinking, once a wife-beater, always a wife-beater. So if in Spiderman 4, Peter Parker goes back to his abusing ways, Mary Jane better not come crying to me.

Today...

Spring in New York makes the shitty winters worthwhile (...almost).

While sitting inside the perimeter of the fountain in Washington Square Park watching kids gingerly walk in knee high water, I noticed two girls throwing a beach ball to each other over the spraying water in the middle.

The two began to egg each other to not throw the ball over, but into shooting water to see the ball get propelled upward in what surely had to be a magnificent sight.

But the two shrieked in wide-eyed horror as the ball failed to jet up into the sky, instead sank immediately into the center of the gushing water.

I laughed at their expressions and noticed that others around me were also enjoying this moment.

I can’t imagine this shared experience in any other place that I’ve lived in. As much as I love Texas, there’s almost no incentive to be in such close proximity to strangers, except when you have to.

Don’t get me wrong, constantly being around annoying, dirty, loud people can be maddening. But days like today are the subtle joys that I don’t want to overlook.

The Arcade Fire at United Palace Theatre, 5/7/07

Tonight, I was lucky enough to catch the Arcade Fire perform their first of three back to back shows in New York.

The United Palace Theatre was an interesting venue, with almost every inch of the walls and ceiling covered in ornate moldings and sculptures. But later, I figured that it seemed to mesh well with the ten piece band and their menagerie of instruments. I was initially wary of attending at a seated venue, but I further realized that the band fit this place like a glove. I can’t think of another band that I would’ve been content to go see at a seated venue.

The stage lighting was amazing, yet simple, utilizing neon lighting to match their latest cover album art. It was a great way to set the tone of the concert.

As for the band, they played with intense enthusiasm and energy throughout the set. Their exaggerated instrument playing, feet stomping and dancing could be easily viewed as cheesy and contrived, but seeing the entire band into the music seemed to fuel the audience. Besides, who doesn’t like seeing someone wail on a xylophone? I’d prefer watching musicians play with pure joy than to see a band who act as if they're too cool to play their own songs.

I usually enjoy hearing a band interact with the audience, but oddly preferred it if the members hadn’t spoken through the show. It’s as if I thought they were interrupting the performance somehow or breaking the fourth wall (to use film terminology).

The band created so much energy that it was hard to find any downfalls in their performance. I love listening to their albums, but now they’ll pale in comparison to the live act. Each song sounded ten times more vibrant and intense than the recorded version.

Rebellion, Power Out and Windowstill were the most inspired performances. Neon Bible, the title track to their latest release, was one that I personally enjoyed immensely, mostly because that song has been going through my head for the past few weeks.

Ironically, Tunnels, probably their most well known song was the loosest one of the night. But perhaps they’re like most band who tire of their signature songs (i.e. Smells Like Teen Spirit or Creep). Not to say that it wasn’t well done, but the audience’s enthusiasm for the tune definitely carried the band through the rendition more so than any other time during the night.

At the end of the night, everyone filed out of the theatre obviously still buzzing from the show. I have to say it was probably one of the most amazing, energetic concerts I’ve been to. Probably on par with Thievery Corporation and Gomez, my other favorite live acts.

It’s strange to discover that the Arcade Fire aren’t as popular as I initially believed. Virtually none of my friends have heard of them, and the few that do didn’t really care for their albums. Not too surprising I guess since no one seems to share my taste in music.

I will definitely try to get my hands on a live recording or two of the Arcade Fire, but for now...

Rebellion - by far their best live song IMHO.

Neon Bible - showing that they can do the soft stuff just as well.

NOTE: I was a little bummed to find out that I’d miss an impromptu Yeah Yeah Yeahs performance tonight, but since I wouldn’t have been able to get in (as it was a chicks only concert), I’m not shedding too many tears.

Greener Gotham?

Over the years, I’ve become much more sensitive to and interested in the progress of energy sources and energy consumption.

Maybe it’s from using, and loving, the city’s mass transit system. Except when I have to sit next to one of the "crazies".

Or maybe it’s because I lived in the East Village and saw the neverending mounds of garbage as a depiction of how wasteful the city is.

