Getting in touch with my inner child

Well that actually isn't very hard for me, but it was amplified last weekend (the 20th). I went downtown with Ariana for her seven year-old nephew, Matthew's, birthday party. It was originally supposed to be at the Chelsea Piers bowling alley, as it is every year. However, the owners decided pretty much out of nowhere to close the place down temporarily for remodeling or something. So Carlos & Jody (Ariana's brother and his wife) were forced to move the party to another location last minute.

We wound up having the party at Two Boots Pizza. It's basically a regular pizza place (that also has a video store attached to it for some reason), but they have a downstairs room that has a move projector and screen and was big enough for a party.

So when I arrived all the kids were watching one of the Pokemon movies on the screen. And boy were there a lot of kids. I tried counting them, but they were moving around so much it was hard to keep track. But I knew there were over 30 (I later learned there were 35 altogether).

Things got amusing after the movie ended though. Ariana's brother and his wife had hired a magician and he was supposed to be there at 6:30, just as the movie was ending. Thing is, the magician ran a little late and they didn't really have anything to keep 35 kids who were hyped up on caffiene from soda busy. So things got a little nuts. The kids were jumping around in their seats and just being really loud. The situation made me crack up, b/c it made me think of the scene in the movie- Gremlins, when the Gremlins are at the movie theater going absolutely nuts in their seats before the movie begins. I shared this with Ariana afterwards, and she got a good laugh out of it.

But in all honesty it wasn't that bad. The kids were just loud, but they were pretty well behaved, especially considering how many of them there were. And they completely calmed down once the magician arrived and did his thing. The magician was actually pretty good. I brought my camcorder with me to the party, so I recorded the whole set as well as other parts of the party, which will be cool to look back on.

After the party was over, we went back to Carlos & Jody's place for my favorite part of Matthew's birthdays- the opening of the presents. I enjoy it every year, b/c I basically become the official toy assembler for the more complex gifts he gets, heh. He didn't get as many big gifts as in previous years though, so I didn't have to do much. But it's always cute to watch the reaction of a young kid to a bunch of presents. So a good time was had by all.

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Then the next day, we pretty much chilled in for the day, except we did swing by Bestbuy. we went b/c I had a bunch of coupons that I earned mostly from when I bought the camcorder. I basically had $70 worth of certificates, so I wanted to pick up a few things. So I finally got the Lego Star Wars 2 game for the Xbox, as well as a few DVD's including Ong-Bak, Robots (I got those 2 onsale), Over the Hedge, and lastly Lady & The Tramp for Ariana. So with the exception of Ong-Bak, if you had seen my stack of purchases you probably would have thought I was buying that stuff for a kid or something, heh.

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The next day, I did the normal Sunday routine, except that I was the one to bring the entertainment to my grandparent's house this weekend. So I decided to bring the Mr. Bean series collection to watch and we through about three episodes. It's been a long time since I had seen many of those episodes so we all got a kick out of watching them,

Then later that night, I actually hosted wrestling PPV night at my place for the huge TNA PPV- Bound for Glory. So Ariana, Phil and James came over to watch it, and we had a really good time. We were actually looking more forward to this show than the last few WWE PPVs and it delivered. The show was really freakin good, with a bunch of very solid matches (including an insane X-title match, the Tag team cage match, and the Kurt Angle-Samoa Joe confrontation).

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Oh, something I forgot to mention earlier-Ariana's brother lives right around Union Square so when we were heading home from his place, we passed by Irving Plaza and noticed that Lostprophets were actually going to be in concert that week. We actually weren't able to make the show that I had won tickets to up in Poughkeepsie the previous weekend, b/c Ariana was sick, and my back was acting up really bad. We actually wound up just staying in that night, not even being able to go to Gaetano's b-day party either. So I was psyched to be able to at least make up missing the show.

So we picked up tix for the show early in the week (Ariana went down to the box office so we could bypass paying the evil ticketmaster fees), and went to the show this past Thursday. It was a really good show. It wasn't very crowded, so we had a good amount of space around us and a great view. They also played an awesome set list (a lot of stuff off their second album, which is my favorite of theirs). And the show was cheap (only $16.50), so it was definitely worth it, eliminating my regret from missing the original show.

Stuff from the past 2 weeks

I know it's been my M.O. lately to fall behind for a few weeks and then play catch-up, but this time I have a legit excuse for falling behind. I've actually been quite busy, especially with school stuff. I just had my mid-term for my Professional Identities in School Counseling class last night. And oh man, was that a heck of a test. Luckily, I had been studying like crazy for it, but it was just SOOO much information I had to memorize. I think I did pretty well though, b/c I did remember what I needed to, so we'll see.

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In other events, two Friday's ago was Alan's b-day dinner over at The Greek Corner on Central Ave. It was a nice place, but it was practically deserted- on a Friday night. And from what I was told, it's almost always that empty, which led to all of us cracking down on how it so has to be some kind of mafia joint.

