Finally! My October 10, 2011 Photos

I know you've been waiting patiently yet desperately for me to answer such questions as the following:

"How is there snow on an 80-degree day?" And "Is that a...giant paint brush?"

Well, now you have your answer. Here is a slideshow of my pictures from last October 10th, a week before my precious freedom was taken away by the responsibilities of working for a living. I walked around the Penn campus, touring the new Penn Park, then walked along part of the Schuylkill River Trail and ended up at the new Lenfest Plaza.

Four Extremely Quick Reviews

Seeing as how I saw these four movies anywhere from 23 to 46 days ago, I hardly remember them all that much. I'm just going to throw out my grades and maybe one or two sentences on each. Ugh. I wish I could make more time for this blog. Anyway...

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 - Stupid moment was when sullen human Bella informed dopey werewolf Jacob that she was pregnant. Jacob takes a moment to ponder it and then angrily says, "YOU did this!" to vampire Edward. You know, Bella's husband. Who else would have done it? My grade: C-plus.

New Year's Eve - A gigantic cast and a gigantic mess. My grade: D-plus.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows - Surprisingly, I tolerated it much more than the first one. My grade: C-plus.

Young Adult: Not quite as brilliant as I was hoping for. My grade: B.

An Old Phillies TV Broadcast Failure

I'm watching a rebroadcast of the last Phillies game played at the Vet, which Comcast Sportsnet has been airing recently. I recorded it the other day and I'm going through it while my new tablet PC is charging for the first time. I never saw this broadcast because I was actually at the game. Remember when starting pitcher Kevin Millwood (whose Phillies career started with promise and ended up well short of expectations) was removed from the game after giving up 5 runs in 4-plus innings, walked off the mound and tossed his glove into the stands? Amazingly, the broadcast didn't catch that moment live because they had WIP's Anthony Gargano roaming the stadium doing reports, and at that moment he was interviewing former Phils Bake McBride and Manny Trillo. Granted, it was a special day so such reports are kinda warranted, but still...

Some K&A Banking Stuff

More pictures. Aren't you happy about that? But this time, a few additional words.

I was born and raised in Kensington, and my first job after high school was at the K&A Social Security office. (It was so nice to be able to walk to work. Sigh. I miss that a lot.) Back then it was located in the Philadelphia National Bank building, which - except for the northbound El station at Allegheny - took up a large plot of of the northeast corner of Kensington and Allegheny Avenues.

Here's what's on that corner now -- after they merged and became CoreStates, and after CoreStates bought out First Pennsylvania Bank, kept the First Pennsylvania bank branch across the street open and closed the building where I worked, and after the El station was completely rebuilt:

The First Pennsylvania branch across the street is still there. It, like the sports arena in South Philly, went from CoreStates to FirstUnion to Wachovia to Wells Fargo. But what interested me is something I never noticed before -- not until one morning recently when I got off the El at Allegheny to catch the route 60 bus to work. One of the changes made in rebuilding the El station is that there are cashiers' booths and turnstiles only on on side -- in this case, the westbound side. So they built crossover bridges to the eastbound platform. One is quite close to the First Pa./CS/FU/W/WF building, and on this particular morning I noticed some words near the top:

I forget that these old buildings have had multiple lives.

Haunted Starbucks

This is the 16th Street side of the Starbucks at 16th and Walnut Streets. It's haunted. Check it out:

Here's a closeup:

When I emailed the pics from my phone so I could easily save them to a folder, I referred to her as "Creepy Starbucks Girl."

I'm assuming this is another example of street art, although it's not as easy to spot as you'd think. You kind of have to be looking in that direction.

Vending Machine Of The Day

Found on the concourse that runs from the 15th Street El station to Suburban Station...

Notice how the prices aren't shown. I assume you have to make a selection and then the display will tell you how much you owe. Dammit! Why didn't I think of that when I was down there?

Which vending machine is better: the Nivea machine or the Proactiv machine (which I've seen at Franklin Mills)? Discuss.

My 2011 In Blogging

Here's my year-in-review post, at long last...

The actual links are over to the right. Help yourselves. ;-)

Yeah, you guessed it: that particular planned post just isn't going to be done. Womp womp. Maybe I can do it in 2013.

The Comcast Xfinity Mega-FAIL

So there I was late on Sunday afternoon, in front of my computer, which is in my basement. I think I've mentioned that before, but in case you weren't aware, keep this in mind as you continue to read. I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when I noticed that none of the pictures people were posting, via Twitpic, Instagram, etc., were opening when I clicked on them. I looked at the cable modem and the little light on the side that indicates a signal is available, was out. I had no Internet service.

