Thanks Again, Republican Scum

Their stalling and infighting resulted in this message, emailed to me at work:

“On December 23, 2011, President Obama signed legislation extending the payroll tax cut until February 29, 2012. This means the employee Social Security Tax will remain at 4.2 percent until February 29, 2012. Future legislation is also expected to extend this tax cut to December 31, 2012.

"Due to the late passage of this legislation, employee Social Security taxes will be deducted at 6.2 percent until the new rate can be implemented into the Commonwealth payroll system. Once the reduced rate is implemented employees will be credited for any overpaid Social Security tax.”

Seriously, you may not like the Democrats, and they often give you valid reasons not to like them. But if you vote Republican and you're not wealthy, you are a stone-cold moron.

A Thought On Adam Lambert

So by now you heard about Adam Lambert and his boyfriend being briefly arrested in Finland after a drunken brawl in a gay bar last week. While I am a fan of Lambert's music, and I liked how he handled the coming-out issue during and just after his "American Idol" days, and I was on his side when people (and TV networks) flipped out after his American Music Awards performance a couple of years ago, I find that I like him as a person less and less.

He seems to be rather arrogant, which isn't a big deal in itself. But when you're a celebrity, and you date another celebrity, and he happens to be a TV "reality" show star (in this case, the Finnish version of "Big Brother"), and you get drunk and get into a big fight, you can't complain about the media being interested in you, and you really shouldn't say that the media exaggerates...

...especially when at least one person has said she was accidentally punched while trying to break up the fight. After I read the tweet shown above I stopped following Adam Lambert on Twitter. Like I said, I'm still a fan of his music, and I'm looking forward to his second album. But his huge ego, combined with his whining about the media, is more than I can handle.

Mural-ity In North Philly

I've written about the Mural Arts Program and the various murals on walls around the city before. In the area near where I work, I was happy to find some more...

This one is on Broad Street, between Indiana and Glenwood Avenues. Amtrak and SEPTA trains run on the tracks above. There's a station nearby.

This is just east of Broad and Glenwood -- the outside of a fire station.

And further south, as you near Broad and Lehigh, is a mural of the legendary Jackie Robinson. At 21st and Lehigh, about 7 blocks to the west, is where Connie Mack Stadium once stood. Robinson, of course, played in Connie Mack Stadium when the Dodgers came to town.

Weird Christmas

I was watching the NFL Red Zone channel, the one that switches between every game going on, and it dawned on me: it's Saturday. And it's Christmas Eve. And I'm watching NFL games. There's a bit of a surreal feeling to the day (although this has happened before, of course). And for me, the holiday season itself has been unusual.

Normally I'd be trying to get through my stash of Christmas movies or TV shows (as listed here). This year, I haven't watched even one. The only Christmas shows I've watched were new holiday episodes of "Glee" and "Community." The "Community" episode was excellent, as it basically attacked "Glee" all night. I have listened to every bit of Christmas music in my iTunes, but that was in part because for the last week or so I've been taking my iPod to work and listening to music during the day. Having a job and a commute that's over an hour each way has really cut into my time. Besides the holiday TV problem, and the difficulty I've had in finding time to go to movies, I only added 12 new posts to the blog last month and just nine so far this month -- and a number of those are quick "post a picture and add a brief comment" posts. It's really frustrating.

I think I'd have an easier time if I had bought an iPad or other tablet PC, and gotten a 4G data plan to go with it, instead of the laptop I bought in September. That way my time on the bus and El (at least before it goes underground) could be more easily spent surfing the web, reading Twitter, etc., and that would allow me more time at night to blog and such. The more I think about it, the more I want to buy a tablet, but now I have this perfectly good laptop.

But I digress.

More Gay Media Fail, More Flyers Annoyance

Okay, I don't want to keep picking on writers for gay media outlets when they delve into the world of sports. (Of course, I'm talking about the mainstream outlets and not sites like Outsports or Wide Rights.) Whether it's just that this particular writer isn't that familiar with sports, or is trying to dumb down the article to try and appeal to an audience that isn't sports-friendly or sports-knowledgable, I don't know. But this article from the Philadelphia Gay News about Flyers' scout Patrick Burke, brother of Brendan Burke, regarding Patrick's advocacy on behalf of LGBT issues, has a flaw. The beginning of the article refers to Patrick Burke as "a recruiter for the Philadelphia Flyers," as does the headline. Ummmm, no. He's a scout, not a recruiter. Colleges recruit athletes. Professional teams don't.

(Well, I suppose the process of signing high-priced free agents is a form of recruitment, but that is handled by front-office personnel much higher up the food chain.)

Meanwhile, the article mentions the Wayne Simmonds incident...

Flyers player Wayne Simmonds was criticized for allegedly using a slur during a game that was caught on camera, although, because there was no sound on the video, he did not face a fine or other repercussions, as some other professional sports players have.

Burke noted that he has never spoken with Simmonds — or most other Flyers players, as he is based in Boston and his role as a scout keeps him on the road most of the season.

He said he could not comment on the specific incident because of legalities but did say that the NHL’s follow-up is an important, yet often overlooked, addition to the story.

