Not a bad try....

Chris Mueller popped the question by mowing a soybean field near his home in Hillsboro, North Dakota. Mueller, 25, was nearly finished etching the big question into a harvested soybean field when he realized the 'm' in 'marry' took up too much room. Since he couldn't erase a plowed field, he had a decision to make. "I figured it would look better to spell it wrong".


seems it worked..she said "aww shucks yeah"

Random Stuff...

I am gonna be all over the place today.

I read that Anne Rice, author of some 25+ novels dealing in the macabre, has found god. Her next novel will be called Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt that will be narrated by a seven year old Jesus. She is not worried she will alienate fan as she says Christ is the "ultimate supernatural hero".

Wal Mart heiress Elizabeth Page Laurie gave back her diploma at USC. There were allegations she paid her roommate $20,000 to do term papers and other homework. That is the Walmart mentality at work. Yet another reason I hate Walmart. 11 Months and counting since I have stepped foot in one.

There are more starbucks in London than New York City.

Since most of the world's remaining gold is microscopic, mining companies now must excavate 90 tons of earth to extract enough gold to make a 3oz. ring.

The Patriots won last night with a return of Tedy Bruschi who had a stroke 8 months ago. Fans celebrated by accepting the fact that in the last 3 years Patriots tickets have increased in price 90%.

Gillete will roll out a razor that has not 3, not 4, but FIVE blades. Great..a $25.00 disposable razor that will cut me w/four blades I really don't need.

Now for some more "focus":

Weekend was odd. Saturday was very cold and it snowed. Some areas got over 1 inch. Sunday it was about 65 out. Today its going to be 70. Good for the kids and the tricks and treats but that means more kids and MORE candy I'll need to buy!

Watched the Motorcycle Diaries this weekend. It was actually a pretty good watch. Its hard to rate stuff on Netflix because 3 is "liked it" and when you see three out of 5 you start to think "ehh maybe its not that good". The overall ratings on it are higher. I am not sure I "really liked it" which is 4 stars. I wish I could give 1/2 stars. As far as neflix goes I'll go w/a three. I'd suggest it quickly to others though. Its got subtitles though so be aware if you think that automatically makes a movie "not as good".

I guess thats it..let me file this and I am sure something else will pop to mind.

Wow

Thanks to tony for
this.
i have bought some dumb stuff for sure in my day but not leather pants. It might be time! Look at the # of hits the guy has had too!

Short stuff.

I am not sure I'd buy thisbut I can assure you I will rent it. Its going to have the videos in it as well. It got old after a while when it was one but when you see an episode now they are so flippin' funny.

Weekend is here must mean rain again, and possibly snow they say, but Halloween might be "mild and in the low 60's".

This morning I heard MMbop by Hanson when I was bouncing around the dial. There is a station in boston callled "Mike FM" that is supposed to be like an ipod on shuffle. I'll admit more often than not I'll stop on the song playing. Sure its some cheesy old song but everything they play it seems you can sing along to.

Getting back to Hanson, its way out of bounds for me but I am gonna go with it: that is one hell of a catchy pop song. Its perfectly crafted, catchy lyrics and infections groove and just the right length. I am not saying I am gonna run out and buy (or even download the song) but when the producers first heard that song they must have seen the dollar signs. The next time you hear it, give it a shot its really quite good. (there I said it).

Ugggh..what a bunch of tools

Check this fired. Freaking lady works PART TIME to boot. 5.00 says she will have 100 job offers before the weekend at double if not triple her salary. Just like Dawn (BBC office) and Pam (USA Version) said "I don't think a little girl says I want to be a receptionist when I get older. This woman is gonna show how moronic people can be.

Checkin the email the email...

Have you had one of those new cinnamon sticks from dunkin donuts? Gad zoolies. Served slightly warm to boot, dang nabbit I need more. I hardly ever "stop for coffee" but I was out yesterday and saw the sign. I *love* donuts so that is one reason I stay clear of coffee places. It said "limited time" and I'll be damned if I miss out on this. Seinfeld once said that Cinnamon and Sugar should be on the table for all meals like salt and pepper. So I partook and I am sold. Grab yerself one (and one for me) you shant be disappointed.

if you got a few minutes and feel like freaking yourself out go here as creepy as it is I watch it about once a month just to get my "freak out" on.

I was on strongbad
for the first time in ages the other day too. I should go every week but sometimes its nice to watch 2-3 of them in a row. He speaks of the beverage to get the cheat to bed as a "SUDSU" (pronounced Sudzu) which is 1 part skim milk and a handful of gummy bears. then the tells you its G-E-W-D (pronounced good). Well worth a stop over to see what Trogdor and Big Nife are up to these days.

