LP-to-mp3 Conversion FTW!

One of my all-time favorite records is "Nona" by Nona Hendryx, who was a member of Labelle before striking out on a solo career. This soul/R&B/dance album was released in 1983 and features an absolute classic, "Keep It Confidential," among other songs. I bought the cassette version and listened to it so much on my Walkman (or whatever brand I had, might not have been Sony's) I wore out the tape. I then bought it on old-fashioned vinyl, recorded it to a 90-minute cassette (so I had the full album on both sides) and pretty much wore it out as well.

For some reason it slipped out of my consciousness. I don't know if it was ever released on compact disc back in the day, once CDs became popular. But it got back into my mind a few months ago and I went searching for it online, and found that there was a limited-edition CD release in March of this year. Unfortunately, every time I looked at Amazon and other sites it was either out of stock or I'd place an order, only to be told it was on back order (and I could wait for it to eventually be filled, or cancel -- why they let me order to begin with if it wasn't actually in stock, I'll never know).

But I suffer no more. Last week I bought a kit to convert LPs and cassettes to mp3 format, and the album is now on my iPod. I won't call it perfect quality -- you hear a bit of LP crackle now and then, but it's good enough for me. The software is fairly easy to work with, but there are tools for cleaning up the tracks and other enhancements and the quick-start guide doesn't address how to use them, so I didn't even bother.

This is a problem with everything now: you get a quick-start guide with things like this, new TVs, new phones, cameras, etc. but the devices have so many features and tricks and you have no idea how to use them. If you really care you have to go online and download a PDF of the full user guide, or perhaps you get it on a DVD-ROM. Either way it's not convenient, and I bet most people can't be bothered, so they don't get the full benefit of all the features they're paying for.

Anyway, if you can find this album in any format I recommend you buy it right away.

Not Tumblr-ing

Quick note: decided to drop Tumblr. It isn't posting automatically to Facebook like it's supposed to and when I wrote for support saying that I've followed their instructions and it's not working, I got a reply giving me those same instructions. So, buh-bye Tumblr. I've set up a new site for my pictures on Blogger and recreated my posts. The link is below.

Joe in Philly's Photos (catchy, eh?)

I'll Tumblr 4 Ya

I've been thinking recently, with my growing interest in taking pictures, that I wanted to have a site where I could pick out my favorites and hopefully have people see them. I'm not sure the albums I've set up for my various travels and my wandering around the city are the best way to do that. I considered Instagram but, putting aside the recent controversy, I decided I wanted to not only post current pics but older ones as well. Instagram, from what I've read, limits the size of pic you can post if it's uploaded from a computer as compared to your phone. And I'm not sure I want to fool around with all those filters just yet.

So I've set up a new site on Tumblr, where I'll post both recent pics from my camera or my phone, as well as some from past trips, and even scans from old photos I pluck from my dusty old albums in the basement. I'm still trying to figure some things out with it, though, so I'm not sure I'll end up keeping it there. (For example, I can't figure out how to share links to the individual posts.) I may create a new Blogger page instead. But for now, Tumblr it is.

I hope you enjoy them, and I'd love feedback -- particularly from photographers.

(The pic on this page is of me taking a picture of my friend Kurt as he was taking a picture of me. We were at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center looking at my Philly Photo Day submission. More on that later.)

Quick Review: Rise Of The Guardians

I saw this animated film a couple of weeks ago, and it's still around. I suppose that's because one of the characters is Santa Claus, so it qualifies as a "Christmas" movie and they can keep it in the theaters until we get into 2013. But it isn't entirely focused on the Christmas holiday.  When I first heard about this movie being made I was very much excited -- a group consisting of Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc. are action heroes teaming up to stop a threat to the world's children, but they need the help of Jack Frost, who in this story is a teen prankster and far from interested in helping. Then I saw the trailers and it was...actually discouraging. The end result was somewhere in between. The plot was kind of dull at times and the villain doesn't particularly seem like a terrible threat, and Santa's elves in this movie are a very poor imitation of the "Despicable Me" minions. And, for some reason, Santa (as voiced by Alec Baldwin) is Russian. It had a few bits that were okay, though. Very much a mixed bag. My grade: C-plus.

