No Mo NoBloPoMo

Yeah...bye November. 30 up, 30 down. Thanks for playin.

Boston Accents

We all have those friends who find it necessary to forward to us every chain email, list of tasteless jokes, and "big opportunity" from some prince in South Africa, and I am no different. Occasionally, however, you find something of actual interest. Today was such a day for me.

I got sent a link to a quiz that claimed to be able to ascertain what type of accent I had. I couldn't resist, as accents and dialects are parts of linguistics I have always had an interest in. I was skeptical at first, but the test was short and, amazingly, pretty accurate (see my results below). I do, in fact, have a Boston accent....and am damn proud of it, too.

But what about the various sub-types of the Boston accent? We all know about the Beacon Hill / Ted Kennedy / Mayor Quimby brahmin accent, as well as the ever-stereotypical "pahk your cah in Hahvid yahd" popularized by the SNL Jimmy Fallon / Rachel Dratch "Nomaaah" skits and, of course, bad acting in every movie ever shot in Boston....but anyone from around here knows there's much more to it than that, and some people claim to be able to tell just what part of Boston or the Boston Metropolitan area one comes from by merely listening to them speak. Is there a difference between those from the north shore and those from the south shore? Can one find subtleties in accents and discern whether they are from Eastie or Southie, Worcester or the Cape? There are lots of guides to "Boston English" out there, but I think it would be a very interesting undertaking indeed to try to find patterns in the actual Boston accents, and ultimately come up with an almost mathematical way to connect them together and differentiate between them. Until then, I'll have to pass my time doing things that are actually realistic....

Oh, and for the record, nobody here says "wicked pissah".

What kind of American accent do you have? Your Result: Boston You definitely have a Boston accent, even if you think you don't. Of course, that doesn't mean you are from the Boston area, you may also be from New Hampshire or Maine.
The Midland
The West
North Central
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The South
What American accent do you have?

The Beermapping Project

I love mashups, and while going through some old unread items in my newsreader, I came across a cool one in The Bostonist's feed. In a post called "Finding Beer In The Dark", they review a site called "The Beermapping Project" that uses the Google Maps API to highlight, well, beer things, including places to buy, places that brew, places to drink, etc. There are lots of cities with entries already, and I am happy to report that Boston is one of them. I even submitted our favorite local packey here in Weymouth, John's Liquors (should be up soon, I think). Go beer!

Homeland Security - Native American Style

One of my co-workers who'd recently returned from a conference in New Mexico brought us back gifts in the form of big buttons with this not-so-subtle reminder of just how relative things can be. It made me chuckle, but is humor the only goal of the message, if a goal at all? Do Native Americans still resent the fact that 500 years ago Europeans came to this continent and eventually wiped out an enormously large number of their ancestors? Perhaps the fact that as recently as 50 years ago television shows like "Bonanza" and "The Lone Ranger" celebrated this time period leaves a bad taste in their mouths. Or maybe the fact that current day sports teams have names like "Indians", "Seminoles", "Sachems" and "Redskins" (a racial epithet not that long ago, by the way) bugs them a little....go figure.

This makes me think, even a little angry. Almost as angry as when I lose money at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

Losing Your "Frame" of Reference

I'm not sure what's more disturbing, finding yourself transfixed on the hypnotic spin of the frames, or occasionally focusing accidentally on the head of the guy holding it.

Are You Tone Deaf?

I found this on LifeHacker. In the words of Jake Mandell, it's creator, it's a "quick online way to screen for tonedeafness. It actually turned out to be a pretty good test to check for overall pitch perception ability.", so it's made intentionally to be pretty difficult, but it's fun so give it a shot. All you have to do is listen to 36 pairs of musical phrases and hit one of two buttons: "same" or "different"....it's that easy. The test was created while Mandell was working at the music and neuroimaging lab at Beth Israel in Boston.

I got an "exceptional performance" at 91.7% correct (and was surprised to see so). Good luck!

Evolution Day / Creation Museum

Today is "Evolution Day", and amazingly it has nothing to do with the David Duchovny / Julianne Moore / 7-Up Guy / Stiffler comedy classic. It is celebrated today because it is the anniversary of when Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species" first came out back in 1859. This was of course the famous publication that outlined natural selection and an explanation of human evolution, the theory currently accepted by scientists and taught in science classes across the world.

