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funny stories/links:

Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader? 

Empire State Building Lightning

Dream Job

* bosox hit 4 homers in a row

* warriors take game one against the mavs

i think watching the bosox hit 4 in a row seems more unbelievable. i’m sure i’ll see another warriors upset, but i dont know if i’ll see 4 homers in a row ever again. it was insane! plus it was against the yanks which makes it even more sweet! definitely a weird day in sports!

1) life is short, and everyday is a gift.

2) america has compassion for americans, but no one else. (two days after the shooting, 130+ died in a bombing in bagdhad, that’s 4x the carnage, and it barely got a mention on CNN) a human life is a human life is a human life. why is it so easy for us to dismiss death when its not american? i’m guilty of it too, and i’m not judging anyone, i just want to know, what it is about our society that makes us have compassion for some and not others. is it learned? is it instinctual?

3) web 2.0 has changed the way we interact with one another. email, facebook, and IM were the quickest way for people to get information about loved ones. some people even found out that their friends died because they saw memorials set up in myspace. information is passed in real-time now, and to be honest, i’m a bit fascinated by how much web 2.0 technology is changing how we deal with grief. i came across this feature on cnn, that allows freinds/family to submit messages and prayers about the fallen victims.

4) the news media exploits EVERY angle it can, to make the killer seem LESS american. because its easier to hate someone that’s not american than it is to hate one of our own. a lot of people have talked about how they’re playing up his asian immigrant status, but i think they woudl’ve done this regardless of where he immigrated from. again, the media is simply exploiting the most non-american parts about him.

5) the FCC is hyprocritical. they go crazy when janet jackson’s boob is shown accidentally for less than a second, but they deem it appropriate and less offensive to show a mentally deranged kid pointing a gun at the camera with videos spewing hate speech and again, more GUNS pointed stright at the cameras into our living rooms. and they dont just show it once, i watched tv for like 10 mins, and i must’ve seen the video footage at least 7 times. and any newspaper or CNN ran a picture of the kid with the guns. to me, these images are WAY more unsettling and offensive than a nano-second flash of a wayward breast. give me a break. it’s no wonder kids have such messed up notions of self image, and have so many violence/anger issues nowadays.

6) there’s no way the head of the college coudl’ve predicted this would’ve happened, and i know everyone will be quick to jump on him and the police. but that’s why these are tragedies. could things have been done differently? yes! but hindsight always gives us the chance to pass blame. same thing could be said about ANY tragedy. of course it could’ve been avoided if we knew then what we know now. and personally, i think its unfair to lay all the blame on the school and the president, when the blame SHOULD FALL solely on the effin’ guy that shot everyone.

i watched a couple of dvds this weekend, and i came to the following conclusion:

watching ashton kutcher act in The Guardian was painful, UNTIL i watched zach braff act in Last Kiss.  Maybe i was just cranky when i watched the movies,  and the movies themselves weren’t that bad, but jeeez, watching these two guys “act” is a chore!

[cartoon credit: http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=15458]

ISSUES THURSDAY…

(1) Pelosi Goes to Syria – Seriously, are we still in 5th grade? Do we need to call our peer counselors? Bush claims that Syria supports and funds terrorist groups and should be isolated from the global community. Honestly, does that really work? If Syria is indeed funding anti-US terrorist, would Syria really care if the US didn’t talk to them? I commend Pelosi for getting in the face of our supposed enemy, and talking to them directly. If you have beef with someone, doesn’t the most effective and most mature course of action involve talking to that person directly, rather than pretending they don’t exist and getting all your friends to stop talking to them too. this isn’t Mean Girls, this is our effed up real world.

(2) No More Sunsets

This former meth addict recently passed away.  He created a 30 minute documentary chronicling his death, and how it effected his family.  I have mixed feelings about this.  Some people are applauding him, and saying its great that he did this, it was very strong of him, etc etc.  Other people are saying, wtf!? he got what he deserved, he’s a drug addict.

Now as a fellow human being, my first instinct is to have compassion for him and his family.   A life lost is a life lost.  However, is he a role model?  I guess I’m having a hard time deciding whether or not to admire someone for making the most of his tragic life, of if I should say, forget that, he ruined his own life, and yes its sad that he passed away, but that’s the bed he made for himself.

DISCUSS!

this is an outtake from the Vanity Fair cover shoot, im sure most of you have heard of KNUT by now, but if not, he is the orphan polar bear who was rejected by his own mum. who knew polar bears actually laid down like a rug!?

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for all you foodies, here’s a great article – which i found on digg – 10 things your restaurant won’t tell you

that’s it for now, i had something more interesting to blog about, but i totally forgot what it was…. if i remember, i’ll post an update.

happy hump day.

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*UPDATE* – Boston Legal, which I’ve long touted as one of the best shows on TV, came back with a vengance last night with one of its best episodes where they seamlessly tied in vintage footage of Denny Crane.  It could’ve easily come off as gimmicky and cheesy, but in true Boston Legal form, it was executed with pure brilliance and the perfect amount of sentimentalism [is that a word?] and humor.

*update – interesting factoids about their lead singer, Daniel Johns:

:: suffered from [m]anorexia, REALLY? who’d a thunk that actually exists?!
:: he’s married to natalie imbruglia, yeah, remember her?!

asia stopped thru nyc last weekend. it was great to hang out. i think its been over a year since we last saw each other. we grabbed burgers at BLT Burger, walked all over the west side, saw pizza and “fudge” on a car, and watched 300. asia’s colleague joined us for the first part of the day, but had to go before we watched the movie. i took asia to two of my favorite shopping haunts in nyc – scoop and steven alan. oh yeah, how could i forget… when we were at scoop, some dude was trying on shoes, and he had no socks, and a HUGE flesh-eating bloody gash on his foot…

shop clerk: wait, let me get you some socks
douche: no, its okay, its fine, it doesn’t hurt, i don’t need them
shop clerk: no, wait, REALLY, let me get you some socks

[ i took the liberty of paraphrasing because i can't really remember what was said, but it was disgusting, and the most entertaining thing, well 2nd most entertaining thing i saw that day ]

BLT Burger did not disappoint, and the sweet potato fries were probably the best sweet potato fries i’ve eaten in this city, and for some reason, i’ve eaten them at A LOT of places.

300 was awesome. the story and dialogue was a bit lame. and i couldn’t help but think it was a total gladiator/troy/alexander rip-off, BUT the cinematography and Computer aided graphics were fun to watch. the random persian “monsters” reminded me of my favorite kids game – crossbows and catapults. did anyone else ever play that? both players have the same number of blocks and you built a wall around your castle tower. then each player takes turns shooting discs at the wall, trying to knock the tower down. the game came with a crossbow and catapult to shoot the discs, but these were boring. the fun came with the additional characters you could buy, and they included all these monster characters that would catapult the discs. hard to explain, but if u’ve played the game, you know what im talking about. see, this is why i probably don’t blog, all i do is ramble about something that sounds funny in my head, but when actually put down on “paper”, it seems pointless and nonsensical.

keeping in theme with 300, asia sent me this link for the “300 workout“. i’m on a huge health kick right now, so i’m going to try to tailor the “300 workout” to something that’s realistic for me. by the summer, target weight – 165.

*Update, here’s another practical tale of some fitness guru who tried out the 300 workout