Pics With New Phone

It still amazes me that I actually have a smartphone that's among the newest on the market (Samsung Galaxy SIII). Without going into the whole story, we'll just say that circumstances arose and I ended up getting enough of a deal to make it feasible. Plus, unlike the last time I got a new phone, I actually got my number ported over to the new phone. Anyway, it takes decent pictures (although the originals were extremely large because I didn't check the settings, so I resized them to post them here). And although it doesn't have a flash,   the ones I took at night look really nice.

First two are of Jewelers Row on Sansom St. decked out for the holidays. Taken on Tuesday.

These two are of the historic Christ Church, taken Wednesday evening not long before sunset...

On Friday I found one of those ubiquitous sticker art displays, but this one actually hasn't been tainted. So many newspaper boxes have multiple stickers, some of which are peeling or have been written on, as well as graffiti on the boxes, and they look a mess. Not this one.

The Comcast Center standing tall in the background. Taken Friday evening on Market St. just east of 18th.

On Saturday at Frankford Terminal, I noticed this exit sign looking like it was growing hair.

I got the phone as high as I could and got a look at a portion of the top of the sign. What is this supposed to be? Anyone?

The other side of this building faces Rittenhouse Square, if I'm not mistaken. I think I was on Chestnut St. near 20th. I just liked the zigzag look of it.

Newtown: Same Old Same Old

Many of you aren't going to like what I have to say, but it's how I feel. Right now the only thing that truly angers me about the latest massacre via gun, in Newtown, Connecticut, is that the Fox network has decided to televise the prayer service going on right now, instead of showing the new episode of "The Simpsons" that my DVR is supposed to be recording. (And the prayer service -- don't get me started. It seems like they're trying to include every possible religion, so every speaker is trying not to say something that might offend someone else. A Lutheran chaplain just said that we all call God by different names but "however we address you, you are still father and mother to us all...") Since I started writing this, I switched to the NFL game on NBC, and now they've also switched to the prayer service because President Obama has begun his remarks. So now I have no "Simpsons" and no football.

I'm not investing another ounce of emotion into these things unless something, heaven forbid, happens to someone I actually know and care about personally. Every time this happens, the same old responses happen: people say it's senseless and a tragedy and they're shocked and outraged and sad and their prayers and thoughts are going to the victims and post pictures and article links and quotes and memes on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and ask why we don't have more gun control laws/complain that gun control laws wouldn't make a difference and blah blah blah blah blah. Then a few days go by and it all fades into the background and people start obsessing over the Kardashians again.

Why does it take multiple deaths to even get this response, as short-lived and futile as it is? People of all ages are gunned down every day, over and over, all over this country. Why is one child's murder in, say, North Philadelphia less important than 20 children in Connecticut? Add up all the gun deaths that occur one at a time and they'll add up to a hell of a lot more than 26.

And why does anyone think this time is going to be any different? All this talk about making sure this never happens again has been heard after the Columbine massacre, and after the Virginia Tech massacre, and after the Dark Knight movie massacre, and on and on and on. Nothing changes because the only real way to bring about change (not just on guns but on lots of issues) is if everyone rises up and makes their voices heard by voting. But most people don't vote except in presidential election years, and even then nowhere near 100 percent of eligible voters actually bother. And those who do vote don't put enough thought into it. People say they're in favor of this or that but vote for politicians who completely disregard those wishes. Everyone says they hate Congress but they keep voting for the same clowns in their own district. The politicians who are in bed with the National Rifle Association keep getting reelected by somebody.

And what passes for TV news reporting falls into two general categories: insensitively interviewing children who may have just seen their playmates killed, or asking politicians important questions like whether they're too fat to be elected President. Here's a couple of ideas: try to interview a child during a traumatic event and you lose your job. And if a politician refuses to answer important questions about why they don't stand up to the NRA, then they don't get airtime for puff pieces like when mayors or governors make a bet on the Super Bowl or World Series.

So, sorry, but I'm just bored with this whole thing. Hurry up and get over it so we can all go back to the business of making sure that evil criminal mastermind Lindsay Lohan finally gets locked up.

Quick Reviews: Silver Twilight Pi

Now that I've returned from DC and joined the 21st century of cell phones (with a new Samsung Galaxy SIII), I suppose I should get back to blogging. So here are two movies I saw before I left for DC and one that I saw while I was down there.