There are, of course, other explanations of our origins, several of which are known as Creationism (that's a nice science-y sounding word). The most prominent of these use the most popular piece of literature in the world as a primary source of information: the Bible. There has been debate in some parts of the US as to which theory should be taught in schools, and though I am completely sold on the theory of evolution, I can see how those who believe otherwise would not want that taught to their children. In fact, in places like Georgia "alternative theories" to evolution are already being taught. Is there a conflict of interest here? Science is never fact, it is simply the best idea we have about things at the time (see "the world is flat" and "the earth is the center of the universe"). In the case of public schools in particular, is there a mixing of church and state?

Well, all of those issues aside, I thought it interesting that a Creation Museum is opening in 2007 in Cincinnati, Ohio, described as a "walk through history" that "will proclaim the Bible as supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice in every area it touches on" and "will counter evolutionary natural history museums that turn countless minds against Christ and Scripture." I wasn't sure what kind of exhibits this museum might have, so I went on the "virtual walk-through". I recommend you go and do the same; it gives some insight into what the purpose of this museum really is. Here are some of my favorite stops on the tour and their descriptions:

Stargazer's Room
Peer back into the deepest recesses of the heavens, and discover that the latest images of the stars confirm an all powerful Creator, not a random bang!

Bible Authority Room
The Bible is true. No doubt about it! Paul explains God's authoritative Word, and everyone who rejects His history-including six-day creation and Noah's Flood-is ‘willfully’ ignorant.

Ancient Babylon
Witness the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel and the subsequent dispersion of peoples. Unravel the mystery of the origin of the so-called ‘races.’ Discover how the science of anthropology actually confirms the Bible’s history!

Creation
Explore the wonders of creation. The imprint of the Creator is all around us. And the Bible’s clear—heaven and earth in six 24-hour days, earth before sun, birds before lizards. Other surprises are just around the corner. Adam and apes share the same birthday. The first man walked with dinosaurs and named them all! God’s Word is true, or evolution is true. No millions of years. There’s no room for compromise.

Random bang? So-called 'races'? No room for compromise? If one thing is evident it is this: of all of the differences one may describe between science and religion, none seems more prominent than the fact the science allows for evolution, in more ways than one.

Happy Evolution Day!

Happy Turkey Day!

Ah, Adam Sandler. You either like him or you don't. Regardless, here's a silly Sandler song for the ages...the Turkey Song.

Happy 56th Birthday Pop

As Abuela would point out: it's Thanksgiving, so it must be your birthday! Happy birthday Dad...

Conspiracy Theory Day

Today is Conspiracy Theory Day, dedicated to conspiracy theories wordwide. This date was selected because it's the sad anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the subject of one of the most famous (or infamous) conspiracy theories of all time (grassy knoll, etc.). For an interesting "anatomy of a conspiracy", check this out.

Here are some other well known conspiracies (real and otherwise):

• 1919 Black Sox Scandal
• Assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X
• Area 51
• Watergate
• 9/11 (even a conspiracy theory movie)
• Assassinations of Julius Caesar and Caligula
• Helter Skelter
• Jack the Ripper's identity and potential royal cover-up
• Enron
• Assassination of RFK
• Death of Princess Diana

Any other favorites to add to the list?

Michael Richards (and others) Shows True Colors

After watching the Michael Richards tirade laden with racial epithets , I was of course shocked and appalled at the unbridled rage with which "Kramer" attacked some heckler, and found it simply despicable. This is a career-ender (for whatever career he had left) and is completely indefensible. I'm not sure if his apology on Letterman (which did not sound all that sincere) helped him or hurt him, though I think the veracity of his onslaught makes any attempt at apology moot. Nobody comes out with that kind of language spontaneously, no matter what the rationale. I believe Michael Richards showed his true, racist colors on that stage that night.

Which brings me to my next point. After watching the video, I read some of the discussion boards, and as much as I thought this to be a universally reprehensible act, I was amazed to see almost a third of the posts on TMZ were completely sidestepping the act and the fact that Richards didn't merely use the "N'-word repeatedly (I feel uncomfortable even writing it) and said things like "that's what happens when you interrupt the white man" and "50 years ago we'd have you upside down with a f-ing fork up your ass" (a very clumsy reference to lynching). Instead, those posters decided to focus on the tired "there's a double standard out there" argument, which, by the way, comes off as a defense of what Richards did.