“The NHL released a statement in the aftermath where they announced that going forward the league would treat gay slurs in the same way they do racist comments. They took a firm stance that gay slurs are not acceptable,” Burke said. “That got lost in everything else that was going on, but I think it was a very important statement and one that other leagues are now starting to follow up with. But I think the NHL is well ahead of some other leagues in encouraging diversity and a safe atmosphere for gay athletes.”

I don't think the league's follow-up has been overlooked. I think the entire story has been overlooked.

Jerk

Why am I wearing this? You tell me. Seriously, take a guess.

What Does This Mean? (Plus An Update)

First, the update:

As you can see, this box that I wrote about finally has its door, or lid, or whatever, back in place. I'm not sure exactly when it was done. I noticed it on Thursday. Not sure who did it, but there it is, with some sort of band holding the cover in place. I think that's because it got dented while it was lying on the ground, most likely from being stepped on a time or twelve.

Now then, here's a photo I took last week. This has been on the wall at the 15th Street station on the El for as long as I can remember. Someone wrote a message on it, and for the life of me I have no idea what it means. It's not just regular graffiti. There seems to be a message, but I can't figure it out...

Click on the photo for the large version and tell me what you think the writer is trying to say. The only part I really understand it that it was someone's mother's 116th birthday. Is it possibly some form of street art?

Too Long For Twitter: Stand Back, Philadelphia...

...because you oughta know whatcha gonna get in me: just a little touch of star quality!

Yep, the Evita song "Buenos Aires" is stuck in my head this morning. (The classic Patti LuPone Broadway original, that is, not the Madonna movie version or that "Glee" thing the other night.) And this, on a little more than 3 hours' sleep after having a rather tough week. This could be an interesting day.

Speaking of star quality, my friend Kurt was fantastic last night in his featured role in the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus holiday concert, "Nutcracker: A Tale of Sugar Plum Fairies." There are two more shows, this afternoon and tonight. Go see it.

I hope to see a movie today, and if so, tell you about it more promptly than I did with the ones I saw recently.

For now, I leave you with this: Justin Timberlake's musical comeback hit has already been written for him...

The Mysterious Box On The Pole

So this...

...has been like this for about two weeks or so, completely exposed to the air, the rain, etc. It's at the bus stop near my house. It seems important, seeing as it seems to be electronic or communications equipment. So a couple of days after I first noticed it, I tweeted it to the city's 311 Twitter feed...

...and got no reply.

I took a couple more pictures last week. They aren't as large when viewed at full size than I thought. I need to re-check the camera settings on my phone. This is another view of it:

The black box (more clearly seen in the top photo) says "XM" on it, which leads me to think it possibly is related to satellite radio. I know that Sirius/XM uses repeaters in and around cities for its signal. I also thought perhaps it has something to do with police radio communications.

The silver box hanging outside the big container, with what appears to be a phone cord attached, says, from what I can tell from the ground, "Electroline Transponder." And there's some sort of bar code.

This is the door of the big box, sitting on the ground.

It seems to have nothing to do with the traffic lights at the corner (the pole itself is slightly away from the intersection) as they've been working just fine.

The Philadelphia Daily News is interested in this. Can anyone shed some light on what this is?

Quick Reviews: J. Edgar, Muppets, Puss in Boots

Blogging for me is in fits and spurts right now. Either I have to be really inspired or it has to be something quick (such as those featuring a photo or two), and my lack of time (due to work and other issues) makes it worse. As far as these movie posts are concerned, I finally decided that I'm just not going to get to separate posts for these right now. So...

J. Edgar: The story (more like a psychological profile) of infamous FBI director J. Edgar Hoover is well-acted but the jumping back and forth in time made it much too disjointed. I read lots of comment about Leonardo DiCaprio's makeup for Hoover's latter days but to be honest I thought the makeup job done on Armie Hammer was worse. My grade: B-minus.

The Muppets: I loved the old Muppet Show and enjoyed this movie, but it was a bit too much of an exercise in nostalgia to be truly spectacular. I appreciate Jason Segel's efforts in getting the Muppets back on the big screen, but somehow I felt this didn't quite fully win my heart. The best celebrity cameo (and one that got quite a reaction from the audience) was by Jim Parsons as...well, I won't spoil it. My grade: B-plus.

Puss in Boots: It took weeks but I finally got to see this yesterday. Spinning Puss (voice of Antonio Banderas) off from the Shrek films wasn't a surprise, but stripping the film of the "Shrek" barrage of pop-culture references was. It was a wise decision. But why didn't anyone tell me they used a Lady Gaga song in the film? I might have seen it sooner. My grade: B-plus.

Glee: Closed-Captioning FAIL

This is from Tuesday night's episode of "Glee." You should easily be able to figure out what's wrong here:

Try and ignore my crappy non-HDTV and the reflection of the lamp on Santana's face.

The First Christmas Song Of 2011

Congratulations(?) to the first Christmas song of 2011!...that was played on my Xmas playlist in iTunes when I set it to shuffle mode...



"The Davey Dinkle Song," by the cast of Urinetown, from "Broadway's Greatest Gifts: Carols For The Cure 2001."

So...Is There Interest In A Contest?

