Damn Death...

You scored as XIII: Death. Death is probably the most well known Tarot card - and also the most misunderstood. Most Tarot novices would consider Death to be a bad card, especially given its connection with the number thirteen. In fact this card rarely indicates literal death.Without "death" there can be no change, only eventual stagnation. The "death" of the child allows for the "birth" of the adult. This change is not always easy. The appearance of Death in a Tarot reading can indicate pain and short term loss, however it also represents hope for a new future.

XIII: Death		75%
II - The High Priestess		69%
XIX: The Sun		69%
VIII - Strength		63%
XVI: The Tower		63%
I - Magician		56%
XI: Justice		50%
XV: The Devil		50%
X - Wheel of Fortune		50%
0 - The Fool		44%
III - The Empress		38%
IV - The Emperor		38%
VI: The Lovers		25%

Which Major Arcana Tarot Card Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Stolen from Coronado

Cobra Starship - Snakes on a Plane

Sweet video from the soundtrack of the movie whose whole premise is right in the title... Snakes on a Plane.

Melting...

It's hot. I had to wait until the sun went down a bit to take Skippy for a walk. It was still steamy. He apparently doesn't understand why god created air conditioning.

I've been watching a lot of brainless TV this summer. Well, more brainless than normal. One of the things I've been watching is Kyle XY, on the ABC Family channel. It's kind of John Doe for teens. There's also new seasons of Reno 911!, Chappelle's Show, The Dead Zone,The 4400, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Monk, The Closer and new shows Psych and Saved. I'm still rather far behind on some of the other shows from the spring. I need another long weekend just to catch up on some things. 4 days of lounging about watching TV would be awesome.

Friday went to play poker with Austin's friend Brian somewhere in the wilds of Wixom. I lost $40 but won back $10 in the last game. Still, fairly inexpensive for a night's entertainment. Saturday I was supposed to go to the roller derby with Austin, but my stomach was still acting up. I went to my parents on Sunday for dinner. I also talked to Dan on the talking box for a while.

Man, sometimes I just don't know how to end these posts.

It's still hot out. Even with the rain.

Tongue Tide

Weekend was fun. Went to Jenn's Friday for "Fry-day". We deep fried many things and also went to Gus O'Connors for drinks. Then we deep fried more things after the bar.

Saturday I went to Austin's and we used our newly devised system to decide where to get dinner. The dice chose Tubby's. It was good. Then Austin had ordered the UFC 61 on pay-per-view and we watched that. Jordan and Gerry, and also Steve came over and watched too. After that Austin and I met up with Beckie, Jenn, Ryan and "Full-Asian" Mike at the Coney. The food took a while to come out. I think I may have pissed off Beckie with a comment I made.

Somehow, from my brain to my mouth, whatever I was attempting to say ended up not being as funny as it sounded in my mind. This happens to me frequently. Maybe I'm only funny in my mind. Anyway, I didn't mean to offend, I don't usually mean to offend or be mean, but somehow the words just come out wrong and it gets construed wrongly. I can't even blame alcohol for the afore-mentioned incident, as I hadn't been drinking. I guess maybe that's why I usually follow the adage of, "Better to keep quiet and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Also, maybe some topics are better left unjoked about.

Anywho, beyond that I had a couple cups of coffee at the coney, and I was up for a couple hours after I got home. I read a travel book on Hawaii I had gotten at Sam's Club earlier that day. Then I slept in until like 3 or so in the afternoon. Lovely.

New Music Video From David "The Hoff" Hasselhoff - "Jump In My Car"

It's awesomely cheese-tastic. Shweet. That's right, it's Hofficial... your favourite cult icon wants to take you home! The one and only David Hasselhoff of "Bay Watch" and "Knight Rider" fame returns with a cover of the 1975 classic 'Jump In My Car' and its a doozy. Recorded in Sydney last year with the legendary Harry Vanda (AC/DC, The Angels), the Ted Mulry Gang tune has been re-vamped with full Hoff gusto and this music video promises to rock the socks off all his Hofficial fans. Watch it, enjoy it, share it on Google Video, courtesy of Sony BMG Australia. Want more? Buy the buy the track on iTunes Australia by clicking here: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=155871591&s=143460

Maybe I should take this again...

Reserved Leader

Pork on the Fourth of July

Lots of stuff happened this weekend. Here's a few keywords.

Mystery Friday.
Cornhole.
Car Parts.
Karaoke.
TV.
New Pornographers.
Late Payments.
TV.
Rolling Dice.
WAB.
Berkley Front
TV.
Superman Returns
Dogs.
BBQ Pork Loin.
Cornhole.

I'm sure that I did some other stuff, but it escapes me at the moment.

Ms. Austin

My Placesetting Card
Originally uploaded by M Kawamoto.

I went to Austin's cousin's wedding on Saturday. The ceremony was at St. Hugo of the Hills, which is a really nice church. It was a bit different than other churches I've been to though, there was this throne for the priest, and giant altar in the middle of place. There were also some Filipino wedding traditions that they followed, which was a little different. Still, a beautiful service.

The reception wasn't for a couple hours after that though, so I went home for a bit, saw Beckie who was taking the dogs to a dog park (Thanks Beckie and Sarah too.), and chilled out. I decided to stop by the Apple Store at Somerset for a bit as the reception was at the Somerset Inn, across the street from the mall. I ran into Audrey, Allen and Austin's cousin Michael there, as they had mentioned they were going there. We left the mall and went to the reception.

They had name tags for all the tables and Vic (Austin's cousin) mentioned something about my tag being under Austin's name. When I found the tag (as shown above), I laughed. And then I was teased mercilessly as "Ms. Austin."

The reception was a lot of fun. Austin was quite drunk when the wedding party entered the reception. Also, Austin had put his guest down for a vegetarian meal, so I had to finagle the waiter into bringing me the beef entree. The food ended up being pretty good, and the rest of the party was a good time.

So, Congratulations to Vic and Lea. Thanks for the good time.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I've been dogsitting Scooter this last weekend. That's why Beckie and Sarah (Beckie's sister) came over to walk and play with the dogs (plural, you see). "Mike"'s picking up Scooter this afternoon.

Also, I love parentheses. Even if I use them incorrectly.

Love the grammar ninja!

Car bombed...

Went out to Novi last night to go out with Jenn. We ended up going to Gus O'Connor's again, and sitting in the same booth we sat in last time. We waited for other people to show up, but only Jenn's friend Mike (Another Asian Mike) and his friend Tom showed up.

We had Irish Car Bombs and some more beers and Jenn and I had those Chambord drinks that she likes, and well, I hadn't had anything to eat since 4:30, so I was pretty drunk. Actually on the drive back to Jenn's I began to feel drunker, as some of the alcohol must have begun to absorb more. I ended laying on the floor of Jenn's bathroom for a while as I was a bit spin-y. Then I passed out on her couch. Another Asian Mike and Tom were sleeping on the floor.

I woke up about 5:15AM and headed home. I didn't know that it actually starts to get light outside about that time. Obviously because it's so close to the solstice that there are a lot of hours of daylight, but I just didn't realize I slept through so many of them usually.

Oh, my liver.

Card Sharks and other sea creatures

Friday was uneventful except for going to dinner with Dan at Olga's.

Saturday was hot. I mostly watched TV and stayed in the air-conditioning. Austin and I did end up going to the El Grande Azteca Mexican restaurant across from Oakland Mall. We were pleasantly surprised to find they had finally acquired a liquor license. Later, we headed to Beckie's cousin's house where Beckie was cat-sitting the hairless cats. We played Balderdash and eventually UNO all while drinking 'forties'.

Playing UNO reminded me of another card game we used to play a lot in high school, Egyptian Rat Screw, or as we commonly abbreviated it, ERS. I couldn't remember how to play it so I ended up looking it up when I got home. The rules sounded familiar, as did the warnings of violence.

Here's links to some various sites with the rules. One of the variant rules that I had never heard of, was the "Pyromania" rule, where if 666 was played, then the deck had to be burned. We probably would have gotten in a fair amount of trouble for kind of pyromania.

Egyptian Ratscrew
Egyptian Ratscrew

Last night Dan and I went to the WAB for cheap booze and they had $2.50 margaritas. Excellent. Austin also stopped by for a time. Good times.

Ha!

Pearls Before Swine for today

Close Encounters or rather Near-Close Encounters

Totally weird.

I went to dinner with John last night, 'cause Julie was working late. We ended up going to the Quizno's on 14 Mile, and we're sitting there eating, I'm on the phone with Dan, and I look up and I see a car that looks familiar turning into the parking lot. I'm looking at the driver and it looks a lot like Fisher. The car pulls in and it is Chris. He sees John and I and gives me kind of a dirty look and then turns his car around and drives off. Freakin' bizarre.

