We had a room with two beds while we were in Maryland. This was because the rooms with one bed were either all taken or smoking rooms. We obviously can only use one bed at a time. On our first night there, Monica is laying in bed #1, turns to me and says with a giddy look on her face “Do you want to sleep in this bed tonight and the other one tomorrow?”
I love this girl. We’re getting married in less than three months.
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I apparently had nothing to do this past weekend so I went to Maryland. Just like that. Well, not really. I planned it ahead of time. Joe Ripple was holding open auditions for his upcoming film Jebediah. Stewie was going to be there along with a few other people from the HorrorTalk board and I was really interested in seeing the whole process at work so Monica and I trekked down to the Baltimore area on Friday night. On the way down, my check engine light came on again. (More on this later in a separate blog post.)
We got in late on Friday and crashed. Auditions started up at 9 the next morning. Monica went to try out the gym while I met Stewie and a few new faces (to me at least) downstairs. Joe, whom I’ve only spoken to online and on the phone once, walked by as I said Hello. Stewie said “Hey Joe, do you know who that is?” Joe turned back and said “I know who you are” and gave me a hug. It was sweet…and a little creepy. This would become the theme for the rest of the weekend. Fun!
Joe also asked me to read for a part which I politely declined to do (although he asked a few more times). I told him that I’m interested in coming down to see a day or two of shooting but our schedule is going to be too hectic in September when he’s planning to being production. We’ll have a month before the wedding and I’ll be crazy trying to keep Monica from losing her mind.
I’ve never seen open auditions before. This was an interesting process. People filled out their release form and then picked out a character to read for. Then they waited on line to be called in to a room with Joe, a couple of the actors that have already been cast, and a few other local directors to read. This went on all day. Stewie and I BS’ed throughout the day while we helped out. It was actually pretty cool.
We went out to Chili’s for dinner and I got to chat up Zig from HT for a bit about video stuff. I got some pointers on music videos that I will have to put to good use in the coming weeks for a project I’m working on for the Neon Gloworms.
The next day was more of the same but I made sure to get some pictures.
Monica and I ended up leaving around 3 or 4 to head home. We drove right through a crazy big storm. I’m really glad that we went down there even if we just hung out for a couple days. It’s stuff like this that reminds me that I have great friends that just live too far away. If only I could wrangle up all these people and keep them in a large prison like building and force them to hang out with me all the time. Then life would be so grand.
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About a month ago I officially cut the cord. I received a notice from Cablevision telling me that my Triple Play deal (Phone, Cable, and Internet for $100 a month) was coming to an end. I wasted no time and called Cablevision to cancel my phone and cable. I had no real use for them anymore. We held on to the phone because we sent out wedding invites with our number on them. Absolutely no one called us so we didn’t see a need to hold on to the service. Plus we barely watch TV especially now that LOST is over.
My call was quickly answered and the guy on the other end tried to convince me to keep the services. He offered to extend the Triple Play deal which was tempting but I’d still be dropping an extra $50 for services I wasn’t using. He asked what I would be doing for cable, even basic. I explained that I purchased a digital antenna so I get the basic channels for free and I’ve hooked up a computer to my Television to watch things like Hulu and YouTube whenever I want. He didn’t have much of an answer to that. When asked about phone service, I pointed out that both myself and my fiancee had cell phones. The cable guy asked what I would do if the network went down. I told him if I needed to get in touch with anyone I would email them because I’d still have Internet service.
So with that, my service was turned off. My $100 bill was now half that. Despite what they said on their site, the Internet service isn’t $30 a month. That offer is only available for new customers even though they were ready to offer me the Triple Play deal and free HBO.
Fast forward to last week. I’ve now been without phone or cable for about 4 weeks and I haven’t noticed a change in my day-to-day activities. Friday afternoon I get a call from Cablevision. The woman on the line asks me what I’m doing for phone and cable. I explain my situation just like I did when I canceled the service. She allegedly didn’t know what Hulu was or that you can watch complete episodes of TV shows online for free whenever you want. I suggested she check it out. I also pointed out that I canceled the service less than a month ago and she had no real reply to that so the call was ended. Is Cablevision that unorganized that they’re calling me so quick after canceling? Or is this how their sales team works?
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I got into an argument of sorts on Twitter with a friend from college. The topic of the debate was remakes, specifically the announcement that Hollywood is planning a remake of Gremlins. I am of the opinion that it doesn’t matter what movies get remade or what sequels to classics get pushed out of the studios. Hollywood is going to keep making these movies because they make money. It’s a fact. What I don’t understand are the reactions from people that seem personally offended that one of their favorite films is being remade. Why is this? Why do you care?
The fact of the matter is that despite a film being remade, it won’t in any way shape or form change your opinion of the original. It’s not as if when a remake comes out they destroy all copies of the original and erase the memories of the original from the minds of everyone that’s seen it. It still exists as its own movie just as the remake will exist. That doesn’t change the slew of anger-filled tweets and Facebook statuses that pop up whenever a new remake is announced though. Let’s remake everything. If it ever turned a profit, it should be remade now. Let’s remake Casablanca starring Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus directed by Brett Ratner. Make a sequel to Citizen Kane featuring his long lost son played by Andy Samberg. Who cares? The originals will still be held in such high regard. Plus when people find out it’s a remake or a sequel, they might be interested in seeing the original, thus opening them up to these classics that you love.