I happen to agree that a double standard exists in that a black man can say the "N"-word and a white man can't. No, let me rephrase that. Anyone can say whatever they want; what we're talking about here are comfort levels in doing so (in fact there are plenty of white people who are perfectly comfortable saying it, just look at footage from any KKK rally). How this changes what Richards did I don't know, and I think that those people out there who use this as an opportunity to complain about reverse racism or whatever ask themselves what really is the issue here. Richards was using these words and phrases in anger, not in jest.

This should not be an argument of what's fair or just, it should be a condemnation of what someone who used to be a comic icon did in a comedy club last Friday night.

Time Waster: Line Rider

Thanks to AL-9000 for this one...this is a serious Time Waster, so be careful. "LineRider" is a beautifully simple concept, and one I wish I'd thought of myself. You draw a line, hit play, and watch a small tobogganer with a ski hat and a red scarf sled down your slope .The only complaint I have of it is that there is no apparent way to erase lines....you can only start over. Maybe that's part of the challenge, I guess.

The region in which you can draw lines seems endless, and you can shoot your Line Rider off into the void for a long time before trying to make him land. Try to make a loop-dee-loop (hint, you can't go through lines). Have fun and remember, you probably have better things to do.

Happy 30th Birthday Al

Happy birthday Alex... I hope you enjoy your gift this year, and you read this before I give it to you because there's a pretty big hint somewhere in this post (I wonder where...)

The Fine Print with Scott Boras

For some reason I've just now found out about The Brushback Report, which is basically a sports-themed Onion.com (but a few levels down in terms of presentation). Anyhoo, as a sample, there's an article there entitled "Boras Informs Matsuzaka It's Customary For American Agents To Receive 80 Percent"...the title says it all.

"I also explained to him that 80 percent here is different than 80 percent in Japan. You know, because of the metric system."

Spanish Castle Illusion, Customized

I found this on Slashdot....very cool. It's a customized version of the Spanish Castle Illusion (the image below is from our recent trip to Las Vegas) which I made at http://www.myopticalillusion.com/.


Directions: Remove your mouse from the image above. Focus on the black dot in middle of the image for twenty seconds. Keep focus on the dot while you move your mouse back over the image, and the image will appear to be in color. What's cool is that once you do move your eyes away from the dot, you see the picture for what it is: a black a white image.

So, how does it work?

This illusion forces your brain to see color in a black and white photo. It works by first saturating your visual memory with shade and line data, which occurs when you stare at the first picture for more than ten seconds or so. Upon flipping to the second picture, the spectral opposite of the original color data is imposed on the grey lines and shading of the photo.

If the illusions works, it will immediately begin to fade once you move your eyes. This is because a saccade, or a quick lateral eye movement, will effectively "clear" the visual memory buffer with the assumption that the eye is seeking a new pattern to focus on. Even though the visual memory buffer clears with a slight glance in any direction, you will still see a slight fading of illusory effect as the neurochemical saturation in your visual cortex fades.

That explanation was taken from an article at tripzine.com, which looks to be a site devoted to the study of all things scientifically psychedelic, so take it with a grain of salt (or whatever else floats your boat, I guess).

Time Waster: Find the Differences

You may have tried this one before. When you click on the link below, you'll see two nearly identical pictures. There are supposedly three differences; I can only find two. If you can find three, you are part of a very small group of elite people (and please, let me know where the third one is). Try it out:

http://members.home.nl/saen/Special/Zoeken.swf

Oh, and uh, sorry beforehand.

Mr. Matsuzaka

Daisuke Matsuzaka

It's a name we've recently read in all the papers and heard butchered on sports radio (it's pronounced Dice-kay, I think). The reason for all the coverage, however, is great news for us up here in Boston, as the Red Sox have outbid all the other teams in MLB in a blind auction just to have the chance to negotiate with the guy. I keep hearing about how good and informative the Gammons piece yesterday, but it's an ESPN inSider thing, so I can't read it until I subscribe. (yargh)

Say what you will, Yanker fan, but the Red Sox did not outbid everyone else just so that no one else could negotiate. That's just a foolish notion. The guy's unproven, sure (at least in this country), but I sincerely doubt that Theo and company would throw that kind of money around for someone they hadn't thoroughly researched.

