still alive

Wow- it's been a little while. This is usually what happens when I try to be a blogger- I'm pretty good about it for awhile and then sort of forget all about it for awhile. Lol- at least I know I shouldn't try to make a living off this.

So let's see- what's happened in the last few weeks? Well mostly just more of the same- school and work. But there's been some fun stuff as well. Went to a Flyers game last week! The seats were awesome (2nd row on the blue line), the game was good (very exciting), but the ending sucked (they lost in OT). Then the next night I hit up Harrisburg with a few friends. Went to Privado, which was a pretty nice place- a bit pricey tho. Spent most of the time in the little joint downstairs that goes by the name Moet. There was a trance dj spinning down there- so it was really awesome to be out somewhere without being bombarded with the usual rap type dance stuff. And speaking of trance djs- my friend Joe introduced to one while we were there. He had seen DJ Kaelum do a couple sets at Moet before and had recently turned me onto some of his mixes. Well he was there just hanging out- so I got to chat with him for quite awhile. He's a really awesome dude (trance dj who plays guitar and is into stuff like Dream Theater- and on yea, has a degree in physics!? lol) and I'm hoping he does a set somewhere sometime soon! Which he may- but it will be kinda sad if he does. I say this because it sounds like the owner of Privado is planning on redoing the downstairs and one of the changes will be to just pipe the music from the dj upstairs to the lower room. It really sucks cuz this is the first place I've heard of/been to that's in the general area that gets djs that play just trance. But anyway- if this is indeed the case, Kaelum is hoping to have one last hurrah before that all goes down.

That pretty much sums up the last few weeks. I guess the lack of posts could just be the lack of stuff to talk about- hehe. Anyway, I suppose it's off to bed. Class tomorrow, then prolly continuing my new ritual of swinging by the Blue Marsh Canteen where I recently found out an old high school friends tends bar a few nights a week.

Google Maps... try again

So I was just checking out the Warped Tour site- seeing who is playing and such. After deciding there are a number of bands I'd like to see, I took the next step- seeing where the local stops are. The closest is Camden, NJ- but there is also a stop in Oceanport, NJ. Hrmmm- Oceanport? Dunno where that is, but it contains 'ocean'- so my mind starts thinking of a two day trip... beach one day, bands the next. Wooo! But before I get ahead of myself- let's see where Oceanport is. So I click on the more info thinger, and zoom out on the embedded Google Map to get a better idea of where Oceanport is located. Needless to say- I was quite surprised!!

(click the picture to enlarge)

took this last night/this morning

4 am (note the clock behind me) is a little less lonely when you have a dinosaur...











but its a poor replacement for you

Random links

While sitting here watching the re-airing of the Olympic Closing Ceremonies, I've been surfing around the interwebs and have found a random assortment if nifty things. Being the kind person that I am, I figured I would share these nifty things. So without further delay- my late night list of nifty things....

I'm bummed that the Olympics are over- but one of the reasons I was waiting for them to end was so I could direct people to a collection of awesome hi-res images from the games and their competitors.

While on the topic of photography, I'm re-linking to a site I posted on my facebook page. This one is a really neat concept I think; an awesome blend of old and new.

Switching gears to some videos- who remembers Tom Green? Wacky and controversial fellow with a TV show on MTV way back when. Well I saw a link about him freestyling with Xzibit and thought to myself, well this should be interesting (in a bad way). My first thoughts of Tom Green rapping spring forth memories of his Bum Bum Song. But who knew- the dude's actually got flow! (Even Xzibit seems amazed) After a quick trip to Wikipedia, I've learned he even has a "hip-hop career" of sorts. Haven't checked out his stuff yet, but I certainly will.

And last but not least- Christiaan Van Vuuren. His short story is that he's quarantined in a hospital with a serious form of TB. But rather than being all bummed out like most people would be, he's making the best of all that free time by making a freakin awesome video like this!! I wish this guy all the best and really hope he gets better soon!

Oh, and this just cracks me up!! (clicking the pic will open a larger version)

Just a quick thought....