Before work today I was reading an article about how parents can get kids pottie trained before they are 6 months old. It was pretty interesting because they talk about how the modern world diapers are just accepted but what do the moms do in the jungles. They don't have diapers. It had to do with noticing your childs mannerisms and the like to get them used to using the toilet. Again, it was pretty good in that they said yeah thats great to get them not using diapers and saving money and room in landfills but they spoke of the constant need to be "watching them for signs" thus making a hand off to a babysitter or a nanny even harder. In a perfect world I guess but diapers just go with the territory.

Short stuff.

The NHL has always been the bastard stepchild but it looks like the NBA dress code has something to emulate. dress code its good to see the NHL has something on the other major sports. I need to get my fantasy hockey team in order. I am in 2nd to last in one and DEAD last in the other. I can't seem to find my groove this year.

Got some new music over the weekend. I need to post some reviews. I'll be doing some critical listening today.

The Death Cab for Cutie show came out decent. I wonder how long it will take me to master it down to CDR.

What's with these homies dissin my girl?

i am such an indie snob sometimes i even annoy myself. At death cab for cutie on Saturday night I had secure taping spot and just had to deal with the folks on their night out. The conversations are sometimes funny and this one particular fella who had a few too many starts off with the "We should get the band back together". ohh boy here we go. he goes on to mention how he wants to have 2 bass players in the band because nobody has done that before and it will be "revolutionary". I cringed and bit my tongue. I wish I could have flashed my indie cred card but I decided to let that one slide. when he gets in rolling stone he'll try to say he was the first..but as noted 2 came to mind before he even finished
his drunk rant to change the world. first you havedianogahnot as active as I personally would like. The other is
Neds Atomic Dustbin
who I thought was disbanded but upon research for this rant i see they had some gigs lined up. Probably won't have all the original members, nor will they come here but this band was my grateful dead for a few years I saw them EVERY chance I had.

Like to cut up pumpkins but hate the mess?
pumpkin

on a final note we got a co-worker today with the "stapler in jello" gag. Fans of the office know what I am speaking of. We have pictures too. The victim LOVED it too.

Other stuff

Seems easy listening (and austin powers man) Burt Bacharach is doing a record with Dr.Dre. Rain drops keep fallin on my head indeed.

OJ Simpson was at a comic and horror convention. Appears he was to make and appearance and sign items. Charging $95.00 per autograph he had less than a dozen people approach him.

The last winner of American Idol, Fantasia Barrino, confessed she is illiterate. She could not read the scripts or contracts placed before her on Idol. Her "memoir" was dictated to a freelance writer. Also Posh Spice is quoted as saying that she has never read a book in her life. Real nice.

Within a few days of Hurricace Katrina there was over 450 web sites w/Katrina in their name. Most were set up as fun raising fraud sites.

Roosevelt vetoed 635 bills in his presidency, Johnson 31, Carter 30, Bush ZERO.

Van Halen has said "No thanks" to a Rock Star INXS like show. Dudes, you'll be playing the local VFWs soon.

Death Cab for Cutie

Death Cab for Cutie
Lupo's At the Strand, Providence Rhode Island
Saturday October 22, 2005

The one good thing about Lupo's is that is so very close. The downside is when it is a sold out show its SOLD out. Even the signs outside pretty much told would be hopefuls to forget it. Saturday shows there are great too because they start and end early. Hey call me old but I don't need to hang out spending money I don't have on booze. Heck I don't drink at shows anyhow. Okay this is not even a review...

A band from Montreal opened the show. They were called "stars" and they were fantastic I thought. The band was made up of 6 members and they were just really refreshing. I had read a review on pitchfork for their cd and it was very favorable. They did enough to impress me that I grabbed the cd on the way out.

Death Cab for Cutie came out about 8:45 and the band dove right in. It was a simple stage set up with main man Ben Gibbard way off to one side and the other guitar player Chris on the other. I do like the trend of putting the bass player almost center stage (Nick) to work with the drummer (Jason). Nick is fun to watch.

Death Cab were "indie darlings" for a lot of years and over the last few have garnered more attention due to a slot on the Fox Teen Drama "The OC". After all that the band fled the indie labels and went to Atlantic. The result was the mostly good record "plans" of which the band is currently on tour for. There was a pretty good amount of young college girls who did their best to hold back their shrieks. I saw the band open for Pearl Jam last fall and was very impressed. I had a buddy suggest them to me for a while and finally grabbed the John Byrd ep last fall after Pearl Jam. Glad I did.

I am a pretty new fan to the band so I don't know the full set and I was surprised that when Ben mentioned "this is an old song" the audience didn't really seem to care. It was odd.

