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"Yankees at the Bat"

Red Sox fans: check out this prose by Peter David.

Ian

IFILM - Television: Jon Stewart's Brutal Exchange with CNN Host

There is nothing I can say to comment on this, except that everything I hear Jon Stewart say I agree with. Check out this appearance on "Crossfire".

IFILM - Television: Jon Stewart's Brutal Exchange with CNN Host

Red Sox fever

I am by no means a sports fan.

I say that with an appreciation and respect for those of you who are. I can understand an interest for something that borderlines obsession. My friends who enjoy sports can recite statistics, place first in their fantasy league, and play armchair quarterback with the best of them.

While I have my many interests, the minutiae of sports has never been one of them. I have to admit that at one time I resented sports and their ability to negatively impact my life. During football season, my friends were no where to be found on Sundays. Baseball interrupted the new television season.

However, that has slowly changed over the years. College opened the door for football, as it was inescapable. I then starting turning to Patriots games while I was in North Carolina for a glimpse of home. One of my friends was a huge sports fans as well as an avid video gamer so he introduced me to the narcotic effect of Madden on the PS2.

Well now I am back and things have definitely changed. I am routinely tuning in to see the Patriots break the consecutive wins record. But maybe the most exciting is seeing the Red Sox come back from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS and force a game 7.

While not being a lifetime sports fan, but being a huge rooter for any underdog, I have been a lifetime fan of the Red Sox. I go into every season believing that the Red Sox will win their pennant and World Series every year.

However, I am not sure if I am cut out for this. First of all, with games averaging about 4 hours this post season (Actually seeing a game just shy of 6 last night), all my spare time has been used up. Projects have been put on the back burner as hours have been spent on the couch. Second, my heart can't take it. I am hanging on every pitch, and as the Sox move closer to the winning the division and advancing to the World Series, I become more steadfast in my belief that they will win. Past experience tells me I should steel myself for a loss, but I can't do it.

So, I give in. While I will never be able to talk stats with the diehards, I am starting to appreciate the excitement of the competition. ESPN will not be programmed as a "favorite channel", but I now can hold my own with office sports chatter. Besides if the Red Sox can win against the Yankees, a team that has every advantage going into this series, doesn't that mean that there is hope for all of us who have had to work hard to achieve what we want out of life? To me there is no better analogy of overcoming adversity today than the Red Sox/Yankees matchup that has been consuming my week.

Now that is what I call reality TV.

Carolina In My Mind

Two years ago I left Wilmington, North Carolina to move a little closer to my family. I spent 2 years in Virginia going to school and then 3 in Wilmington working at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. To be honest, I never anticipated being away from my family that long. Five years is a long time, although looking back it doesn't seem that long. Moving away from Wilmington was bittersweet at best. I became very close with my friends there (many of them had relocated to Wilmington as well). I think that in a sense a surrogate family formed because we were all so far away from home, starting our first jobs out of grad. school. I had already assumed I would never have friends like the ones I made in college, but the people I met in Wilmington are some of my closest friends.

I was the first to leave and that was tough for me. I hated the fact that while I never intended to move so far away from home, it was so difficult to leave this place. My leaving was rough on my friends, too. I think we were all getting restless for a change of scenery. Wilmington is a phenomenal place to live for a young person. It is a small city, located on the ocean with a thriving film industry. However, it seems isolated to someone who grew up in New England with major cities (NY and Boston) nearby along with small communities scattered in between. Basically if what you needed wasn't in Wilmington, then it would be a two hour drive to Raleigh to find it. So after three years there, homesickness was starting to sink in. Every trip home made returning to Wilmington harder. My friends were going through the same thing. It also didn't help that I was getting restless in my job. I loved working there but I was antsy for new responsibilities and a new setting. So when a job presented itself back home, the decision to move was made. However, it wasn't an easy one. I would be the first of my friends to actually do it. If you know me, you know I have a phobia of being left out of any good time, and man we had had some good times.

So why this trip down Melancholy Lane? This Wednesday I am flying to Wilmington for the first time since leaving. My friend Shannon has flown to see me 4 or 5 times since I left and I am past due to visit her. She has very nicely put her foot down and pointed out it is time for me to visit her. While I am so excited to see her and the rest of the wonderful people that I met there, I am anxious, because you really can't go home again. Of our group of friends, only Shannon remains. In a lot of ways I don't want to ruin the sense of nostalgia that I have for the place. However, the chance to see my friends out weighs the trepidation I feel.

So Wilmington, be warned. I am coming back, let the debauchery begin.

Reasons to switch to the Mozilla Firefox browser

Firefox has released the best version of it's browser yet. I am telling you will change how you surf the web. Need reason's why? Check this article out. Ready to make the switch? Click on the button below.



Reasons to switch to the Mozilla Firefox browser

P.S. It is a 4.5 MB download and it is easy to install. Tabbed browsing is the way to go.

VOTE or NOT - $200,000 Sweepstakes

Wanna win $100,000? Just follow the link to find out how. Make sure you follow this link which is coded to me, because if you win, I win and that would make me very happy.