Or maybe I’ve been working in several Manhattan design studios that don’t recycle and have seen how we rip through reams of paper so casually and thoughtlessly.

Or maybe it’s seeing how our dependance on archaic energy sources is shaping our governmental policy in horrible ways.

However this interest developed, it’s always heartening to find out that some people are very commited to finding alternative energy sources (as noted in several past posts) or just diligently doing their part by recycling and conserving.

Last week’s New York Magazine caught my attention with an article about the possibilities of urban farming (or skyfarming) as a way to maintain a metropolitan society while also reversing the trend of environmental degradation.

Imagining greener and cleaner buildings that could produce farm crops, purify waste and generate energy sounds like a far off utopian dream, but it’s nice to hear some optimism for once.

There was speculation that this might be the next version of Biodomes that everyone of us heard about far too often in elementary school. That reference helped pierce the illustion of skyfarming a bit. So it could possibly amount to nothing more than a scientist’s wet dream. After all, the technology, time and resources it would take to make a building like this a reality seems too daunting for anyone to invest in.

But it all starts with an idea, right?

Rice Krispy Feat

Once in a while I’ll give into an indulgence, whether it’s a new CD, clothes, or in last week’s case, a rice krispy treat during lunch.

It was a complete impulse purchase at the checkout counter. I don’t even like rice krispy treats. But my turkey breast wrap was already looking unappetizing so I knew I’d need something sweet to offset it.

Later, as I unwrapped my "treat", my initial reservations gave way to outright dread as I noticed that the thing was huge. It was seriously the size of a brick. I held it at a few angles to figure out how I was going to even bite the block seeing as how it was too big to fit into my mouth.

Normally, I’d appreciate the more-bang-for-my-buck aspect, especially since Guy and Gallard raped me at $2.95. But when I indulge in a guilty pleasure, I’d prefer to be a bit discreet about it. So as I held a clump of marshmallows and sugar the size of a small child’s head near my face, I began looking around to see if anyone was watching me with horrified expressions.

The fact that the rice krispy treat ended up tasting stale and processed didn’t appease me either. I tossed it after two bites.

Lesson learned: No more rice krispy treats, and that Guy and Gallard is over-priced AND over-rated.

Badly Drawn Boy at Webster Hall, 3/7/07

There are just some people whose talents are unmistakable. Whether it’s in sports, art or whatever, you watch that person and you immediately get that there's an innate ability that has to be utilitzed. I firmly believe that Badly Drawn Boy (aka Damon Gough) has a natural talent to create fucking great melodies.

As I watched him tonight at Webster Hall in the East Village, I rediscovered what drew me to his music in the first place. There’s nothing pretentious about him or his music. He does it because there’s something within him that comes out naturally.

The music may not be avant garde but it’s classic and melodic that will always make it accessible. (I’m picturing a scene in The Sopranos where a music engineer is berating an up-and-coming band, "Where are the fucking choruses?!")

It reminds me of listening to Murray Lightburn of the Dears, who sounds as if he’s singing just to hear how awesome his vibrato is. Gough seems so laid back about his performance, yet without coming across apathetic or lax. I hear the scraggly voice and see his everyday outfit and can easily picture him stumbling out of a bus station to perform on the sidewalk.

Gough also strikes me as the kind of guy who isn’t comfortable with the public exposure of a popular musician. Still, he appears to be able to take it in stride and not lashing out like Kurt Cobain or being paralyzed with terror like Nick Drake. Perhaps Gough’s had enough years to learn how to deal with it.

His ability to connect with the audience was evident throughout the night, being quite talkative at times. He would quip about how great it is to be able to perform in New York or make the audience laugh by introducing a song that he wrote "that turned into a b-side because it was absolute shit".

There were a few breakdowns in the concert wherein he would call off the other players saying "that was shit" and immediately moving on to another song. None of the incidents were particularly obstrusive, certainly not in the specatular fashion of Cat Power’s live meltdowns, but it was an insight into his perfectionist/artistic nature.