All in all it was a decent show. It was beyond sold out as I mentioned so there was a lot of chatterboxes there and people that feel just cuz the band has been on stage for 45+ minutes it is still in their right to "move up" and push smaller people out of the way. I am over 6 feet tall (and a taper) so I try to stand a little back and I watched as these 2 women walked right up and tried to get on a railing in front of me. The people that had been there since before stars came on suddenly are crushed..makes no sense.

The band was tight and did a 90 minute set which was pretty nice. I expected about 60-70 minutes honestly so that was nice. Ben sweats more than I do so that was refreshing too.

I'd see them again.

Mmmmmmm candy

name that candy

Mr T and Explosions.

A good Friday funny for you. Mr T wants to give you a new name.


Shuttupfool

In yesterdays mail I got a great great package. Texas band explosions in the sky is on the label temporary residence. The label decided to do a run of cds in very limited quantities one or 2 times a year. I found out about it just in time and got my order in for the latest batch. The first 3 arrived including cds by The Drift, Eluvium and Explosions in the Sky. The sheet of paper that came with it said that Explosions holed themselves in to a house for 2 weeks to record this record. The mission was to complete one song a day, they were not allowed to go back to the song they had worked on. My hands are trembling as I am about to place this in the cd player. Early next year I get the next 3 cds (one of which is from Mono!) I am not sure you can still order but its a great packages.


Temporary Residence


Around the dial:
On my ride in today I heard "I'm Free" by the Soupdragons. Suddenly it was the early 90's and I was drinking Budweiser from the can looking for a place that sells clove cigarettes.

On Howard Stern earlier they were saying that a guy went to the strip club Scores in NYC and had $240,000 charged to his American Express. After $10,000 was put on the card AMEX called the club every hour to make sure the sales were legit and they had the "buyer" on the phone saying it was fine. He had to fax them his finger prints (how do you do that in a strip club) and his drivers license. He kept on going and AMEX paid the Club. Now this high roller that just closed some billion dollar deal on Wall Street is saying he didn't authorize the charges and he told his wife that the card was stolen. Here is a link if ya care:


strippers



On the Page:
I completed Lunar Park. Still not sure what I think. I need to join a book club, or go read some on line reviews.

Weekend:
More rain. They said 1-3 inches. After 10+days of it you think 1-3 phases us?
I am headed to Death Cab For Cutie in Providence on Saturday night as well. There is a band called Stars opening that I want to see. Good news is that its an early show so I can be home at about 10:30. Review per the norm next week.

the world of hoops.

how on earth does this makes sense

larry legend


good thing he likes Larry and not Wayne Gretzky!

There was a story the other day about how the NBA commissioner is cracking down on the "urban" wear the players show up to games in, as well as doing press conferences. Some players are upset because they feel you are taking away their "heritage/image". I just think its funny its the younger players that are most upset, oh and Allen Iverson (SHOCKER!) He tries to make baseball hats of every wardrobe. Leave it to Charles Barkley to make the most sense of this. He said that if you make millions of dollars a year feel free to wear what you want but you need to realize you have young fans that idolize your every move and may never be able to afford what you have. It made more sense than how i am putting it down here. Michael Jordan had a big thing about always being seen in "suits" he felt that the 20 second meeting you might have with him in a hotel lobby and being dressed nicely was respect for you as a fan.

Drat..no Karma this time..

I didn't win powerball..looks like i need to go to work today. Son of a...........

POWERBALL!

I don't play any lottery much but when you are in the 100's of millions you have my attention. Tonight its estimated at 340 Mil. About 160 Mil after taxes. One of the first things I'd buy:


Sigur Rós: Live in Iceland

Don't miss this rare opportunity to experience the sublime sounds of one of Iceland's coolest exports... where it all began. Iceland's ethereal elements provide the perfect backdrop for this getaway, which includes: roundtrip airfare, 2 nights hotel and a ticket to see Sigur Rós perform live in Reykjavik.

From $591* pp dbl

heck I'll even take some of YOU with me.

I am so lame..

Well the ipod turns a whopping 2 today. That is a big deal is it not? 40G with over 6500 tunes on it. I have made the promise that I'd update it with some fresh tunes today and that is just what I am doing.

On the list to transfer:
Two Mitch Hedberg comedy cds (rip mitch)
Fiona Apple, Broken Social Scene, My Morning Jacket, the oxes ep, Coheed and Cambria, Kinski and one if not two Acid Mothers Temple cds. The ipod is getting its charge on as I type so it will be ready to take on board more awesomeness.