So the next question is, of course, where does he fit in the rotation? Might it be:

• Schilling
• Matsuzaka
• Beckett
• Wakefield
• Papelbon

And if so, where is Lester? Who closes?

Mr. Matsuzaka, whether he knew it or not, just threw a really big log into the baseball stove, and it's starting to heat up.

300 - Battle of Thermopylae

So there's another movie coming out in March based on a Frank Miller graphic novel, and much like the last one ("Sin City"), this one looks great, not to mention full of CG. It's called "300" and is the story of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae, the battle in which 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas (and 700 volunteer Thespians) lost their lives against a massive Persian army led by Xerxes I (estimates range between 250,000 and 500,000 troops) in order to slow down the Persian invasion. The trailer looks kicakass and the more I read about this battle, the more interested and amazed I become. It's no wonder there is a movie coming out about it. I love the quote IMDB has on their page about the movie: "Spartans, this is where we fight. This is where they die!" -King Leonidas.

Was this one of those stories I was supposed to read about back in high school? See kids, Greek and Latin are cool.

I can't believe I just wrote that.

Live Action Transformers Movie

I may be the last to hear about this one, but seriously, a live-action Transformers movie?

Sign me up.

The trailer is definitely of the teaser variety, and so far it looks good. With a cast consisting of Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson and Anthony Anderson, among others (I think I saw Bernie Mac on the list), I'm extrememly interested to see what kind of storyline they come up with. Although the special effects are going to be badass and probably enough to get most of us to the theaters, we all know that sometimes a bad plot and/or bad acting can make a movie a huge disappointment. IMDB has a lot of information on its pre-production status so far.

There better be a Bumblebee in there somewhere, that's all I'm saying....

Last Page of the Internet

I never thought I'd get there, but I did: The Last Page of the Internet.

R.I.P. Jack Palance

Jack Palance died yesterday at the age of 87. This man had an illustrious career and to me always represented scary villans and tough S.O.B.s, and had what I believe to be the all-time best airy, raspy, evil voice. I remember him as the host of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, as the short lived big boss Grissom in the first Batman movie, and as the comicly scary Curly in City Slickers. My favorite Jack Palance moment: him doing one-handed push-ups on stage at the 1992 Oscars.

Rest in Peace Mr. Palance.

Vegas '06- Part 7- "Celebrities"

At any given time in Vegas you're liable to run into a celebrity. The Lovely Mary (TLM) and I were no exception this trip as we ran into no less than 5 famous people. Ok, ok, so they aren't exactly superstars or household names (as a matter of fact I didn't even know most of their names at the times we saw them), but their sightings prompted a "hey, there's that guy", or a "wasn't he in that commercial?", or at least a "look, it's [enter wrong name here]", so they must be somewhere between lists D and Z, right?

It all started off last Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay when we found ourselves wandering through bullriding fanatics and fight lovers when out of the corner of my eye I saw a woman parading a blond wig and a loud, tawdry, and very revealing dress through the crowd. It took only a glimpse of her face (yes, that's what I was looking at!) to recognize her as "Hottie" (real name Schatar Sapphira Taylor) from the first season of VH1's "Flavor of Love". She was the one who tried to cook a chicken in the microwave for Flav's mom and later got dismissed for having been exposed as an actress (and I use the term extremely loosely). I pointed her out to TLM, who acknowledged her identity with a simple "bleh", and when the encounter came up later in conversation, she described "Hottie" simply as "Dasty" (dirty+nasty)...'nuff said.

The next night TLM and I went to check out the Fashion Show Mall (guess which one of us found that place) and we stopped afterwards to have some tapas at a place called Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba. We were just finishing off a beef empanada, some chicken and ham croquettes, and some very tasty sangria when I looked over and saw a tall, long haired man eating with a his jet black cowboy hat placed delicately in the seat to his left and a short-haired blond placed on the one to his right. I knew he looked familiar, and soon realized he was one of those professional poker players I'd seen on ESPN. In fact, he was probably the only one I'd even be able to recognize at all, and he had one of those catchy nicknames, too...in this case, "Jesus". It wasn't until we spoke to one of TLM's coworkers later that night that we learned his name is Chris Ferguson, and besides being good at poker another of his claims to fame is that he can pitch a playing card through a carrot. I guess we all gotta be good at something, eh?

