Author: Sean

The pic is a shot from my personal favorite Super Bowl ad, ax murderer with Bud Light. Honorable mention to Emerald Mixed Nuts with Robert Goulet.
I need to post some more shots and stories of a pretty awesome weekend. I competed on a game show called Cash Cab, took my parents to The Lion King, introduced them to the fiancée’s parents over a really fun brunch, and ate a dozen meatballs during an okay Super Bowl. All these need more details later.

Site of the Day: Until then, check out my friend Andy’s awesome story in the New York Times.

When asked what celebrity I resemble most, I can’t use Brad Pitt, Paul Newman, or even Keifer Sutherland. I have to be honest and say Donal Logue, the excellent lead in The Tao of Steve. He’s also staring in a new sitcom on Wednesdays called The Knights of Prosperity on ABC. I just added it to my DVR list. It’s a good show, quirky, sharp, and not about families. Eff families.
While looking like Donal Logue is no great honor, it beats being compared to Doogie Howser, also known as Neil Patrick Harris. I was compared to him once by an evil English teacher. I’m a dead ringer for anyone with ruddy complexion, doughy cheeks, and small blue eyes. It’s a good face to rob banks with because they would end up arresting Jerry or Donal Logue.

…

Site of the Day: Inspired now to diet, I need to know what 200 calories looks like.

Jerry was in town last night to buy us sushi as always. After we sent him to the hotel, he called and told me to turn on the news. Turns out The Edge (my old favorite bar that I lived above) and the Hells Angels had a ruckus.
Hells Angels Club Raided After Woman is Beaten

That woman must have been nuts. Those guys are the real deal and they routinely beat people.

There are lots of opinions on the Angels. I always thought they we kind of assholes. They were nice to young females in the neighborhood, but generally gruff and glaring to males. I like them as a hold over from the old East Village, but I didn’t mind the nights they didn’t come into The Edge.

We have two new members of our office family, a spotted turtle named Peter (above) and a red-eared slider named Lolita. They are refugees from our Boston office that closed (I love Boston). Ever since I was a little kid, I really dug turtles as pets. I had a slider for a brief stint when I was ten, but he never recovered from pet store shock and refused to eat. One day when I was over at a neighbors my mother made my brother’s release him into the wild. That stung, but now I bury it deep down in the soles of my feet, waiting to emerge someday as lead from a bell tower.
Anyways, we now have two turtles at the office that I am having a lot of fun feeding, watching, and catching salmonella from. I’m still contemplating getting one for the home. The wtb says I can if I can teach it to cuddle with her while I climb mountains. Or maybe I’m allowed to cut holes in the ends of a cardboard box, strap it to a poodle, and call it “Shelly.”

…

Site of the Day: Barbaro is dead–still as capable of reading fan emails as when not dead.

If you’ve been anywhere near the water or the Seaport these past two nights, you must have noticed a whole lot of light. They are filming and escape from New York scene for I Am Legend, a new Will Smith movie. It’s more impressive than my picture shows. I need to work on my nighttime scenery shots. There are some better pics over at Gothamist.
If you have a good camera, this is definitely a once in a long while chance to shoot the Brooklyn or Manhattan Bridges at night. There is a huge spotlight on the latter. The crew also has lit up the buildings (including The Watchtower) on the Brooklyn side of the river. It’s amazing that they can change a whole skyline just for a shot.

UPDATE: 1/26 – They filmed a scene until twelve last night that involved two Blackhawk helicopters swooping up the East River. To do this, the helicopters hover over the lower part of the river, right outside my window, and then on what must be a radio cue, they charge upstream just over the two bridges. It must cost a fortune to set this up, so the director wanted to be sure it looked right and had them do it AGAIN and AGAIN. I felt like I was living near good breakers in Apocolypse Now.

I’m feeling empty of rancor since I ranted against the Patriots yesterday. To put some goodness back in the world, here is a list of 5 Things I Love About Boston and New England:
1.) Fish and chips – Sure the clam chowder is the best, but every bar, restaurant, or even McDonald’s north of New Haven also has really awesome fish and chips. Like NY Pizza or Philly Cheesesteaks, they are a food that could be done right anywhere, but for some reason are only good in a few spots. Boston’s are much better than London’s, btw. Honorable mention: New England also seems to be the origin of boneless buffalo wings, another delicacy.

2.) The Cape – Cape Cod was my home for two summers. So much fun. So much character. Figawi. Too many stories for this post. Harry’s in Hyannis is the best bar, for future reference.

3.) Dunkin Donuts – An eyesore and mom and pop killer in the rest of the country, a staple and source of awesome coffee coffee up north.