Also on the docket is transferring down some of the live shows I have taped from DAT down to CDR. I am doing the Arcade Fire from February (finally) and I have to do U2 night 2. I will see how motivated I am come lunch I guess.

I am in the midst of a cd trade as well. I need my cpu to stop being such a baby and rip the cds without errors. I have no idea why the EAC and all that jazz is not working. It rips fine sometimes others it hates.

most of this makes zero sense to the few people that read this blog so I'll just stop.

3 more chapters to go on Lunar Park and either it took a nosedive or it became awesome. I need to ride this out I think.

sorry..bad link.

that link regarding magazines seems to be dead. I went to magazines.org and they have a press release that is "text only" so there are no images. Sorry..if/when I get a chance I'll poke around some more.

Magazine update and then some.

Yesterday I ranted how boston.com posted a story on the best magazine covers of the last 40 years but had no images. Sure enough it took people in my group to search the web to find the images

here
. Some I have seen and some are more powerful than others. I know Vogue had to do with the first African American woman being on a magazine cover. Word of caution on the link, it took a while to upload the images so be patient.

I really think I want to go to


this
when it comes to Boston. Its done very well in New York and its recouped money. I am sure it will be a tough ticket to get but it will be worth it I am sure.

In yesterdays mail I got a survey from Blender Magazine. They asked me to be honest about the time I spend with the magazine and what articles I read more than others. They even put a dollar bill in the envelope. The issue, I need to review a magazine that has yet to arrive! Guess I have my work cut out for me.

Celebrities can be so annoying. I was reading yesterday that Madonna won't let her kids watch TV or read magazines amongst other things. I am all for raising your kids the way you want to raise them but there are sometimes you need to step back and let them be kids for god sake. She is quick to say that when her husband comes home he gives the kids chocolate, but she never does. Sell out the husband Madonna, good move.

In record stores today is the new Lightning Bolt cd. You'll be hardpressed to find their stuff at Target.

My ipod
turns "2" tomorrow so perhaps I'll get it all charged up and load it full of some of the recent cd purchases I have made. I have been VERY lax on that.

before bed last night I read for over 1hr. I am trying to finish the latest book by Bret Easton Ellis. I am finally finding my groove. Perhaps if I had the reading capacity above a 6th grader I might actually enjoy books more.

Thats it..don't forget "The Office" and "My Name is Earl" tonight.

oh i am full of them today.

this sounds really neat..why not put PICTURES WITH THEM YOU MORONS!


best magazine covers

yeah hi..how are you?

At last the rain has stopped. I was out for a walk on Saturday afternoon when it seemed to "stop" but got stuck in some drizzle. Fall around here so far has not been the best. I even tried to clean up the yard some yesterday but in 55 mile per hour winds that lasted all of about 10 minutes.

Weekend was okay otherwise. Watched Crash Saturday night. It was pretty good. I had only heard people saying it was good and honestly had no idea on the story etc. All in all I'd recommend it. I "think" the same guy that did Magnolia did this film.

Congrats to the White Sox. Around here its "anyone but the Yankees". Bruins lost 5-1 to a great Ottawa team and the Pats lost as well. Its funny how a 3-3 record is "bad" in the NFL. I know its a short season but I am waiting for people to say "wait till next year". Its been rough on the pats injury wise this year as well.

One silly rant. Why is it, when they show people playing backyard football in commercials they ALWAYS need to show the players with mud on their faces? Even in the muddiest of mudbowls I have never seen people that covered in mud. Are they trying to tell me how hard these people play, or how hard you laundry soap washes SKIN?

Housewives was silly last night and for some reason I can't get off my arse after and have watched the last few weeks of Greys Anatomy. That show is pretty good. KK is groaning now on many levels.

Cool..

I was killing time while eating and I came upon a link off the BBC The Office site to the USA version. 3 of the main characters on the show (Michael, Jim and Ryan) are all Massachusetts natives. And for the men that love Pam..she is married.

Its raining I need a quick rant..

So I was waiting for something to compile so I decided to head over to craigslist and look at tickets for sale. I have never bought from anyone but I just like to see the begging and the ripping off that goes on there.

Why is it that when a concert is sold out you ALWAYS have someone post something like this:

OMG XXXX is coming to town and i had NO idea. I am the biggest fan EVER. Please if you are a REAL fan you'd help out a REAL fan and not rip me off. XXXXX is the best ever and I never miss them when they come to town.

Messages like that go up one side of me and down the other. If you are even a MODERATE fan you are going to know the band "may" be on tour. Check their web page, listen to the radio or even ask someone if they heard anything. Its not that hard. And this bullshit of "real" fans. Uggh. Stop being 12. How can you define a real fan anyhow? One that has the cds and sees the band live? One that does all that and THEN buys merch? One that does all that AND runs a fan web site? Fans are fans folks. If the music moves you, you are a fan. If it really moves you, you are a "bigger" fan than maybe someone else but stop this crap with "I am a real fan". Just cuz you saw the band in the early days doesn't make you a REAL fan either. You are an early fan of their work.