I mainly saw "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" because I saw the previous films and I felt it important enough to see how the whole thing ends. (If they announced that "Paranormal Activity 4" was the last movie of that franchise I might have bothered to see it as well.) It kind of went off the rails in the last film, plot-wise, and the first two-thirds of this one was basically filler while waiting for the final showdown between the Volturi and the Cullens and their supporters (over Edward and Bella's daughter) to play out, including introducing a bunch of other vampire clans. When that final conflict occurs it's somewhat interesting, until one of the worst plot twists ever is revealed. It's a twist that probably works for the Twihards, but not for anyone else. My grade: D-plus.

"Silver Linings Playbook" is being hyped as Oscar-worthy. I didn't find it quite that great. In fact, after seeing the trailers play up the humor and romance angles a little more than the mental health issues of Bradley Cooper's character, the first portion of the film is rather jarring in its intensity. Then it settles into a nice groove, and then finally turns into a more predictable film thanks to a large wager on the final Eagles game of the 2008 season and the results of the dance contest in which our hero and Jennifer Lawrence's character are participating. Lawrence is terrific and Cooper is fine (although never shirtless). And it was rather cool to have the Eagles figure so much in the story, despite their current travails. By the way, I'm very proud to have spotted a blooper in the film: at one point we see fans arriving at the Linc for a game, and one of them is wearing a Nnamdi Asomugha jersey. The film is set in 2008, but Asomugha didn't join the Eagles until 2011. D'oh! My grade: B.

While in DC I took advantage of proximity to a multiplex to see "Life of Pi." There's been a lot of talk that it's the best-looking 3D movie since "Avatar," but I only saw it in 2D. Looked fine just the same. It spends a surprising amount of time setting up the story, that of a teenage boy somehow surviving being lost at sea for 227 days (after a storm sinks the freighter he and his family are traveling on) and sharing a lifeboat with a tiger. Then, after we see his rescue, we're given an alternate version of events and are asked to choose which one we believe. So the whole thing is something of a metaphor about the existence of God. Not really my cup of tea, but not bad. My grade: B.

Quick Reviews: Six Recent Films

I'm giving myself an assignment: put up a post about as many of the eight films I've seen this month as possible before I go to bed, which will be soon as I'm off to Washington, DC in the morning, Three nights away from home are beckoning, so...

Cloud Atlas: I nearly walked out on multiple occasions. There are six different storylines set at various times, from the days of slavery to a post-apocalyptic future, and the film cuts back and forth between them constantly. They're tied together by the fact that many of the actors (including Tom Hanks and Halle Berry) appear as multiple characters, and by some other plot points. There's some grand theme about humanity and how we treat others and so on, but it was such a confusing mess it's a miracle I didn't leave. I guess it was a novel attempt at something different, which keeps it from being a complete failure. My grade: D-plus.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Really impressive and well-acted. Emma Watson completely makes you forget she was in the Harry Potter movies. Definitely deserved a better box-office fate. My grade: A.

Wreck-It Ralph: Like the "Toy Story" of video games in its nostalgia. Funny moments, interesting premise, ultimately not quite as brilliant as the "Toy Story" films. Still definitely worthwhile. My grade: B-plus.

Flight: Quite good but a little overrated in telling

Say It Another Way...

A slightly different pronunciation makes a world of difference. This is an actual place -- I used to go past it on a regular basis (ex-boyfriend lived nearby so either I was on a bus or he was driving me to/from his house). I always made the same joke about it. So the other day I happened to be on that same bus route and used my camera to record some video as the bus went by, just so I could get a screen capture of it to share with you. You're welcome.

Rittenhouse Square/30th Street Station

More photos. Taken Wednesday, mostly while I was in Rittenhouse Square. Mostly I was just sitting on a bench while I took these...

These last two, taken after sunset, are from Chestnut Street near (I think) 29th, looking towards 30th Street Station and the Cira Centre behind it. These are the type of pics that would look better if I took a photography class or something. My flash is limited, of course, but perhaps there are settings that would make for a better picture. Or perhaps I just need a better camera.

Today's Sports Sexism

Sports on television has always catered to the straight male audience, whether it's the camera shots of cheerleaders or the predominantly young female sideline reporters. So naturally this makes sense.