VOTE or NOT - $200,000 Sweepstakes

Summer Mourning

The summer is over and I haven't had a chance to mourn it. Busy helping my students put on their Dane Cook concert, Homecoming weekend, and just the general excitement of a new school year.

Excuse the self-indulgence, but I thought a list of what this summer held for me would be appropriate to record:

• Spending time with my family (especially my sister) at folk festivals (Clearwater and Falcon Ridge). Bands discovered (Eddie from Ohio, Guy Davis, Dar Williams, Sonia, Toshi Reagon, Vance Gilbert, Girlyman)
  
• My entry into Blogging
• Many trips to the beach (but it never seems enough)
• Movies seen in the theatre (Spiderman 2, Dodgeball, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Bourne Supremacy, Garden State) Wow, that is a short list!
• Books read (Dress Your Family in corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris, Reread 3 Harry Potter books) Again I usually average 8 over the summer, too short a list!
• Taking my friends new boat out on the CT. river.
• Camping
• Trip to Cape Cod to see family that wasn't there.
• 2 weeks in RI with my parents, being a total sloth.
• Cancer walk marathon - 2:00 am - 4:00 am shift

All in all a pretty good list, but next year I think I will make a list prior to summer, because in May there was so much I wanted to do, but now I realize that I didn't get it all in.

It was a great summer, but over way too quickly.

A long time ago...

I remember being 7 years old and my dad taking me to see a movie. Back then, he was working as an airplane engine machinist, working second shift. Money back then was tight, so the rare occasions that my parents took us to the movies, it was a drive-in where we were charged by the car and not by the person.

But this was different. It was just me and my dad, and it was a surprise to me. I think we went to Cinema City in Hartford. To be honest the memories blur into the cloudiness of a dream, but I remember the feeling of that day and it is one of a thousand memories since then that makes me value my relationship with my dad.

I don't know why, but this memory has always been a favorite to me. Just two guys going to the movies. (I just did the math and he was 31 at the time. I am older now then he was then.)

The movie was Star Wars and it was released on DVD today. While all Star Wars geeks are getting bashed for obsessing on a movie that is 30 years old, I would like to go on record that for me it has never been about Death Stars and Light Sabres (although they are cool!), but about connecting with my dad for perhaps the first time as his son.

For a more universal view of the movie, check out this entry on We're Taking Bets That...

Yahoo! News - MySpace Basks in R.E.M. 'Sun'

For me there are a few bands that hold revered status in my catalogue. U2 is up there, as well as Peter Gabriel, The Police, Bareneked Ladies. These are the biggies (and I already have a list of new to me bands that will be there soon). However, R.E.M. is the first band I really got into. Do you know what I am talking about? The bands that cause an obsession to have every album. I remember pay days from Baskin Robbins. I would cash that check and buy a missing cd. And then play it, and play it, and play it. I would try to figure out what every little lyric meant.

Well R.E.M. has an album (Around the Sun) being released Oct. 5. Guess what I will be doing that day. I would like to apologize in advance to my co-workers for the cd being on repeat all day.

If you would like to hear their album in advance, check out Myspace.com.

Yahoo! News - MySpace Basks in R.E.M. 'Sun'

Free advertising for blogs :: BlogSnob

I know many of my readers are also bloggers. I just discovered this cool new service to help advertise your site. It is totally free and I think will help increase your traffic. Check it out!

Free advertising for blogs :: BlogSnob

Check It Out: "The World's Shortest Blog"

I think the greatest impact of weblogging is the ability for giving everyone a voice and an audience to rally around that voice. The revolution may not be televised, but it sure will be logged on individual's web sites.

The World's Shortest Blog

The Complaint Dept.

I woke up yesterday morning, tired. Some weeks I just won't let the weekend go, desperately clinging to it by staying up into the wee hours. This weekend was better than most, with a visit from my friend gmad, a trip to the UConn vs. Duke football game, and some of the best weather that reaffirmed my love of falls in New England. So needless to say, I stayed up way too late. I faced Monday and the craziness that this week will be work wise with more than a little trepidation.

To add injury to insult, my back started to throb as I was getting ready Monday morning. It was a weird pain and I couldn't figure out why it was hurting me, because the most strenuous activity I had been involved in was being a little rowdy at the football game. I decided to attribute it to a weird sleeping injury (or, as my mind tends to work, a life threatening ailment) and to suck it up and get to work.

By the time I got to work, I was feeling very uninspired (read: crabby) to be there. I sulked into my office without the normal jovial manner that has come to be normal for me. My boss picked up on it immediately: "What is wrong with you today?"

Delighted with the attention, I told her that my back was killing me. She sympathized and, feeling a little better with the empathy, I went back to my office. Now my curse (or maybe it is a blessing) is that I telegraph every little feeling I am experiencing on my face, so soon everyone was asking if anything was wrong. So I would tell them my back hurt and would relish in the attention that would generate.

"Oh, do you have a heating pad?"
"That has happened to me, not fun!"
"You should be at home!"