I tried cutting the power to my modem and rebooting, but it didn't help. I figured Comcast, or Xfinity, or whatever they're calling themselves this week, was having a temporary glitch. (I'll just use Comcast the rest of the way, because Xfinity is a monumentally stupid name.) So I went up to my living room to watch the rest of the NFC playoff game (by the way, as well as the New York Giants played, the Green Bay Packers really, really gave the game away with flat-out awful play). When it ended I watched "The Simpsons," and then went back downstairs to try the computer again.

No luck. No Internet connection. Which means, because my phone service is VoIP, I had to rely on my cell phone as I called Comcast. I was on the phone for an hour as their representative tried various things or had me try various things. Because my cell phone gets no signal in the basement, I kept having to run up and down the stairs each time the guy did something. First he sent a signal to refresh my cable modem, then tried something else, then asked me to push the reset button, then asked if I had a wireless connection of some kind. Then he asked if my modem was connected to a splitter or if it was connected directly to the main wire. Since I have an extra TV outlet in the basement, there is a splitter. One line then goes to the TV, the other to the modem. So I suggested I try switching out the cable going from the splitter to the modem, because my TV service was fine; I thought that stretch of wire might be causing the problem. I took off the old cable, put on the new cable, and...still no luck.

The rep finally said he'd have to send a technician out, but because of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday the earliest someone could come out was Tuesday. I told him I didn't want to go two days without service. He said that they have some people to work emergencies, but that in my area of the city they didn't have anyone to cover it (really!). He said he could set up a service appointment for 5 pm-7 pm Tuesday. I explained that I could not miss work and, because of my lengthy commute, wouldn't get home until 6 pm at the earliest. He said that the best he could do was put a note on the schedule to make my stop the very last stop of the day. So I told him to do that, but if everything didn't go perfectly that I'd cancel my entire Comcast service, noting that I've been a customer for over 20 years.

76ers: No Need To Play Out The Season

Ummmmm...wait, isn't this just a little bit premature? I mean, they're in first place with a 10-3 record (remember when they started last season 3-13?), but NBA champions?

Needless to say this gave me a chuckle on the way to work this morning.

A while back (like, months) I spotted a bus that had an "Eagles/Super Bowl champions" message. We know how that turned out...so perhaps SEPTA is the new Billy Penn jinx?

Foster The People!

It seems that Foster The People is playing the Mann Center in June. I think I need to see the concert. Who's going with me?

If you checked out my "2011 in music" post you know that their album "Torches" was one of just four 2011 albums I own. And I wasn't planning on buying it, even though I had heard and liked "Pumped Up Kicks." Then one of the TMZ people I follow on Twitter posted a link to the song "Houdini" on his Tumblr page. (By the way, does anyone think I really need a Tumblr page of my own?) Once I heard it, I knew I was buying the album. And although it's really, really, really early in the year, every track is at the top of my most-played in Tunes since I reset the count.

"Houdini" is currently, and surprisingly, at number two. Here's their performance from the "Live on Letterman" concert:



If you prefer, their "Saturday Night Live" rendition...with special guest Kenny G????



But which song is at number one? That would be "Call It What You Want." Here's the music video:

McRubble

When Ronald says "I could use a new look," he really isn't kidding, is he? This McDonald's is -- err, was -- at Broad and Allegheny.

K&A Mural-ity

One of my options for getting to work, particularly if I'm cutting it close time-wise, is to get off the El at the Allegheny stop and take the route 60 bus. Today I ran out the door and forgot my phone, so I had to run back for it, which made me miss a bus, which meant I'd have to take the 60 to avoid being late for work.

After getting off the El and down the stairs to the street, I was going to walk a block away from the Kensington and Allegheny bus stop because there's usually a lot of people getting on and off there. I began walking east, then changed my mind and turned around, only to see the back wall to the station (facing the Walgreens parking lot) had been visited by the good folks from the Mural Arts Program...

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 1-9-12

I was shuffling papers in work and my iPod was shuffling songs...

Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar

Angel (7” Mix) - Gavin Friday

Thin Line Between Love and Hate - The Pretenders

Hidden Live Track - Mark Weigle

Your Love Keeps Working On Me (MK Brooklyn Mix) - Jody Watley

Private Dancer - Tina Turner

Morning Sunrise - Weldon Irvine*

Too Hot - Kool & The Gang

Did You See Me Coming? - Pet Shop Boys

Beautiful Child - Rufus Wainwright

I Should Care - Nat King Cole

Still Can’t - The Cranberries

Whatever We Imagine - James Ingram

*Technically this was a 1:18 clip of the song, as part of a mixtape compilation of summer-type songs by DJ Jazzy Jeff and Mick Boogie. It was available to download for free in 2010. I think I posted the link here at the time.

Picture With A Message

Today I took another one of those photos where the sun makes an appearance. I saw the sign from a short distance away and thought it might have been adorned with street art such as this. I was mistaken. It was a protest.

I was trying to show the image of the sticker placed on SEPTA's Route 23 sign but the sun may make the words difficult to see. It says, "Where's the trolley SEPTA promised?" Route 23 used to be a trolley line, the longest in the city and possibly one of the longest trolley lines in the nation. Twenty years ago it was replaced by buses, but there are people who want the trolley back. SEPTA has said in the past that they would restore it. Another line, the 15, had its trolley service restored in 2005.

Riding a trolley as compared to the same old bus is a pretty cool thing, especially if the weather's warm and the windows are open (although I don't know if the new trolleys on the route 15 actually have windows that you can slide up and down to let in some air).

Someday...

Someday I'll get the time and inclination to sit down and write about the four movies I've seen in the last month, and the year-in-review post I wanted to do, and the comics I bought over the last month or two (one of them was even a DC book!!!!!) and how I love the Foster The People album, and I still need to finish putting together the photos I took when I walked around town back in October (the same day I took those Occupy Philly photos -- hey, remember when that was a thing?), plus that one other post that I began thinking about TEN MONTHS AGO and still haven't put together...sigh...someday I will do some of these posts, seriously.

But if any of you want to write them for me, hey, that'd be great as well.

Why I'm A Jerk

Remember this?

I know you've been waiting desperately for the answer to why I'm wearing this t-shirt.

Well, one person has, at least.

It's not because I'm an actual jerk, this tweet notwithstanding.

It's because of this TV show I started watching last year. I like it so much I bought the t-shirt. (To be honest, it was on sale for 50 percent off at the time, which helped spur my decision.)

You're welcome.

My 2011 In Music

And now that we've moved into 2012, here's a look back at what I downloaded in 2011 -- some of it purchased, some of it, ummm, not -- and what ended up as the 25 most-played songs of my iTunes library.

There are only 271 new tracks in my iTunes since the beginning of 2011. That's down from 317 in 2010. Only 19 were Christmas songs, though, compared to 73 a year earlier. So if you take the holiday songs out of the mix, my musical acquisitions increased. However, a lot of those were downloads of individual songs. Part of the total also comes from a few artists I discovered through various means (such as Twitter or Facebook) who made albums available for free download:

Childish Gambino (a.k.a. Donald Glover) - EP (he's funny on "Community" but he has definite skills in the hip-hop arena; he now has a full-length album out, but I haven't bought it yet)
Loco - No Shade (Mixtape)
Simon Curtis - 8Bit Heart
DISCO PUSHER - Now You Know How The Story Ends (also a mixtape)

Then there were the records released before 2011...

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
Brandon Flowers - Flamingo
Mika - The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer
RuPaul - Champion
various artists - Christmas Remixed-Holiday Classics Re-Grooved (my only "new" Christmas album)

So that leaves just four albums I got that were actually released in 2011:

The Eagle Waits...

This is the center city Macy's store that was formerly known as John Wanamaker's, where the bronze Eagle stands in the Grand Court. This is where the holiday light show is held every year. Two weeks ago I was passing through and stopped and took a picture, because it seemed to me that the Eagle was standing there, looking up, just waiting for the light show to begin. That photo is the wallpaper on my phone right now.

But I wasn't entirely happy with it because I didn't quite get the top of the Christmas tree. So after I helped my friend move earlier this afternoon (well, yesterday afternoon as it's now after midnight) I stopped in center city on the way home and tried again. The photo at left is the one that is closest to the one I took two weeks ago.

I took a couple more, as well as one from the opposite side, showing the people today sitting around the Eagle waiting for the show to begin (it was 2:30 pm at the time), and you can see that, with the head turned as it is, the Eagle actually isn't looking at the tree...

Happy New Year. Posts on my 2011 in music and this blog coming in the next day or two.