We all had a good time though, everyone seemed to like the food, and since the place was so spacious and empty, we were able be as loud as we wanted (and not have to worry about scaring any kids or families away with any of the topics of conversation that may come up when our group gathers, lol).

So yeah, it was a good night, all the way up til I got back to my car, turned on the radio and heard the Yankees losing 5-0 to the Tigers. That was just painful. It was made even worse when the next day they actually got eliminated from the playoffs. Uggh, I don't even wanna talk about it right now. I'll have to come back and make a post about my thoughts on what the Yanks need to do for next year once I've had time to let things sink in.

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Things picked up the next week though. I went with Ariana to go see Evanescence in concert over at Hammerstein Ballroom on that Monday night. They had a band called Revelation Theory open for them, and they didn't suck. Actually, their stuff was decent, and they even did a cover of Temple of the Dog's famous song- Hunger Strike that came out really well.

Evanescence's set was also very good. My only complaint about the show, well actually more about the venue itself, is that is not very "height-challenged" friendly. I personally have no problems, but I felt bad for poor Ariana as we just kept getting six foot people standing in front of us, blocking our view. The only place to get any kind of height if you are in standing room, is by going ALL the way to the back and standing either on the steps or in what is basically the ballroom's vestibule. And while the view is still fine, standing up there makes you feel kind of seperated from the show. Don't get me wrong, it was still a good show, but in the future I think we'll have to go for balcony seats just so our view isn't as obstructed by people in front of us.

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Oh, while I have Evanescence on my mind, there is one thing I forgot to mention from the week before. I went to Bestbuy the first week of October to buy the X-Men 3 and Little Mermaid DVDs (the latter was for Ariana), as well as the new Evanescence and Killers CDs. I also brought the new Weird Al CD to the counter with me, but I wasn't sure if I was gonna get it b/c they had it priced at $17.99 even though I saw it on the bestbuy website for $13.99. So I went up to pay, but before I did I asked the cashier to check the price for me. It read at $17.99 so I decided not to buy it. So the cashier continued to process the rest of my order, and when I was gonna swipe my credit card to pay, I ask how much everything was and she says "$34.59." I immediately realize this can't be right, without even doing the math in my head. But I wasn't about to look a gift-horse in the mouth. So I paid and swiftly made my way out of the store. As I'm exiting, I look over my receipt and realized that she charged me for both the DVD's but not for either of the CDs! So I got what I like to call a "divine intervention" discount, lol.

And believe it or not, this is NOT the first time anything like this has happened to me at a Bestbuy. This is actually probably at LEAST the third time, if not more. Just another reason why Bestbuy is my favoritist store ever! lol.

Cool movies and TV shows to watch

A few weekends ago I went with Ariana and David to go see The Protector, starring Tony Jaa (of Ong-Bak fame). Now I actually hadn't seen Ong-Bak (I need to just buy it, b/c my local Blockbuster doesn't even carry it), but I saw the commercials for The Protector and it looked freakin awesome.

And it lived up to the hype. Granted, there is basically NO plot (well okay, there is a plot but it consists of: Jaa protects elephants for the emperor, 2 elephants get kidnapped, Jaa must kick the asses of the elephant-nappers, and umm, yeah that's about it). And to top off the lack of plot, there are actually HOLES in something that simple (I won't ruin anything, but I just gotta say it has to do with the cop near the end of the movie).

So how do I give thumbs up to a movie like this? Simple- a movie like this needs very little plot when you have Tony Jaa doing all his own stunts and kicking ass like I've never seen ass kicked before. The action throughout the movie was just amazing! Especially, the "100%-less bloody than Kill Bill, yet just as brutal" brawl that Jaa had with like 25 henchmen, and the insane battle he had with Nathan Jones and the other two huge guys at the end of the movie. My jaw was on the floor for almost the entire movie. So if you enjoy kung fu action flicks, make sure you pick up (or at least rent) The Protector when it comes out on DVD.

The following weekend, we then completed my intended Kung-Fu Double Feature, by going to see Jet Li's- Fearless. This was another top notch action flick. The fight scenes were not as insane as The Protector's were, but the story was MUCH better, and it just had an overall "epic" feel to it. I definitely give my recomendation for this movie as well.

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And moving onto TV shows, as I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to finally cave in and start getting into the new Battlestar Galactica series. I ordered the first season DVD set from Amazon the other week, and have gotten about halfway through it. The Sci-Fi network has also been doing mini-marathons the past few weeks of the second season, so I have been DVRing those to have them saved up for when I finish the DVD. So if I watch at around 3-5 episodes a week, I should be caught up in time to watch the third season, which just started the other week (yeah I've been DVRing those as well).

Obviously, I think the show is pretty cool, and now wish I had jumped on the bandwagon sooner.