Also, last night we also played poker at Austin's. I played horribly and got screwed a couple times. I ended up losing second. John was actually one of three left at the table by the time I ended up leaving, so I'm not sure how John placed.

Like a Good Neighbor

I was going to mention this before, but this last weekend I had a bit of a confrontation with my neighbor, but it was in a good way. My neighbors to the left I haven't talked to much before, and when I was outside this weekend, the neighbor asked me if I didn't like them. I don't dislike them and thought they didn't like me, and we realized that we had just kind of misunderstood each other. We're starting over. I'm making an effort to say hi and just be a good neighbor.

I know that I didn't really make an effort before, but as is my way, I mostly keep to myself. That and most interactions we had had before weren't always positive, e.g. the late-night-howling episode. So, really it's really mostly my fault that we haven't been neighborly.

So in the knowledge that I'm likely to be living next to these people for a least a couple more years, I might as well be friendly if not necessarily friends.

Toledo! Oh, Toledo!

I'm still rather tired this morning. I don't think I even heard my alarm clock this morning. This is due to my weekend.

Friday Austin and I went out to Novi to have dinner with Ryan and Jenn. We went to Happy Sushi and um, yum, sushi. Then we went over Fountain Walk to the Emagine to see a movie. We were going to see The Break Up but had just missed a showing and decided against waiting for the next showtime, instead opting to go to a bar. We went to Gus O'Connors in the "Main Street" Novi area. We sat in a booth that had window directly to the bar.

Convenient. We had some Irish Car bombs and I think I had a Boddingtons, Smithwicks and a Black and Tan. Tasty. Someone had a craving for ice cream so we headed to Meijer after that. I bought some Skippy stuff, like rawhides and a bowl mat to help contain his spillage. I think I ended up getting home about 3, not sure, but it was late.

Saturday morning I had to get up to meet "Mike" and drop off Skippy for the night. "Mike" and I went out to get some dim sum too, as he had a exhibit that evening and he had a performance piece that involved serving dim sum food, so he was picking up a to-go order also.

After leaving "Mike"'s, I did some yard work and also decided to wash and wax my car.

Later, Austin and I went down to Toledo for Ryan's "June 10th" party. Austin and I hadn't eaten yet, so after stopping in at Ryan's we went out to Long John Silver's. There were some pretty sketchy people around. There was a guy at the restaurant wearing a Dio t-shirt. On our way back to Ryan's we stopped at the liquor store. I'm not sure who was dodgier, the people that worked there or the customers. Anyway though, I bought a six-pack of Beast Ice tall-boys for only $3.00. Awesomely cheap. After a bit of pre-partying, we went to the RHouse. There was much drinking. It was amazingly cheap at that bar. I ended up falling asleep/passing out soon after we got back to Ryan's apartment.

Jenn slept inside a monkey.

In the morning we went out for pancakes. IHOP not very international we decided. I also unfortunately had to cough when I had a mouth full of coffee, spraying some on Ryan. This made Jenn laugh hysterically for several minutes.

Eventually we made it home. I was tired and after picking up Skippy from "Mike"'s I did laundry and watched TV. I also watched Grandma's Boy, which while it did have a few funny parts, is probably much funnier if you are as stoned as the guys acting in the movie, writing the movie, directing the movie, and editing the movie.

Yawn.

Beep beep boop *beep* bloop! blurp...

Well, looks like the wireless portion of my router has died. That's $50 bucks I didn't really want to spend. I guess I can get by as the regular wired part is still working. I'm not sure what caused it to stop working, but I did have a brief power outage yesterday morning, and that could have fried it. I guess it's time to upgrade. I'm going to try a few more things tonight to try to revive it, but from looking on the internet, it's not an entirely uncommon thing to happen with these, especially considering it's about 4 or 5 years old.

This is what I have.

This is what I'm considering getting.


Yes, they look nearly identical. But the new one would be faster for computers that support that speed. So, any of my neighbors leaching off my signal could download whatever they wanted faster.

Poker? I hardly know her!

Well, there was a lot of poker playing this weekend. Thursday night we played at Austin's, I came in 4th, just out of the money.

Friday night, Austin and I went to his cousin's friend's place to play. I ended up down about 20 bucks that night.

Saturday, John came over to pick up his chairs and tables. We were putting something in the trunk of John's car and because we didn't latch the gate, Skippy managed to push it open and took off down the street. Luckily we cornered him in a neighbor's yard before he got too far. Later, I went to Austin's where Gerry and Jordan eventually showed up and we played Guitar Hero. They left after while and being hungry, Austin and I went to late night Dim-Sum place for food and then to Lucky's in Novi to meet up with Steve for his birthday.

Sunday, my parents came over to plant my garden, I now have 3 tomatoes and a jalapeno plant growing. I also cleaned my gutters out as there was a tiny forest growing in them.

I watched two movies I got in the mail, Date Movie, which was horrible, and American Pie: Band Camp , which was less horrible. Band Camp definitely was the more boob-filled movie. Neither is the pinnacle of film-making, but at least I laughed more than 3 times at Band Camp.

I still a lot of TV to catch up on in the meantime. You know where you can find me, chilling on the couch in the A/C, drinking a beer.

One too cool dog

One too cool dog
Originally uploaded by M Kawamoto.

Skippy is cool. Way cool.

And what happens when you drive too fast...

Doesn't that dog look like Skippy?

Holiday! It could be so fine!

Well, I'm back to work after a short long weekend. Bummer.

I took Friday off, and made the cornhole platforms with help from John, and when to the Apple Buffet with Austin for dinner. Austin was disappointed that there were only 2 items with apples in them at the chinese buffet. Later we went to see Art School Confidential which was pretty good. We met up with Elizabeth and Andrew and (his wife and I can't remember her name) and after the movie we ended up at Gusoline Alley for a couple beers. When I got home, I had to do some prep work for the barbeque. I made the Baja Fresh-style salsa and the teriyaki marinade. It was pretty late by the time I was finished with everything.

Saturday was the barbeque. By all accounts, apparently everyone had a good time. Cornhole playing, beef on the barbeque, totally gay dog-on-dog action, beer and wine. The weather was nearly perfect. There were some drunken antics, but nothing that hasn't been seen before.

I still have a pretty decent cache of beer leftover, and some of the food. I guess I'll just live off it for a little while.

Sunday, Austin and I met Jordan to see X-Men: The Last Stand (no really, we mean it, unless it does well and then, well, just kidding!). It was pretty decent even though it seems like they do some things that would make it difficult to continue the series, although in the comic books, they revive characters all the time. Whoops! Was that a spoiler?

Didn't really do much else on Sunday, although we did go to Best Buy after the movie. I bought Me and My Katamari for the PSP. It's awesomely weird.

Monday I went to Pine Knob to watch the autocross event. I actually got to ride along on Brad's first run. It was pretty cool although I was holding onto the "oh-shit" handle the whole time. I just hung out there all day watching the cars race around. It was pretty freakin' hot though. The heat can be really tiring.

I watched some more Doctor Who finally. The werewolf episode was decent. The next episode should be interesting. I still have a lot of TV to catch up on, I think there's more than 5 episodes each of Supernatural, Invasion and Crossing Jordan. There's also a new season of My Fair Brady starting now, and Monk, The Closer and a new series Psyche coming in the summer.

I need a vacation from my weekend. Whew.

Howl at the Moon

Yep, it's another dog post. What has Skippy done now, you might ask. Well, he woke me up at 2 in the morning to go outside. He then decided to serenade the neighborhood. I yelled at him to stop and went outside to bring him in, but he, of course, ran away from me. As it was cold I gave up and went back inside. A little bit later, my neighbor knocked on my door to tell me to take the dog inside. I was very embarrassed and thankfully her visit distracted Skippy enough where I could grab him by the collar and get him inside.

I'm beginning to realize how lucky I was with Muffin, my first dog. There's definitely some relearning I need to do.

In non-dog related things, Happy Birthday to Beckie! Also a congratulations to her on getting a job also. We celebrated Beckie's birthday on Saturday night at her cousin Jennifer's house. We also learned that in the Battle of the Sexes, most men must be morons. Fortunately the men at the party were somewhat higher evolved.

Friday I went to Small's with Austin and Kevin, a former co-worker of Austin's. We saw a couple bands, The Recital, Zoos of Berlin and Canada. All pretty decent, Zoos of Berlin sort of reminded me of early Chicago, and Canada was very Decemberists-esque.