As a result of the Comcast takeover of NBC Universal, Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia's nightly "SportsNite" show now includes a brief weather update from NBC10. I'm not sure if the NBC10 staffer delivering the weather on CSN is the same every night, but my guess is if it's not, one staffer gets the majority of these updates. And that would be tonight's star, Sheena Parveen...

I mean, really, if you're a straight man wouldn't you rather get a weather update from her than from Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz?

Eastern State Penitentiary Photos

Another post with photos! These are from my visit in mid-September to Eastern State, the prison-turned-tourist attraction (the same place where the Bastille Day celebration is held). It housed the infamous Al Capone and Willie Sutton during its active existence. Besides the prison itself, there are some art installations as well, a couple of which are more interesting than others. The entire collection is here.

The audio tour was recorded by actor Steve Buscemi, by the way.

...and guess who stayed in this cell?

The Same Old New Daily News

Yeah, I'm talking about the newspaper again. This week the Daily News debuted its latest redesign: new logo, some rearranging, a few new features. (And the size of the pages is smaller. The last redesign resulted in a little extra blank space at the top and bottom of each page. That space is now gone. Maybe soon it'll be the size of a paperback.) Honestly, to me it wasn't as big a deal as they made it out to be, although obviously the hype was done to get attention and sell papers.

So what am I complaining about now? First, this was in the paper all week:

Not the car ad, the part about the beta version of their app. (Should have cropped this first.) I went to that site multiple times during the week to try and download it, only to get a message that the page didn't exist. I sent an email to the address shown in the paper and didn't get a reply. Finally on Thursday the page actually existed, but this time I got the message that the Android version is only available for 10-inch tablets. For now, my 7-inch Baby Tablet is being discriminated against.

It only bothered me a little. It wasn't enough to inspire this post. Then I saw this sentence in this weekend's Sportsweek edition in an article about the Eagles, in which various writers gave their advice for what the Birds should do for the rest of this downtrodden season: "Give Foles the reigns." As in, Nick Foles should start at quarterback even if Michael Vick is cleared to play when he recovers from his concussion.

Of course, this makes no sense. The proper spelling in this case would be "reins" as in "Use the reins when riding a horse," not "reigns" as in "Prince Harry reigns over naked debauchery in Vegas."

These kinds of errors happen often enough that I still wonder whether the Daily News employs copy editors to correct spelling errors by its writers, or if the writers spelled it correctly and the copy editors are just not competent. They're minor annoyances, but annoyances nonetheless.

But if the one misspelling that I hate the most, "definately," ever appears in the paper, I will go postal.

Monday's Photo Walk

So on Monday, when it was 70 degrees for probably the last time in quite a while, I decided to take the El into town and wander around with my camera. (This whole photo-taking thing is really becoming something serious. I need to do something about this. Maybe lessons or something to learn more about editing, framing shots, and so on.)

I had one specific thing I wanted to get -- a mural from the Mural Arts Program I had seen recently and wanted to discuss. It's actually not one of my favorites. It's called "Wall of Hearts" and, as you can see, features a design from Jane Seymour.

This mural is little more than an advertisement for her jewelry collection. I love looking at murals and I've often expressed my love of the Mural Arts Program on this blog -- but this saddens and kind of offends me a bit.

Anyway, beyond that I got some other pictures, and if you click on this link you'll see them all. (Decided to use Photobucket for this even though I haven't figured out how to embed their slideshow.) Besides these below, there's a preview of Christmas, a famous old theater, street art on a billboard and some other stuff.

SERIOUSLY, Facebook?

SERIOUSLY?

I hate Facebook more and more. Seriously.

A Tale Of Two Justins

Dear Justin Bieber,

It's quite simple: if you don't like being compared to Justin Timberlake...



...why would you sing a Timberlake song in concert?



Please go away,
Sincerely,

Joe in Philly

P.S. Sorry to hear about your recent breakup with Selena Gomez. If you need to talk, I know a guy who'd love to listen.

P.P.S. It's not me. Good grief, no.

History For Music Lovers

So I was looking at my Gmail account -- which I set up early this year but never actually use, at least not yet. And I found a few emails in it, mostly from YouTube comments. One of them was interesting, though. Remember when I wrote about the Bastille Day celebration at Eastern State? If not, refresh your memory. The first video, featuring the Lady Gaga "Bad Romance" parody, is the one that got the comment. It seems that the parody was originally created by an outfit called History for Music Lovers, and they've got a whole slew of these. Here's their full-length version of the "Bad Romance" revamp, "The French Revolution."