I have to admit that I’ve always given Badly Drawn Boy the short end of the stick. While always enjoying his music, I’ve never given it the proper adulation. I met each album release with less enthusiasm, only to discover its brilliance months to years later. I’ve doubted whether or not his Mercury prize winning effort was a fluke, and was skeptical that he could pull of an entire soundtrack to a film, only to be proven wrong every time.

Even this concert was attended on a whim rather than true excitement. Maybe that’s the curse of being consistently excellent: no one ever really notices because they learn to just expect it from you. But maybe that’s exactly how Gough likes it. He has been able to skim that fine line of not being mainstream, while being popular enough to allow him to go on doing what he wants.

And judging from tonight, Badly Drawn Boy can draw a sizeable enthusiastic crowd. It shows that great music will always find an audience, even if it’s overshadowed by the latest trend.

While you may not win any points with your snobby hipster friends, a night out with Badly Drawn Boy is pretty fucking enjoyable. And I’m fully back on the bandwagon.

HOT GIRL HOT GIRL HOT GIRL HOT GIRL (oh yeah and some movie about cops and mobsters)

One of the better flicks I’ve seen in a while is Infernal Affairs, a Chinese production that was the basis for Scorsese’s The Departed.

The movie was well crafted, had big name Chinese actors, and a great tense moments, but apparently that wasn’t good enough for the film’s promoters.

Check out the cover of the DVD packaging, which features a gun-toting girl in a tight outfit... that doesn’t appear in the movie at all. Oh and the guys in the background? Those are the two “stars” of the film.

Sadly, this cover coupled with the cheesy name was destined to cause this movie to be passed over on the shelves of Blockbusters as some low grade B-movie. But luckily, given the new attention due to The Departed, there’s been a rerelease with a much more respectable cover image.

I’m interested to see how Scorsese has adapted the story. But judging from the reviews, he likely did a damn fine job.

Although I will say that I lost a lot of respect for Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky after seeing how much was directly lifted from the original, Abre Los Ojos.

Review: Beatles Love

I know, I know, another Beatles compilation. But what caught my attention this time around was that George Martin and his son were asked to remix a score for a Cirque de Soleil show. The producers were given freedom to basically mash up any track from the entire collection of released music. The result was a bit surprising, and a bit disappointing.

When hearing the premise, I thought what probably everyone else thought, "This can only be a spectacular disaster."

But upon hearing a clip, I was amazed to hear how effortlessly songs meshed together. Come Together, Dear Prudence and Cry Baby Cry are blended together as if they were always meant to be.

I purchased the album and began listening with a sense of unfamiliarity and anticipation that I hadn’t experienced with a Beatles album since skipping a class in high school and listening to Rubber Soul for the first time. (I’m a rebel, I know.)

The liner notes claimed that they restricted themselves to only the material that can be found on the final releases (except one), but I’m pretty sure that the Strawberry Fields version was from the Anthology collection, so I’m not sure how truthful their claim is.

There are some impressive technical achievements in this collection, but for the most part, I was disappointed. Most of the remixing was confined to creating smooth transitions between tracks. When the songs that were more heavily tinkered with came up, I found myself uneasy, as if mentally trying to reconstruct the songs back into their original arrangements.

In the end, this release is an interesting twist that shows how versatile and enduring the Fab Four’s music can be, but will probably fail to impact anyone other than the already die-hard fans.

Here’s what I believe is the most interesting and successful track, so judge for yourself...

Beatles - Drive My Car

In the iPod

Today’s Mix:

1. Cha Cha Cha - The Little Ones
2. Pretend It’s a Race and I’m on Your Side - James Figurine
3. Culture Vulture - The Librarians
4. Baby I’m Yours - Arctic Monkeys
5. A Modern Girl - Sing-Sing
6. I Turn My Camera On - Spoon
7. I Can Hear Music - The Beach Boys
8. Whoo! Alright-Yeah... Uh Huh - The Rapture
9. Warrior - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Gaming isn’t a game anymore

Video games have become such a huge market that companies are pumping billions of dollars into the production and marketing of their products. Gears of War uses cutting edge CGI in its commercials, Marlon Brando reprises his role in the Godfather video game and companies such as Toyota and Coca-cola are creating virtual products in Second Life which you actually pay for with real money.