I just so badly want to respond and say "Boy you are a real fan but do you realize that when you buy tickets from a scalper you are hurting this band you love so much?" Sure its a sold ticket that effects the bottom line but bands make $$ in selling their merchandise NOT in ticketsales. Sure some of that comes in to it all and when you are a superstar act even more so. There is a band I like called Pelican. If you go to their site they ask (nicely) mind you that merch is what keeps gas in the van and them on the road. So get the 10.00 ticket when it goes on sale and drop 20.00 on merch. Don't spend 30.00 to a scalper and not be able to help this band you "love".

I'm done.

Friday..

Its Friday and its been raining here for 6+ days. Honestly, if I wanted this i'd move to London or Seattle. At the rate we are going I'll be raking leaves in the snow.

Ever have a conversation with your work superiors are realize they have no idea what it is you do. Its only when you ask to be recognized you are then told of your "deficiencies". That always makes for a fun meeting.

around the radio dial - heard that TV Guide will change its "look" next week. Guess it will go to more a "magazine" format with more features and less listings. Well when all you need to list is
08:00 - crap
08:30 - crap
09:00 - crap
I guess going w/less is okay. Its funny they decide to do this the same week that the New York Times says it will be putting out a "smaller" paper come Jan 1st. Less pages saving millions by not listing everything on the NASDAQ. TV Guide collectors (you know they are out there) have to be somewhat upset. Years of certain storage methods now need to be changed. Did you know that when cds were first rolled out and put in "long boxes" it was so that record shops could use existing album sheleves. 2 cds next to each other in long boxes are the same dimension as a 12 inch record.

Linky link links and one other thing.

Over on the right you will see some links to blogs of friends, family as well as a link to a blogger I came upon by using the "next blog" icon. I just like her sense of humor. In doing this I can just delete your blogs from my faves and access you from all over the world!! If you want a link removed please lemme know.

the other thing..happy nine years to me. I know what it means.

Stuff.

So it looks like iPod is at it again.


iPodvideo
I love my ipod. It will be 2 years old later this month. Its amazing how far they have come. the mini is already "gone" replaced by the nano. If I had to replace now its good to know I can really update for less than what i spent. Not sure I need to watch video on a screen that small but I am not sure that I am really the target demo on this roll out.

Completed watching a great Thelonous Monk documentary last night. That is what you can easily call a "mad genius". I have one of his cds but its time to get a "best of". I couldn't sleep so I watched "audition". Its a takashi miike film. he is part of this Japanese shock genre. It was about 1hr and 20 minutes of not a lot then WHAM. I'll have nightmares for weeks. If you are in netflix and want to be a 'buddy' so we can see each other lists fire me a note. Its always fun to see who is watching Legally Blonde 2...again

Hmmm

I heard a story on the radio yesterday and it got me thinking. The story was about this web page called esmokes or something like that. People could buy smokes on line and have them sent to their homes.

First it is not my place to tell you what to do with your money and your body. On top of that I am not even going to make this a pro/con anything just an observation.

So this web site is closing and as part of them shutting down they decide that they will give or sell the names of buyers here in MA and the state is going after these people for tax evasion! Are they freaking kidding me?! Does that mean when I buy something on ebay that is new will I be "hunted down" for not paying taxes on the items. One of the things that bugs me is how the cigarette companies are blamed for everything it seems. Again I am not saying good or bad about them but why do they need to pay all these fines and educate people. Come on its 2005 for god sake. The government is so quick to say "Don't smoke" but they won't take them away from people. Why? They tax the living hell out of them. Here in MA a name brand smoke is close to $6.00 per pack. If you smoke you understand the risks. Just put a disclaimer on them saying smoke em at your own risk (which they do). Please don't say "oh second hand smoke" that is not what I am talking about. Here in MA you can only smoke outside as it is. All this coming from a guy that doesn't smoke!

On a lighter note I saw this article in rolling stone. Its cost him about $10,000 to build and shoot. Hey as long as you are committed right? Check it out


legobible

A slew of things..

Sorry got a bunch of "randomness today". First, sorry for the late update. I had a meeting at 10am in which I found out I am part of a "re-org". I love how they tell you its a good thing and all that. I am staying to work with most of the people I currently work with but there are one or two people that I won't that I will honestly miss. They make work somewhat tolerable.

