Richie Havens @ Church

Does anyone else find it slightly ironic and kind of cool that the man who played the opening set at Woodstock is playing at the Lincoln Center Building tonight?

Did you know... #2

Here are a few more things you may not have known about me:

• I went to High School with the son of the inventor of Tetris. We totally knew each other. We totally debated the business practices of Microsoft. He totally tried to crack down on everyone that had a knockoff copy of Tetris on their TI calculator. I do not lie.
• I used to pre-test video games for Nintendo. I got to play them before they were released and rate them. I had soooo much playground cred.
• I used to play banjo in an award winning* dixieland jazz band.
• I have had the same Mr. Potato Head that my grandparents gave me when I was a kid. His name is Fred Potatohead.
  
• I was almost on the Telemundo dating show "12 Corazones." True story.

*It wasn't much of an award, but we won it.

Photos that are making me happy... for now

Except that my scanner didn't get the awesome fluorescent orange of the letters, and I'll be darned if I can't make it in Photoshop.

I miss Arrested Development. I miss SNL being good.

Rachel Weisz as Snow White. Did I mention I might be going to Disneyland for the very first time ever in my life?

Bill Murray as Elvis. He also answers the Tiger Beat survey inside.

Ten days...

The big 27 is coming up in about 10 days, and this year I'm getting a camera. A sexy camera. I'm actually really proud of this achievement because, 1) I've wanted a SLR for about 10 years, and 2) I finally got up enough courage (and capital) to convince my parents that with the money they would normally spend on birthday/Christmas presents I would have enough for a sexy camera. This was actually a pretty big deal, since deviations from the norm aren't necessarily always welcomed with open arms back home. For example, when I decided to move to NYC, the news was met with what I can best describe as "hesitant happiness." Life east of the Rockies is pretty much a mystery to my parents, and they simply didn't know how to respond. It actually took quite a bit of convincing to get them to visit, but once they did, they loved it. I'm hoping the "money for camera" decision turns out the same way. I think it will, since my Dad is something of an amateur photographer himself, and we've had some fun conversations about my camera and the possibility of him making the switch to digital (a big step, considering the home computer is pretty much a fancy Solitaire machine to him). Enough rambling...

So yeah, I've got enough money to get a Nikon D80 (with the 18-135mm kit lens), a 2 GB SD card, and a UV filter. I think that's a pretty good start. I'm hoping that the fat man puts some lens cleaner and perhaps a nice bag in my stocking...

Genre

Amazon sure considers some weird things to be genres. I noticed this while entering my latest CD purchase (the White Album) into Delicious Library. Take a look:
I might not be an expert on the subject, but I'm pretty sure that Britain is a country, not a genre. Ooh... cheap shot, but not the worst that I could make. Take a look for yourself.

The red circles by Vieve and Libby mean they've had my stuff for too long.

5 CD purchases before this one (from most recent):

1. The Reminder by Feist
2. Oscar Peterson Trio + One by The Oscar Peterson Trio
3. Revolver by The Beatles
4. Bitches Brew by Miles Davis
5. E.S.P. also by Miles Davis
   

Most Excellent Subscription That Would Waste Too Much of My Time

Please forgive me for subjecting you all to the horrors that are AC Slatering, but I was getting desperate for something to post about (also, I found it to be extremely hilarious). Hopefully today's post will be a bit less sophomoric and a bit more freshmanic.

Have I mentioned that I've been on something of a comic book tear lately? Yes, ever since I purchased Spider-Man 3 a couple of weeks ago, I've been obsessing about the various minutiae of my favorite superheroes. I've even created my own superhero team in the action/RPG game Marvel Ultimate Alliance*. Unfortunately, most of this obsessing has taken the form of visiting various web sites to get the latest news on all things Marvel, simply because I don't have the capital to buy even a small sample of the comics I've missed out on from 1994-present. Enter Marvel Digital Comics, a new subscription service that gives you access to a ton of comics, old and new (roughly 2,500 at launch, with 20 added each week). The cost? $10/month, or $5/month when billed yearly. Yup, for 60 bones a year you can get access to all these comics.

I have to admit that I'm a bit undecided about whether or not I should buy into this. Perhaps I should weigh out the pros and cons...

Pros
Hours and hours of comic book bliss
Being the envy of all the guys who hang out at Forbidden Planet (not the ones who work there)
Even more excuses for not exercising

Cons
Loss of contact with family/friends
Possible formation of "funk" in my bedroom
Extremely high risk of another 27 years of celibacy

Doubtlessly, I'll be debating this for days.

*Team Name: Counterstrike; Members:Captain America, Wolverine, Storm, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Daredevil, Invisible Woman(this may have been a bad choice and she may be replaced soon) and Silver Surfer.

The cultural legacy of Mario Lopez

Here's just a little something to tide you over until I have something more worthwhile to talk about:

AC Slatering

Note: I did not find this thread, it was sent to me. Also, be warned that though this link is not graphic, it does mention the existence of poo, and that the commenters all have potty mouths.