Yes, Lost

Okay so I can confess now.

For the past week Fran & I have been spending every free second watching this show entitled Lost. You may be familiar, it's been on TV for a few years now, dunno what channel. And it's not that we've been avoiding it or ignoring that it existed, it's just the dedication it takes to tune in every week, to have the patience to wait a whole 7 days to find out what will happen next, those are qualities we just do not posses. So now that we have our Netflix up and running again, we just have the DVDs delivered to the front door and cozy on in. We just finished season 1. Michael, Jin, Walt & Sawyer headed out on the boat to find a rescue party only to have Walt kidnapped by some scummy looking sailors, Locke, Kate, Jack & Hurley blew open the hatch, and the rest of the characters were headed into the jungle to hide from "the Others" the crazy French lady warned them of. I cannot even think to guess at what's gonna happen next. I was informed by Daniel Riley I would not be disappointed tho. First disc of season 2 should be here today or tomorrow. Don't call us. We won't answer.

Mixtape> 9.9 thru 9.29

1. Devastations - The Pest
2. Bound Stems - Winston
3. Shearwater - Lost Boys
4. Choir Of Young Believers - Next Summer
5. Prints - Fire Days
6. Emiliana Torrini - Ha Ha
7. Eugene McGuinness - Crown The Clown
8. Parker Lewis - Risky Dancing
9. Ten Kens - I Really Hope You Get To Retire
10. July - To Be Free
11. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Untitled
12. Athlete - This Is What I Sound Like
13. Inouk - Somewhere In France
14. Of Montreal - An Eluardian Instance
15. Breathe Owl Breathe - No No No
16. The Anniversary - Lover
17. James - P.S.
18. Hot Chip - Hold On
19. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Sun Lips
20. Dengue Fever - New Year's Eve
21. Actual Tigers - Testimony
22. Jim O'Rourle - Eureka
23. Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble - Teardrop
24. Glissandro 70 - Portugal Rua Rua
25. Paul Simon - Crazy Love, Vol. II
26. Handsome Boy Modeling School - Rock And Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This) Part 2: Knockers
27. We Shot The Moon - The Water's Edge
28. De Novo Dahl - Make Some Sense
29. Pop Levi - Flirting
30. Radiohead - 4 Minute Warning

Just Cause...

...it's 2:30 am and I was thirsty & awake.


I am so being this guy for Halloween.

Shea, Goodbye

Ok. That's that. Crushing loss. Yada yada. And all on the last day ever played in Shea. I think the city can save money on demolition and just invite the fans to tear that puppy down.


See ya next April. On to football season.

I'm In With Deer

Had lunch with Fran on a break yesterday. Headed back to the school past a big vacant soccer field. Light rain fell. Four young deer fed on the grass. I sensed a photo opportunity. I headed out towards the back of the fields. The deer were busy. I got closer and they snapped their heads. I squatted and tried a few shots. Blurry and wet. I too was wet. I turned to head for the car and spotted a fifth deer. Between me and my vehicle. I was between him and the other deer. We were close. Maybe 20 feet. He moved toward me. He was big. Just a few steps. So I took a step toward him. He didn't flinch. Another slow step, each. And another. I was a little nervous. But he stood straight and took another step. We went back and forth, trading strides til we were about five feet away. Then he grew tired of me and continued to gnaw on grass. I readied my camera.

This is an undoctored, un-zoomed photo of my deer experience.

A Miracle, Mets

It would seem, after last nights wins for Philly & Milwaukee, and Mets embarassing loss to the Marlins putting them a game behind in the wild card, the season could very possibly be over for the Mets. They no longer "control their own destiny" as they love to tout in every interview. They have to hope the Cubs feel up to pushing their starters at the end of the season and can take both the next games from the Brewers and that the Mets can magically learn how to play baseball and win both the next two games against the Marlins, cuz Philly ain't losing to the Nationals. They can kiss the division goodbye. Last night's game was embarassing, and I was listening on the radio. An already awful bullpen sunk to a new low, practically giving away 4 runs in one inning thru walks and hitting batters, and mistakes in the outfield, just sad really.

So it's gonna take a miracle at this point. And the Mets can't do anything about it but hope stars align. We should've just ended the season on a good note the other night with Beltran's walkoff. Maybe I will.