Tunes:
I heard the new Depeche Mode song last night...yeeech. Like KK said/says "Its amazing they sold out the Rose Bowl". There was a time and place for them for sure, but this is just getting silly.

I also heard the new song from the Darkness. No stretching here, but man it was great. I love that campy shlock rock.

The new My Morning Jacket is terrific. I hope to get to some of my other new releases this week. I am WAY behind right now.

tv - during the bruins game last night I flipped over to the food network when they were doing "unwrapped". They had on the show (i kid you not) a "Nacho Sauce Expert". I need to see his credentials. Come on..can I get a degree in that?! I wonder how these people do it, and when asked "What do you do for work" do they really say they are an expert? File that under any show on VH1 where they talk to someone about I love the 80's and its says Bob Jones - Comedian. There are a lot of comics on VH1 that do NOTHING else.

Sox lose and so do the Yanks. Networks must be REELING. The best part about the sox not getting far is no freaking Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

film - I completed Friday Night Lights. I really liked it but MAN the soundtrack by Explosions in the Sky made it that much better. A nice surprise was hearing "The New Noise" by Refused used as well.

Sigur Ros charge $1.00 for concert t-shirts

It sounds kinda silly but this is cool.

sigur rós and the toothfaeries, the creators of their merchandise, are fed up with the extortionate fees they are required to pay to concert venues for selling their t-shirts to fans at the american shows. half of the profit of all merchandise sold at tonight’s show at ‘the joint’ in the hard rock hotel, las vegas, goes to the venue and new taxes. sigur rós have decided to protest against these ridiculous fees by selling their t-shirts for $1 each at tonight’s show in las vegas, leaving the venue with about 50 cents per tshirt.

on the bands site they said that 54% of the sale of the shirt goes to the venue. This was in Vegas only and it as a one shirt per person limit. Still..very cool of them to "stick it to the man".

Around the dial (radio and tv) and other stuff..

I bagged out of work yesterday. I decided this year I wanted to look in to getting contact lenses. Not to wear all the time but to have when I do (rarely) sports or what have you. I decided that since I needed to put something IN MY EYE I'd take the day off to see how I dealt. Mind you I don't know "me" without glasses. I've had em since 1st grade. When I see myself without glasses its about 1 inch from a mirror and at that point all I notice is how I need to trim my nose hair (AGAIN!).

That appointment went well and then I headed to Newbury Comics to sell off some Cds. Turned out pretty good..got over 60.00 so I can't complain. Nothing beats selling stuff and then buying more, makes a ton of sense eh? After that I went home and did some work around the house so I wouldn't have to do it this weekend.

Okay around the dial(s).
- Are you sick of tom cruise yet??
- During a lapse in action during either CSI or ER last night I went flipping over to OLN to see if there was an NHL game on (there was not). There was man standing in a stream in full hunting gear CRYING that it was his life long dream to hunt and kill a Grizzly Bear. He was crying because after all these years he still had not gotten one. Hunting for sport is odd to me. I just don't see the point, but then again I don't take issue if someone says "hey I got a deer this weekend". Dunno I guess shooting bigger seems useless. I know that it can be beneficial to keep populations down etc. I won't got here there or anywhere on guns/hunting etc it was just odd to see a grown man crying about how he had not shot a bear.
- ER was still kinda ehh. I don't care for that woman from Third Rock from The Sun...again..ONE MORE CHARACTER to spread things out thin. CSI was okay sometimes full episodes to one case are hit or miss. Over all it was "okay".

Bruins and Sox at it again tonight. Living around here it hard to escape a sox story. Yeah they did it last year and yeah faith is rewarded and yeah we came back down 3-0 last year I think that we are still so used to "medioctiry" that we won't be surprised and we will quick say "At least we won last year". Even the mighty patriots are struggling now....ahhh this is the Boston I have known for 25+ years.

Long weekend not sure of major things going on but I hope to FINALLY finish watching Friday Night Lights. Its good and so far in 2 parts its good..I'd like to finish it and decide if I should rewatch it all in one sitting.

Inventions and patents...

Read at lunch:

There is an inventor in South Africa that hopes to combat the worst sex assault rate in the world by creating an anti-rape condom. The female condom is inserted and worn all day. If she is attacked, the device sinks hooks in to the assailants penis. The idea was born when the inventor, a counselor for rape victims was told by a victim that she "wished she had teeth down there".

The U.S. Patent office got almost 400,000 applications last year, a record. They are so overtaxed that Apple is still waiting to receive a patent for the iPod.

Uh Oh...

Sox lose and the bruins lose not too good a night. I saw more of the B's game than I expected but the loss with under a minute is not too good! I watched some of the coverage on the OLN network too, seems like the cameras are set on "zoom" just hard to watch.

