The Loss Of Summer

What used to be my favorite season of the year has now become the season that I dread. I like the heat. I like wearing shorts. I like baseball, drinking outside during the day and the beach. The summer is also the time where I like to slow things down. Unfortunately the late teen/early 20's version of Slice just assumed everyone else felt this same way when planning out the rest of his life. It's disheartening to learn that it's not the case.

Today is the day that New York teachers finish work for the summer. Now for two months I'm going have a constant reminder of how I fucked up by not becoming a teacher. Not only do I have a few friends who are teachers (who are nice enough to send me text messages during the day telling me how awesome it is not to be at work), I'm engaged to a teacher so it's now right in my face 24/7.

Although it'll be at the forefront of my mind every second of the summer I'll try to keep it out of the blog. I even get tired of hearing my self complain about it out loud.

Hold Steady on Sunday!

Getting Inside Hymn -- Ocean of Noise

First off, I think I may need to further explain my selections for 'Getting Inside Hymn.' It's not solely based on one particular thing, be it lyrics, music or instumental or vocal proficiency. Granted, any combination of the aforementioned usually are a huge factor in transending a 'song' into an 'experience.'

The best songs, I think, can create a mood: romantic (Sinatra), relaxed (Jack Johnson), fun (New Pornographers), pensive (Sigur Ros). Of course, bad songs can elicit an emotional response, too. But not the ones that I like to feel, save the conflicted feelings I get when hearing 'I Kissed A Girl,' my summer '08, 'fat girls and mopeds' guilty pleasure.

So, in the lamest of distinctions, I don't just hear a good song... I feel it.

One of the more recent tracks that broke through the senses was 'Ocean of Noise,' by Arcade Fire. The album from which it derives -- Neon Bible -- is rock solid. It's well crafted, ambitious and dramatic in the best possible way. To me, the drama is most amplified in 'Ocean of Noise' (with Intervention, and it's Pink Floyd- bleek lyrics via a children's choir a close second). The lyrics of my favorite track are pretty solid on their own merit:

In an ocean of noise,
I first heard your voice,
Ringing like a bell,
As if I had a choice, oh well!

Left in the morning
While you were fast asleep,
Into an ocean of violence,
A world of empty streets.

You've got your reasons,
And me I've got mine,
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies to buy myself some time.

In an ocean of noise,
I first heard your voice,
Now who here among us
Still believes in choice?
—Not I!

No way of knowing
What any man will do,
An ocean of violence
Between me and you.

You've got your reasons,
And me I've got mine,
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies to buy myself some time.

I'm gonna work it out.
'Cause time won't work it out.
I'm gonna work it out.
'Cause time won't work it out for you. I'm gonna work it on out.

I gotta say, 'You've got your reasons, And me I've got mine, But all the reasons I gave Were just lies to buy myself some time' is some real good shit on the page. But when the lyrics are married with the slow-burning, haunting build of the music, the listener (or me) is transfixed.

The mood it elicits is a mixture of lust and loss (call it 'luss'). It's four-plus minutes of yearning and self-reflecion (or is it denial?) drenched in lovers' sweat. I want to have sex to this song, but I fear being crushed in its emotional wake. Not to mention the four-plus minute running time... I'm no superhero.

Getting Inside Hymn

I love music. If I had to choose between being deaf or blind, I would give up my eyesight only because I couldn't imagine a songless world. Plus, being blind would greatly increase the talent pool, rendering any woman with less than a discernible amount of facial hair a ten.

Given the fact that I'm willing to relinquish my vision, it's obvious that music has a profound effect on me. Not all music, mind you. I'm indifferent to 90% of the stuff that people listen to, and if it elicits any emotion, it's usually anger. I don't think of myself as a music snob... I'm not comfortable being painted with that brush. But I do have a certain prerequisite -- a buy-in factor -- to enjoy music. Being introduced to the Beatles at an early stage (and henceforth convinced that they are the best introductory course in music) in my development, I am a sucker for good melody and tight song structure. The Beatles discography is really a microcosm for my musical development. From straightforward pop (Meet the Beatles), to more challenging, boundary-testing fare (Rubber Soul, Revolver), to experimental (White Album), to the lavishly produced (Let it Be).