Saturday during the day I went to the Comic Con with Austin, Gerry and Jordan. It was nerd-tastical. I got a couple new Buffy figures and a comic book by Frank Cho (or Liberty Meadows). After the comic con we went back to Gerry's where Austin threw the Ultimate Warrior at Jordan's car and then locked his keys in the trunk. He had to borrow his parent's car to drive back to his place to get the spare key.

Yesterday I did some cleaning around the house in preparation for the party next weekend. I can't believe it's nearly Memorial Day weekend. The spring has kind of flown past. I mowed my lawn and cleaned up the basement somewhat. I still need to vacuum down there, but I picked up all the big stuff. I'm taking Friday off this week so I can do some other things around the house to get ready. Also need to shop for food. Sam's Club, here I come.


* Just ran the post through spell check. It wanted to replace Jennifer with either "conifer" or "sniper". Hee.

Rub-a-dub-dub, Skippy in the tub

Skippy found something... something horrible smelling. And then he rolled in it.

There was no way he was staying that stinky. I had to give him a bath. Thankfully I didn't get a wet as he did. Actually, he was pretty good about it. He didn't try to jump out of the tub or anything. He did give me an awfully pathetic look though. Dogs.

In other news, I have booked my flight for Hawaii. I posted about it on my other, other blog, Mike Goes to Hawaii, but since I don't think many other people know about it yet, and there's not much there yet, people might not have heard. I leave on October 4th and get back on the 18th, a day after I start that flight. Ah, the joys of jet lag.

Ima Gonna Go Postal!

So annoying. I ordered The Big Lebowski through Blockbuster Online, and for the second time it has shown up broken. I'm gonna go bitchcakes on them. How am I supposed to make a copy when it keeps showing up cracked and broken?

Other things... last week Dan was in town. We went to a movie on Wednesday, we saw Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic at Brew and View at the Magic Bag. Friday we went to dinner at the Redcoat, and then went to the Berkley Front where we met up with Tess and some of her friends. Saturday I played poker at Austin's. I ended up winning. I credit Phil Gordon's book. I had it with me. I haven't read much of it, but having it there seemed to act as a good luck charm. Either that or I just played smart.

Yesterday I took Skippy to John and Julie's for Max's birthday party. Skippy seemed to have a good time.

I watched Alias and I'm watching Lost now. Very interesting.

I guess that's all for now.

Of birds and bricks, ladders and licks

Ah the excitement.

Friday I went over to Sarah and Jackie's for Cinco de Drinko. I took Skippy with me, and he had fun playing with Louie and Duke, although I think he was a little tired of Louie trying to hump him by the end of the night. I didn't end up going to the bar to see that band with Jessica and Beckie.

Saturday was a long day. Skippy woke me when he wanted to go outside. I took him for a walk and then went over to a co-worker's to get some paver bricks to fill an area in my driveway. Then my parents stopped by on their way to a garden sale, and John came over to help me fix my chimney cap.

I had to climb up the ladder which freaked me out a little bit, but I flipped the cap back on top of the chimney, and didn't know that there was still a bird in the top of the chimney. Not so good. But there's no way I'm getting back up on that ladder. I think I'll have to call a chimney sweep or some such thing.

After that, John and I went to Home Despot and got some stuff he needed and some stuff I needed. I got new light fixtures for my garage, and for my side door light. I also got some of the parts for my cornhole boards.

Edit: Later on Saturday I met up with Tess at Grissoms over on the east side for Karaoke. I rocked Touch Me by The Doors. It was a birthday party for one of Tess's friends from Ren Faire. There was much mischief. ( I had meant to include this, but somehow forgot)

Sunday, after walking Skippy, I went out to Pine Knob (DTE Energy Center is for chumps) to watch the SCCA autocross event. Autocross is car racing against the clock around a course set up in a big parking lot. I know a bunch of guys from the Subaru club that were racing, so I hung out with them. I was on my way home to go to dinner at my parents when Beckie called to see if I wanted to do dinner.

So Austin, Beckie and I ended up going to dinner at Alex's of Berkley. After dinner we hung out at my place and watched The Forty-Year-Old Virgin with the commentary. It was hilarious as usual. "Be like David Caruso in Jade"

I guess that's about it. I guess this weekend will have Dan-related activities as he is to be back in town, judging from the email I just got.

Shuffle shuffle razr razr

Well, I did it. I got a new phone.

EDIT: My number has not changed. Feel free to continue to not call me.

But first, a little about my day. I had more training in Dearborn this morning, but we finished early. Like over an hour early. At this point I had decided to go to Compusa because they had a deal on RAZRs. I know there's one somewhere in Dearborn, but I gave up looking after driving around a little bit, and decided to stop by home to let the dog out and have lunch. I also ended watching Veronica Mars. OMG. It was awesome.

Anyway, went to work, left at 4:30, and headed to the Compusa near Oakland mall and got my new RAZR. The deal they have going on this week is, for new activation or 2 year contract extension, FREE RAZR*! (*After $50 rebate, but I'm good with those things) And if you bought any accessory, you get a free iPod Shuffle (512MB). So I got a new phone, a car charger and the iPod for $72 out the door, and I'm getting $50 back once I send in the rebate form. Totally awesome! I am currently rocking out on the Shuffle. It's going to be nice for walking the dog, so I don't have to wear the 20gb. Man I am such a dork.

Staccato like gunfire

Well, a couple quick things, while I still remember.

Friday night I went to see Slither with Jessica. While it wasn't a very scary movie, it was a lot of fun, and pretty funny.

Saturday, I took Skippy over to "Mike"'s for a playdate with Scooter. He had fun. "Mike" told me about a piece he was working on for a show at the Detroit Contemporary (or whatever it's called these days) which involved Dim Sum. It sounds very amusing. I also went to the mall to look into getting a new phone. The guys at the T-Mobile store gaped in awe at the "old-and-busted"-ness of my phone. I may get this phone. Or I could just get a RAZR. I don't know. After my adventures (not!) at the mall, I went to Best Buy with Austin. After that I had to pick up Skippy and feed him, but then went to dinner with Austin at the Thai Silver Bowl, which in accordance with my Asian Restaurant Law had dingy decor but very good food. Then we played Tekken 5 back at Austin's.

Sunday I had dinner with my parents and my sister at B-Dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings, for those not down with the lingo) out in Novi, being approximately the same distance for my parents as for my sister. Ummm... tasty wings.

Yesterday, I had to go down to Dearborn for training in some Ford related stuff. At least I got to expense lunch. Later, I met Austin at the Berkley Front where he was hanging out and celebrating with some people. His friends Jackie (Rachel's sister) and John had just graduated, so there were a bunch of people that came out. We watched the Wings lose and the Pistons win. Jackie also told us she saw Chris at the graduation, he was working for the U of M Dearborn bookstore again. She also referred to him as "creepy". The bar closed around midnight and Austin dropped me at home (I had walked there) and went off to meet up with all those people at another bar.

Today, I was supposed to have more training in Dearborn, but the instructor is ill, so I'm going next week. Tomorrow I have another training session, but only in the morning. It kind of sucks, because the classes start right at 8, and because of the construction on the Southfield, it's kind of slow to get there, which means I have to be up extra early.

I noticed birds flying into my chimney the other day. What has happened is that the cap on the chimney got partially blown off in all those wind storms we had a couple weeks ago, so now the birds can get in there and build a nest. Dammit. I have to get up on the ladder and try and fix the cap and keep the birds out. Otherwise, the basement will just fill with carbon monoxide. I'll have to call John to hold the ladder.

Damn Skippy

*Started Monday night*

Skippy has continued his disobedient ways. I did find this which might help me. I had left him out this morning and got a call from my neighbor (she's now working nights) about him howling. He doesn't want to come when I call him. This may be partially my fault for making him come for unpleasant things.

*Thursday morning*

Well, I've been taking him out in the morning on the leash. He still isn't real good about listening, but I read that's not unusual for Beagles/Beagle mixes. I guess I have to continue to work with him to train him better. Work? Man, dogs. Darn cute log of a dog.

Quite Possibly the Best Thing You Could Do For Your Car

Sometimes, sometimes, the Secretary of State gets something right. This is one of those rare times. In case you haven't seen this before, you can look for personalized plates and see what's available and it will even let you see what it looks like.

Plate It Your Way

Here's a couple I came up with.







Thanks to Temporary Madness for the link

I Can Feel It

Weird weekend. I had Good Friday off, but on Thursday one of my co-workers collapsed at work and was taken to the hospital. They think it may have been a blood clot in his heart, but it is likely related to stress caused by his supervisor. He should be ok, but I haven't heard anything more about him.

Friday, since I was off (er... had a holiday), I went over to a guy from the Subaru forums house and helped him install some parts on his car. I took Skippy with me and another guy from the forums brought his dog. The dogs played. The weather was totally awesome.