Still think this guy's adorable, by the way. Someone hook me up, please?

Pete Happy

In September my friend Kurt got another chance to sing the national anthem before the Camden Riversharks again. (Video below.) And guess who also showed up?

None other than Pedro Feliz (above, left). He's spent most of the last two seasons with the Riversharks. He'll be 38 in April. I don't know how long he's going to keep playing but, needless to say, he'll always be fondly remembered for driving in the game-winning run the night the Phillies won the 2008 World Series.

The Sun Sets On Manhattan

I'm going to try and get caught up on posting my photo albums from my various trips. This slideshow has most of the photos from my trip to New York City at the end of July. (I posted pics from my visit to the 9/11 Memorial separately, you may recall.)

I arrived on Sunday afternoon and, after checking into my hotel (Comfort Inn on the Upper West Side -- I got a nice rate but it wasn't so great -- refer to the first picture in the slideshow) I went for a walk and discovered a street festival on Columbus Avenue. After I had a margarita and a huge burrito for dinner (not planned, but it started to rain and the place was right there) I took the subway to Brooklyn, and walked around the riverfront park, eventually arriving at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Then I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan. Some of the pics I took during this time of the skyline are among my favorites of all the pictures I've ever taken.

About Last Night...

I told you I wasn't worried. The chess match played out as I expected. But to be honest, even after reading Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight blog in the closing days and watching President Obama's chance of winning go from about 73 percent on October 29 to 91 percent early yesterday, I was a bit concerned. Not to a great extent, but just enough. I wasn't so worried about the polls -- I find it impossible to take them seriously on an individual basis, the polling criteria are so varied, but summarizing them and determining the trends and such, the Silver calculus works for me. (This will not change my mind about the baseball stat geeks and their Moneyball junk, however.)

My biggest concern was that the GOP would try to steal Florida or Ohio again. Well, if they did try, they failed.

But beyond the Obama victory, other events offer signs of hope. The asinine GOP extremists who opined that there's such a thing as "legitimate" rape and rape that "God intended to happen" both got their asses kicked. Beyond the win in Wisconsin by Tammy Baldwin, making her the first openly gay U.S. Senator, California sends to the House the first LGBT person of color in Congress. And Arizona -- Arizona!?! -- may  have elected a bisexual woman to Congress (the race is still too close to call).

What really stunned me, though, was the results from the four states where marriage equality was on the ballot. The last 32 or so times that voters had their say on the issue in some way, the pro-equality side lost every single time.

I saw a comment from a pundit saying (and I'm paraphrasing) that it would be helpful/important to have two victories out of the four. I guess that would constitute a trend. I was honestly hoping for just one.

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 11-06-12

I hope you put more thought into how you voted than iTunes did in selecting the following songs...


Oz - Mark Weigle
Let's Go All The Way (Down) - Brenda & The Tabulations
Infinite & Unforeseen k.d. lang
Lovin', Livin' And Givin' ('Ross' LP mix) - Diana Ross
This Little Pig - Living Colour
Perfect - Depeche Mode
You're Number One (In My Book) - Gladys Knight & The Pips
To Love Somebody - Jimmy Somerville
Same Thing In Reverse (Brick In My Handbag Mix) - Boy George
Radiophonic - Pet Shop Boys
Feel So Close (Radio Edit) - Calvin Harris
10-9-8 (Dance Mix) - Face To Face
The Shag-Adelic Austin Powers Score Medley - George S. Clinton

#WhyImNotVotingForRomney

I saw the hashtag on Twitter and just had to use it. But since I didn't want to issue a bunch of individual tweets, I decided to put it all on here...well, maybe not everything, but as much as I can think of right now.

I'm sick and tired of the Republican party in general.

I'm sick and tired of the extremist, racist segments which have taken firm control of the Republican party -- the Tea Party and the religious right (aka the American Taliban). Even if Mitt Romney is not in fact a racist or a religious extremist, he has encouraged and emboldened the racists and religious extremists with his words and actions, making him no better.