The list of favorites are too long to list and, frankly, too boring to read. However (and this is the point of my new blog series... I can't believe I typed 'blog series'), there are some songs that I find so transfixing -- so otherworldly -- that I almost want to climb inside it for its duration. It's a four-minute vacation -- a brief respite -- from the confining walls.

A great song can make you disappear completely. Unlike being blind, where everything else disappears completely.

Upon further review, I really hope I never have to make that decision.

So, that's the premise. Each installment will take a song and explain why I want to live in it. Given that I've threatened to start this series for four months now, I will be happy if I make it past three installments. Three counts as a series, right?

Tune in (you see it!) soon as I attempt Getting Inside: Ocean of Noise by Arcade Fire.

Pretirement

A group of recent college graduates pool all of their money and credit cards together to buy a bus and travel around the country going to music festivals and having one last year of fun before joining the work force.

He Killed Last Night

Ronin Blakely, a crisis-management specialist who helps preserve and restore the image of many Hollywood elite, meets his toughest challenge in A-list client Dean Baker, a comedic superstar that just so happens to be a mass-murderer.

Thoughtling

I went to high school at the wrong time. It's disappointing that I missed out on Rainbow Party era.

Screenplay Logline Attempt

-A man gets hypnotized to black out Mondays through Fridays from 9-5 so he doesn't remember being at work. After a few months, he learns that he took all his vacation time and hasn't been to work in a few weeks so he enlists the help of his friends to find out what he's been doing with his time.

So I saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I'm jealous of alot of people's lives, there are not many that I'm more jealous of than Judd Apatow (maybe Jack Johnson). While I'm stuck in a soul sucking job, this guy gets to run around and make movies with his friends all day. Normally I would hate a guy for his lot in life (i.e., Derek Jeter) but I guess I can overlook it since he seems to have my sense of humor.

If Freaks and Geeks lasted for more than one season, I would be more than comfortable saying it was my favorite television show of all time. While not as good as F&G, Undeclared ranks on my top 5 shows that got cancelled too soon. So based on all that you can probably guess that I liked this movie based on my bias going in.

I've tried to write screenplays before and my biggest complaint about this movie is the problem that I normally have when writing. Sometimes I'll think of funny scenes for a movie and instead of saving them for a later screenplay, I'll fit it in to the one I'm currently doing. More often than not it interupts the flow. I noticed this happening a few times in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Not that those scenes weren't funny, but it felt a little forced once the next scene got you back to the plot.

Random notes:
-I had no idea that Mila Kunis is hot.
-I'm pretty much over Jonah Hill
-If I was going to have a man crush, Paul Rudd would be an option.
-I thought I was going to hate the "Sarah Marshall's Lothario Boyfriend" character but he was a pleasant surprise. Pretty funny.
-Jack McBrayer's role was pretty close to his role on 30 Rock...which was fine by me.
-One of the more quotable movies from under the Apatow umbrella.

Some things I watched

I read Bringing Down the House a few years ago and anytime a book I read is made into a movie, I'll go see it. If it's bad, I'll just tell them I read the book so I was curious to see it.

21 had one major thing going against it from the get go. I hate Jim Sturgess. I don't know him from anything other than a two and half minute trailer for Across The Universe, but I hate him because of it. I wasn't expecting much more than a popcorn flick whose sole purpose was to make me want to go back to Vegas again, and that's pretty much what Im got.

It was very overstylized which is to be expected when Vegas was involved, Kevin Spacey was a little too over-the-top my problem with his character is that it was a little riduclous to believe a college professor can wield as much power as he did.

If I was going to rate this movie on a scale of 1 to 35, I'd probably give it around a 21.

-----------------------------------

A welcome surprise from my Netflix queue, The King of Kong probably ranks in my top 5 documentaries right now. Any film that can have me mocking a whole subculture in the first ten minutes to me having a rooting interest in one of the characters less than seventy minutes later deserves alot of credit.