Here's the deal: I have a couple of certificates I purchased through Eversave Philadelphia. I've used their certificates a few times and all went smoothly. Here are the two currently in my possession:

1. A certificate worth $20 at Mugshots Coffeehouse and Cafe -- three locations in Philly (expires 5/30/12)
2. A certificate worth $15 at Steaks on South -- on, naturally, South Street (expires 2/29/12 -- it's an older certificate so there's not as much time left to use it)

I'd be willing to give one or both of them away in a contest. I have an idea for what the contest will entail. What I need to know is, is anyone actually interested? I don't want to waste the time and effort if no one enters. Unfortunately, since they're both local establishments, I assume it wouldn't be of much interest to out-of-towners. Maybe if this works I'll hold another one, with something like an Amazon gift card as a prize.

So let me know -- either by replying to this post, or via Twitter or Facebook -- would you like to win one of these certificates? (And if you reply here, please don't post anonymously. Use your name or nickname or something.)

Too Long For Twitter: 76ers, NBA Returning?

So there's a tentative deal to end the NBA lockout, which would give us pro basketball on Christmas Day. Yay? I suppose it depends on the details. Will the terms of the agreement allow the NBA to become a truly competitive and interesting league again?

But if it does happen, I suppose I'll have a fall/winter team to actively care about again. DeSean Jackson and Wayne Simmonds have kind of ruined their teams for me right now, so as long as no 76ers have made an anti-gay comment recently...umm, maybe I shouldn't hold my breath on this one...

Quick Review: A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

The high seems to be wearing off. Too much of the third installment in the Harold & Kumar franchise, "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas," felt a bit forced and obvious. (It's still amazing that there's actually a H&K franchise to begin with. The first one, "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," didn't become popular until it got to home video and cable, which is where I first saw it.) The film starts with our heroes apart. Harold (John Cho) has stopped smoking pot and gotten married, and now works on Wall Street. Kumar (Kal Penn) is still in a haze, and his reaction to the news that his girlfriend is pregnant causes her to storm out of his apartment. A package arrives addressed to Harold, and Kumar decides to deliver it himself. That leads to the two estranged friends, and their new best friends, heading out on Christmas Eve in a desperate search for the perfect tree for his visiting father-in-law (Danny Trejo). The typically wild and crazy night ensues. The most lively part of the film finds Harold and Kumar again running into Neil Patrick Harris, playing himself (but not really himself). In the previous H&K movie ("...Escape from Guantanamo Bay") Harris was shot and seemingly killed. There's a great explanation for why he's not dead, not to mention the whole gay-with-a-partner-and-kids deal. Still, there were a lot of stretches where I sat there, not laughing. Maybe if I saw it stoned? My grade: C-plus.

P.S. Unlike just about every 3D movie released, none of the theaters near me showed the 2D version. I was forced to pay the 3D surcharge and wear those stupid glasses over my regular glasses. That deserves a demerit in itself. I read that the 3D version was shown on a very large majority of the movie's screens. It still managed to underperform at the box office compared to both projections and the first sequel. Good.

Quick Review: The Ides Of March

Did you know politics is a dirty, cutthroat business? If you didn't, first check yourself for a pulse. Then watch a few hours of MSNBC, Fox News, etc. before you see "The Ides of March" so you won't be too shocked by what goes on. The film takes place in the days leading up to the Ohio presidential primary, and the Democratic race is close. Oh, and George Clooney, whose Mike Morris has a slight lead, is the governor of Pennsylvania. If only art imitated life. Morris is charismatic and very much progressive -- sort of a combination of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Ryan Gosling plays Morris' junior campaign manager, a budding political genius who is all about making a difference. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the senior campaign chief and much more cynical. Then events occur that turn things all topsy-turvy. Some are the work of the opposing campaign manager (Paul Giamatti), some the work of Gosling's and Hoffman's characters, some are caused by a Morris campaign intern (Evan Rachel Wood). Did someone say "intern"? Uh-oh... Anyway, I wasn't quite blown away by this movie. It's entertaining, sometimes more realistic than you'd expect, other times a bit too far-fetched. Solid but not spectacular, although it might get some love when awards season begins. My grade: B.

Thanksgiving Housekeeping

I wanted to post something quick here, since my posts have been less frequent since I started working. But in case you missed my updates on Twitter/Facebook, time to blog won't be as much of an issue in the coming weeks... (Read these from bottom to top. I don't feel like separating these into four images and putting them in the correct order.)

With this being a four-day weekend, I hope to post a few more items. I have 3 movies to write about (and I do plan to try and see at least one this weekend), plus I now have an idea for...a contest! With an actual prize! (It's not worth an extreme amount of money, and it's something that has to be used in Philadelphia, so it may not be of interest to out-of-towners, but still...) I'll post that in a day or two.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Today's Daily News: A Page Full Of FAIL

It's nice that, because I am a Philadelphia Daily News subscriber, each day the newspaper is on my doorstep when I leave the house. (Especially now that I'm actually awake every morning to go to work.) It irks me, however, that in order to have it on my doorstep so early in the morning they seem to have a printing deadline of midnight, or earlier. What this means is, stories about any night games played on the West Coast are guaranteed to not be in my paper. Worse, there have been times when games played in the Eastern or Central time zones were not covered or, at best, a very short, bare-bones wire service article was published. There was one time when a two-paragraph AP story was all that appeared in the paper for a 76ers game that didn't go to multiple overtimes (or even one, if I recall correctly) -- and was played in Philadelphia.