-However, there is one show I've luckily decided to start watching right off the bat that has turned out awesome. And that show is NBC's- Heroes.

In all honesty, I hadn't even HEARD of the show until about a week before the first episode was about to air. But I saw a commercial and read some stuff online, and it sounded really cool.

It's basically like watching a live-action comic book. Apparently, the concept of the show is very similar to the comic book- Rising Stars. I've never read the comic, but I gotta say the show has sucked me in, and if that comic is like the show, then I might need to find a trade paperback of said comic.

The show has just been a lot of setup the past few weeks, so I can see some people complaining about pacing, but I found the ending to this past week's episode very exciting and just has me clamoring for me. So yeah, props to the writer's of the show. Here's hoping they don't get as off-track and confusing as Lost has gotten.

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Lastly, has everyone seen the new video for Weird Al's latest song- "White & Nerdy"? If not, I have it posted on my myspace site, so you can check it out there. Enjoy!

Poor Hobbes...

Henry had this posted in his blog and I just had to share. It's a pretty sad social commentary...

Ritalin killed Hobbes!!! NOOOOO!!

Sad news...

Boy, it's been a really bad week to be a Yankee fan. But the ALDS loss is a very small thing in the grand scheme of things after the sad news that Yankee pitcher, Cory Lidle, died in a plane crash today.

He was actually the pilot of the plane that crashed into the apartment building on 72nd St. and York downtown. Now, I wasn't really a Lidle fan, I mean he just joined the team in July. But I did see him pitch live twice this season (since I am a partial season ticket holder), so it's just kind of weird to know he's no longer with us. But I'm not mourning him b/c he was a Yankee (cuz in all honesty, he probably would have been let go within the next few days/weeks anyway) but b/c he was a human being. And even though there are conflcting reports, I also feel bad for anyone else who might have been hurt or killed in the accident. Especially if it was anyone who was in their apartment. Imagine, just chilling in your place and then all of a sudden a plane crashes through your living room! It's just a sad situation. You can check out the official story from the Daily News here and a more sports-slanted version (and actually probably more overall detailed version) from espn.com here.

It just goes to show, that you NEVER know when you are gonna go... and more than a reason to have both your life and spiritual life in good order at all times.

R.I.P.
Cory Lidle
1972-2006

and R.I.P. to whomever else may have perished in that tragic accident.

Oh well...

We got the postcard from Millionaire about the "Play to Pay for your wedding" and sadly we were not chosen. No reasons, just a thank you for your interest and that's about it. It sucks, but what can you do?

Obviously, I'm a litle disappointed, but I'm trying to look at the bright side of things, and in doing so, I'm realizing that by not being chosen at least I will still have a life, lol. B/c if we got chosen, we'd have school, work, internships PLUS studying hardcore for this show. It would have been NUTS. And with me just getting back into grad school, this would have been a huge distraction. So while I can't say it was for the best, at least life won't be too hectic.

I'm not completely over the gameshow bug though. I recently heard that sign-ups are open for the next "season" of the World Series of Pop Culture. Now THAT is a show I know I would do well on (I did surprisingly well while playing along at home, and that was without any kind of studying). I'll let people know what info I find out, b/c for that we'll need a team of geeks (*ahem,* I mean people).

Getting Political again

While other people may enjoy the feeling, this is one time I really hate to say "I told you so."

For those of you who haven't been keeping up with National events, then it may interest you to know that just this past Friday, the Senate passed a bill that basically sanctions torture and the president's "right" to imprison US citizens without a trial.

And just in case you don't realize it at the moment- this is a HUGE deal and in a very BAD way.

God... where do I begin? Well I guess I should hook you all up with some knowledge of exactly what has happened. This is an article from the Washington Post about it. Please read the entire thing though, b/c at first glance, some people might say "oh this is a good thing." B/c yes, a part of the bill will help out a few people in Guantanamo Bay, but in all actuallity it screws the majority of them over.

And in the end, this is NOT just about Guantanamo Bay. This reaches a lot farther. For what this bill REALLY means, check out this excellent piece.

For those of you who are too lazy to read that article (which is a shame really, b/c it's very informative), I'll just copy and paste one or two pretty important items from it.

The first and probably most important snippet from the article is this:
"The compromise legislation, which is racing toward the White House [well, this article was written before Friday, it's actually already been passed], authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights." Similarly, Lederman explains: "this [subsection (ii) of the definition of 'unlawful enemy combatant'] means that if the Pentagon says you're an unlawful enemy combatant -- using whatever criteria they wish -- then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is concerned, you are one, whether or not you have had any connection to 'hostilities' at all."