I would have thought these characters were made up if the concept of people caring about classic video game high scores wasn't so bizarre that it had to be true. You have the born loser Steve Wiebe who has had opportunities for success taken away from him on numerous occasions and finds solace in trying to beat the high score in Donkey Kong after getting laid off from work. Billy Mitchell is the classic arcade game Wunderkind who at one point held high scores in a few classic arcade games but his Donkey Kong record is the only one he still holds. He's the least physically intimidating person you could imagine but with a dark beard and a sweet, jet black mullet, he's gotten himself a "trophy" wife (that could only be considered hot in the video gaming subculture) and a bunch of hero worshippers who are his eyes and ears at the arcade. It's crazy. I couldn't recommend it more.

Explosions in the Sky - Crazy Donkey

Whether I'm emptying the dishwasher or playing a game of Madden, I can put on Explosions in the Sky and the experience just seems to become more important.

When I saw that they were playing at a bar I used to go to on Long Island this past Sunday I figured it would be worth checking out. I've never seen an experimental, instrumental band before. I was very curious about what the crowd would be like or if there would be a crowd at all but as it turns out, it was packed.

I'll start off by saying that they were really good. For a band who has no vocals, they were entertaining to watch on stage. Two of the guys spent alot of time on the floor which I normally don't really care for, but it didn't seem forced at all. It just seemed like that's where the song ended up taking them. The funniest part of the show was that the audience didn't know when to applaud. They didn't really take breaks between songs. Most of their songs run about 7-10 minutes so they just kind of run into one another. I would definately see these guys again. I would imagine an Explosions in the Sky concert would kick ass at an outdoor venue.

Check Out My Six Pack - Volume 2 - Magic Hat Circus Boy

Circus Boy from Magic Hat Brewing Company was the selection this week. I have no good reason for why I picked this one this week since I hate the circus (clowns) and it's a Hefeweizen which is apparently a summer beer.

The Magic Hat website describes it as: Hefeweizen Unfiltered and unfettered, Circus Boy is a unique and refreshing American-style Hefeweizen.Is he a who? Or a what? Or perhaps some of both?

Very easy to drink. I was watching the NCAA Tournament and was done with my six pack well before the first game ended. But I actually did notice there was a hint of some lemon or other citrus-like stuff. I normally don't pick up on that kind of thing so it was either really strong or my palate is maturing. Probably the former.

Bonus points for surprising little messages under each bottle cap. Mine were:
-Can I have this dance?
-Suck the toe of Edgar Allen Poe
-Life is Better inside a Warm Sweater
-It's always best to Confess to your Mess
-Don't drive a car if you're not going far
-You're never Alone with a Bone

Not much else to say. I probably wouldn't order it in a bar. Not as good as Long Trail IPA.
3.5 out of 6

Should I give it an extra half point because the guy at the beverage store gave me a Magic Hat Condom? Nah.

I have to come up with a new angle for this feature

My annual drunkest day of the year diary

Every year I take off for the first two days of the NCAA Tournament. That Thursday routinely ends up being the drunkest day of my year. Last year I ended up throwing my shoes and people playing in a pool league and ended up sleeping at 7:00pm across the street in a seedy motel. None of this I remember which means, yes, I was blacked out by about 5:00pm. This year, I did decide to take it a little easier during the day sessions so I can remember the night games. This is, after all, the best sporting event in the world. Also what I decided to do was carry around a pad and write down things that happened. Here's what transpired:
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12:20pm - First 3 games tipped off. First pitcher of Bud Light.
(Changing Times in Northport. The other bar we got to doesn't open til 2pm.)

1:20 - Leprechaun Pics. Kind of early for this.
(There was a cardboard cutout of a leprechaun with the face missing where you can put your face in. It was more of a bored halftime activity more than it was alcohol related.)

2:37 - I lost a bet that I was +18.5 at the half. Awesome. First loss in my brackets.
(Georgia)

3:05 - Got to Instant Replay. Now it begins. Side note - Got hooked up at Changing Times.
("Now it begins" refers to the fact that I drove so now I can turn up the drinking a little bit.)

4:00 - Funniest woman you know?
(I'm pretty sure that we were having a conversation about female comedians.)
Jukebox Songs- Fake Headlines(New Pornographers), In Your Head(Tegan and Sara), Underdog(Spoon), Foundations(Kate Nash) and Wave of Mutilation(Pixies)

4:16 - "You guys should both go fuck John Starks then."
(I don't know why I said that but that conversation did spark the creation of a new drink which I'll touch on later.)