Modern technology doesn't help them put together a newspaper more quickly, it seems. Until recent years, it wasn't quite so bad. Now it seems more and more prevalent. It also leads to errors. And one page in today's paper was a doozy.  First, note the date of the paper and check out the photo and caption in the first two photographs (click on them for larger versions).

Somehow a photo from the Raiders-Chargers Thursday night NFL game from last week ran in this spot (along with the caption correctly identifying Carson Palmer) instead of one from last night's Jets-Broncos game. This is typical, by the way: run a photo from early in the game and tell the reader to go visit philly.com for the result.

Eagles Getting What They Deserve

My tweet right after yesterday's latest Eagles debacle was quoted in the weekly NFL wrapup on the Outsports Jock Talk Blog. In case you missed it: "I'll keep saying this til someone listens: Eagles' woes due to bad karma for not addressing DeSean's anti-gay slur."

Obviously there's no scientific proof of this, but it's as good a reason as any. DeSean Jackson called somebody a "gay-ass faggot" on Sirius/XM radio during the summer, while the NFL lockout was still on, offered only a half-assed phony "apology" afterwards, and neither the league nor the Eagles took any action in response -- even after the lockout ended and teams were free to talk to their players again. (I hope you're not tired of reading my posts about it.) Sure, there are lots of problems, but there have been a few bad bounces as well, so why couldn't it be bad karma?

The much-hyped "Dream Team" is floundering. The only sure thing right now on offense is LeSean McCoy, and too often the Eagles don't get him the ball often enough. Michael Vick is struggling (and now has two broken ribs) and the offense is at times fine and other times pitiful. The defense is kind of a mess, especially in the fourth quarter of games. FIVE games lost after having the lead in the 4th quarter is shameful. Andy Reid is his usual arrogant-while-saying-nothing self (although he's somehow 6-for-7 in coach's challenges). And Jackson was suspended for the game yesterday for missing a meeting Saturday because he overslept.

There were reports that Jackson, unhappy with his lack of a contract extension, actually missed/was late for multiple meetings during the week and other players were also late. If that's true, then Reid has lost control of the team. Suspending Jackson might be seen as a good disciplinary reaction but I can't help but wonder what the Eagles would have done if their opponent yesterday had been, say, the New York Giants instead of the Arizona Cardinals. Would Jackson have been out for the game, or maybe just the first quarter?

The Eagles are now 3-6 and it would take a miracle for them to make the playoffs now. And, sad to say, I'm kind of happy about it. I was laughing at their follies a few times yesterday. I don't root for the Eagles to win or lose right now, but I can sure enjoy their troubles since they refused to address DeSean's comment during the summer. You might think that makes me a bad fan, but we'll have to disagree on that one. I'm just on hiatus until...well, I don't know. The media ignored the DeSean story except for a perfunctory report immediately after the story was broken and, even with his current T.O.-like behavior, shows no signs of mentioning it now. There's no pressure on the Eagles to do a thing. So I don't know when my stance will change.

Quick Review: Tower Heist

I'm trying to get to movies more often again. With my work schedule and commute, weeknights are difficult. And with my trying to catch up on sleep on the weekends, I'm not getting to the before-noon $5.00 matinees. So for the three movies I've seen in the last week or so, I've gone on a Sunday afternoon ($7.50), Wednesday night ($6.50, because the Ritz theaters in Old City have bargain shows all day on Wednesdays), and Saturday evening ($13.00, in part because I couldn't avoid 3D). Anyway, we'll see how it goes. More movies I really want to see are either already out or will be out soon. Others I'm only sort of interested in, and those are kind of falling by the wayside.

Anyhoo, first up was "Tower Heist." A Bernie Madoff-substitute, Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), is arrested and charged in a Ponzi scheme. He's under house arrest, but his house is a super-expensive apartment in The Tower (with Donald Trump's property standing in). Josh (Ben Stiller), the building's manager, and other employees gave Shaw their savings to invest. Needless to say, their savings are gone. Josh puts together a team to break into Shaw's apartment and find his "safety net" -- the stash of cash that these Madoff types keep for themselves in case of emergency. But these people aren't criminals, so Josh enlists the help of an actual criminal, Slide (Eddie Murphy), who, as it turns out, was a playmate of Josh's when they were both in daycare. Yeah. Naturally, there are many implausible occurrences. Slide may be a criminal but he seems more like an average lowlife than someone who could mastermind a multimillion-dollar heist. And the maid just happens to have a talent for safecracking? Really? But this isn't a documentary, it's an "Ocean's 11"-style caper. There are some laughs to be had (such as when the aforementioned maid, played by Gabourey Sidibe, flirts with Murphy's character), but more often than not it falls a bit flat. My grade: B-minus.

I'm An Exhibitionist

Tonight I went to see my picture at the opening reception for the Philly Photo Day exhibit at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center. And here it is!

