...the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. -Ted Stevens former US Senator (R-Alaska)
Do you love Sixpoint Craft Ales? Yes you do. Well now you can not only follow them on twitter you can be their on the facebook. www.facebook.com/SixpointCraftAles
Over the years I have realized many things. I will never be truly 5'7", even though I tell people I am. I will never date Winnie from the wonder years. I will never discuss my theroy that Large Hadron Collider actually alters time itself(a watched pot never bowls) with Stephen Hawking (oh don't worry I'll blog about it). I have learned to accept the spoonfuls of rehash bs that rolls out of Hollywood; including, but not limited to: that Death at a Funeral will still do well at the box office even with a cast member from the original(2 years ago); that somehow the new Star Trek is a really good movie; that Ghostbuster 3 will actually come out and I will see it. But at some point I can't keep eating the rehash crap and yesterday I found this... That's right according to some blogs Shia La"I'm in so many box office rehashes"beouf is to be Marty. I am going to need 1.21 gigawatts to shock that image out of my head. There is nothing on IMDB or Wiki so it simple can't be true, yet. But if it is I will totally freak out. Please Hollywood, leave this one alone. I know your going the way of the Broadway, which is to remake or repeat everything without any new ideas, but this movie is to good to redo. And Hollywood, let's face it, you make tons of movies a year and only 1% of them are any good.
This Sunday Amy and I took a spin around Brooklyn. We began our adventure in Prospect Park where we randomly saw a good friend, Brooke, who was hanging with a 'Meet Up' group called NYC Cycling & Food. NYC Cycling & Food has people meet up and ride to some sort of food destination. It's like one of the most brilliant thing ever. "Biking and Eating really can't be beat". Amy and I decided to ride with Brooke and group for a bit, but we got distracted and ended up loosing Brooke and the group when we got stuck at a red light. We could of just said: "oh well, we can't find them" and road somewhere else, but Amy & I decided to try and race to catch up to them. We booked it from 5th Ave to 3rd Ave and with luck we saw the group turn a corner towards Smith St. Amy & I bolted after the group and caught up with them just as they arrived at their destination, a Vietnamese place off Smith St. We felt pretty awesome for catching up with the group after loosing them. We said adieu to Brooke and chose our next leg of the day. Amy suggested we head to the Brooklyn Bridge and we were off... We took Smith St. up through part of downtown Brooklyn. If you haven't taken the bridge before on a bike it can be confusing. The entrance to the bridge is at the center of an intersection and there are a lot of wandering pedestrians(tourist) that you have to look out for. It's not exactly a ride with a steady pace, but if you haven't done it, you should really try it. As you get to the first pillar the lines of the suspension cables create interesting designs that eventually cause you to focus on the two arches within the pillar and the American Flag, swaying in the wind, atop the great structure. It is truly breath taking. The bridge was completed in 1883 and is the most badass bridge ever!Amy and I stopped to do some photos from the bridge. Here's Amy showing off her old bike that she plans on selling for a new street bike. (ask Amy if you interested in buying) After the Brooklyn Bridge we headed back to my place for some well deserved peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. We also drank a ton of water. All in all a great day. I believe that we clocked in a little under 9 miles together, but I think Amy with her meeting me at the park and returning home, clocked in 13 miles. Keep riding and remember to Go Like A Fox!
Have you ever wanted to give people shock therapy in your office? Wanted to stop those pesky people that steel crap off your desk. Well then these products are for you... Is that the same guy on all the packages getting buzzed? Think he'd learn. You can get these things on amazon.com if you so choose.
In September of 2004 punk rock gods, Green Day, released what I consider to be one of the best albums ever, American Idiot. For months (years), I listen to the album over and over again. I craved the drum beats, guitar riffs, and recited the lyrics like scripture. Just the other day I played the whole album twice while training for the 5-Boro bike ride. It simple to say that I haven't gotten tired of the boys of Green Day and in some ways I believe they can do no wrong. Except, yesterday I saw something very odd on the Television; An ad came on for a Broadway Musical called "America Idiot"; Just the title made me spit out my coffee. When I heard a singer belt out in perfect Broadway unmodulated pitch, "don't want to be an American Idiot", I yelled at the TV, "you bastard". Other parts of the commercial could have been good, but things like overdone harmonies from female vocals just made me blind with anger. The rest of the day I was stuck pondering "what the hell is going on. Is this the post punk political revolution. Has the political unrest become the norm after just a year? Do all great artist just give in to big spenders of Broadway?" I calmed down after a few hours and thought of other musicals that have really struck a chord with my bitter anti-pop heart. Hedwig, Tommy, Spring Awakening, Rocky Horror are all just amazing. What makes them so amazing is the the mad geniuses behind them, as well as the music's original intent. If someone was just crazy enough to make a new form of communication for this punk political album, then it would be brilliant. Apparently Green Day has been very involved in conception and a well know director, Michael Mayer, has taken on this madness. Mr. Mayer did such great shows like Spring Awakening (listed above before I knew Mayer's was involved) and 'night Mother. It will be super hard for Mr. Mayer to ride that line between rock and clean cut wholesome Broadway. The folks of Green Day aren't dumb. They must be at least okay to be so involved, right? I want this to be good for so many reasons, one of which is to not destroy something that was so meaningful and respected. As an artist having a new mode to communicate is very important. It is very hard to reach an audience through all the noise out there. I myself have been told my vocals have a "musical theatreness" even when I think I am punk rocking out. One can only hope for the best. If you hit the shows site, check out 21 gun. The violins and added female vocals sounds pretty cool. The show opens at the end of April and the previews start at end of March. Hopefully reviews will post something like: "If there was ever a way to recreate art, so that other people could feel it, than it would be called America Idiot, the new Broadway." The Trailer (Post what you think)...