Shrewd corporate strategies weren’t always the norm though. 1up.com has a hilarious set of feature articles reminiscing about the early years of the gaming industry when no one knew what the hell they were doing, especially in advertising.

I remember seeing some of these ads when they first appeared and now wonder how I wasn’t frightened away from playing video games because of them.

Of course I wasn’t the design savvy, cerebral giant that I am today. [insert sarcasm smiley]

Check out this classic ad from 1991:

The Have-Nots

Every New Yorker wants to persuade you that the capital of consumer lifestyle can offer you anything to your heart’s desire, but I just have to scoff at that idea.

The notion of bouncing from one bodega to another on New Year’s Eve searching for bags of ice wasn’t the ideal New York experience, but that’s exactly what happened. I’d duck my head just inside the door and ask “Do you sell any ice?” only to get blank stares from the guys behind the counter.

Yeah I know that at one point in time if you wanted ice you had to carry a block five miles from the next town over, but come on guys! Aren’t we supposed to have advanced since then? Weren’t we supposed to have Mr. Fusion cars and weather control by now?

If I wanted chess pieces shaped like Lord of the Rings characters, there’s an entire street in Greenwich dedicated to that. But oh my God, ice?!

The misconception in Manhattan is that there are so many stores jammed into the streets that you can find absolutely anything. The problem is that every store carries the same damn thing.

I’m sure that everyone’s had that wild goose chase around town to find a weird, obscure item. It’s just that in New York it’s much more impossible to hunt down your 5/17” drill bit or Japan-based soy sauce.

Booze and smokes I have no problem finding.

Finally...

I’ve toiled for the past few days to update my grossly neglected photosite, which was months behind. Nothing too spectacular lately but it’s a load off my mind for now...

Obscursion

#25

I’ve been a bit behind in my hockey lately and I was sad to discover that my favorite hockey player Joe Nieuwendyk had recently retired because of back issues.

Nieuwendyk was part of the Dallas Stars roster that became perennial Stanley Cup contenders and finally won it all in '99, with Joe getting the Playoff MVP Award.

I was a rabid Stars fan around that time. There are still vivid recollections of staying up late in my dorm room in Lubbock trying to listen to games being streamed on the internets because there was no TV coverage (the bane of U.S. hockey fans). Even more conveniently, the Stars finally won the Championship in triple overtime at 2:00 in the morning. I was so bleary-eyed that my only reaction was a brief fist in the air and then clicking off the TV.

Nieuwendyk had come off serious injuries to both his knees the previous season, raising speculation that his ability to play the game was gone. It was a classic underdog story.

From the start of the playoff run, I could sense his focus and determination to win. That playoff season was a rollercoaster ride of triple overtime games and a memorable seven game clash against the Avalanche, with Nieuwendyk scoring game-winning goals in several.

Mike Modano will always be considered the superior talent and the face of the Stars, but Nieuwendyk to me was the heart. I was angry to hear that he was traded a few years later, but happy that he won another cup in New Jersey and a Gold Medal playing for Canada.

What a class act and a fearless player. He’ll be missed.

A better article on Joe’s impact in Dallas can be found here (but you need to sign-up though it’s free).

Aaaaaaaaaand we’re back

I don’t think anyone wants to gloss over what South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson and his family are going through with his apparent stroke and surgery, but the political implications must be what’s really on everyone’s minds on Capital Hill.

After the Senate race, all the Democrats celebrated a great (albeit narrow) victory to wrestle control back from the GOP. Even President Bush came out to admit that it was a message from the citizens that the Administration needed to listen and cooperate with the Democrats.

Now I’m imagining (somewhat sarcastically) that Bush is thinking that this is a message from God that the Administration doesn’t need to change and that the Democrats need to die.

Alright, that was pretty bleak.

I’m just very disappointed in how this will likely play out. If Johnson is unable to resume office, then the Governor (a Republican) appoints his replacement. If there are ties in the Senate then the decision is differed to VP Cheney, the idea of which makes me oh so cheerful.