There were close to 900 submissions but they're helpfully arranged alphabetically by photographer's name, so mine is easy enough to find if you go. It'll be up until the 26th. It was interesting to see such a variety of photos, and yet similarities in a number of photos. City skyline shots, iconic buildings such as City Hall, the LOVE statue and the Clothespin, Pat's and Geno's steaks, a handful of shots from public transit (although I saw only one other picture showing the Market-Frankford tracks through the fence on the crossover between platforms). There were lots of quirky photos, photos of people of all ages, photos that were a bit tricked out to depict some special effect such as streaking lights, a few pictures from Occupy Philly, and so on.

And then there were two pictures of...TV screens at the moment the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. (One can be seen in the first picture above.) Ugh.

Does This Make Me An Artist Or Something?

A while back I saw a sign at a subway station advertising Philly Photo Day. The promoters of this event, the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, invited anyone to take a picture -- with any device, whether the most sophisticated camera or just a cell phone pic -- anywhere within city limits on October 28th and submit it on their website. Then, they'd take every photo submitted and hold an exhibition. So on the day in question, as I went to and from work, I took a few photos. I then had to decide to submit one. Here are smaller versions of the photos I took. I took the first one shortly after I left the house, just after 7 am...

I snapped a quickie on the crowded bus...

...and another when I reached the El platform at Frankford Terminal...

MoneyMoneyMoneyMoney...MONEY!

This post brought to you by the O'Jays! The Sound of Philadelphia!

Tonight I had tentatively planned to see "The Ides of March" at the theater at Neshaminy Mall. I was on the route 14 bus, headed north on Roosevelt Blvd. to go to the mall, but I had a last-minute change of heart. I needed a new alarm clock radio for the bedroom, so I got off the bus and went to Best Buy and bought one instead. It has really lousy AM reception, at least for KYW Newsradio, but I only set the clock radio to KYW if someone I don't want to hear is on WIP sports radio (usually happens early on weekends). And since WIP is now on FM, the AM side isn't something I'll use much.

Anyway, I got home and looked at my mail -- I got my first paycheck today! A whole week's worth of salary! YES!

The only problem is, way back when I had my interview for the job, I gave them (as requested) my direct deposit information. I'm not supposed to get my check in the mail. Now I have to make a trip to my credit union to deposit it. An inconvenience, but hey, the important thing is I can finally start crawling out of my financial hole.

...Also, We Think You're Stupid

In this Q&A about the St. Petersburg Times newspaper's plan to change its name to the Tampa Bay Times, I'm struck by the last sentence in the first answer...

Q. Why is the Times making this change?

A: Tampa Bay Times is a name that better reflects the newspaper it has become and the region it serves. We have been Tampa Bay’s favorite newspaper for several years. We expect that advertisers, readers and subscribers, who might not have been inclined to consider the "St. Petersburg" Times their newspaper, will take a fresh look.

So, basically, the people of the Tampa-St. Pete region are not capable of advertising in/buying a paper that doesn't specifically say "Tampa Bay" on it. By the same token, I can no longer ride SEPTA because it stands for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and I live in Philadelphia and it isn't called the PTA like it used to be.

To me this feels like a desperate move by a newspaper. It might not hurt, but it certainly isn't going to help. Sadly, the newspaper business is a dying industry and I'm not sure there's a way out.

I Must Have Been Really Drunk...

When the hell did I get married? And why isn't my wife cleaning my house, cooking my dinner or doing my laundry, dammit? And don't get me started on our love life!

 

Also, my middle initial is not "J" and the house number had a wrong digit (yet this still made it into my mailbox the other day).

Quick Review: Paranormal Activity 3

Here we go again. Like so many movie franchises, the quality continues on a downward trend in "Paranormal Activity 3." The orginal featured a woman named Katie being haunted, the sequel told the story of her sister Kristi, also haunted, and this one...well, there are no more siblings, apparently. So this time we have a prequel, going back in time to 1988, when young Katie and Kristi lived with their mother and her boyfriend. This means camera equipment is much less sophisticated. Think VHS tapes. Yet the boyfriend conveniently has a "business" (based in the garage) filming wedding videos and such, so he's got cameras to place all around the house. The same basic plot is in place -- a nice, happy family lives a nice, happy life until strange things begin to go bump in the night. Only this time it's less interesting, less intense and missing much of the humor and charm of the original. The idea that someone in danger (or trying to rescue someone else in danger) would be sure to carry his clunky VHS camera with him is ridiculous. And things are left open for another installment, which seems highly likely considering that PA3 is yet another cash cow, with a cheap budget and huge box office. The problem is, unless the filmmakers find another family in the present to scare, or have someone look for the infant from PA2, their only other option is following this same family further into the past. Sony Betamax next? My grade: D-plus.

My Odd Little Nice Day

The freak snow "storm" that showed up today (more like rain/snow/occasional sleet with much of the snow and sleet melting upon impact and the rest disappearing tomorrow) was the setting for a weird, fluky but ultimately rather good day.

It started with my alarm going off at 9:15 this morning (well, technically yesterday morning since I'm writing this a little past midnight, but go with me here). I turned it off and went back to sleep. I dreamed that the Phillies were playing, and I was suddenly called in to play third base. I was so excited! Then the batter hit a soft line drive that clanked off my glove for an error that allowed a run to score. At this point there was a pitching change, and I decided to run into the clubhouse for some reason. I was walking around, talking to someone in there for a couple of minutes. Then I heard a noise and realize that the game resumed without me. I wasn't bothered by this. I was like "Oh, well" -- and then I went out into the seats and sat down to watch more of the game. (And then I found myself out on a street with all of my family. Not sure why.)