I was supposed to pick Dan from the airport, but he missed his flight due to an incompetent cabbie. I ended up going to dinner with John at Memphis Smoke where we sat in the upstairs outside deck and had beers and food. I was not feeling so hot and didn't do anything else that night. Dan's rescheduled flight was supposed to arrive at 8am so I went to bed a bit early.

Saturday morning as I was getting ready to leave for the airport when I got a call from Dan. He had fallen asleep and missed his flight. He was able to get it rescheduled again for the afternoon. I picked him up and we went to late lunch at Lucy's in GP. Saturday was hanging out at Sarah and Jackie's. We watched Shaun of the Dead. Hilarious every time I see it. I was tired though, because of the early wakeup for the non-flight.

Sunday I drove down to my Grandma's house and had dinner there. Skippy tried to take off a couple times, so I had to run him down. He certainly enjoys making me chase him. Also, I think he's shedding his winter coat, leaving the interior of my car a hairy mess. I need a giant lint roller. There had been talk of doing something Sunday night, but everybody was tired and whatnot, as was I so I stayed in and only watched a little TV.

Today, after work, I went to get my oil changed. When I got home, Dan called, needing a ride to the airport. I took Dan to the airport. It was uneventful.

The second your body is ready: grow one.

This weekend was pretty good, although Friday I didn't do much, as I was feeling pretty tired. Saturday, though, I talked on the phone with Dan for a while. That night I went out to dinner with Austin, Steve and Elizabeth. It was for Elizabeth's birthday so we went to this Cuban restaurant downtown called Vincente's. It was really good, but we didn't really realize what the drink prices were, and between 5 of us (Elizabeth's cousin Sarah also came to dinner) the liquor portion of our bill was ~$80. Mojitos are awesome though. I will be serving them at some party in the future.

After dinner we went to the Town Pump where we met up with Gerry and Melissa, and a couple other of Elizabeth's friends. I guess the Town Pump must be a popular stop on bar crawls as we saw at least 4 different bachelorette parties come and go. Austin was picked to do a shot with one of the bachelorettes. I don't know about everyone else, but I got pretty decently drunk. *fuzzy memory recollection* I think I had 6 pints. In any case I was a little hungover this morning. My parents came over for dinner and I ordered pizza. The delivery guy forgot the breadsticks and came back later with them, I forgot to add tip to the credit card slip, so I gave him a couple buck when he returned. It would have worked out either way.

Ooo. Check my MySpace profile for a picture of my latest facial hairstyle. It's inspired by a television sitcom. That's it I guess, for now.

The Great Skip-scape

I decided to go a show after having dinner at the Redcoat with Austin, Beckie and JohnandJulie. The show was at the Berkley Front, and was this band, The Singles, who Austin and I had seen before, but for whom the new drummer was Brian G. formerly of Catalog Only.

Skippy was being a brat and didn't want to come inside so I thought he'd be ok outside, as the garage was open if he wanted to stay dry. Now I had some reservations about leaving him outside all day, and as it turns out, those reservations were well founded.

I drove over to the Front and I'm inside for only maybe 15 minutes, when I get a call from "Mike". It turns out that Skippy had managed to escape from the backyard and was found by a neighbor just down the block. The neighbor was on his way to the bowling alley and dropped Skippy off with me in front of the Berkley Front. I then drove him home and locked him in the crate. After that I went back for the rest of the show, having only been detoured for maybe 15 minutes.

The show was pretty good, although the second band, The Red Rocks were kind of meh. Brian's band, though, was really good, but having seen them before as a four-piece, I felt their sound was a little thin as a power trio.

Back to the fence issue, the weak point is my gate. It's only really held up by some bungie cords, and Skippy was able to push the gate enough to stretch and squeeze out. Maybe I shouldn't let him get any skinnier. :) Anyway, I guess I'll have to think of a way to fortify the gate if he's going to stay outside when I'm gone. I also need to get him a new I.D. tag with my phone number on it so "Mike" doesn't get calls about him.

I just insulted him in a Scottish accent... "You're just a big fat log!" Skippy that it, not "Mike".

I guess I'm lucky he didn't get too far and didn't wander out into the street at an inopportune time.

Now he's trying to look all innocent and put-upon. Stupid, cute, dog.

I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R Mine kid!

Interesting article from New York Magazine about the demise of the generation gap and all us "old hipsters" who like the same things all them young kids like. Oh, Seth Cohen... where have you led us?

Up With Grups

A few photos to share

Here's the pictures I promised of the porch and of my car.

Freshly repaired porch
Originally uploaded by M Kawamoto.

Let's Vet It Started

I took Skippy to the vet today to get some shots. Skip did not like the needles. His ears were kind of gunky too, so they gave me some stuff that I have to squirt in there. Skippy is not amused. Other than the ear thing, Skippy is healthy, if a bit chunky.

The vet also gave me an up-to-date record of his shots so I can get him licensed in Berkley. Then he won't be illegal.

In other news, I got new wheels for my car. They're not actually new, but new to me. I bought them off another member of the Suby board. They look nice, but now the car looks a little high, so I might need to put in different springs, and then different struts and a different exhaust and a bigger turbo and then engine management... and generally this is how it goes when you start modifying your car. Wheels are like a gateway mod. I'll put up a picture of the car with the new wheels sometime soon.

Wow, I actually have variety of small news items, another one being I had my porch fixed. These guys that fixed John's porch came and replaced the crumbly steps and blocks in the porch and mortared over the whole thing, making it look good. That picture will be posted later.

Beer as big as your head

At the Hofbrauhaus with our 1 Ltr beers
Originally uploaded by M Kawamoto.

Drew's girlfriend Erin sent this picture to me. Yes, the beers are as big as your head. So tasty. I think we are all fairly drunk by this time, but I finished that beer and started another before we left. So drunken.

I was in Kentucky?

I went to a wedding this weekend. It was one of my fraternity brothers, Adam. The wedding was in Cincinnati, so Austin and I drove down there early Saturday. Our hotel was on the Kentucky side of the river. At one point in my drunken thought process last night, I exclaimed, "I'm in Kentucky?!" in both amazement and confusion. Below, find a few pictures I took which will further detail the weekend's events.


Here is the accident that had us backed up in traffic for an hour, less than 25 miles from our destination. A truck had slid off the road, through the barrier and into the ditch. We had to merge from 4 lanes to one, on the shoulder. Suck.


This was the view from our balcony. I knew that heavy drinking was in store that night, so the Waffle House kitty-corner from the hotel was a welcome sight.


Adam and Andrea. The happy couple walking down the aisle after getting hitched.


This is the centerpiece on the tables, and also, the pitifully small glass of champagne they gave us for the toast.


The Bar Commitee had enough members that night to call quorum. From left to right, Joe (Adam's friend and best man, but not a Delta Chi member), Austin, Me, Dan Fanton, Drew, and the groom, Adam.
There was an open bar, which we took advantage of. Also, by random chance, and proximity to the bar, we chose our table, and thankfully ended up getting called to the buffet line early. It could have been disastrous had we eaten last and used that time to drink.


The bar stopped serving liquor about an hour before the hall was kicking us out, so to be sure to keep his buzz going, Austin wisely prepared and got a back-up drink.

Ok, now for the rest of the evening that I don't have photos for. We left the hall about 11:00, and went back to the hotel to drop things off (like my camera) and then headed out for the bar. Everybody stayed dressed in their tuxes/dresses/suits, thus we were looked at rather strangely when we got to the bar. We went to the Hofbrauhaus Newport, a German beer hall. I had 2 of the liter mugs of beer and then a bit more. There was a polka/pop/rock cover band playing and everybody dances on top of the benches and there clinking of mugs and oh so much drunken antics. We drunk dialed a couple people. I think. It was really fun time.

After the bar we hung out in Drew's room for a while and pranked Joe, who fell asleep. Bad idea in a room full of drunk people. We started stacking ice cubes on his crotch. Hilarious.

In the morning I was awoken by the maid. After checkout Austin and I went to breakfast at the afore-mentioned Waffle House with Joe, Drew and Erin (Drew's girlfriend). After that we headed back to Detroit, with a drive that was thankfully uneventful.

