A couple more fun video links

A few friends of mine were spreading these videos out while we were in a chat room babbling about our WWE Fantasy League. They have NOTHING to do with wrestling though.

The first video is a homemade video of some kid doing a "Rocky" style workout. It's pretty amusing. You can see it here:
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/rockyisback2.html
(I'd link it, but for some reason, the blog keeps acting up when I try).

The second video, I don't want to ruin, so I'll just say two words- Nintendo Choir.

Enjoy!

R.I.P. VCR 1972-2005

We all knew this day was coming soon, but the people at TiVo made it official this past weekend during the NYC Digital Life technology show. The VCR is dead.

It had a good run, but with the popularity of DVRs soaring as well as DVD-Rs, there just really isn't much use left for VHS. But yeah, I just found the e-mail that TiVo sent about it amusing. Check out some of the pics from the "funeral" on the link above.

Oh and here's what they had on the obiturary:

Here Lies the VCR
Born in 1972 in England, the VCR had a decent life, all right. But it's now time to make way for digital video recording for all. If you know someone who is still stuck in the video stone age, here are a few fun facts to help get him/her back on the (digital) record:
-Word is that many consumer electronics manufacturers are starting to halt production and sales of the VCR altogether!
-Turns out 2006 will be the last year for VHS releases.
-In 2001, VHS tapes accounted for 90 percent of all video rentals nationally. By 2003, VHS rentals had fallen to just below 50 percent, with DVD rentals grabbing almost 60 percent of the market share.

-And while I'll prob still use tapes until I decide to splurge on a DVD recorder (at least for recording stuff to hold onto, since I ain't gonna save it on my DVR forever) , it's still just kinda weird to see the end of an era (probably the only such ending my generation has seen since CDs took out audio cassettes- b/c we were all a bit too young to really remember/appreciate when records become obsolete).

Great read...

In unrelated news to my earlier post, I finished reading Angels & Demons today. And damn, I gotta say that was one good book. I can't wait to read the Da Vinci Code now...

Very busy and fun weekend

As the title of this post says, I was quite the busy man this weekend. No chill in days this weekend- I was constantly on the move, and loving every second of it.

The weekend started off with me and Ariana going to the Continental Airlines Arena to see the huge Weezer/Foo Fighters show. We had decent seats (right towards the side of the stage in the first row of the second level) and got their in good time, despite the sucky weather and traffic.

Weezer performed first, and at the beginning the crowd wasn't as into it as I would have expected but I attributed that to the fact most people were still just getting into the arena as they began to play. But towards the middle of the set, the crowd really got into it and this seemed to pump Weezer up big time. I've seen them about 6 times before, and this was the MOST energized I've ever seen them. They were jumping around stage, doing big solos, and hell Rivers even put down the guitar for a few songs and went nuts on the mic. It was just a fun change of pace.

They also played two cover songs. First they did "Big Me" by the Foo Fighters, then later on they did "Song 2" by Blur. In total they played for about 75 minutes, which added up to about 19-20 songs (what was that about Weezer minutes again?) and pretty much everything they played was awesome (did I mention they played "El Scorcho!?!!?").

Then the Foo Fighters came out then they also put on a hell of a set (about 90 minutes long). They started off strong with "In Your Honor" and "All My Life" and never came down. My row stood the whole show and we were rocking out like crazy.

The setlist looked something like this (I got it from a message board so it might not be 100% accurate but it looks about right):

In Your Honor
All My Life
My Hero
Up in Arms
Best of You
Learn to Fly
Times Like These
Stacked Actors
DOA
Cold Day in the Sun
The One
Breakout
Everlong

Encore:
Tie Your Mother Down
Monkey Wrench

Oh and as you may have noticed, for the encore they DID do a Queen cover. They even got the actual drummer from Queen- Roger Taylor to come play drums on the song, while the Foos drummer- Taylor Hawkins did vocals (and did a decent job of it too). So that was cool.

They also did a bunch of jams in their songs, especially during Stacked Actors and Monkey Wrench.

So yeah, while I expected the show to be cool, I didn't think it would be THIS good. I was into it the entire time. And lately it's been rare to find a great double-headlined show. So I would totally rank this high up there in my list of all-time best concerts (cuz Hell, Weezer and Foo Fighters have been two of my favorite bands for YEARS- the Blue Album and The Colour and the Shape got me through high school, so I gotta give it up for them). So yeah, good times.