During one of our jaunts down the strip, we were passing through the Luxor's casino when TLM noticed a crowd gathering near the hotel's entrance, so we walked over to take a look. People seemed really excited, so we assumed it was someone big. Eh, not so much, but at least it was someone whose actual name we knew: Criss Angel (yeah, he spells it that way) who's a close-up illusionist and has a pretty entertaining show on A&E I've seen a few times called Mindfreak. We asked around and got an unusually large amount of information about the event from these two middle-aged women who could hardly contain themselves (who knew this guy commanded such unabashed fanaticism?). Anyway, they told us he was moving his base of operations to the Luxor (from where, who knows) and that the event was the official welcoming ceremony. We were also told that he was going to perform an illusion to be taped for season 3 of his show in the cordoned off area we were standing right next to. Well, after waiting for about half an hour and being prompted by some producers to cheer for the cameras a few times, he finally makes his way into the hotel, stops to thank the people for being so supportive, turns around, and leaves. Now that's what I call tricking people.

The quickest psuedo-celebrity sighting I had was Greg Proops, who has had guest appearances on all kinds of shows and is probably best known for his improv work on "Who's Line is it Anyway?", though I remember him from a short-lived favorite show of mine on Comedy Central called "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn" (unfortunately, Colin Quinn's modus operandi of "laugh at me and not with me" is what killed it). Anyway, he walked briskly by me in the Mandalay Bay casino looking pretty desheveled, and I got the sense he either just lost a lot of money at some table or bombed on stage. My theory is that all comedians (and magicians for that matter) are inherently depressed, so maybe that's just how he always looks when not on stage or on camera.

Last, and maybe least, we were on our plane home and I looked across to see this guy sleeping, facing me (so I could get a nice view of his open mouth and maybe a little drool). I noticed the emblem on his hat said "Mike the Mouth" and had some playing cards on it, and that rang a distant bell with me. Later in the flight, I overheard him identifying himself to the guy next to him as a professional poker player, and in fact he was Mike Matusow, not surprisingly also known as "Mike the Mouth" (modesty gets you everywhere, including flying coach). I didn't talk to him much, but did find out he was on his way to Foxwoods for a tournament. What I should have asked was what "professional poker player" meant. Does he get sponsored to play or has he just won enough poker tournaments to have earned the title? Either way, I reserve the right to hate on him for playing cards for a living. Besides, he had a fanny pack...

In any case, there was no Cameron Diaz, Robert DeNiro, nor Christopher Walken to be found during our stay, nor would they have any particular reason to be, I suppose (though I hear Walken is running for President in '08), but we saw enough at least to write about.

Maybe write too much about...

Vegas '06- Part 6- "Le Reve"

Much of the smalltalk during the week hovered around the many Cirque du Soleil shows currently in Vegas, which were good and which ones we should go to. Eventually we settled on "Le Reve" showing at the new Wynn hotel at the other end of the strip.

First, some clarification. According to the Cirque du Soleil website, "Le Reve is in no way associated with Cirque du Soleil". I can understand how they have a whole page dedicated to this topic as no one we spoke to didn't identify it as a Cirque show. There's all kinds of confusion about this, due mostly to the fact that there is an actual Cirque show called "O" which is also water-based, created by the same guy (Franco Dragone), and put on by the same billionaire (Steve Wynn). So: "Le Reve" is not a Cirque show.

But it is still incredibly entertaining.

When The Lovely Mary first got the tickets, I admit I was a little skeptical. Exactly one minute after we entered the theater, I knew I had no reason to be, and frankly when it was over I was amazed. With the exception of the 2004 postseason, I can't think of any other event I've experienced that was more enjoyable, and I'm not afraid to say so. As had been the case a few times with me before (like when I initially hated on "24"), I completely misjudged the quality of a show before having seen it.

This is officially a glowing revue for (the non-Cirque du Soleil show) "Le Reve". If you're there and aren't sure what to see, go see that.