As a side note, I had forgotten that southern Ohio is pretty southern. They's got a bit of an accent down there, darlin'.

flowerpot antitrust

I got some spam in my junk mail... I thought it was amusing as poetry.

flowerpot antitrust

prerequisite to YWCA as fax sinister lubricant and showing
kilo admonition differentiate was prod aim,
engineer the woods,
callousness sack heartbroken the sanctity
the cartoonist lastly definitive as headmistress,
second class dejectedly noon ladies' room,
tiebreaker composure swipe inorganic the pucker as jettison,
intricacy,
payoff gaudy e-mail,

Dormus Interruptus Skippus*

Grumble. Skip woke me up this morning at around 3 to go outside. Well, it's better that than him peeing somewhere inside. He didn't want to go out because of the rain when I was wanting to go to bed, and I figured he'd be ok until morning. It's still better than if Max has to go in the middle of the night, because I can just open the door and let Skippy out, whereas John has to take Max out on his leash. Max's leash that is, not John's**. The wonders of a fenced yard.

At least with this rain, some of the salt will get washed off my car. And it's supposed to be warmer this weekend. Excellent. Not that this winter was really that horrible. Probably just means we'll get mid-May snow.

*Worst Latin Ever.

**Just kidding.

Week 2 with the Skipper

Well, week 2 of dog ownership went a bit better. Skippy didn't chew up anything, or have any accidents. I still need to find some canned food that he likes, he doesn't really like the diet stuff, but he likes the diet Iams dry food alright.

Big thanks to Beckie's Mom for reimbursing me for Skippy's new crate. I really appreciate it. Thanks.

Friday Night's All Right For Magic

Friday, Austin and I played Magic again with John Machiorlatti. It was pretty fun, as we watched The Aristocrats during it, The only thing that was annoying was John's notoriousness as a bad loser and winner. BTW, The Aristocrats is pretty damn funny.

Saturday, my computer was acting all wonky, so I had to buy a new hard drive and spent the time while the computer was copying files to watch a couple movies and some anime. I watched a couple more episodes of Full Metal Panic: FUMOFFU.

After I watched DIG!, Austin and I went to his friend Alex's (who works at Borders) place. She was having a birthday party for a friend of hers, who also works at Borders. Actually there were several people who work at Borders at the party. We ended up staying until after 3.

Today I'm at my folk's and I don't think I'm doing anything for the Oscar's. But at least my computer at home is working again and recording stuff.

Holding and folding

Went to Austin's last night for poker. I didn't want to leave Skippy alone for the evening, so I took him with me. He's not real stable in the car, I think for one because the seat material is kind of slippery and for two, because I drive sort of aggressively. All of Austin's poker buddies liked him though.

Anyway, I was doing O.K. at poker at first, I won the first hand with a pretty decent pot, but didn't really win a lot of hands after that, staying in a few hands that I should have stayed out of, and eventually losing to Austin. Still, a lot of fun for 5 bucks. Tonight is a more nerdly type of cards. And I'm not sure what's going on the rest of the weekend. Sunday is the Oscars. I'm probably going to my parents for dinner, and then maybe to Tess's afterward to watch. I think Saturday, Austin and I wanted to go check out some bands at the Blowout. Weirdly, it's no longer the "Hamtramck Blowout" just the Blowout.

Dogs have two speeds...

Fast enough to pull the leash out of your hands and slow enough to trip over.

As much as I've been complaining, I really do like having Skip. I had just forgotten how much work dogs can be.

This morning, I let him out, and I wanted to leave, but he decided it was playtime and didn't want to come inside. Eventually I got him to come in. It was much the same story after work, when I was leaving to meet up with a Subaru club I go to on Tuesdays. I was just about ready to leave him outside, but he decided to come in on his own.

Once the weather gets a bit warmer, I guess I should be able to leave him outside all day, I'm just not sure if he'd try to escape the backyard.

For now, though, my neighbor has been nice enough to stop by once and a while during the days she has off to see how he's doing.

To keep him a bit occupied when I'm gone though, I got him a Kong and they had some kind of biscuits you can stuff inside it, and that was driving him nuts earlier, trying to get at the treat. Hee hee. Dogs are silly.

This has really turned into a dog blog of late, a d'blog if you will. Actually I won't, as that is ridiculous.


Random photo of Skippy lazing on my couch.

Late nights and Monday nights

Well, Skip decided to wake me up last night at 3:30 to go outside. I was not amused. He also decided he wanted to play when I was trying to leave this morning and didn't want to come inside. He can be a little bastard sometimes.

In non-dog stuff, this season of 24 continues to kick ass. In honor of that, I am submitting this link for your amusement:

Top 24 Jack Bauer Facts

As funny as Chuck Norris facts, but because I'm afraid of being roundhouse kicked, or tortured as a terrorist, I decline to say which is actually funnier.

Feather Skip-plosion

Bad dog
Originally uploaded by M Kawamoto.

This is the new crate. Skippy managed to scoot the crate over enough to get a hold of my down comforter and ripped a hole in it. There were feathers everywhere. There are still feathers everywhere that escape the vacuum. Skippy is a very naughty dog. See how guilty he looks? I'm keeping him, but he needs to be broken of some bad habits. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

For the money, surprisingly accurate

the Observer Test finished!

you chose BZ - your Enneagram type is FIVE. "I need to understand the world" Observers have a need for knowledge and are introverted, curious, analytical, and insightful. How to Get Along with Me Be independent, not clingy. Speak in a straightforward and brief manner. I need time alone to process my feelings and thoughts. Remember that If I seem aloof, distant, or arrogant, it may be that I am feeling uncomfortable. Make me feel welcome, but not too intensely, or I might doubt your sincerity. If I become irritated when I have to repeat things, it may be because it was such an effort to get my thoughts out in the first place. don't come on like a bulldozer. Help me to avoid my pet peeves: big parties, other people's loud music, overdone emotions, and intrusions on my privacy. What I Like About Being a Five standing back and viewing life objectively coming to a thorough understanding; perceiving causes and effects my sense of integrity: doing what I think is right and not being influenced by social pressure not being caught up in material possessions and status being calm in a crisis What's Hard About Being a Five being slow to put my knowledge and insights out in the world feeling bad when I act defensive or like a know-it-all being pressured to be with people when I don't want to be watching others with better social skills, but less intelligence or technical skill, do better professionally Fives as Children Often spend a lot of time alone reading, making collections, and so on have a few special friends rather than many are very bright and curious and do well in school have independent minds and often question their parents and teachers watch events from a detached point of view, gathering information assume a poker face in order not to look afraid are sensitive; avoid interpersonal conflict feel intruded upon and controlled and/or ignored and neglected Fives as Parents are often kind, perceptive, and devoted are sometimes authoritarian and demanding may expect more intellectual achievement than is developmentally appropriate may be intolerant of their children expressing strong emotions Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele The Enneagram Made Easy Discover the 9 Types of People HarperSanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages You are not completely happy with the result?! You chose BZ Would you rather have chosen: AZ (THREE) CZ (ONE) BX (NINE) BY (FOUR)

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 25% on ABC You scored higher than 0% on XYZ

Link: The Quick and Painless ENNEAGRAM Test written by felk on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Brilliance.

What do you get when you mix David Hasselhoff and the song "Hooked On a Feeling"? Only the greatest video known to man.

Skip-scape artist

So, the crating did not go as planned today. He managed to get out of the crate and once again peed on the rug upstairs despite my putting what I thought was an adequate barrier to prevent him from getting up there. I thought the design of the latch was kind of crummy so I decided to use a carabiner clip to prevent the latch from just rotating open when I went out again. I was wrong. Turns out the weak point of the crate was the entire crate. This is what I discovered when I got home after dinner.


The door is actually bent and one of the hinges came apart. Also of note, this is (er, was) an inward swinging door.


Here's a closeup of the clip I thought would help keep it closed.

Now I'm not sure what to do. I could close him in the basement. There's not much he could get into down there. But it's kind of messy with construction stuff, and coldish. Erghh. Don't really want to leave him in the main area, but that may be what I have to do. I think I've got the upstairs barrier fortified properly now though. I'll break him of this peeing problem yet!

O. M. G.

This is so freakin' cool. I love the 80's!

On with the Skip-periment

Well, I let Skip have the run of the house yesterday. He ended up peeing on my rug upstairs. Today I have him crated up. He was not happy about it. Hopefully he'll be able to adjust somewhat to my schedule. It's a bit more regular than "Mike"'s I would guess.

I think I might have to figure out a hiding spot for my extra key in case anybody wants to stop by during the day and say hi to Skip. Hmm.

Are you Skip-perienced?

Day 3 of the Skippy puppy experiment continues. So far, things have gone, for the most part, well. He left me a puddle one night though, but that may have been my fault for not feeding him on time. He also wanted to go for walks in the coldest weather of the winter. I seriously thought my legs were going to freeze up like tree trunks, like in that Radiohead video where Thom becomes a tree. It was cold. He also seemed to get along ok with Sydney and Bentley, when my dad brought them over.

My dad came over to help with painting my basement. My mom keeps pushing me along on it. It's kind of getting there. I'll take some pictures of the painted walls.