****

The next day was busy as well. It started off with me and Ariana going to her nephew's sixth birthday party. It was being held at Chelsea Piers at the bowling alley. So we got there and watched the kids bowl (there were like 37 kids plus their parents there, it was a BIG party). Then we went up to eat and after that we were hooked up by Ariana's brother with a huge bag of coins for the arcade. So we played a bunch of games with her nephew, which was a lot of fun. Another thing I played was that stuffed animal machine, where you try to pull them up with the claw. And wouldn't you know it, I actually did REALLY well at it! On my very first try I got a Snagglepus stuffed animal. Then (thanks partially to the endless amount of tokens, although there WAS skill involved) I was able to get like 3 Care Bears stuffed animals from the machine as well. So I was feeling all proud of myself for that, b/c normally I suck at that "game" but I kicked ass that day, so that was cool.

After the party, Ariana's brother, wife and his mother-in-law were gonna take a taxi back to their apartment. But we couldn't all fit in one taxi and we both had all day metrocards, so we decided to take the bus. But Ariana's nephew (his name is Matthew) wanted to come with us, and his parents actually allowed it. So we took Matthew on the bus with us, and had ourselves a fun little trip back to his apartment with him. He is just about the cutest kid I have ever met. And he's very polite as well (both me and Ariana have stated that when we have kids, we want ours to come out just like him).

Then once we were back at the apartment, we watched as Matthew opened all his gifts (and trust me, after a party with over 30 attendees, there were a LOT of gifts). Then I got to act the part of the big kid by helping Matthew put together some of his toys (including two really cool transformers figures that you could attach and form one gigantic robot). So that was a lot of fun.

****

Then around 7pm, we headed out and went to Little Italy for Gaetano's b-day bash. Me and Ariana were super proud of ourselves for actually getting to the party EARLY. We were actually some of the first people there (right after Henry and Lizandra), too bad that meant not many people were around to appreciate our timeliness, lol.

The party itself was a lot of fun. TONS of people showed up for it (about 35 in all). The service at the restaurant wasn't the greatest (we had a real snobby waiter) but the food was excellent. So all in all it was a really good time.

It got a bit crazy afterwards when we all tried going around looking for a bar without knowing exactly where we were going but on the brightside, we got to walk off dinner, and it was cool b/c it was just a troop of us out there just chatting as we walked along.

Me and Ariana wound up bouncing before everyone found a bar (b/c it took over an hour to do so), but we had a long day so it was all good.

****

Finally on Sunday, me, Ariana and Sheila went to New Roc to go see Waiting...

It was a pretty funny movie. Kind of in the vein of Mallrats, Eurotrip, etc. So if you like fun dialogue and some gross out humor, this is a movie for you. Plus Ryan Reynolds is just a funny bitch (oh and did I mention Dane Cook has a minor role in this movie too? Good stuff there).

The three of us then chilled for a little while after the movie, and ran into Ashley and a friend of hers as well. After that, I dropped everyone home and watched the ALCS game (where the White Sox beat the Angels, WHOO), and Smackdown (which I had taped from Friday).

So yeah, like I said, it was a busy but very fun weekend.

Some fun video links

If you've got some time to kill at the computer, check out the videos on this humor website. Some of these suckers are hysterical.

I haven't even gone through all of them myself, but some of the ones I found amusing are:
-the first video (the one about baseball)
-the 3rd one from the top about the stuffed animals
-the "small man" one (my favorite of the bunch so far)

and those are just a small handful. So yeah check it out and let me know what you think.

(A small warning though, some of these may not be 100% work-safe. But you can pretty much figure out which ones are and aren't if you read the descriptions).

****

and these aren't videos but they are links to a pretty amusing webcomic called "Penny Arcade." If you're into video games I'm sure you've heard of this strip. Here are a few of my recent favorites (well maybe not very recent, but I just started reading this strip on a regular basis recently).

-this first one is the formula for how a normal person can become a jackass when online.

-how the characters thought the movie Troy should have ended.

-if you've played or even just seen someone else play the SIMS before you'll appreciate this one.

-and if you own a Playstation or a PS2 this may have happened to you before...

If you haven't taken my advice yet...

... and haven't seen the movie- Serenity, then here is something to get you hooked. You can watch the first nine minutes of the movie at this website. So if you like it, go see it this weekend. And take a friend!