All I have else at this time is a good one.

Remember a while back a woman thwarted off a home invader by reading the bible and talking to him about god etc until he "gave up". Seems the woman has come clean and said her other method of getting him to calm down was to give him some of the crystal meth she had from her supply.

This is wrong on so many levels.....

spawn


On man the jokes write themselves sometimes.

U2 Night 2

Went to U2 again last night and here is just a few things I felt like chatting on.

I got the venue about the same time and secured my "good taper spot" and just planted it there. There was some buzz going on behind me at the mixing board and I am not sure which celeb was in attendance but people kept looking back and going for walks.

Show started just about 9 again and ran until about 11:15. The set list was pretty close to the night before. I was surprised the Electric Co. got in the set again. That was the slot where they'd roll out An Cat Dubh, or I Will Follow on various night.

Crumbs from your Table was performed for only the second time. It was a little sloppy and bono even mentioned at the end that the issue was mostly with "the singer".

As ehh as I thought I was on Miss Sarajevo that song still is amazing live. The story before it was exactly the same as the night before but the rendition was just as strong.

At the end of Where the Streets Have No Name bono said the crowd was louder than last night. Funny, cuz as I stood there I said to myself "monday was louder".

The encore started with an acoustic version of The First Time. When that was over I saw a mic stand go up for the Edge and it looked like we were going to get something unexpected. Bono said he was a little worried as they had 'never done this song..well this way". They did a very cool Stuck In a Moment that was almost totally acoustic. A cool version for sure. The took off from the stage and came back out for All Because of You and then it really seemed like it was going to be it when Larry started slapping out "40". Even Edge and Adam were not sure..but did the exchange of instruments. It was a short and not a highly spirited version as it was the night before.

Full set:
City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Elevation, The Electric Co., Crumbs From Your Table, Still Haven't Found, Beautiful Day, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own, Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One - Ol' Man River

Encore(s): The First Time (acoustic), Stuck In A Moment, With Or Without You, All Because Of You, 40

I am still ticketless for either night in December so lemme know who has my extra.

Oh be sure to read in the comments for this review (and last nights) that "u2 sucks" posted by an AVID reader of this blog!

Its all starts tonight...

a year and 1/2 in the waiting. Here is to hoping for a good run this year!

U2 Review Night 1 in Boston

U2
TD Bank North Garden, Boston, MA
October 3, 2005

I'll admit that up until U2 hit the stage last night I was kinda ehh on the whole night. I worked from home and needed to do that "over 1hr drive" thing and park and T it up to the Garden and all that jazz. At least it was not raining. I had been looking at the set lists and they hadn't really changed up a ton since the shows I saw them do in May. I had my single GA ticket, my taping gear and the mind set I was going to pull a great tape.

U2 took the stage just about 9pm (about 10 minutes before John Kerry took a seat about 15 rows up on the side to a pretty favorable applause) The set was pretty standard and again, rather than blow by blow discussion here is some of my personal favorite moments.

Vertigo: Its just a great rock song. It really hammers and the band is in such tight form on this.

The Electric Co - still, perhaps, my all time favorite U2 song. I like how most people don't know what it is. Feels like I can have a connecting moment with the band. The sequence towards the end always does it for me.

Miss Sarajevo - I saw this on the set lists and groaned. It was really the only 'song' on the Passengers cd the band did a few years ago. What made me really think this song was not going to work was the fact that Luciano Povarotti sings just about the last 1/2 of the song. Much to my surprise this was one of the better songs of the night. Bono did what he could to hit the vocal range and he came pretty close. His voice never cracked or wavered so that was a surprise. He pulled it of and I was left a believer.

Where the Streets Have no Name - the intro alone still makes the hair on my neck/legs/arms stand up. I could hear the live version of this song 20 times in a row and not be bored. The ovation at the end was amazing..even bono stopped and said "wow...thanks".

Pride - although this is one of the real ho-hum songs to me Bono had zero voice on this. He botched lyrics and even looked to the audience to take over. Granted it was not "vintage U2" but still it showed he was human.

The encore was pretty standard but we did get The First Time and a mostly acoustic version of Who's Gonna Ride your Wild Horses.

Bono was busy with female fans. During Elevation he pulled a woman out from the front who had a sign reading something like "Baby in belly would like to dance with Bono" and during With or Without You he took a woman from the end of the ellipse and hugged her for just about the whole song.

All in all it was a pretty strong show. I know the set list is pretty standard and even I groan when I read them but still when I hear them live I get a nice big smile. I love that music can make everything seem okay, even if its just for a few hours.

I'll do it all over again Tuesday the 4th for my 15th U2 show.