While on the topic of remakes, I’ve also heard people spout off about how there’s never been a good remake. That’s bullshit. John Carpenter’s The Thing? Remake. The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart? That was the 4th time they made that movie. Ocean’s Eleven? The original starred Frank Sinatra!
Bottom line is, does anyone really care? Hollywood is going to keep pumping these movies out because they make money. The moment a remake doesn’t make money, they’ll rethink their current strategy. If it’s a remake of a film that you cherish and you’re offended at the very idea that Hollywood would reimagine it, then don’t see it. You have that power. Use it.
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As you may know, I have quite a few DVDs to watch. I buy rather than rent and as a result a lot of the DVDs I pick up contain content that I’ve never seen before. These blind buys are put to the side on a separate shelf for me to check out at a later date. I’ve been slowly working through them as it takes a helluva lot longer to watch each DVD than it does to buy them.
To make matters easier, I decided to put all the movies I haven’t yet watched into a list on Google Docs. Instead of combing through the shelf thinking about what I feel like watching, I open up this list and Random.Org and have it pick out a movie for me. So far I’ve knocked about a dozen or so films off this list. It’s sizable and there’s still quite a bit to go but I feel more organized now.
Please note, this list doesn’t include the TV series that I haven’t watched yet. Those represent an entire other shelf but they take a lot longer to get through than the movies.
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From time to time, Monica talks in her sleep. She rarely remembers it when I tell her about it in the morning, but it happens. She’s asked me to try to write some of these down so what better place to do it than here?
Just the other night, Monica got to bed before me. I stayed up and played Uncharted 2
That’s my girl.
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If you’re anywhere near as big as of a nerd as I am, you’re no doubt aware that Wonder Woman got a new costume this week as her comic finally hit 600 issues. The same month saw Batman and Superman reach the 700 issue mark. The reaction has caused a sudden surge in Nerd Rage all over the Internet. I don’t understand this at all.
First of all, these are comic books we’re dealing with. Costumes change for characters all the time. It’s a stunt to sell more issues and keep people talking. It’s happened with Spider-Man at least half a dozen times (Black costume, Iron Spider, That weird metal costume from the ’90s that lasted a single issue, the Scarlet Spider, I could go on), not to mention Superman (do I really have to bring up Electric Blue?) and tons of others. People talk about it for a little while and then after a few months everything goes back to normal because nerds hate change. This will probably happen to Wonder Woman as well. They’ve even thrown out the buzz words like “bold new direction” and “never be the same” which are always surefire signs that nothing will actually make a difference.
Aside from that, I don’t know what people are talking so much about this anyway. No one actually cares about Wonder Woman to begin with. Despite the fact that she’s one of the Holy Trinity at DC along with Batman and Superman, she’s relegated to the back seat. If the Big Three were the daughters of the Brady family, Wonder Woman would be Jan. Her comic has been canceled a bunch of times because readers stopped buying it. They only got to 600 issues after adding up all of the previous volumes of the comic to get there. Did they have to do that with Batman and Superman? Nope!
Yes, Wonder Woman had that TV show with Lynda Carter
So bottom line: Shut Up. Nerds freak out over change when everyone knows that the comic companies will just go back to the status quo within a few issues anyway because they want your money. Giving Wonder Woman pants is not going to destroy the character or ruin your life. They’re pants. Here’s a newsflash for you: Women have been wearing pants for decades. They don’t actually wear giant star covered panties. Deal with it.
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I work in advertising, specifically buying it online. Yes, when you see ads on some website there is a chance that I bought that ad on behalf of a client in an effort to reach you to get you to buy their product. Don’t hate me. As with most industries, there are conferences and panel discussions and other events where people with similar or fancier job titles get together and talk about where the business is and what they think or hope it will become in the future. I’ve been to a few of these in the past, mostly from the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) which I thought were all pretty interesting and fulfilling, not to mention that there was always food. Some colleagues and I were invited to the Digital Publishing & Advertising Conference today in NYC by a company that we want to do business with. Full disclosure: The invitations allowed us to attend the event free of charge, bypassing the $700 fee.
The agenda for this event was heavy. There were quite a few presentations and discussions going on with little time in between. I thought this was fine as it would keep things moving and hopefully keep me interested. Unfortunately things were running a bit late right when we got there a little after 8 AM. There was some discussion going on when we arrived but there were no seats available. We looked around but didn’t see any so we stood awkwardly and ate the mini-muffins and/or bagels that were provided while trying to stay out of people’s way as they walked in and out of the theater. It wasn’t until 8:45 when the keynote started and the speaker said something about how she was pleased to see all the people on the balcony and mezzanine levels that we found out there were more seats. There was no indication that there were more levels or if there were seats up there despite employees of the conference walking around.