5:00 - Found out a plan for my car. No dinner. Getting Fuuuuuuucked Up!
(Yes...I wrote "u" 7 times.)

5:30 - Drink Game
Bob got mine Cap't Morgan on the Rocks. I drew a car bomb. Dorin got an appletini but traded for a "John Starks" which is a double shot of 151 and any rum of your choice, Dan-Wine Spritzer, Jay traded for said appletini, Craig-Midori Sour and Pete-Hypnotic Breeze.
(In the drink game everyone writes a drink down on a piece of paper and pulls one out of a hat. The hope was that it would be really embarrassing to order or too tough to drink. Needless to say, whoever wrote down car bomb was the least creative member of my group. Also worth mentioning was the trade that happened with the Appletini. The guy who originally got the Appletini traded it because of a situation where he was hit on by a guy at a bar who bought him an appletini and, rumor has it, nuzzled his nose on his cheek. I wasn't there so I can't confirm it.)

6:20 - "Don't tell me how to drink this," says Bob
(Having problems with his Cap't Morgan on the rocks.)

7:00 -Me and Dorin lost at Pool

8:00 - I'm doing a Jager Bomb!!
-I'm going to be 2-3 so far (betting)
-We're playing the game again. I have another easy one.
(I don't remember what it was.)

9:15 - First Jager Bomb ever. FIRST JAGER BOMB EVER
(See 8:00. I'm obviously in trouble.)

10:35 - Jager Bombs!!!
Nicole: I want to punch her in the mouth.
(I have no idea who Nicole is or who she wants to punch in the mouth.)

11:20 - Apparently I'm doing a Jager Bomb!!!

3:30 - Played Rockband and Singstar 90's
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I can't wait to do it again next year.

This is kind of scary

I graduated with a BA in Communications but kind of forgot what kind of jobs I can get with that useless degree. So I go to Yahoo! and do a search for "Careers with a communication degree" and look what comes up. I'll give you a minute.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=careers+with+a+communications+degree&fr=yfp-t-501-s&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8

You've got to be kidding me. I almost just cried for the first time since I've seen Hardball.

Going to my happy place

Every year I take off for the 1st two days of the NCAA Tournament. It's pretty much four days of drinking and college basketball. Easily my two favorite days of the year.

My Final 4 is UNC, Stanford, Kansas and Louisville with UCLA beating Kansas in the Championship. I will be wrong.

Check out my Six Pack - Volume 1 - Long Trail IPA

Even though I'm almost 30, the type of beer I drink is not unlike it was when I was in college. Not that I feel I'm above the cheap beer. If someone hands me a Bud Light, MGD, Golden Anniversary or a Steel Reserve I'll drink it appreciatively. But I felt like it was time to see what else is out there. Every week I usually get a six pack during the week and settle in to watch a sporting event. Usually it's just Bud Light or Stella, but now I'm going get one of a beer I've never had before. Last week I had Smuttynose's Portsmouth Lager and Anchor Steam (It was a two 6-pack week). This week I had Long Trail Brewery's IPA. As a guy who drinks alot of beer, I only this week learned that IPA actually stands for India Pale Ale. Go figure.

Long Trail describes it like: We've brewed our filtered IPA for 13 years, and never considered offering the REAL (unfiltered) version that is naturally carbonated just as it comes out of our fermenters. Well here it is! We hope you enjoy our REAL IPA.

I don't know who I'm kidding. I can't pick up flavors or anything. I can just tell you that I didn't make a face on my first sip which is a good sign. A six-pack for me is usually just enough to get me a mini buzz and give me a quality nights sleep. I must admit, after my six pack, I did blend up a margarita. Maybe it gave me a buzz good enough that I didn't want to stop drinking? Let's go with that. It was 5.9% Alcohol content.

I don't want to set the bar too high because there should be many six packs to come, so I will give it 4.5 out of 6. (Get it....six pack) I'm still coming up with the graphic.

By the way, if you thought this was a blog about my abs, I don't want you to come back here anymore.