Set list if ya care:

City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Elevation, The Electric Co. - Bullet with Butterfly Wings, The Ocean, I Still Haven't Found, Beautiful Day - Many Rivers to Cross, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own, Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One
Encore(s): The First Time, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, With or Without You, All Because of You, Yahweh, 40

Some random music stuff..

Bummer.RIP Bigger Lovers:
Having made the decision to split, Philadelphia-based pop/rock act the Bigger Lovers will stage one final performance. Set for Nov. 5 at the city's Indre Studios. The show will include an opening set by New Radiant Storm King, while the $10 admission includes free beer. (free beer!!)

"You know, we've been discussing this for a while, and we all agreed that the band has drawn to its logical conclusion and it's better to put this to bed while we can still remain friends, " says guitarist/singer Bret Tobias, who will be playing drums in another Philadelphia band, B.C. Camplight.

The Biggers Lovers on self-released album and two -- 2002's "Honey in the Hive" and last year's "This Affair Never Happened" -- for Yep Roc Records. Drummer (and sometime Billboard.com contributor) Patrick Berkery will continue with his other gig as drummer for the Pernice Brothers. Meanwhile, guitarist Ed Hogarty plans to reunite with Lefty's Deceiver and bassist Scott Jefferson intends to resurrect the Diane Linkletter Experience.

They are a good pop band. I stumbled upon Honey in the Hive when I was at the River. It was in the "junk bin" but became one of my favorite cds of the year.

Tuesday is new release day for cds and it has the potential of being an expensive week.

Canada's Broken Social Scene follow up to You forgot in People is due, as is the long long awaited Fiona Apple. I am not sure why I am fan, but she just does the trick for me. My Morning Jacket have "Z" coming out and even Franz Ferdinand are due with their sophomore release.

U2 was pretty good..review on that a little later. I got some work to take care of.

The Perfect sandcastle..

Yeah publish it in OCTOBER..well done you fools.



perfectsandcastle



If you need to be a member here is the text:

Recipe for sand castles: 8 parts sand, 1 part water
October 3, 2005
Any child knows how hard it is to build a sand castle without water. But now, thanks to a team of local researchers, science is a step closer to knowing why. By observing piles of wet glass beads in a rotating drum, scientists at Clark University and MIT have developed a model that can predict the stability of a pile of granules by considering the geometry of the grains and the liquid bridges that form both at the surface and inside the pile. The research has practical implications, for instance, for civil engineers designing retaining walls to keep out floods.

BOTTOM LINE: The sturdiest sandcastles will be roughly eight parts sand; one part water.

CAUTIONS: Unlike the glass beads used in these experiments, natural grains may not be perfectly spherical. ''In a real pile, these things are not neatly arranged in pyramids like the ones we are considering," Arshad Kudrolli of Clark University, the study's lead author, said.

WHAT'S NEXT: In addition to investigating how well the model fits irregularly shaped or multi-sized grains, the researchers would like to know more about the physics of how a grain pile collapses.

WHERE TO FIND IT: Nature Physics, October 2005
EMILY ANTHES

Yeah hi...

Nice weekend around these parts. The fall in this area is just the best. I am not sure if in your mind you keep thinking "this is it, it will snow tomorrow" but the days have been stunning.

I have my first of 2 U2 shows tonight. As much as I love this band I am not as jacked up as I hoped or wanted to be about the show. I am going alone so the ride to and from gets dull. Tomorrow I am at least a little closer to Boston. I am sure it will all pan out when they are playing.

In the paper this weekend I read that the show "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" is going to do a house a few towns over. I have never really watched much of the show, i seem to catch the end of it when everyone is crying. Its great what they can do to help people out. The story in a nutshell said that the crew arrived Saturday, they had stuff in storage on Sunday and they'd be DONE next Saturday. That is amazing..a full tear down and electrical etc..wow. They can make a slight detour down route 109 and take care of a few things this weekend. I don't even need stuff torn down. I'll try to keep my eye on the schedule and try to catch this one.

On a final note the Red Sox made the wild card again this year. That is pretty good news for the city since the Patriots loss and the wheels are falling off that band wagon fast and furious.

Hockey starts in TWO DAYS!!

U2 review tomorrow.

A rare weekend post..

I had two things. First I know the clergy is now considered to be somewhat "scary" but this is just funny.


pope.


I had a pretty cool dream and when i woke up i thought about how dreams are made up of things we have seen in the past or mixtures of things. I was wondering (and I mean no offense) do the blind dream? I know they do because the brain always needs to be active but I wonder what they dream about?

and..did you know that Oak Trees only produce acorns if they are 50 years older or more?!