I'm sick and tired of the wealthy and the large corporations getting more and more tax breaks that they do not need, and reduced regulation in so many areas, while the rest of us find our lives becoming more and more of a struggle every day. Mitt Romney will continue the tax cuts for the wealthy. In fact, as it was reported yesterday, it seems that Mitt Romney may not have paid a single penny in taxes for the years 1996 through 2009. NOT A SINGLE FUCKING PENNY. FOURTEEN YEARS.

I'm sick and tired of not having the same rights as everyone else because of my sexual orientation, and of having a woman's right to control her own body being restricted or completely removed, and having Planned Parenthood and other agencies that provide quality health care services threatened, all due to the influence of the American Taliban. Romney has thrown in with the American Taliban on these issues.

I'm sick and tired of the lack of affordable quality health care for everyone. I'm sick and tired of the efforts to stop health care reform, when we've finally begun to make progress after decades of failure. Not only has Romney thrown in with the Tea Party extremists, he's going against the health care reforms he pushed for while Massachusetts governor. This is not leadership -- this is hypocrisy and gutlessness.

I'm sick and tired of hearing about how jobs aren't being created because taxes aren't low enough, and how Barack Obama didn't do anything to fix the economy. Taxes for the wealthy were cut during the execrable George W. Bush presidency and somehow we ended up with many fewer jobs and the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. Why didn't the "job creators" create jobs with the windfall profits they received then? Why does anyone think they'll do it now? And while the economy is still in bad shape, all the indicators show it's beginning to recover. And it would have begun sooner had it not been for the Tea Party extremists in Congress who have spent the last four years doing nothing but blocking any legislation supported by Obama, because their ONLY goal for the last four years has been to do everything possible to make sure Obama wasn't reelected.

I'm sick and tired of the GOP still trying to paint Barack Obama as weak on foreign policy and terrorism. If the death of Osama bin Laden isn't enough evidence to the contrary, Mitt Romney proved with his blundering excursion to London during the Olympics that he has about as much expertise in foreign affairs as Paris Hilton.

I'm sick and tired of the Tea Party extremists and American Taliban's complete repudiation of science. Whether in fighting against stem-cell research or regulations to improve the environment and lessen the effects of climate change (unthinkable, especially after the unprecedented strength and path of Hurricane Sandy) or teaching "creationism" instead of evolution in schools, there's no excuse for this utter stupidity.

And, because it just seems to need to be said, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

It's very simple: unless you're a wealthy, white, heterosexual male, or a racist, there is simply no reason to vote for Mitt Romney. He is NOT on your side. His policies will NOT make your life better. Only a complete moron would think otherwise.

Quick Reviews: Two Out Of Three...

You can probably guess how these grades are going to go down, based on the post title...

The first one's simple: "Argo" is the best movie I've seen this year. When you can make a movie that's not only humorous but truly suspenseful, and make it suspenseful even though it's based on a pretty well-known true story -- the smuggling out of Iran of six Americans who escaped the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979 when it was swarmed by followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini -- you've done your job. Kudos, Ben Affleck. And I really enjoyed the little touches such as actual news broadcasts from the time (remember when ABC's Ted Koppel did those nightly hostage crisis updates, which evolved into "Nightline" as the crisis dragged on and on?). My grade: A-plus.

Not on the same level, but enjoyable on its own, is "Pitch Perfect." When you make a movie about acapella singing groups competing for a national title and manage to avoid it seeming too much like "Glee Goes to College," again, you've done your job. Kudos, uh, I don't know who directed this, but kudos to him or her anyway. (Okay, I looked it up. Jason Moore. Wikipedia says it's his feature film debut.) A lot of laughs and the singing's not bad, either. Rebel Wilson is a flat-out riot. My grade: A-minus.

And now for the bad news. I was hoping for good things from "Seven Psychopaths," because it was directed by Martin McDonagh, who did "In Bruges" with Colin Farrell, who also co-stars in this film. I really enjoyed "In Bruges." I really hated this movie. I wanted to walk out a number of times. Its only redeeming values are the performance by Christopher Walken and the fact that Farrell is so damned pretty. My grade: D-plus.

Storm Damage

There was a lot less rain in this neighborhood from hybrid-hurricane-superstorm-Frankenstorm Sandy than a) predicted b) fell in other areas. There was no water coming in through my roof at all. It got windy but didn't seem excessive. I was very relieved and happy. But this is right down the street from my house...

...and this is in a wooded area near a creek that's in the opposite direction from my house...