My soccer jersey

About 2 years ago I realized I have nothing really cool to wear for St. Patrick's Day except for some t-shirt someone gave me from Kohl's like 5 years ago. I decided (despite my hatred for the sport) that an Ireland soccer jersey would be the tits. My perfect shirt size is an XLT which isn't really easy to find so I usually go between an XL and XXL depending on the garment. To err on the side of caution, I ordered myself a XXL Ireland soccer jersey online for like 90 bucks justifying the purchase as something I'll wear for many March 17ths to come. About 5 days later it shows up and I go try it on. Apparently the website failed to mention that soccer equipment has it's own different size charts not unlike how a men's medium is different than a women's medium. Turns out a soccer XXL is like a men's L. Needless to say, when I tried it on, it needed to be helped off. Now this is my own fault because I should have realized that I've never seen a guy my size play soccer, therefore, a XXL isn't probably a popular size in that sport. On top of that, soccer jerseys aren't exactly "flowey." For some reason I couldn't return it though. It was the highest size they had and I did/do still want it. So I stashed it in my closet so maybe one day I'll fit into it should I eventually ever choose to actually take care of myself. I hear chicks do that. Anyway, I've eaten healthy for the last few months and been occasionally going to the gym and actually shed a few pounds. So I'm going to give it another shot this year. I'm not hopeful though. It was REALLY tight two years ago.

What a way to end a vacation

I was scheduled to fly from Orlando to JFK at 12:35pm on Friday Feb 22nd. There was bad weather in the Northeast so I went online and called the customer service hotline and they both said that the flight was pushed back to about 4:00pm. No big deal. It happens all the time. So we stayed put and left later for our flight instead of hanging out in the airport for a few hours. On the way to the airport, we called AA again to see if the flight was delayed any further. It turns out that the flight was scheduled to go at 1:00pm now meaning we were missing the flight. To make a long story short, we had to fly to Miami and then be put on standby for a flight to JFK. After not getting on two standby flights (by one person each time no less) and having to sleep in a mouse infested terminal (I consider six or seven mice in one concentrated area an infestation), we got on a flight at 6:50am on Saturday to LaGuardia. That meant we still had to go to JFK to pick up our bags which

went out on the first flight we were on standby for...which was nice. Otherwise it was a good trip.

Last Day of Work???

Today is my last day of work for at least a week (vacation) and possibly longer if those lotto tickets to the left work out.

Lent

I'm not a religious guy. I can't remember the last time I went to church for anything other than a wedding or a funeral. Nevertheless, I've been giving stuff up for lent for as long as I can remember. In the past it was easy because I would just give up soda and fast food. This year though I'm still holding to my New Years Resolution to eat healthier so I haven't had Coke or fast food yet this year so I was at a loss as to what to give up this time. Here was my thought process:

• I'm not a huge "sweet" eater. If I went to a restaurant and had to choose between choosing to have an appetizer or dessert, pass me some boneless buffalo wings. So sweets aren't good enough.
• That being said, I was thinking about not having appetizers when I go out to eat (I go out to eat alot). But I'm going on a cruise soon and apps will be too "in my face". I also go out for the NCAA Tournament every year where Mozzerella Sticks and Wings become a big part of it. Giving up appetizers would be setting myself up for failure.
• Alcohol? I would be willing to try it if the timing was different. I think it would actually benefit me in a big way. Imagine how much my tolerance would go down? I'd spend alot less on beer when it was over. Alas, Lent happens during St. Patty's Day and the NCAA Tournament. I'm all for giving up something hard, not impossible.
• If I was dropped on a desert island and can have only one food dropped down to me for each meal, it would be cheese burgers...easily. That's probably doable.

So I gave up cheese burgers. Not just burgers though. Beef as a whole. No Philly Cheesesteaks, no pasta with meat sauce. I'm making due with Chicken and Turkey.

If you read a news story on Easter about a guy running around a field taking bites out of cattles, that'll be me.

My prediction for this weekend

With the Super Bowl looming there are a lot of predictions being made so it's only fitting that I made mine for the weekend. And with that: I do believe Punxsutawney Phil will indeed see his shadow tomorrow. Take it to the bank.