This last point means that even if there were a habeas corpus right inserted back into the legislation (which is unlikely at this point anyway), it wouldn't matter much, if at all, because the law would authorize your detention simply based on the DoD's decree that you are an enemy combatant, regardless of whether it was accurate. This is basically the legalization of the Jose Padilla treatment -- empowering the President to throw people into black holes with little or no recourse, based solely on his say-so.

-And I don't know about you, but I find that SCARY! Now I know some Bush defenders will quickly use the argument that "if you're a good law abiding citizen, you have nothing to worry about." And to that I say, "get your head out of the sand!" A law was just passed that basically allows the President (and any future Presidents) to throw whoever they want in jail for whatever reason he/she wants! That means it can happen to an innocent person! God forbid someone is framed, or there is misinformation. Or heck, even if it has nothing to do with terrorism, they can basically use that as an excuse, put you away, and you won't be given a trial! They can basically use this law to just get rid of whoever they want.

[I actually like to call this law Bush's "plan B." Why? Because his bid for wire-tapping was shot down, so you know what, they actually did themselves one better. B/c now they don't even NEED proof from a phone conversation. All they need is a suspicion and then they can take you and throw away the key! At least before they needed some kind of proof. Now it's basically just on the President's say-so!]

Think I'm being paranoid? Ok, maybe situations like that won't happen right away. But let's not forget, this is a LAW that has passed. Meaning it's not only for use by this administration, but all future administrations. So imagine, we have someone corrupt like Bush in there now, who knows who we may have 2 years or even 50 years from now?

And like I said, imagine you are an innocent who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? You can be thrown in jail, have all your rights taken away with no way to get out! Is that an unlikely scenario? Maybe a bit, but we all know it very well could happen, and if it were to happen to just ONE innocent person, that'd be too much!

Think about it, why do we have a justice system? We have criminal defense lawyers not to keep criminals out of jail, but to make sure they get a fair trial, AND to help those who may be falsely accused! No one wants to see an innocent person be imprisoned. But with this new law the country is taking away these two VERY important rights!

Once again taking from that Greenwald article:
"...But even with the extreme range of abuses the Bush presidency has brought, this is undeniably something different, and worse, by magnitude, not merely by degree.

There is a profound and fundamental difference between an Executive engaging in shadowy acts of lawlessness and abuses of power on the one hand, and, on the other, having the American people, through their Congress, endorse, embrace and legalize that behavior out in the open, with barely a peep of real protest. Our laws reflect our values and beliefs. And our laws are about to explicitly codify one of the most dangerous and defining powers of tyranny -- one of the very powers this country was founded in order to prevent.

One could cite an infinite number of sources to demonstrate what a profound betrayal this bill is of the fundamental promises of the American system of government. As Justice Jackson wrote in his concurring opinion in Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 533 (1953):

Executive imprisonment has been considered oppressive and lawless since John, at Runnymede, pledged that no free man should be imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, or exiled save by the judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. The judges of England developed the writ of habeas corpus largely to preserve these immunities from executive restraint."

-So imagine! This is something our country was founded on! And it's been taken away with barely any protest! Granted, it wasn't something made very public leading up to it, but the fact remains that this country is just very much uninformed!

-Oh, and let me not forget to mention the other half of the law passed. They've basically made it legal to torture prisoners. Now to just be a little fair, I'm a fan of the show 24, and on that show we've seen many actually good reasons to use torture to get crucial information. But in the end, that is just fiction. I doubt most of the information our gov't needs to get needs to be retrieved in exactly 12 minutes, if you know what I mean. But putting our use of torture aside (which is hard to do, but hear me out) the real scary part about this is what could happen to any US soldier/citizen if they are captured. If it's legal for our country to do it, then other countries will just use that as an excuse to do the same to our soldiers. And I guarentee you, they'll use methods a lot scarier than we would. So before you side with this part of the law, just think about that aspect of it.

-So yeah, as my friend Brendan said in his myspace bulletin "seriously, if you have anything but a diseased feeling in your stomach when you look at Bush these days, you're either uninformed, or have an accessible sociopathic quotient. " Sad thing, as I also said earlier, most people are just uninformed and there is just no more excuse for that in this day and age, what with the internet and tons of information available at our fingertips.

But I know how it is... I wasn't very political until I go to my current job. Up until a year after I graduated college, I didn't care much at all for anything going on in the political world! I was too busy thinking about my own personal life. But thing is, people can't be like that. B/c these things might not affect you right now, but you never know what life may throw at you (or a loved one).

So my mission right now is just to get you all informed. Please, read about these things! Bookmark CNN.com, the NYtimes, things like that. Stay in the loop! And heck, if you find these things boring, then watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. It's not "hard" news, but they may introduce you to some things going on in an amusing way, that might get you to read up on the full facts (and in an unbiased way) and form your own opinions.

So please, make sure to vote (there is an election this November), make your voices heard, and at LEAST stay informed! Oh, and feel free to forward this blog to anyone you feel should hear about these events.