I bet walking into a bar full of Democrats this weekend in D.C. would be a sad, depressing sight.

Light up some grass (and burn some fat too)

Ever on the lookout for alternative energy sources, I discovered that switchgrass is becoming an interesting solution.

Biofuels have been looked into but have been largely problematic due to the fact that they can't output a rate of energy higher than the energy it takes to process it. Plus the amount of carbon produced isn't a significant improvement over fossil fuels.

Switchgrass on the other hand is a hearty crop that grows relatively easily in less than ideal conditions and actually absorbs more carbon than it produces (when converted to ethanol).

ABC had previously reported that ethanol could eventually account for a significant (though not majority) of the nation’s energy needs and that the economic adjustments wouldn’t be very drastic.

Switchgrass is also an attractive solution because it’s resources wouldn’t have to be divided between fuel creation and food consumption, unlike other crops able to convert to ethanol (like corn).

Other resources can be Googled or found here.

Another, less orthodox energy source is in the form of Philadelphia’s Fry-o-Diesel, which somehow converts oils, grease and other waste.

I can’t imagine this being a pleasant endeavor, but hey, if it brings us closer to a Utopian dream of clean, renewable energy, I’ll scarf down a few more Phillies for the cause.

Solar power, using grass, converting fat... It amazes me the ingenuity of people sometimes.

Now if only we could allow this technology to flourish without being hindered by politics and corporate greed.

Reviews: Daredevil and Y: the Last Man

Two of the best stories I’ve read in a long while come out of the comic book industry. While I’ve resigned from collecting comics, these two books shouldn’t be dismissed just because they fall into a stereotyped genre.


After years of hearing how Daredevil was the best comic on the shelf, I became curious enough to check out what the hype was all about.

During the height of my comic collecting years, I never strayed too far out of the X-men circle so Daredevil was a character that I didn’t have much exposure to. I wasn’t the only one either. The blind lawyer with heightened abilities in a red suit was mainly regarded as a B-level character in the Marvel Universe.

But in 1979, Frank Miller created a run on the book is now a hallmark story because it took the medium to places it normally didn’t go. Good guys actually died, heroes actually killed and it wasn’t a happy ending. He did such a good job that no one could follow up his act for another 20 years.

Now, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Alex Maleev take over the title to combine a tense, compelling story and gritty yet sweeping visuals to create a great, cinematic noir style unlike anything I’d seen in comics before.

Bendis sculpts a 3-dimensional character that doesn’t speak or act in a clichéd comic book fashion. I discovered that Daredevil is infinitely more interesting than the likes of Superman. Daredevil is a hero but is also an arrogant asshole. He protects innocent civilians but also jeopardizes his friends and family. His actions are never purely black and white and his thoughts never fall into easily discernible emotions.

In contrast, Kevin Smith (of Clerks fame) wrote the preceding story, which relied on lots of dialogue and cheesy villains standing over our hero and explaining his evil plot like a 007 villain. Smith gets credit for revitalizing the interest in Daredevil, but I think pales in comparison to Bendis’ efforts.

In the storyline, Daredevil’s secret identity is revealed to the world and we observe the aftermath. Each time the character seems to find a way to snake out of his predicament, the writer throws another wrench into the gears and you wonder again how things will turn out. The focus away from costumed antics and deals more on how his “normal” life is affected. The plot is truly intense and engrossing.

Needless to say, I’ve become a fan of this comic. I just hope that Bendis’ contribution, like Miller’s work, doesn’t become such a juggernaut that no one can maintain the level of quality. I’ve read a few issues by the next writer, Ed Brubaker, and it seems like he’s doing just as great a job.


The other title that has me hooked is Y: The Last Man. Written by Brian K. Vaughn and penciled by Pia Guerra, there are no costumed heroes with super powers or evil villains. Like Bendis, Vaughn injects as much realism as possible into the book. The greatest strength of the book is Vaughn’s ability to write modern, realistic, natural dialogue. No cheesy super hero one-liners, except in self-aware sarcasm. The characters act and speak in a manner that can easily be scripted from my own circle of friends.