For dinner, my dad and I ended up going to Woo Lee Garden. That was once again, very tasty. We had originally wanted to go for Thai, but that place is closed Sundays. WLG was kind of a backup plan. I didn't totally stuff myself, but I still ate a bunch. Next time I go though, I definitely plan to really get my money's worth.

More dog updates later.

Site you should check out

Hey, peoples. Want to waste a lot of time?

Check out Videobomb. It's full of funny videos and what not. Cool.

Because I'm a follower

How I'm good


How I'm bad

My oh my, can't find a reason why

There's so much and yet so little to post about. Went to see Final Destination 3 last night with Dan and Jackie. It was pretty cool, if a little short. Weekend was fun, especially the Catalog Only concert and The Recital concert. Brunch was awesomely tasty, I was surprised I ate as much as I did, considering my previous evening's stomach pyrotechnics. Dim Sum, also good. Panera was also very good, the crispani was delicious (thanks Sarah!). Still so very tired. At least the coming weeks are full of reruns so I can catch up on some stuff. Mmmm... television.

Anime-niacs

Went with Austin and Jenn tonight to see "An Evening With Shinichiro Watanabe" at the DFT. It was really cool. Watanabe is the director of Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Macross Plus. There was a short intro, and then they played the title sequences from Bebop and Champloo. They then played the rest of the first episode of Champloo and had a panel discussion with Watanabe, an interpreter, a professor of Japanese culture from MIT and the Detroit News' anime reporter. I didn't even know they had such a guy in the News/Free Press. The audience also was able to ask some questions. It was very interesting. Got a lot of insights into the influences and motivations of the director. Jenn had Watanabe sign a couple of her NewType USA magazines and we got a picture with him. Also cool.

It's Like We Were Separated At Birth

Wow, it's like we're twins or something. Yes, this was actually the inspiration for my current mustache style. I kind of laugh at myself every time I catch a glance in the mirror. It's just so ridiculous.

Tenative Schedule of Weekend Events

I talked to Dan on the telephone over the weekend. He had a variety of desired activities for his week back here in the D.

Thursday: Tap Room
Friday: Hang out and then go to Dim Sum ~11:00-12:00
Saturday: Catalog Only Farewell Show
Sunday: Brunch at John and Julie's

I'm sure there will be more details in the coming week. That is all.

A perfect example of how my lovelife goes...

Click for fullsize version

So very neutral...

WHITES are motivated by PEACE, seek independence and require kindness. They resist confrontation at all costs. (Feeling good is more important than being good.) They are typically quiet by nature, they process things very deeply and objectively, and they are by far the best listeners of all the colors. They respect people who are kind, but recoil from perceived hostility or verbal battle.

WHITES need their quiet independence and refuse to be controlled by others.
WHITES want to do things their own way, in their own time. They ask little of others, and resent others demanding much of them.
WHITES are much stronger than people think because they dont reveal their feelings.
WHITES are kind, non-discriminate, patient and can be indecisive, timid, and silently stubborn.
When you deal with a WHITE, be kind, accept (and support) their individuality, and look for nonverbal clues to their feelings.
What Color Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Much more than expected

I am really tired today. Which is surprising. We helped Jessica move yesterday, but I wasn't that tired last night, and I didn't go to bed that late, but still, I did not want to wake up this morning. Must get more coffee.

Amusements

I saw Underworld: Evolution tonight with Tess and Tim. It was pretty decent, lots of action, even if the plot was a little lacking in parts. Plus Kate Beckinsdale was naked, but the shot naked so you can't see the good parts way.

After the movie I stayed at Tess and Tim's to watch The Fifth Element, which I've seen literally dozens of times, but Tess has the "Ultimate" or "Extra-Spectacular" or some-such edition which has a trivia track along with it, so that was pretty cool.

For dinner, I ended up going out with John and Julie, and we were going to go to Texas Roadhouse, but it was packed, so we ended up going to the Clawson Steakhouse. It was pretty good, although, we were a little underdressed. There's apparently live music and dancing Weds through Sat. The band was a pretty cheesy lounge act. We left soon after the band started.

That's about it. I should head to bed as I have to help Jessica move in the tomorrow. I wanted to say morning, because relative to when I'm getting up, it's early, but it will be after noon, so it's technically afternoon, but that just doesn't seem right either. Weird.

And then Nerds begat Dorks and Dorks begat Dweebs

This weekend was a lot of fun. If not a bit nerdy. Friday, I went over to Austin's to play Magic with him and ChrisB, and then a bit later, Beckie, Jenn, Ryan, Ryan's friend and Coronado came over to watch anime.

After a while we were hungry so we went to the Redcoat Tavern where once again there was the guy with reverse sideburns. Then the girls spent the night with Austin. On his couch. With him upstairs.

Saturday, I didn't wake up until 2:00PM, so I missed going to breakfast with Austin and Jenn and Beckie. After that Austin and I carpooled to the LAN party, picking up Jordan on the way.

At about 11:00 we left there to meet hot girls at the bar. We closed out the bar with the hot girls and went back to their apartment where we spent the night.

The hot girls were Beckie and Jenn, and I slept on the floor, because we were too tired and drunk to drive home. It was a strange morning after, Jenn made gyoza and tea, Austin and Beckie had Lucky Charms. Somehow this was funnier or more interesting in my head.

Best quote of the weekend: "Is there something wrong with Austin?" -Ryan on the phone after talking to Austin who was all jacked up on Jaegar bombs and beer.

Midseason Series Premieres Part Tres

NBC

The Book of Daniel
(Friday at 10:00)
Grade: B
There’s so much stuff jammed into the season premiere, it took 2 hours to tell it, so, here’s the shortish version. Daniel Webster (Aidan Quinn; Desperately Seeking Susan [ha!]) is an Episcopal priest, with a borderline alchoholic wife, a daughter just caught for dealing pot, a gay son, and a horny adopted asian son. His sister-in-law is a burgeoning lesbian, her dead husband ran off with $3.2 million of the church’s money and is found dead with the money still missing. Oh, and Daniel talks to Jesus, in a he’s invisible but in the room kind of way. Daniel’s boss, the bishop (Ellen Burstyn) is hassling him, and his father, another bishop, doesn’t think much of him. There’s actual even more things going on, but if this has interested you enough already, maybe you should check out the show.

I like this show. Not love it, but it’s definitely interesting. What I like best is when Daniel talks to Jesus, because, it’s pretty funny usually. Jesus is a bit mysterious, and a bit cryptic. The daughter is also pretty good. What I don’t like about the show is the fact that every time they talk to or about the gay son, it has to be mentioned that he’s gay and they seem to make a huge deal of it. There’s actually a lot of different plot threads going on, and it’s a bit confusing. Though to be honest, when I watched the second episode, I was playing a videogame and not really concentrating on the TV. Anyways, I think it’s interesting enough to keep watching.

Four Kings
(Thursday at 8:30)
Grade: C+
Ben’s (Josh Cooke; Committed) grandma has died and left him a gigantic NY apartment, into which he invites his 3 best friends to live with him. Barry (Seth Green; BtVS, Austin Powers) is a music producer, Jason (Todd Grinnell) is a real estate developer working for a Trump-type mogul, and Bobby (Shane McRae) is a slacker. Ben is the serial monogamist of the group, where Barry is the perpetually put-upon loser in the love game. This is a situation that would only be found in the sitcom.

Once you get past the very Friends-like setup of the show, you find a show that’s struggling a bit to find its feet. There have been a few very funny moments and quite a few more where the jokes fell flat. You can see that there is a long friendship and familiarity between the characters though, especially in the in-jokes and strange rituals that always seems to manifest in groups that have been friends for a long time. The show is not bad, but is just so uneven, that sometimes even the good laughs are dragged down by lame setups and unnecessary selling of the joke. I really want to like this show, as Seth Green definitely has the comedic abilities, and is especially funny when playing indignant or angry, but the Jason and Bobby characters I find not really that funny. I don’t know if the writers just haven’t found good material for them, or what, but I hope that they can make a better contribution to the show soon.

Midseason Series Reviews Part Deux

CBS

Love Monkey
(Tuesday at 10:00)
Grade : A-
Tom Farrell(Tom Cavanaugh; Ed) is a sucessful A&R rep at a large music corporation. He lives music, literally, music is his life, and he has a “golden ear” for what is good. In the process of trying to get a talented singer/songwriter to sign with the label, he speaks his mind about what he thinks the label should be, and is fired for it. His girlfriend at the same time comes to the realization that Tom is not who she’s looking for and dumps him. He then tries to start his own label and continues to pursue the talent. Eventually he realizes he should be letting the talent do what’s best for them and not what’s best for him. Tom then gets offered a job at a small label run by a friend, who’s happened to have signed the guy he was after.

