What James Knows

Tags: Road trip

The road trip is upon us. This time tomorrow I’ll be on the road driving south towards Georgia. No, I don’t have a soul to steal, nor do I have a fiddle to play. Monica and I will be alternating as drivers so I’m hoping it will be an easy commute. I’m bringing my laptop and camera along with me, so expect plenty of updates. Twitter will be the best bet to find out where I am and what I’m doing over the next week, but I’m going to try to update BrightKite as well as the blog as we make our way down and back. Who knows? I might even make a couple of vlogs too! Excitement!

I think I need a handkerchief to tie around my head and then rock some “Born to Be Wild” as our trip begins.

Tags: Road trip

I took my car to the shop today. I needed an oil change and it was making a funny noise, so I wanted it checked out. As a result, Monica and I carpooled. After I picked her up from work, we stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond to look at beach towels. My Beavis & Butthead towel that I’ve had for like 10 years is apparently no longer socially acceptable to take with me on vacation. The selection at the store was minimal, but all the towels cost at least $20. Really? Twenty bucks for a towel? We felt a little dejected and figured we’d try elsewhere. Here’s part of the conversation we had on the car ride out: Continue Reading »

Tags: Hannah Montana

Last weekend Monica and I did some driving around a few counties in New York. We left Westchester and went up through Rockland and into Orange to visit my parents and then over to Ulster to see hers. Sunday night we went through Dutchess and down to Rockland again to see the Neon Gloworms play in Nyack. It was a show put together by Rockland World Radio in a small theatre, so it was like an intimate performance that had actual seats. The band played in front of a projection screen which was playing various scenes from Fantasia. I recorded every song the band played too.

This one is a new song and I think it’s become my favorite. I just like how it flows. Continue Reading »

Tags: Neon Gloworms

So on the way home from a graduation party for the son of one of Monica’s co-workers, something I ate during the day started disagreeing with me. My stomach got all rumbly and gurgling. Then I got gassy. It happens. Monica was driving and these farts were coming out in a very silent but deadly fashion. Monica rolled down the windows but was still disgusted by it. Then she said something which reminded me again of why I love her so much.

“This is probably what they used to kill the Jews in the Holocaust.”

That’s right. My fiancee compared my passed gas to the gas used to slaughter 6 million Jews during World War II. That’s my girl.

Tags: Farts

My plan to sell off my single issue comic book collection is now underway. Last week I tossed up the first of many ebay auctions for a batch of Marvel Civil War comics. The 40 comics sold for $76, which is way more than I thought they’d go for. As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, my goal is to make enough money to re-buy the issues as trade paperbacks. I understand that I’m going to take a loss on the initial sale, but this way I’ll get rid of the comics that I’ll never read again and basically trade in the other issues for graphic novels that I’ll actually read and will be readily available on my book shelf.

I put up three more lots this week. (Green Lantern, Batman: War Games, and Y: The Last Man). I think that the Green Lantern one will sell for big. I hope so at least because it’s 53 issues. Y will probably go for an OK amount, but I don’t know if Batman will sell because even though it’s about 30 issues, the storyline included wasn’t that popular. We’ll see though. I’ve still got a few days before it ends.

I thought about putting up more, but with all the stuff going on with the move and our road trip it’s going to be a pain in the ass to get all these together and ship them. I’m going to stick to about three each week and take it from there. That way I’m not overwhelmed with shipping and whatnot. I’ll have to move some of the comics with me to the new apartment, but that’ll be OK. At least by that time they’ll take up a little less space.

Tags: Comics, ebay

So we got our lease for the new apartment. I was ready to sign off on it as it looked exactly the same as the lease I signed three years ago with Anthony in the current apartment. Monica wasn’t so quick though (even though her name isn’t on the lease). She went through the lease with a fine tooth comb and made several notes of things to ask the landlord. These were addressed in a conference call. I shit you not. I called the landlord and then conferenced Monica in.

All of the questions were answered. The biggest one being the part where it says that by signing the lease we accept the apartment as is. Since we actually stopped by the apartment the day we got the lease, we knew that wasn’t going to happen as the place is still in shambles. Continue Reading »

Tags: Apartment

I’ve had a longstanding fascination with Speed Racer dating back years, but something always bothered me about it. Regardless of this, I was excited when I heard about the film adaptation of the kooky Anime series from the 1960s. I mean, what could go wrong? It was being handled by the guys that did The Matrix and it’s Speed F-ing Racer! Go Speed Go!

Then the movie came out and tanked and despite my childlike urging, I couldn’t get Monica to come see it with me. She kept saying something about having a seizure while watching the trailer. So needless to say, she didn’t watch this with me when I finally got the DVD. After a viewing though, I can see why it failed in the theaters. It just didn’t translate well. Remember back in 2003 when Ang Lee’s Hulk came out and everyone hated it even though it was basically a comic book on screen? Speed Racer suffers from the exact same problem. If you’ve ever watched the cartoon, you’ll see how the movie is actually a rather faithful and stunning adaptation. I mean, the Anime series was fucking crazy. None of that made any sense with all the car jumping and monkeys in the trunk and super giant cars, so what did everyone expect when they made a movie that had all of that PLUS Matthew Fox in a leather dominatrix outfit? Continue Reading »

Tags: DVD, Review, Speed Racer

Hey Borders,

Oh, I’m good. Thanks. No, I don’t need any more coupons. Actually that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. See, I signed up for your Borders Rewards program over a year ago because it was free and the cashier asked me about it. Since then though you’ve bombarded my email with tons and tons of coupons and “special reminders” about crap I’m never going to use. Here’s the thing though. I don’t even have a Borders nearby. I’d have to drive like a half hour to get to one. So even if you had some super duper awesome coupon that I’d totally use, I wouldn’t because I’d have to drive completely out of my way to get to one. Why can’t you just give me coupons for Barnes & Noble? I’ve got like 3 of those nearby.

Continue Reading »

I was on my way home from work the other day and got stuck at a stop light. It was then that I noticed a peculiar bumper sticker on the white pickup truck in front of me. Fortunately I bring my camera with me everywhere now for just such an occasion. Check this out:

Yeah, there’s a bumper sticker on this white pickup truck that says Shadowfax. For the non-nerds out there, Shadowfax was Gandalf’s horse in The Lord of the Rings. The only reason I know that is because of that stupid Flixster movie trivia quiz. Still, it was an odd sight.

Run White Pickup Truck! Show us the meaning of haste!

Tags: Shadowfax