Chinese, Unisphere & The Like

Since the traffic outside Shea is notoriously bad, we decided to show up for the game a little early the other day, park, and take the opportunity to explore the area a bit. We were hungry and I thought Fran may get a kick out of the old grounds of the Worlds Fair. So after a quick detour thru the "Iron Triangle" (think over 250 body shops crammed in one 2-block radius greatly resembling the streets of a third world war-torn country; Charming) we decided to park the car and head to the streets.




We headed down Roosevelt Avenue under the LIRR tracks in search of foods. I have a fondness for the meshing of metal & nature so I snapped a few nifty shots, or what I think are nifty shots. You make not think them too nifty. Nifty.




After passing a few blocks full of signs that were I believe in Korean (we couldn't tell if they were restaurants or laundromats or what) we spotted like an oasis coming into focus from across a barren desert none other but the New King House Chinese Restaurant. This was to be the high point of the day.




We also discovered how the inhabitants of Queens dispose of their garbage. They don't bother with giant dumps that pollute the Earth no, they reinforce the railroad supports. How eco-friendly.



Then we got on to the heart of Flushing Meadows. First we spotted the Unisphere, a 12-story replica of the Earth. I like it.






We live here


Fran liked the gardens


We headed towards the Observation Towers but they were barricaded and you couldn't get very close. Kind of a bummer.





We started back and passed by the Rocket Thrower and wondered how he's gotten away with flicking everyone off all these years. And check out those monkey toes.





A few random shots...






So.. yeah good times.

Now... not that that particular neighborhood in Queens isn't charming in its own little way, it's just that now that we've been thru Flushing Meadows, seen the historic sights and all... let's just say that I think next time we'll sit in the traffic.

Good Point

"If you were to ask me back in spring training if would I wanna tie for the wild card and a game and a half back in the division with 4 left to play I would say... Yeah."

-Damion Easley, five minutes ago

Advancement In The Bathroom

I know I've posted about toilets before but being a person that lives in a house that poses certain space-issues I consider this is pretty cool invention.


The Design Odyssey Vertebrae is an all-in-one fixture with water flowing into it from the top, giving you two showers, a cistern for storing water, a couple of storage areas, a sink and a toilet, all in one stack.

Genius.

Now where did I leave that extra $11,025?

Portraits of American Mass Consumption

by Chris Jordan

Chargers

Cigarette butts

Cellphones

Cars

I may use these

Wrong Night For A Good Game

We went to the Mets/Cubs game Monday night. Mets lost, but at least it wasn't dull. A few homeruns (mostly by Cubs), Delgado stole home, buncha good defensive plays. The only disturbing bit was the unjustified fervor and complete lack of faith the Mets fans showed for the team when things turned ugly, which was worsened by the inordinate amount of Cubs fans and their overt confidence which on this night just turned out to be good common sense. I mean, the Cubs pitcher hit a grand slam. Yeah, not so good. But we had fun, as we always do. Here's some photos.

R.I.P. David Foster Wallace

My sister had turned me on to this guy. I read books at a moderate pace, usually with large breaks in between but a couple weeks ago I decided I was ready for some DFW and picked up his collection of short stories, Oblivion.

No soooner had I cracked the spine that I found out, Wallace is dead. An apparent suicide, and I found out while watching Adult Swim. Kind of a buzzkill. Anyhow, I didn't know the guy, barely knew one page. But I look forward to reading more of what he got. So far so good, not too little too late.

Closing Stadiums

Last night was the last night a game will be played at Yankee Stadium. I didn't really think much of it, not being a huge Yankee fan myself (I still like to see them beat the Red Sox) so I didn't plan on watching, and just as well because we had a lot of catching up to do with our latest obsession.....


Anyhow, I caught the highlights of the evening on this mornings' Sportscenter. It seemed like a pretty special nite and it was done with a modicum of hoopla and seemingly, a lotta love. It's a sadder day than I had expected.


Shea starts it's final homestand tonight. Lucky us, we'll be there. This will be our view.


Rally towel night. I'm kinda over the fact that the Mets have been playing themselves into oblivion again. They're hanging by a thread, but I'm not gonna let it bother me one bit. Just gonna show up tonight, root for whoever really, and just hope it's a good game. Go Mets. Go Cubs. And go home.