Oh and if that video isn't enough, this website has a few shorter videos from the movie. Enjoy!

Latinologues

Last night me and Ariana went to go see the new Latino Broadway comedy- Latinologues.

Well we got a bit of a surprise when we arrived at the theater. I noticed as we were walking up the block toward the theater that my dad was standing right in front of it. Now I haven't seen my dad in quite a long time (prob over year), so yeah, as I said- it was a bit of a surprise.

So as soon as we get to the theater I walk right up to him to say hi and all. He then asks if we are attending the show and we tell him we are. So then he goes "you didn't pay for your tix did you?" And I'm thinking "no, we were thinking of just walking right in." But then he tells us that he has been helping promote the show. He's a photographer on the side and apparently he helped design some of the promotional photos including the actual Broadway poster (the one you will see if you click on the website link above). So since he's helped out, they gave him a BOATLOAD of free tix. He had like 30 in his hands he was giving away. He also asked if we knew anyone that wanted to go, b/c he could prob get us all in for free (he has tix for multiple days, not just last night. This was like the fifth show he's been at to give tix away for).

So me and Ariana were kicking ourselves in the asses b/c it totally did not come to my mind that he might have something to do with this show, although it SHOULD have (b/c he's ALWAYS involved in stuff like this). But whatever, we got the tix buy 1, get 1 free, so it wasn't too bad. But still... if I had known I would have waited and tried to organize a big outting to the show cuz I know a bunch of my buddies (like most of you fine readers) would have liked to have gone. Oh well...

But anyways, as for the show itself. It was amusing. And we were pretty close to the front, so we had a good time. I won't discuss much about it here though in case any of you want to see it.

After the show we met up with my dad again. He then introduced us to the entire cast of the show (proving to me he really did know them, b/c I was skeptical at first cuz my dad is known to exaggerate a bit at times). And Ariana got all their autographs on the playbill.

My dad then offered us a ride home too, which kept us from having to take the train, so that was cool as well. So yeah, it was definitely an interesting night.

Another big birthday month

Got a few b-day shout-outs for my buddies. Have a good one!

Alan (10/2)
Rachael (10/7)
Gaetano (10/10)
Steve C. (10/31)

Playoffs

Well the MLB playoffs began last week. There was both good and bad (for me at least). The Yanks got dealt a bad card by having to face the Angels in the first round. They were the ONE team I was scared of. I think the Yanks could have beaten ANY other team but them, which is why I was rooting hardcore for the Indians to take the Wild Card, but it was not to be.

So the playoffs started ok for my teams. The Yankees won the first game, so did the Astros and White Sox, so I was happy with all those outcomes. But as the week went on things got scary (well for some teams).

As I mentioned in the last post, me & Ariana actually had tix to the ALDS Game 3 on Friday night at the stadium. It was Ariana's first postseason game, and it sort of was for me b/c all my previous playoff games came when I was "working" so I couldn't enjoy the games as a full fan. So we were really looking forward to it.

The game was definitely an experience. First we were treated to watching the end of the other ALDS game on the big screen as the White Sox swept the Red Sox. So that was cool. Plus our seats were decent. We were in the nosebleeds right behind homeplate, but that was cool b/c we were high up enough to be covered from the constant rain/drizzle that went on all night.

But I think the night can be summed up best by what the guy behind us said: "This game went from shitty, to freakin great, to shitty again."

And just in case you're not aware, that was the game that Randy Johnson gave up 5 runs in like 3 innings, then the Yanks came back to lead 6-5 but then lost the game 11-7. So yeah, the ending sucked, but the experience of the game itself was a whole lot of fun. We had really good neighbors in the seats, who we chatted with all night. Plus, Yankee Stadium in October is just a totally different place than in the regular season. It's hard to describe but the energy in there is a lot stronger and just makes for a totally unique experience. So yeah, it was cool.

****

Then on Sunday, I started to watch the Astros-Braves game. which started at 1pm. I watched until about 3pm before I had to leave to go to my grandparents for dinner and when I did the Braves were winning the game 5-0.

So I leave, and then later on, me and Ariana come back to my place just before 7pm. I turn on the TV and I'm flipping through the channels when I get to ESPN and I see Roger Clemens striking out a guy. My immediate thought was "oh, this has got to be old footage b/c Clemens wasn't in the game today." But then just as the screen was fading to black I catch in the upper left corner "18th Inning." I was just like "HOLY CRAP!!!"