Vegas '06- Part 5- "IN-N-OUT Burger"

There's lots do do in Las Vegas, without a doubt, but every once in a while you see something you just can't resist. As The Lovely Mary and I looked out of our hotel window, we saw such a sight: an IN-N-OUT Burger.

Now there are lots of great restaurants and other places to eat everywhere up and down the strip. Seeing that familiar red sign and big yellow arrow, however, reminded us that we didn't have to break the bank to get some good food. Before you knew it, we were at the website finding directions, and thinking about how long it's been since the last time we got to eat at one (there are none out here on the east coast).

Mmmmmm......double-double, baby, just like we remembered.

Rumsfeld who?

Buh-bye

"It's Patrick in a Romp"

Well, the Deval Patrick victory as Governer of Massachusetts ("It's Patrick in a Romp" -Boston Globe) just goes to show that overly negative smear campaigns like those we are used to seeing from the GOP don't always work. The recent Republican tactic of taking an opponent's strength and making it seem like a weakness (see Kerry/swift boats and McCain/POW time) won't fool voters anymore.

This is a good thing. Now all we have to do is get voters to see past those cleverly conceived short phrases the GOP comes up with like "cut and run" and "stay the course". These phrases are chalk full of implications that people can't deny at face value; of course we want to "support our troops". The intended manipulation is of course to conveniently associate these phrases with political issues to which people would otherwise have to give actual thought.

Imagine that...politicians trying to make people believe something instead of understanding it.

Vegas '06- Part 4- "Programmers in Vegas"

All I gotta say is, it's amazing how quickly things can change around here. When we got here, there were lots of bullriders and fight-lovers, and now, due to a Microsoft conference all week, all we see are techie types, many of which look exactly as their sterotypes depict (sorry, mini-hate there). I'm sure the casinos were happy to see them, too, as they had money to burn and unbeatable systems of gambling to follow (there's a reason casinos make money). Good luck, guys.

Vegas '06- Part 3- "World's Greatest Magic Show"

Last night The Lovely Mary and I went to our first show, modestly titled "The World's Greatest Magic Show", in one of the more remote hotels on (well, sorta on) the strip, the Greek Isles. The theater was small, and the ushers were all shady throwbacks from Vegas days gone by. We bought "preferred" seats which turned out to be chairs at tables we shared with other people. But, for another $20, the grizzled usher could "take care of us" and seat us in a private booth a whole 5 feet closer. Ah, Vegas.

The actual show was amazing, truly, and I happen to love magic shows. (BTW, thx to The Lovely Mary for agreeing to it!) The MC of the event was a comedian/magician named Kozak who was great with the traditional slight of hand and even better handling the crowd. The highlights for me were specifically two illusions. One was when Dan Sperry seemed to rip a bird into two birds (which Bugman and I had seen once on TV and were both amazed), and another was when Kevin James (no, not "The King of Queens") sat out right in the middle of the audience with a young girl volunteer, took a napkin, scrunched it up, then appeared to make it flutter and fly and levitate, etc. In person, this was impressive, believe me. He had another trick, though, that was sort of disturbing, as he pretended to cut a man in half, then had the top half of the man walk around on his hands "magically". This was obviously someone with no legs or lower torso (who I found out later was born that way), and though it didn't make me upset, it didn't really entertain me, either.

Anyway, I got re-excited about illusions and The Lovely Mary even bought me a trick from the Houdini store. As if there wasn't enough magic between us....

Vegas '06- Part 2- "Not for kids"

Today was a day full of walking, eating, and getting The Lovely Mary to spend a dollar here and there trying her luck at video poker. We were also absolutely inundated with those people standing by the sides of the road handing out porno-related ads, constantly slapping them onto each other to make sure you heard them. It definitely seemed to be a requirement of the job and these little porn cards were everywhere.

Don't believe anyone who says Vegas is more family friendly now. Vegas is not for kids.

Vegas '06- Part 1- "Fight Night"

The Lovely Mary has a conference this week in good ol' Las Vegas, and so I took the week off to tag along. We left this morning, and as I looked across the aisle at a woman reading "Slots Today" ($1.95 an issue, I kid you not), I thought of the last time I'd been to the Sin City. What happened in Vegas wasn't the only thing that stayed there; a good amount of my money did too. Though I was temporarily distracted by an in-flight showing of "You, Me and Dupree" (which turned out to be a not so bad movie at all, if not a little long), I eventually got back to thinking about how much fun we were going to have, and how most of it was to not actually involve blackjack tables.