I really like this show. I never watched Ed much, but apparently Tom’s character is similar in many respects to Ed. Which if true, it’s too bad I never watched Ed. The supporting cast is excellent, it’s good to see Judy Greer and Jason Priestley. The writing seems good, and the music is excellent. It seems as though no reviewer can write about this show without making a comparison to High Fidelity, which for better or for worse, it does seem to draw some inspiration from, most especially the music snob slant of Tom’s tastes. I guess because I’m a bit of a music snob myself, I can relate to many of Tom’s observations about the “biz.” Maybe I just hope that there is someone out there like Tom, looking for the next great sound, not just the next Big Thing.

ABC

Crumbs
(Thursday at 9:30)
Grade: C+
Mitch (Fred Savage; The Wonder Years) is a “famous” screenwriter who had escaped his family after the traumatic death of his older brother. He returns home to help out after his mom (Jane Curtin) is released from the mental hospital for attempting to run down their father (William Devane) with a car. His father has left his mother and is having a baby with his new girlfriend. His brother still resents him for running away. Did I mention his family runs a restaurant? Mitch is in the closet, his brother Jody (the Chef) is a player, and his father secretly does the books for the restaurant when not at his new job as a new-agey massage therapist. And his mother is still crazy.

As far as sitcoms go, Crumbs is pretty decent. There were some good laughs, and the cast seems to work as a dysfunctional family should. The show was based on the creator’s actual family and events that happened to them, so at least the premise has a smidge of truth to it. It remains to be seen whether it will fall into typical sitcom plots and jokes, or will it rise above and be truly a show for the ages. (My money’s on the first one)

Added 11:22 PM, 01/19/06: BTW, the laughtrack on Crumbs is horrible intrusive.

Midseason Series Premieres Part Uno

ABC

Emily’s Reasons Why Not
(Monday at 9:00)
Grade: D+
So, I just read that ERWN’s production has been halted by ABC. This could mean any number of things, like they want to retool the show, but most likely it means that it will be canceled.
In short, Emily (Heather Graham) is an editor for a publishing house, and if she can think of 5 reasons why a guy is not right, she’ll dump him. She has a female friend and a gay friend. They assist her in this quest. She also has an office rival. In the premiere, she has just broken up with her boyfriend, who is also who’s book she’s publishing. She then dates the new marketing guy. He is reluctant to get physical, and has “weird” habits, thus leading to the “Reasons Why Not” and subsequent dumping. Most of the reasons are fairly shallow, except for the biggy, she thinks he’s gay and her friends gaydar concurs, while the truth is, he’s a Mormon virgin. (What?) Thus is the first episode.

In homage to the show, let me review it with Mike’s Reasons Why Not to Watch.

1. Annoying, annoying (yes, 2 times annoying) voice over and goofy-ass graphics for the “Reasons Why Not”
2. Only one reasonably likable character and one incredibly, horribly annoying character
3. Writing is, in a word, dull
4. Compared to Sex and the City in way too many reviews, usually disparagingly
5. Just not funny or remotely original

It’s not that a show needs to be original, but if it’s a sitcom, it should at least elicit some laughter. This show just did not. It also seemed to suffer somewhat from schizophrenia, jumping from a surrealistic chick-com (ala Ally McBeal) to more standard sit-com-y conventions and many other points in between and farther out. Let me give some suggestions to the producers, such as, tone down the “reasons why not”, get rid of the rival co-worker, and give her friends something to do, other than bitch about Emily’s boyfriend du jour.

And my affection, well it comes and goes

Weird fact: I have heard The Killers' All These Things That I've Done 3 separate times today. Once on my way to work, once when I got back in my car after lunch, and just now when I got back to my desk.

I had actually started a post with this title earlier, but the internet went funky at work, so it got lost, but as I had little actually in it, it really wasn't a big deal. So many clauses in my writing, it's a little ridiculous. It makes me think of Gilmore Girls which I watched last night, and where Paris is reading people's submissions and starts editing this one guy's and berating him for splitting infinitives. I think it was split infinitives... I don't know, this whole grammar thing escapes me at times. This leads me to my next thought. (Well it does, sort of tangentially, but that's neither here nor there.)

I watch a lot of TV. I used to read a lot. The thing is, TV has not displaced all the reading I used to do, it just postpones it, usually to the detriment of my sleep schedule, or lack thereof. Reading is important. Especially if you have to write anything. Most engineers I've met are horrible writers. I'm merely unsatisfactory. You know what? I'm not really sure anymore where I'm going with this. Um, kids? Yeah, uh, kids, you should read. Reading is good. Yeah, that's it.

24 Reasons To Stay Home On Monday Nights

Well, I watched the 24 season premiere last night. Usually promos for this type of thing where they tell you to not miss the first 10 minutes or the last ten minutes, and then you watch the show, and nothing happens in either of those cases, well this was the exception. I literally jumped off my couch and started yelling. There was so much packed in the first two hours and there's two more hours tonight. 24 is just one of those shows that gets you hooked. Jack Bauer is back, with a vengeance, and hard to kill, and above the law, and out for justice, and marked for death, and under siege, and under siege 2, and on deadly ground.

Chuck Norris knows Chuck Norris

Looks like Chuck Norris knows about the awesome Chuck Norris Fact generator. There's an article over at TV Squad about it.

Favorite new fact: Chuck Norris can unscramble an egg.

Mini-review: Referral Trading Sites

I've been checking my search referrals and see that I've gotten a couple hits regarding both Referral Swapper and Refstop. Here's my opinion on them.

Refstop was/is great. Lots of people to swap with, and I never had a trade not complete. I actually got my FreePSP thanks to them. My only suggestion was that they make it easier to opt out of getting asked for trades on sites you don't want to do. Recommended.

On the other hand, Referral Swapper sucked. I got lots of requests for trades, but generally from shadier people. I got scammed twice, and never completed any trades there. Not recommended.

The problem I see with the trading sites is, most people want to get referrals from reputable sites, like the Freepay ones, and if you're trying to get more than one prize within that network, it will get harder to find people to trade with who haven't already signed up for the "good" sites. So, if you got in earlier, it was probably easier, and there was a lot less competition.

This is just my take on it, and my opinions. Take from it what you may. Good luck.

Fall TV Returning Series Midseason Reviews

Midseason grades

ABC

Desperate Housewives
(Sunday at 9:00)
Midseason Grade: B
This season has been a sophomore slump if ever there was such a thing. There have been good moments, and funny moments, but overall, it’s just not the brilliant satire of last season. Everybody seems a bit meaner or something. Lynette is just crazy.

Grey’s Anatomy
(Sunday at 10:00)
Midseason Grade: A
There was an article I read a little while ago about Grey’s Anatomy with an interview with Katherine Heigl (Izzie) and from that we know that one of the interns will be leaving and Izzie will find herself in a love triangle. Should be interesting. I really like this show. There’s a depth to the characters that is very appealing.

Lost
(Wednesday at 9:00)
Midseason Grade: A
Geez, it’s been a long time since we’ve had a new episode, so my memory is a little fuzzy, but what I remember is that this show is awesome.

Alias
(Thursday at 8:00)
Midseason Grade: B-
Alias seems to have picked up a little bit of steam during Sweeps mostly due to the episode guest starring Michael Vartan. That was actually a really good episode with a few hints that Vaughn is not actually dead. Unfortunately we have rather long wait until the next new episode, sometime in March.

CBS

NUMB3RS
(Friday at 10:00)
Midseason Grade: B
Math is awesome. That’s what this show’s message really is. There haven’t been any bad episodes, but no really great episodes, and yet I always find myself looking forward to it. It’s just a solid show with intriguing characters, especially Charlie and Prof. Fleinhart.

FOX

The Simpsons
(Sunday at 8:00)
Midseason Grade: B+
Treehouse of Horror and the Christmas episodes were really clever. Most people will agree though, that the last couple seasons haven’t been as strong as some of the earlier seasons, but there are still those moments of brilliance that remind us why we keep watching.

The Family Guy
(Sunday at 9:00)
Midseason Grade: B
Thank the TV gods they brought back Family Guy. I started watching it on Cartoon Network and soon got hooked. It’s crude and occasionally very esoteric, but very funny. I think the episodes they’ve shown this season have been really great. And thankfully whoever runs the promo department hasn’t shown all the funny parts of the episodes in the promos. There’s usually some sort of surprise plotline or tangent that ends up being hilarious.

American Dad
(Sunday at 9:30)
Midseason Grade: B-
Not much to say about it, it’s amusing, and will stay in the queue, but it hasn’t been a breakout hit to me.