After we found a place to sit we went through a few panels. I quickly found that although the conference was for digital publishing and advertising, it was clearly more about the publishing side of things. As a result I wasn’t as into the content as I could have been since I work on the advertising end of things. There was a break around 11 where we could have split into different areas. There was a brunch upstairs with another presentation so we made our way up to check that out. Unfortunately for us, we were sent away because it was a limited engagement. We literally waited on line and got right up to where the food was and were turned away. Ouch.
So we made our way downstairs and asked about other food. Here’s the part that confuses and frustrates me. Apparently lunch wasn’t included in this engagement. Or rather, it was if you paid for it to the tune of $90. As I mentioned above, we received comp passes to the event and I’m not saying that I deserve lunch or anything all high and mighty. I’m confused because we were invited to the event which had a very packed schedule (the amount of time allotted for people to pick up the $90 boxed lunch was 10 minutes) and there was a panel entitled “Lunch N Learn.” So now we’re basically forced to leave the conference we were invited to in order to go get food, thus missing various panels and discussions. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if there was an actual lunch break of at least a half hour which would allow for one to run out and pick something up. The event just plowed right through lunch and wasn’t looking back. This just boggled my mind.
I shared my thoughts on Twitter which was met with some harsh words from other attendees. I know that my own tweet was harsh but the whole point of conferences like this is to get a bunch of people together and talk in a comfortable environment. The food situation removed the comfortable part of that scenario for me.
In addition to the food issues, the booth set up was squished with the vendors pushing into the already limited walking space so things were pretty tight. This whole event felt amateurish and was a completely different experience than what I’ve seen during the other conferences and panel discussions that I’ve been to in the past. If anything it makes me appreciate those other events more as they show how organized and well-done they are compared to this one.
Also, when we went outside to find a place to eat we saw Neil Patrick Harris walk by. That and the chili cheeseburger I ate almost made up for the whole day.
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I’m a picky eater. I don’t eat fruit or vegetables. I know what I like and I stick to it with few exceptions. One of the quintessential meals in my tastes is pizza. I also like meat (no homo). So when my boss asks me if I want pizza and we get something like this…
I’m a happy camper. This is the Meat Pie. It has ham, pepperoni, bacon, sausage, and meatballs and it’s delicious. I think if you showed this to a PETA person they’d just faint. If the Tyrannosaurus Rex was alive today, this is the kind of pizza it would eat. RAWR!
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I work in advertising and I’ll admit that sometimes it has its perks. Last week I got another of them in the form of tickets to a Yankee game. I went with a rep from a site we worth with as well as a couple co-workers. It was my first Yankee game and my first visit to the new stadium. I’ve only ever been to two baseball games before and both of them were at Shea Stadium. The tickets to both of them were free as well.
I met up with our rep, Jason and co-workers Steve and Eddie at the stadium. It just so happened that at least three other co-workers were at the game. It was a day game too. I forgot to mention that. With the new station at the stadium I was there in twenty minutes by train. Very convenient.
I contemplated what to wear to the game. I had worked from home in the morning and it was supposed to be hot. I ended up going with a t-shirt and jeans thinking that shorts were too casual. Sure enough I show up and Steve and Eddie are both in shorts. Fortunately for me our seats (which were awesome) were in the shade provided by the level above us.
The game was entertaining despite the fact that I got lost quite a few times. Stuff happens in baseball that I just don’t understand sometimes. The crowd would suddenly start cheering and I would have no idea why. Our view of the scoreboard was blocked by the level above us so I couldn’t see some of the stats that were displayed there. Also, I can see why people say that baseball is boring. If I were watching a game on TV I would be bored as hell. Between pitches the stadium tries to keep the crowd pumped by constantly asking them to make some noise or playing a variety of snippets from songs.
The food was also amazing. Yes, I had some Cracker Jack but I also had a cheese steak which was pretty damn good. I didn’t have a hot dog, but I got over that pretty quickly. One thing that I thought was a little annoying was that we had to show our tickets to an usher every time we went to sit down. So if I got up to go to the bathroom I had to whip out my ticket in order to get down to my seats even if I just walked by the guy. I guess it’s to prevent people from buying the cheap seats and then making their way down to the more expensive areas. I don’t see why this is the case though because there were a ton of empty seats all over the place. Let the people move down!
There were also a group of annoying European guys that sat in the row in front of us. You can see one of their greasy slicked back haircuts in the bottom right hand corner of the picture above. This guy was filming the game for long periods of time and was pretty blatant about it despite video cameras being prohibited at the stadium. Towards the end of the game one of the ushers asked him to put the camera away and he flipped out on him, cursing him in some foreign language and claiming that he was only taking pictures. Dude, you were caught. Just deal with it. At least he didn’t throw you out. Of course, right after the usher left he took the camera out again.
I was the only one in our group to stay until the end of the game. I can understand people wanting to avoid traffic but if you come to a baseball game, stay until the end! You don’t even know who won if you leave two innings before it’s over. All in all, I had a great time. I checked my BlackBerry quite a few times during the game but there were no urgent matters that I couldn’t take care of through that device. Now to wait until I get more free tickets so I can go again.
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