The game then ended in the bottom of the 18th with a Walk-off homerun by the Astros, to eliminate the hated (by me anyways) Atlanta Braves. So that had me pretty happy. The NLDS should be a really good series.

Then later that night we went to Phil's house for the WWE No Mercy PPV but we kept flipping back and forth and mostly watching the Yankees-Angels game, which the Yanks won 3-2. So that was also really freakin cool.

But the party came to an end the next night when the Angels defeated the Yankees in the final game 5 of the ALDS. Sad to say I wasn't too surprised. The Angels are the ONLY team in the Torre-era to have a winning record against the Yankees. They play them hard, and too many bats on the Yankee team were quiet (as well as our pitching being lackluster for the most part) so they went down.

So yeah, it sucks but what can you do? I'm still a BASEBALL fan, so I'll continue to watch the playoffs and now I'm rooting for the White Sox and the Astros to make it to the World Series. So we'll see what happens.

I just hope the Yanks make some smart moves during the postseason and come back a stronger unit.

Happy, yet just a bit meloncholic

Some good stuff happened this weekend that I am very happy about. First off we had the Yankees vs Red Sox series (which I watched all the games of) and on Saturday the Yanks clinched the AL East, which was really freakin cool. But sadly the next day the Red Sox clinched the Wild Card b/c the Indians choked big time losing 6 out of 7 games this final week of the season.

So now the Yanks have to face the Angels in the ALDS, which is probably the worst possible outcome for the Yanks (especially since the Yanks lost on Sunday and the Angels won so the Angels now also have homefield advantage). But regardless, the Angels play the Yankees really hard and have won the regular season series the past two years, not to mention they eliminated the Yanks from the playoffs in 2002. Now granted it's a new year and a few different players, but that loss is still in the fan's minds.

But I won't let that bother me. The Yanks are in the playoffs and I'm going to Game 3 on Friday at the Stadium and they have Randy Johnson pitching that night, so it should be fun (as long as we win, lol).

But while I'm loving the whole aspect of the postseason, it's kind of sad b/c that just means baseball will be gone by the end of the month, not to return until April, which means I'll be stuck with tons of babble about football (and other random sports I don't really watch) when I watch ESPN and Cold Pizza in the mornings. And nothing against football itself, but I'm just not a huge fan. I'll watch parts of some playoff games, and I'll watch (and be into) the Superbowl, but I don't wanna hear about it constantly... especially when 70% of the babble is about freakin T.O (god, can't they get over this guy? What about the rest of the league??)

Also, the Marlins didn't make it to the playoffs, so I'll miss hearing about and watching them. But at least they finished above .500 for the second year in a row. That's all I could have really asked for by the end. Hopefully they will step things up next year though, b/c they have a solid team who should have won more games than they did.

So yeah, I'm right now I'm cheering hard for my Yankees cuz that will keep me even more into the postseason, and I gotta milk all the baseball watching I can from this last month before it goes away. I have faith they can put 2002 behind them and play the Angels hard and win. Let's go Yanks!

****

Another thing this weekend that was cool was I went to go see Serenity with Ariana, Alan and Henry on Saturday. The movie lived up to the hype and was really freakin good. Oh, and I was the only one out of the four of us to go who had seen the show, Firefly, before and we all enjoyed the movie. So to anyone worrying whether they will be lost if they haven't seen the show- trust me, it's not necessary. It's cool regardless.

I would discuss the movie here (cuz there are a few things I would love to talk about), but it was just opening weekend and I don't wanna ruin anything for anyone who may still wanna see it. So if anything, you can just IM or e-mail me and we can babble about it if you'd like.

But yeah, as the title of the post says, I was psyched to see the movie, yet a little meloncholic afterwards b/c I can't think of any big movies that are coming out to be psyched for (much like how I was talking about with baseball before- cuz even if the Yanks were to win the World Series, I'd be happy for a time but still sad b/c it would mean the end of baseball for awhile, no matter what the outcome).

It was kind of how I felt after watching the last Star Wars movie- I was looking forward to it so much I couldn't wait for it to arrive, then it did and I loved it, but then afterwards it was like "well, now what?" B/c it's pretty much over.

But hey, I guess tons of things in life are like that (Hell, almost anything good in life is like that now that I think about it, lol). So I'm just gonna kick back and enjoy the ride.

So once again before I'm out- LET'S GO YANKEES!!