I woke up, looked at the clock radio...and it had no time. My power had gone out. I checked my watch -- it was 10:30. I looked out my bedroom window and saw that the rain that began while I was asleep had already mixed with snow, earlier than predicted by the forecasters. I went down into my basement to check the fuse box (although why would it be a blown fuse? Hardly any electricity was being used at that time). Then I called PECO to see if they were aware of it (their automated system said they were working on it). I checked the clock that's on my oven, and saw that it was stopped at 10:15, meaning it hadn't been out long.

A little after 11, the power returned. Just then, I looked out my window and saw a FedEx truck, and there was a knock on my door. The driver had left a package. It was maybe five feet long, but not heavy at all. It was marked "fragile." I don't know why but I thought it might be a fishing rod or two. Although it had my house address on it, it had someone else's name. Perplexed, I brought it inside, went upstairs to shower and get dressed.

MixBlog 10-27-11

I need to put some content up here so the twelve or so of you who are actually reading this stuff (as compared to all the hits I get from people doing Google searches for pictures of shirtless guys*) continue to stop by, so here are some little observations...

Baseball: Right now I'm watching Game 6 of the World Series. It's kind of bizarre. It's 4-4 in the 6th as I write this and both the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals seem to be trying to give the game away with various displays of ineptitude. If they're this mistake-prone in Game 6, what happens if the Cards tie the series and they have to play the dreaded all-or-nothing Game 7? Update: 7-4 Texas in the 7th. Will this game end before I finish this post?

Hockey: Speaking of mistake-prone, I had the Flyers game on earlier. They were playing the Atlanta Thrashers Winnipeg Jets 2.0, who came into the game with a 2-5-1 record, at the Whatever-The-Bank's-Called-This-Week Center. Last night the Flyers lost at Montreal by a 5-1 score. The Canadiens were 1-5-2 before beating the Flyers and hadn't won a home game. So you had to figure the Flyers would be kind of desperate to put together a solid effort.

They fell behind 5-1 in the second period. I tweeted about it at the time and used these hashtags: #karma #apologizesimmonds (referring to this). After the teams traded goals, the Flyers then scored two more in the second and three in the first three minutes of the third period to take a 7-6 lead. I was worried that my tweet was serving as a reverse jinx.

Working At Working

Just want to vent a little.

One week and one day into my new job, and I kind of miss being out of work. While I admit I wasted plenty of time during the day, now it seems like I have little time. Working a full day, with a commute of 1 1/4 hours each way -- which is actually a little worse than the commute I used to have -- is wearing on me. Between checking the websites I regularly visit, plus Facebook and Twitter, and this little blog, plus those TV shows I watch regularly*, and keeping up with reading Entertainment Weekly and some other stuff, it feels like I have no time to just relax.

So I'm staying up as late as I can to try and squeeze it all in, which means I tend to get less sleep than I'd like. And I haven't been to a movie in this span. I was hoping to try and see something this past weekend but slept in both days. If I go to a movie it'll have to be at night or on the weekends. I thought that I'd be able to handle this particular schedule. It's a seasonal job, generally running from September through March each year. It can be extended a little bit, but essentially I'd have the whole summer off. But I'm already feeling worn down a little.

I'm wondering if I might be better off with a year-round part-time job, maybe three days per week. The problem is, even if I start applying for such jobs, I can't take any days off to go to a job interview. So I'm sort of stuck. I'm not at the point where I'd just quit this job. Obviously, I can't afford it financially. But I need to find a way to make some more time.

*There are also one or two new shows I've considered watching, but haven't started to yet. Now multiple episodes have aired and I'm behind in them, and there's just no way I can catch up now, even if the episodes are still available through On Demand.

Philadelphia Revolution Hockey?

I was about to get out of a bus near my house after I ran some errands today, and saw another bus pulling to the corner. When I saw what the bus said, I was intrigued, so when I exited my bus, I shot some video.



Seeing as how I'm not enthused about the Flyers right now, thanks to their lying (definitely) bigot (possibly) Wayne Simmonds, this intrigued me. I found their website -- it's a bit subpar, but I've been able to piece together that the Philadelphia Revolution is a junior hockey organization, with teams in three different leagues. They play their home games at a rink in Warwick Township. In fact, one team had a game there tonight, with a 5:40 pm scheduled start.

I don't know why their bus was around the corner from my house at 4:15, less than 90 minutes before game time. I think there's a chance the driver was lost, or thought he was lost. The bus was headed north on Frankford Ave. to Grant Ave., made a right on to Grant and (as I took my video) parked along the road for about two minutes before resuming the trip. But based on Google's directions from there to the rink, they were headed in the wrong direction when the bus turned onto Grant.

I wish them well. Definitely more than the Flyers right now. But they need to spell the word "sponsor" correctly.