And with each of these comments, I felt a sense of pride. Why I should be at home, nursing my back, yet I am here because the students need me! This is homecoming week, no time to rest. If I end up paralyzed or perhaps even dead, at least the week will have been a success! Despite the pain, I was really enjoying putting on a brave face.

During the course of the morning, our new staff person came in to my office to talk about a project she is working on. Now, my coworker is an amateur triathelete, who is known for spending her free time training and being the opposite of a couch potato. Really the opposite of me and my personal philosophy of only running when chased. About a minute into our conversation (just before I was to launch into my back pain diatribe) I noticed a bandage emerging from her shirt sleeve.

"What is that?" I inquired.

"Oh well yesterday I attempted my first 'century ride'. You know a hundred mile bike ride. During the ride, my tire caught an old train track and I went sailing. I have a few scratches on the right side of my body." She then exposed to me the horrific results of her injuries up and down her arm. She said her leg is bad as well. She indicated that she was disappointed that it happened on her 51st mile.

"Oh, because you didn't make the 100 miles?", I asked.

"No, I rode 108 miles. It just made the last 50 uncomfortable."

Our meeting ended, and knowing I had been trumped, I never mentioned my back again for the rest of the day.

Of course, your realize, this means war....

All I can say about this is:

GAME ON!

The Time Travel Fund[tm]

OK, I consider myself a rational, relatively intelligent individual. I read on someone else's blog about this site and I was intrigued. Talk about circular logic. I found myself considering participating just in case the impossible happens and they are legit. Then I came to my senses. Just to prove that the internet gives everyone a voice. It is how they use that voice that I find the most amusing.

The Time Travel Fund[tm]

Yahoo! News - Kevin Smith Clocks in for 'Clerks' Sequel

Well this is the best news I have heard all day. Kevin Smith is returning to the basics. I can't wait for this film.

Ian

Read about it on Kevin Smith's website: NewsAskew



Yahoo! News - Kevin Smith Clocks in for 'Clerks' Sequel

Paying an old debt...

God this summer has gone by fast. I was excited to see my students come back last week, but it was bittersweet as it signals the end of my chance to breathe.

However the fall is looking great, and I am scheduling a trip to visit my friend Shannon in North Carolina in October. This visit is long over due, as she has been up to visit me 5 times since I left NC 2 years ago and this will be my first visit back to see her. As much as I was excited to move back home, leaving Shannon in Wilmington was very difficult. I am really glad we have stayed as close as we are.

Because I am in a Shannon state of mind, I am finally going to relate a story here that I owe her. Shannon, hope you like it. You waited long enough for it.

One morning, in fall of last year I woke up to a scratching at my window. Scratching noises are not that uncommon as at the time I was pretty sure a squirrel had gotten into a crawlspace above my apartment. I would usually hear little feet scrambling back and forth in the crawl space and quickly learned to tune it out.

This morning the sound was different. It was definitely coming from the window just to the right of my head. I have venetian blinds that were closed. I have to admit I was freaked out as I turned the rod to open the blinds. Half expecting to see a floating decapitated head gnawing at the screen to get in, I was relieved to see that it was only the squirrel, clinging to my window screen. The squirrel however, was freaked out. So much so that he took a giant piss on the outside of my window. My window was bombarded with a yellow stream and I think I stood there laughing for quite awhile.

Can't wait to see you!

Ian

Kevin Smith - Jersey Girl and Clerks X

Here is an interview with Kevin Smith about the 10th anniversary of Clerks.

Kevin Smith - Jersey Girl and Clerks X

Hostile Elders - The Evidence

As requested, here are photos to give you an accurate picture of the situation between my neighbor and I. You be the judge.

As you can see in pictures A,B,&C I am (the jeep) very far away from her car. She has chosen to park on the line to ensure that I can't encroach on it.


Picture A


Picture B


Picture C

As you can see in picture D that I am very close to impeding on the walkway. She wants me to move even further away from her car. Madness, I tell you!


Picture D

Garden State

I really love movies. One of the things that I have really gotten out of the habit of since moving back to New England is going to the movies. In North Carolina, I would go multiple times a month. In Massachusetts, I am lucky to go once a month. I chalk up the reason to 4 things:

1. Much less to do in N.C.
2. Have not found anyone who enjoys going to the movies as much as I do (there seem to be always someone willing to see whatever in NC).
3. Movies are freaking expensive around here ($9.25).
4. Although not a huge factor, have seen a run off crappy movies.
   

Well, things are looking up. My new co-worker, her roommate, and 2 others from work went and saw Garden State tonight. Fantastic movie. I highly recommend you go see it this weekend. It is written, directed and stars Zach Braff from Scrubs. I am not a huge follower of that show, but what I have seen, I think is funny. It is well written and well acted. I put it in the ranks of Say Anything, and very few movies get compared to that film by me.

So if you can find Garden State in a theatre near you, go check it out. It is very good. You would be hard pressed to find a better film out there right now.

Zach Braff's Garden State Blog