The Boondock Saints II - All Saints Day

While I'm not sure if it is as good as the first (probably not- just because there would be no way for it to replicate that underground, cult classic sort of vibe), it was pretty decent. Perhaps I'm even happier with it considering I entered the viewing experience expecting to be let down, but I must say- I liked it.

"You ready for this sh*t, my dear brother?"
"Let's do some gratuitous violence."

Is this the future?

An interesting presentation covering the new generation of 'psychological hack' games, the obsession with reality, and his idea of the soon-to-come, always connected, 24/7, game of life. (Be sure you have some time to watch- at 28 minutes it's not a quick view)

DS Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5

The Olympics

Simply put... I love the Olympics! The reasoning is quite simple: I love sports, and so the thought of athletes from all over the world coming to one place to compete and represent their country- well, I don't think it gets any better than that! Two years ago I managed to catch all but one of Michael Phelp's races despite being on vacation, as well as Usain Bolt's individual races and many of the gymnastics competitions.

This past week has been more of the same, catching every moment of Olympic action I can. I watched Hannah Kearney win the moguls gold in dramatic fashion, knocking Canadian Jennifer Heil from the top spot and dashing the hopes of a nation (Canada had never won gold in an Olympics hosted on Canadian soil). Then the very next night I watched those hopes come true when Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau won gold in the men's moguls. After missing it live, I stayed up til 5 in the morning to catch the re-airing of Shawn White winning the gold. I've watched with excitement as the US ski team has claimed medal after medal. I've fallen in love with curling, which is now high on my list of things that I'd like to try. Every night brings new excitement in some form or another, perhaps none yet as exciting as the United States men's hockey team beating favored Canada last night. The list goes on and on- and I've barely touched on the never ending supply of great storylines provided by the athlete's stories in all these competitions! As I said- I love the Olympics.

But I'm starting to think I may have to adjust that to say- I love the Olympic competitions. The reason for considering this adjustment I will explain with two current stories. The first is the small controversy surrounding US snowboarder Scotty Lago. The quick summary: Lago finished third behind Shawn White to win the Bronze medal on men's halfpipe. During the ensuing celebrations that evening, a couple of "controversial" photos where snapped. Decide for yourself, but in my opinion- the first is the closest to anything scandalous, and overall nothing to get in an uproar about. A 22 year old caught having a good time celebrating winning an Olympic bronze medal. When informed of these pictures, Lago issued an apology to the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), and according to an United States Olympic Committee spokesman: “Scotty left on his own accord. He wasn’t forced to leave.” Ah but wait- according to two sources close to Lago, the true story is that he left after being presented with the options of leaving quietly or face a formal trial process and risk being formally ejected. And so rather than staying and enjoying the rest of the Olympics with his teammates like he wanted to, he opted to leave as to not endanger his chances of competing in future Olympics. Where his actions captured in the pictures in bad taste- sure. Should he have faced some form of disciplinary action because athletes had been told to be on their best behavior- sure. Should he have been essentially forced out and not allowed to enjoy the rest of his Olympic experience- absolutely not!

Second example: this story I caught from Boing Boing. In a nutshell- on a blog maintained by Swix Sports, a US distributor for equipment maker UVEX, a congratulatory message was posted to Lindsey Vonn, who wears UVEX goggles, after she won downhill gold. In return, they received a message from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stating the post must be removed via some legal mumbo jumbo, which is sort of explained on the blog. Also mentioned on the blog is that they believe messages of congratulations are exempted- but either way I find this completely ridiculous! Why the IOC believes they have the right to take over the rights to names and images of competitors during the Olympics is beyond me! However, the blog's response (which unfortunately has also been taken down) was amazing and should I ever get into snowboarding like I want to- I will look into getting UVEX gear. Here it is...

"Blonde Who Uses Our Stuff Wins Downhill (Last Name Rhymes With "Bonn")

There once was a lawyer from the IOC,
who called us to protect "intellectual property."

"During the Olympics", she said with a sneer
"your site can't use an Olympian's name even if they use your gear."

"No pictures, no video, no blog posts can be used..."
Even if they are old? "No!", she enthused.

While Olympians chase gold the IOC pursues green.
Cough up millions, or your logo cannot be seen . . ."