Rittenhouse Square Yarn Bomb

I wrote about the odd and surprisingly popular phenomenon known as yarn bombing once before, and got quite a few hits on the blog because of it. Naturally, when I saw this picture, which was taken yesterday by my friend Kurt (so you can't use it without paying him -- you can send me the money and I'll be sure to get it to him), I felt that I should, you know, try and get some more hits. (Speaking of which, no noticeable uptick in hits from Joe Jonas fans. Explains his album sales, I suppose.)

This statue is "The Sundial," and it's in Rittenhouse Square. With a chill in the air, some thoughtful person decided to help these frolicking naked children keep warm. Well, one of them, anyway. Well, for the kid's head, at least...wait, what horrible creature saw these poor naked kids and decided to torture them by leaving just one hat for the two of them?

Too Long For Twitter: Joe Jonas' Album Sales

Really, this is more about the mess that is today's music industry. The debut solo album by Joe Jonas sold just 18,000 copies in its first week. Amazingly weak.

Yet that was good enough to be number 15 on the Billboard 200 top albums chart. 15. That's practically a top-10 debut, which used to be a big deal!

I guarantee that if Joe Jonas announced that he's gay (and I'm not saying he is or isn't because I have no idea) he'd have sold a lot more albums. A lot more.

Oh, all right, you talked me into it. Here's Joe and Nick on the beach, and Nick in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform showing off his best asset.

Quick Review: 50/50

I'm not sure if it had something to do with "Green Hornet" or not, but I'm starting to tire of Seth Rogen's act. I suppose his character in "50/50" was supposed to act the way he did. After all, he was in a sense playing himself. "50/50" was written by Will Reiser, Rogen's friend, and is loosely based (so much so that their names are changed in the film) on Reiser's being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and how Rogen helped get him through chemo, and then surgery. The movie explains why Seth...I mean, Kyle, reacted the way he did to Will's...I mean, Adam's situation. Adam is played by the always adorable Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and whether Adam's dealing with his medical situation or the responses of his friend, his mother (Anjelica Huston), his needy girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard), or his fresh-out-of-college psychologist (Anna Kendrick), Gordon-Levitt never fails to connect. I'd have rated this higher but, you know, I'm just getting a little tired of Seth Rogen. Sorry. My grade: B.

2011 World Series

It's the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers this year.

Bleh. I don't want either team to win (although I suppose, if you held a gun to my head, I'd say I hate St. Louis and their phony fans and their slimy manager who supports the Tea Party nuts more than the team once co-owned by George W. Bush). I don't plan to watch very intently. It might be on in the background while I'm online or something but that's it. But since I've been making predictions for the playoffs, I guess I have to do it for this series as well, so...Rangers in 5.

Wake me up when pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater.

Quick Review: Drive

Talk about quiet intensity. "Drive" at times meets that definition (although it's still quite intense when action and violence are filling the screen). There are some periods where the dialogue is sparse, but the mood is captured by the actors. Continuing on a hot streak is Ryan Gosling, who works in a garage and sometimes gets work as a Hollywood stunt driver -- and also sometimes gets work as a getaway driver. The garage owner (Bryan Cranston) has a plan to get Gosling's character into NASCAR, but needs money to do it, and gets it from a mobster (Albert Brooks -- yes, that Albert Brooks). Gosling's Driver (with no name -- the Driver is all he's identified as) slowly becomes involved with a young mother (Carey Mulligan), until her husband gets out of prison, and then trouble ensues. It will be interesting to see if Gosling can get an Oscar nomination for this film. I think he's deserving but this might be too off-putting a film for some Oscar voters to give it a fair shake. My grade: A.

Occupy Philly...Why?

I need to get this posted fast because I need to go to bed earlier than usual. I somehow find myself no longer unemployed and, as such, actually have to get up early for work in the morning. Although it's only a temp job for a few months each year, I'm now one of the fortunate ones. Many millions of others are not. The people camped out for over 10 days outside Philadelphia City Hall (and for longer periods in other locations) want that to change. I can understand, to some extent, Occupy Wall Street. Certainly much of what's wrong in this country is the fault of giant corporations and their excessive greed.



But this -- Occupy Philly -- is misguided. There's very little that Mayor Nutter or anyone in city government can do about these problems. Nothing they are doing by camping out here is having any effect on Washington politics. And that is where action is needed. Corporations will not police or reform themselves. The government has to do it. Everyone who's sitting around here and in other places all need to head to D.C. and take the protest to Capitol Hill and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And, of course, they all have to vote in every election (primaries and general elections) and keep voting no matter what. Just voting for Barack Obama in 2008 obviously wasn't enough to effect real change.

Looking Both Ways In S. Philly

Today I was having lunch with my friend Kurt at the South Philly Bar and Grill (I had a yummy pork sandwich). I had noticed dark clouds moving in before we went inside. While we were there it began to rain, but as it turned out it didn't last long. I took these pictures at the corner of 8th and Wharton Streets at about 3 pm. On the left, the pic looking east. On the right, the pic looking west. I was really struck by the contrast between the skies on each side.

I also took (and posted to Twitter and Facebook) this picture of the South Philadelphia Musicians mural. It features singers Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker, Al Martino, Bobby Rydell, Fabian and Eddie Fisher, as well as radio legend Jerry Blavat. No idea what the painted clock showing the time as 9:05 refers to. Let me know if you know what it means.