4.) The Accent – The New England accent is much less grating than the New York accent. – I love to hear the word “lage’h” as someone orders a pint. New York accents are at first funny, because I used to think that it was a Hollywood creation, but they are indeed real (In fact check out in old movies how many Indians, cowboys, rebel soldiers, Romans, descipels, and various other figures have New York accents). When you move here and hear the real thing, it’s not so melodic. (Now an Altoona accent, that is pure poetry).

5.) My Boston/Cape Peeps – Jer, Care, Will, Mary Beth (& younguns), Steve , Anne, James, K, Hal, Andrea, and others that I am forgetting (but love) in haste.

So there you go. It’s not all negative. Just the bits I write when I’m drunk. At 10AM. Like the gang at Cheers.

…

Site of the Day: Andre the Giant Drinker, vie Metafilter

I’ve had a few thoughts this week, none that warranted an entire blog entry so I bundled them up today.
– I’ve been listening to Harry Belafonte’s Greatest Hits after catching Beetlejuice on TNT, which features two songs by the Caribbean crooner. Really good stuff.

– Based on the theory of the interconnectivity of all things, a bowl of All-Bran every morning can improve your outlook AND Global Warming.

– You know from the age of 13 until about 26, I really liked to smash things if there were no negative consequences and I didn’t really always think about the consequences. I can see why people enlist.

– I’m back on the crossword bug now that I commute. Tommy Maddox was an answer yesterday. If I were him I would frame it as his best accomplishment. Aw, Tommy, we still love you in the ‘Burgh.

– I just realized that Anne Hathaway, the actress (who I only know as someone who is famous for wearing thin clothing for flash pictures, just Google her to see what I mean, NSFW), and Shakespeare’s older wife who was in today’s crossword have the same name. That’s annoying.

– Yesterday, over 1 million people in New York City in response to the frigid temperatures made the joke, “You know, I kinda like Global Warming.” Please do what you can so it is not 1 million and 1 today.

Here’s some Sites of the Day to make up for all that:
– A great Flickr photoset of old NYC storefronts, including two of my favorites, the Subway Inn and Rudy’s.
– I’m secretly into American Idol. I just hate people who sing, so I like seeing people who really think they can sing finding out they can’t. I keep tabs on the show at the American Midol Blog.
– The notorious graffiti tagger “backfat” was arrested and hopefully will go to jail. “Backfat is slang that refers to the rolls of fat caused by an ill-fitting bra, particularly on someone who is overweight.”
– Via Fark, how to drive some who has an HDTV nuts. My fiancée does this.
– And let me be one of many to say, the future of the Steelers looks Grimm. Hee.

Actually, this is me receiving a gift, a very nice one in fact from my girlfriend’s aunt and uncle. It got lost in the shuffle of Christmas, so I got it later when I was in Jersey for playoff football. They sent me a waterproof hiking map of the region that contains the tallest point in Texas, which is perfect for my quest to conquer America’s highpoints. It also helps out with my side goal of using the quest to connect with friends and relatives from that state. Thanks for a great gift!
The thought of gifts leads me to the wtb’s impending birthday. I have no idea what to get her. Using the concept of negative space I am making a list of all the things I know I shouldn’t get her, based on what she has said recently:

turtles
universal remote control
media center computer
cell phone
Steelers charm bracelet
Beerfest on Blu-ray DVD
wii

I’m still clueless, but I’ll probably end up buying something in the corner bodega, either coffee or Bollywood CDs.

…

Site of the Day: Go look at this turtle log and read the last comment.

To the 12-year-old inside of me, that joke never gets old. To my lady friends it has been old since ’93.
…

My fiancée and I had our first football party in the new apt yesterday. Thanks to all who showed up: Ben, Chris, Erik, Hannes, Holly, Lauren, Ngoc, Shawn, and Tyler. Team us did a good job on cleaning the plates and easily knocked down 36 meatballs along with 12 pounds of nacho chips and 472 Silver Bullets.

…

Today’s pic is stolen from Sports Illustrated. I did some sports photography back in the day and SI was always considered the pinnacle of great action shots. They still are and I recommend checking them out on Mondays.

…

Site of the Day: Via MeFi, Happy MLK Day. I am at work.

Traveling Jerry showed up last night. He’s always moving so he tends to be the first member of my family to see new apartments. We downed a lot of stew and wine. I’ve included a shot of the two of us because it always makes Dan laugh to see Jerry so buttoned up and me looking like the bum I am. I’ve got a Travis Bickle thing going these days.

…

Sites of the Day:
– I’d use a pork flavored stamp.
– Airport security guidelines for helper monkeys.