Soon we arrived and got off the plane. Ah, it had been a while. A while since I'd heard that constant drone, that electronic dissonance that was so characteristic of the city into which we'd just arrived. All we could hear was the beeping and chirping of slot machines...and we hadn't been off the plane but five minutes. We were surrounded by flashing lights, huge LCD ads for shows, and lots and lots of tourists (yeah, I know, we are too...but just way cooler).

We jumped in a cab, and once the driver heard where we were staying, the Mandalay Bay, he says something like "Do your parents know you're staying there?", implying at least two things: something potentially scandalous is going on over there and my parents somehow shouldn't know about it. Well, if there was something scandalous over there, they probably shouldn't, but hey...

It turns out tonight is the big Mayweather - Baldomir fight at our hotel. Promo material for this thing was everywhere, from billboards to spotlights to a specially made fight promotion carpet laid out at the entrance. We expected the place to be mobbed...then we find out the hotel is also hosting the Professional Bull Riders World Finals too. Ah, boxing enthusiasts and tons of people in cowboy hats and chaps...together at last.

Well, when all was said and done, the Lovely Mary and I successfully avoided all the hoopla from both events and went to the Shark Reef attraction (which was kickass). We'll find out who won the fight tomorrow.

Sandwich Day

Yes, it's true. There is in fact such a thing as "Sandwich Day", another one of the food holidays, and it is today. The day is the anniversary of the birth of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich who is credited with inventing everyone's favorite two-slices-of-bread-with-something-inside snack. Does this mean Mr. Montagu is indirectly the inventor of Oreo cookies as well?

The new iPods have (finally) arrived

When Apple announced their new iPod Shuffle, I went through the usual phase of "do I buy it now or wait until the next, better thing comes out?". Well, for the first time, I actually acted on my compulsiveness and bought one.

In fact, I bought two (one for The Lovely Mary).

We ordered them back in the beginning of last month, and in spite of Apple's vague shipping date of "sometime in October", they came through and both arrived today. Damn they're small...

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, happy(?) Day of the Dead for all of you in Mexico...

Top Chef

So The Lovely Mary tells me about this National Blog Posting Month thingee and I thought it was a cool idea, so here's my official first post for the month (with not too much time to spare). Now I almost have an excuse for wasting time writing these things...

On to the topic for today:

One of the shows in our current cycle right now is Bravo's culinary reality show, "Top Chef". Last season was decently entertaining, with enough inter-chef drama to keep our attention. There is something to be said for bantor between a sommelier and a short order cook. Oh, there was a bunch of cooking competition too, I think...

Anyway, the second season of this show started this week, and I can already say with certainty that the producers of the show have spared no expense in bringing another diversly eccentric cast of characters to the kitchen. My early favorite for most controversial is Marcel, the young know-it-all with a degree in molecular gastronomy and a Japanimation haircut.

This week's episode brought some other personalities to the forefront. Specifically, Marisa's. My early assessment: she sucks. There was some challenge where the contestants were split up into two teams and had to go to the markets for ingrdients (cooking show, right, I keep forgetting). After checking out, one of Marisa's teammates, Otto, thought that maybe they had gotten some extra something-or-other, and mentioned it in passing. He didn't steal them. All he did was notice that they hadn't been payed for.

Anyway, this Marisa gets more and more twisted into ethical knots as the day goes on, and when one of the judges comes to visit, she not only tells him about the food not payed for, but implies that Otto was the one responsible, causing the judge to cast Otto off to return said items. Later, when standing before the judges, Marisa really throws Otto under the bus, referring to his "act of dishonesty" as a reason the "team is in jeopardy".

Mind you, Marisa knew about the unpaid-for items for as long as Otto did, and Otto was the only one with the wherewithal to even notice. Oh, and the dessert Marisa was in charge of was called a "substandard product" by the judges. But did she go home? Nope. For some inane reason Otto bowed out of the competition, letting Marisa off the hook. Good job, Otto.

In the previews for next week there looked to be a lot of swearing, and maybe even a stabbing with all the knives around...