I love running into the murals from the Mural Arts Program, especially if I haven't seen one before. The one below, which I saw the other day on my photo jaunt (which I need to post about as well), I'm not actually sure if it's one of theirs or not. Unfortunately, I can't remember now where this particular one is. It's somewhere in a zone between 23rd Street and JFK Boulevard and 15th and Cherry Streets. Whatever route I took that day between those two points is where this is. Again, if you're familiar with it let me know.

A Little More On Outfest

My experience at this year's Outfest was different from last year in some ways. For one, I didn't see Kendra Wilkinson or any other "reality" TV "stars," which also meant that I didn't make it to national television. That didn't bother me. What did bother me a little is that the protestors who always show up at these things, while still small in number, were louder.

At least three of them, on different streets, had portable PA systems and were going on almost non-stop harassing passersby with their hatemongering. I say "almost" because there was one brief moment when someone yanked the microphone cord out, silencing the bigot. The guy who did this was immediately pounced upon by the waiting police.

I realize that these religious freaks have their rights, since the festival was out on the public streets, and I know that police have to do their jobs to keep the peace. But this sight really sickened me. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion really sucks sometimes. (Programming note: I still need to write about those "Occupy ____" people soon.) I wish there were a way to discourage these people from showing up at all. I use this analogy often: they're dinosaurs, stuck in tar pits, and soon to be extinct. I just wish the process could speed up a little. And I still think the rest of us ought to show up at their events now and then and enjoy our same freedoms.

Leg Update, Plus...

It doesn't look like this now

So this morning I was at the surgeon's office about my leg. Basically, we're doing nothing. The doctor feels it is continuing to heal on its own. He said the ultrasound I had last month indicated I'm having a girl the area with fluid measured only about an inch and to him it looked smaller than that today. He also said that if he did an incision to drain fluid it might prolong the healing process or make my leg worse. Since it doesn't bother me or impede me in any way, and there's no danger of a blood clot or anything like that, for now we're just going to let it go on clearing up. I can always go back if it does get worse somehow.

Meanwhile, something important has happened (that I tried to post to Twitter and Facebook this morning but the text disappeared, like my Outfest videos, into the Ether of Technological Incompetence). Before the doctor saw me, my vitals, height, weight, etc. were checked. And either I've been incorrectly measured my entire adult life, I was mismeasured today...or I've grown a half-inch taller, to 6 feet 1 1/2 inches. So now I'm going to say I'm 6' 2." Sounds a little more impressive, eh?

Strike A Pose At Outfest

At one point during Sunday's Outfest I made my way towards the main stage to watch the performance by  Chad D, a local guy who now lives in New York City and recently released his first album, "The Human Link." (Here are links to his Twitter and Facebook pages, and check out more, including some of his songs, here.) I took a brief video and tried posting it to Facebook, but it never showed up there, nor did the other two videos I sent. (A better video -- better sound and containing the entire performance -- is here.) I also took a photo, although I couldn't really see exactly what I got due to the glare from the sun. I moved the photos and video from my phone to my hard drive tonight. Here's the pic (cropped a bit):

Obviously I caught him mid-dance. Looking at it, at first it reminded me of this...

...which is entirely appropriate as Tuesday is National Coming Out Day and Outfest is our celebration of the day (and I'll have some more on that in a separate post, hopefully tomorrow). But, looking at it again, I sort of thought about something else instead... ;-)

Quick Review: Abduction

In deciding on a grade for "Abduction," I hit upon something: the difference, in my mind, between a C-minus and a D-plus. More on that in a moment. But first, if you combine the title of this movie and its star, Taylor Lautner, you can have some fun. "Ab-duction," because the film contrives to have his shirt off in the first few minutes, and not once more the rest of the way. "Ab-duh-ction," because of Lautner's blank stare and near-complete lack of range, the film's general stupidity, and so on. Lautner plays a teenager who comes across a picture of himself as a toddler on a missing-persons website. That leads to a sometimes-confusing story where Lautner and a schoolmate (Lily Collins) are on the run from both the CIA and Russian terrorists. Sigourney Weaver plays his psychiatrist, except she turns out to be much more. Why do you suppose she wanted to be in this movie? Maybe she figured the presence of Lautner would lead to "Twilight"-sized box office, which would enhance her own paychecks? Alas, there was no real box office bonanza for this one.

At one point Lautner and Collins are on a train, and get to make out a bit in a quiet moment before trouble breaks out. As I watched, I was dumbstruck by what I saw as she raised her hand up to his face: either the shadows were playing tricks with my eyes, or...she's got hairier forearms than he does. Also, the final act takes place at a Pirates game at PNC Park (they filmed this in the Pittsburgh area). If this were real life it would mean there was more action than usually takes place during a Pirates game.

As for that pesky grade, here's the thing: while there may be a lot of bad things about some movies, to fall into the D-level it has to go a bit beyond being bad. Hate has to enter the picture, so to speak. Something about it has to make me angry that I sat through it. It has to make me squirm and seethe and either consider walking out or wish that I had. "Abduction," despite its flaws, just didn't do that. My grade: C-minus.