I don’t find anything spectacular about the art, but no crippling flaws either. Guerra’s visuals seem to merely support the story, which is fine since the story is amazing. But after seeing how Bendis and Maleev created such a perfect union of story and art, it’s hard not to wonder what other level this book could’ve been taken to.

Now, on to the actual plot...

Due to unknown circumstances, all of the world’s males (animals included) die in an instant, throwing the entire world society and infrastructure into chaos and panic. Yet we find out that one man, Yorick (and his pet monkey) somehow survived.

The book follows Yorick, a scientist and an agent of a shadow government operation race to find out the cause and the cure for the catastrophe.

Vaughn expertly handles all of his characters, never relying on the obvious. You’d think that as the last man, Yorick would be in a Male Paradise and go screw as many women as he could. Yet Vaughn creates a man is actually a romantic and goes looking for his girlfriend (conveniently halfway across the world).

Vaughn treats the remaining women with dignity, not falling into a Helpless-Without-Men mentality. Not that a lot of crazy shit doesn’t happen. Think about half the world suddenly dying a horrible death, with planes falling from the sky because both the pilot and copilot were men, or how the government would cope with the Presidential line of succession landing on a low level Congresswoman.

The story is planned to last for 60 issues and while I’m only halfway through, I can sense that the story is dragging out a bit in order to cover the amount of pages. Probably reducing the number of issues to 40 would’ve helped keep a good pace. Still, it allows the book to create and fill out great characters.

Even with the lags, there are some great cliffhangers throughout the story. I don’t want to spoil any of them but will say that the writer has done a masterful job of crafting and executing a unique idea.

The first issue pacing is unparalleled and will have any person hooked into the story. The publishers are so confident of that fact that they have the entire first issue available to download in PDF format (which I’ve also provided a link to at the end of this post). Read it. You won’t be disappointed.

Most people will scoff at the idea of reading comics, but these two books are examples of how far the medium has come. Yeah, originally it was to entertain kids with the visuals, but over the years the story has taken precedence and, like anime, has hooked in an older audience. I find myself not even looking at the art and jumping to the next line of dialogue because I’m completely invested in the story. Definitely worth checking out.

Y: the Last Man #1

Dual Screens, double the dorkiness

Last weekend I purchased the Nintendo DS, my first game system in 14 years. I popped in the game cartridge and had flashbacks of the days when I spent all my time with my equally nerdy friends playing video games and reading comic books.

And I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t more of a chick magnet.

While I unwrapped my DS, I was surrounded by a roomful of people watching a friend play the latest iteration of Grand Theft Auto on the PS2. While everyone else was shouting out advice on how to chase down a pimp or gun down passing whores, I played math and verbal games on Brain Age.

It occurred to me that I’m not the neo-punk cool nerd type that plays first-person shooters on the next-gen game consoles. No, I’m the non-threatening old-school nerd that no one would ever confuse as cool.

That’s okay. I’m not the only one. Nintendo is definitely seeking out a different audience for their game systems than Sony or Microsoft. A few nights ago I caught a commercial for an XBox 360 game, (I’m guessing) Gears of War, wherein a live-action actor in a futuristic Aliens-esque soldier outfit runs around in post-Apocalyptic ruins and shoots at a half-cyborg dog and its master, an alien soldier. Nice.

Then I saw a commercial for the Nintendo Wii, featuring a suburban living room with the parents and kids playing sports-themed games with the new interactive controller. The focus was definitely more on the family cheering each other on rather than how many pixels were on the textures of the video game characters.

I enjoyed the bloody games such as CounterStrike or Diablo but I know that I’d rather be leveling up in the rerelease of Final Fantasy III (or IV or V or VII which are all on my wish list).

So you won’t be seeing me sitting outside of a BestBuy for three days waiting for a $600 PS3. Though, in retrospect, those guys were pretty smart since they could turn around and sell it on eBay for a few grand. I heard the highest offer has been $20,000!

I’ll be enjoying my DS through the cold of winter and on those holiday travels, but I hope that it doesn’t keep me from enjoying the non-virtual things in life, like wandering around the city with my camera or swinging a golf club at Chelsea Piers or just having a few drinks over a pool game.