Arrested Development
(Monday at 8:00)
Midseason Grade: A+
I still don’t understand why people don’t watch. It’s the funniest show on TV, hands down. This last episode “S.O.B.s” or “Save Our Bluths” was awesome, skewering every silly promo idea that shows use to raise ratings, from a special “3-D” section, to a cavalcade of guest stars, and even a “live” segment.

That 70’s Show
(Wednesday at 8:00)
Midseason Grade: B
Eric’s gone, and Kelso was only around for a couple episodes. More Fez is not what we wanted. Although the episode where they stole the clown was pretty funny.

Stacked
(Wednesday at 8:30)
Midseason Grade: B+
I think the writing has been better this season than previously. Either that, or my expectations are just a lot lower.

The O.C.
(Thursday at 8:00)
Midseason Grade: B+
As crazy as the first couple episodes of the season were, the rest so far have been somewhat calmer. I don’t expect this to last as Marissa’s sister is returning, and at least according to the promos, she will be very much her mother’s daughter. As in, be-yotch! Also, in homage to 90210, they gang will attempt to get Marissa re-enrolled at Harbor so she can graduate with everybody.

Malcolm in the Middle
(Friday at 8:30)
Midseason Grade: B+
This is a show that has continued to sort of fly under the radar. Which means, either it will be canceled soon, or continue for a couple more years. It’s still pretty funny, although there’s been less Stevie and not enough Francis for my taste.

NBC

Crossing Jordan
(Sunday at 10:00)
Midseason Grade: B-
This fulfills my Crime Scene Investigation quota, without having to submit to the plethora of C.S.I.s that invade other nights of the week. Maybe they’ll finally get Jordan and Woody together. Who knows.

Medium
(Monday at 10:00)
Midseason Grade: A-
This season has been really good. Riveting, really, although the 3-D episode was a little over-the-top and cheesy, but as a general rule, it’s one of the shows I make a point of watching live every week.

The Office
(Tuesday at 9:30)
Midseason Grade: A
I think it was really the Christmas Party episode that has sold me completely on the show. I’ve watched it a couple times and it’s funnier every time. I think the upcoming “booze cruise” episode should be awesome.

“I’ve decided to quit drinking. During the week.”

Joey
(Thursday at 8:30)
Midseason Grade: B-
Nothing much changed here. It’s been bumped down the priority list though in favor of Everybody Hates Chris


UPN

Veronica Mars
(Wednesday at 9:00)
Midseason Grade: A
Continued awesome-ness. Jury episode was slightly weak, but still a thousand times better than 99% of the other shows out there.

WB

Gilmore Girls
(Tuesday at 8:00)
Midseason Grade: A
Yay! Rory and Lorelei have reconciled! There’s a wedding date to be set! Luke has an illegitimate child! Huh? Yeah. That was kind of a plotline I didn’t expect. We shall see how it works out. Otherwise though, good season, especially the episode where Lane’s band has a meltdown at an industry showcase. (For clarification, I am not in the “Logan-haters” club, more like the “Logan-meh” club.)

Smallville
(Thursday at 8:00)
Midseason Grade: C-
I’m not sure that I can explain why I still watch this show, except for the fact that it gives me something to complain about. Aquaman episode was quite lame, Lexmas was lame, sorority vampire lesbians somehow made lame.

Everwood
(Thursday at 9:00)
Midseason Grade: A-
As usual, stellar writing, excellent direction and visuals, along with a scene stealing Bright Abbott have propelled along this season. For excellent non-soapy drama, this is the place to be.

What I Like About You
(Friday at 8:00 *Additional episode at 8:30)
Midseason Grade: C
Generally amusing, and I think Amanda Bynes is really funny. And Jennie Garth is also very funny, too bad the writing isn’t as funny as either of them. I hope there’s not a shark close to the set, as they might just jump it.

Waiting with baited breath

No, that doesn't mean I've been eating worms, but rather it's that most hallowed day for Mac geeks everywhere. The day of the Steve-note. Only another 45 minutes until the start, which means I'll be closely watching any one of a variety of sites that supposedly will have live updaates. Ah, how I long for the days of the live streaming version.

There are snakes on the motherf*ing plane!

This is the best title ever. Snakes on a Plane

Starring Samuel L. Jackson. God-damn, god-damn snakes!

One guys Snakes on a Plane blog

They're back! Midseason reviews are in.

OK, here's a update with Midseason grades for all the new fall shows. I'll put up some reviews of the new midseason shows once they premiere. Here's what I'm likely to be watching that's new. Emily's Reason's Why Not, Skating With Celebrities, Crumbs, Four Kings, Courting Alex. On with the grades.


Season Premiere Grades Part 1
Season Premiere Grades Part 2
Season Premiere Grades Part 3
Season Premiere Grades Part 4
1st Semester Grades

FOX

Reunion
(Thursday at 9:00 *Canceled)
See previous post
They are not going to show the whole season of this show, and the producers have said they couldn’t wrap up the story in the remaining episodes, so anyone watching the show is kind of left in the lurch.

Kitchen Confidential
(Monday at 8:30 *Canceled)
Original Grade: A
Midseason Grade: A
They only showed one more episode of this series before repeating Arrested Development in its place. That episode was very funny, guess starring Michael Vartan. I’m very disappointed that this was canceled.

Head Cases
(Wednesday at 9:00 *Canceled)
See previous post.

Bones
(Tuesday at 8:00)
Original Grade: B
Midseason Grade: B+
There’s some character development going on, although some of the cases haven’t been very interesting. The chemistry does seem to be working better though.

NBC

My Name Is Earl
(Thursdays at 9:00 before The Office)
Original Grade: A
Midseason Grade: A+
Long live Jason Lee! My Name Is Earl has not lost any ground, and if anything has been funnier than ever. It moves to Thursdays against tough CSI competition, and hopefully will survive.

Surface
(Monday at 8:00)
Original Grade: C+
Midseason Grade: B
Actually, I have started to get into this show. It’s not aliens, it’s sea creatures. And there’s some sort of government cover-up of these creatures. The show is good for watching when you don’t feel like really paying attention to something.

ABC

Invasion
(Wednesday at 10:00 after Lost)
Original Grade: D
Midseason Grade: C
I’m still rather behind in watching this. And just checking, looks like Invasion is staying on Wednesday, and I’m not sure where Alias is going to be. Maybe it’s being displaced by Dancing With the Stars until that run is over. Argh. Anyway, my opinion of Invasion has not been drastically changed since I haven’t watched many episodes yet.

Commander in Chief
(Tuesday at 9:00)
Original Grade: A-
Revised Grade: A-
The show hasn’t been on since Thanksgiving, but the addition of Mark-Paul Gosselar to the cast should be interesting. It is coming back, so we’ll see how the rest of the season goes.

WB

Supernatural
(Tuesday at 9:00 after Gilmore Girls)
Original Grade: B+
Midseason Grade: B
Not sure if the couple episodes I still have to watch will change the grade from the pre-Sweeps grade, but it has somewhat fallen in my rankings of what to watch.

Twins
(Friday at 9:30 *Moved to after Reba)
Original Grade: D+
Midseason Grade: B-
I think the characters are starting to gel a little, and it seems to be getting a bit better.

Just Legal
(Monday at 9:00 *Canceled)
See previous post

Related
(Monday at 9:00)
Original Grade: C+
Updated Grade: B
There are definitely some deeper issues being dealt with, and of course a lot of family stuff, but overall, it’s kept its lighthearted atmosphere.

UPN

Everybody Hates Chris
(Thursday at 8:00)
Original Grade: A
Midseason Grade: A+
Best New Sitcom of the Year. If you don’t watch, I will come over there and break your leg, or chastise you, or something.

Love, Inc.
(Thursday at 8:30)
See previous review

CBS

How I Met Your Mother
(Monday at 8:30)
Original Grade: B+
Midseason Grade: A+
All hail Barney! This has become one of my favorite shows this season. “Have you met Ted?”

Out of Practice
(Monday at 9:30)
Original Grade: A-
Midseason Grade: A-
Continue the chuckle-headery! Stockard Channing anchors the show, allowing the rest of the cast to play off her, to very amusing results. Good stuff.

Threshold
(Friday at 9:00 *Canceled)
Original Grade: A
Midseason Grade: A
I was very disappointed when this was canceled. The curse of the Friday Death Slot, I suppose. I really thought this would be the one that made it, but I guess it’s easier to believe that a government conspiracy is for their good rather than that of the people.

Joss Whedon predicts more CSI...

OMG! This article is hilarious.

Guest Columnist Joss Whedon Eyes the Future of TV

Joss has no shame. Awesome.