The other day at he Kennedy Space center, one of NASA's Atlas V rocket did something quite amazing. Once the rocket hit super sonic speed a visual shock wave was seen in the sky. It may not seem like that much, but every science nerd should see this... (go to 1:50 for the wave; start at 0 to just see almighty power of NASA)
Free Screening of two Campy Flicks starring Michael J. Fox at Pacific Standard, February 28th and March 28th. Snacks and bake goods for purchase with all proceeds going to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Why is there a Ghostbusters III? And why is Bill Murray already saying he is a ghost in it, via mailonsunday.co.uk. Damn them! Now I have to find 12 bucks by 2012! Hope it will be better than these stupid Ghostbuster Minimates...
I had a dream that had Benjamin Franklin in it last night. I don't really remember the dream, but I am sure it had something to do with electricity. Here's some random art I did with him in it. Enjoy...
Intellectual Ventures Lab in Bellevue, WA likes to use their kickass laser on Mosquitos. Watch them blast the blood sucking bastards right out of the air. I hope no one makes a anti-human laser.
This week I continued my training by going to the gym and using the indoor machines. It really wasn't too hard. I managed to get 8 miles in 30 minutes on one type of bike machine and later in the week on another bike machine, called "the Spinner", I managed to go 12 miles in 30 minutes. But indoor biking can be very deceiving. For one it doesn't really represent the variables that come with biking outdoors. Here in New York those variables consist of pot-wholes, pedestrians, other bikers, cars, etc. Two, without these variables and the lack of actually going anywhere one can get bored. I had planned on doing an hour each time I used the bike machines, but I simple lost interest. Because of this boredom I decided that I'd fight the cold and hit the pavement to do a little workout. Unfortunately, the "snowmageddon" hit New York this week and I tried my best not to go outside. But today...today it wasn't to cold and all the snow seemed to be melting. So I put on my warmest cloths, jumped on 'Captain Awesome'(my bike), and headed out. Once outside I faced my first leg of what would be an epic adventure. I began with trying to find a way onto the actual street over the massive piles of snow made by the plows clearing the street. This proved to be a very difficult task. You can try and go over the huge hills by picking up your bike and trying not to fall, or you can march through the giant puddles at the corners of the streets, getting super wet, or you could be like me and simple try and jump over the giant piles. Jumping over the piles will inevitably get you onto failblog.org. I recommend the puddle crossing at the street corners. Once in the street one should be in the bike lane, but with the snow, there really isn't any lane for bikes. So it's pretty much the center of the road between the cars. Lots of fun. Finally, the slushyness that remains in the street seems like it'd be a lot of fun, but turns out it's like a bad version of slip and slide. If you think you have got your balance, guess again, the pieces of ice hiding in the slush will trip you up. You end up almost face planting each time you hit a piece of ice. After the first 30 yards down my block I should have stopped. The thoughts of "this is the most exciting thing ever", should have been "this is the dumbest thing ever!" I managed to get in 2 miles today and not have any terrible accidents. Would I do it again? Probably. But for now I'll hit the boring old indoor bike machine to continue my training. via golikeafox.blogspot.com
My friend Annie is putting on a live action piece where the audience see the entire story of Romeo & Juliet(abridged) all at one party. The show's tonight Feb 11th at 7pm at China 1 (50 Ave B, btw 3rd/4th st. $10 at the door. Learn more at: www.shakespeareshakedown.com
Here are some images from rehearsal:
Paris Speaks with Lord Capulet about Juliet... Romeo is seen at the Capulet Party... Tybalt attacks Mercutio... Benvolio realises his friend Mercutio is dead... Romeo & Juliet get married in secret... Romeo & Juliet makeout session... DJ keeps the party going (what? doesn't all this crap happen at your parties)... Juliet fake overdoses...
It's one night only, so you can only see it tonight.
So my friends and I are getting in shape for the 5-boro bike ride taking place this May. We are getting our bike on to raise money for Team Fox who donates to Parkinson's research. We have started a group blog called GoLikeAFox. Here is the first design for the logo of the site.
This year Coke did a ton of commercials on the Super-Bowl. Some of them were funny and some of them were not so funny. The one that caught my eye early on was with the Simpson's. The piece focuses on Mr. Burns loosing all of his money and the after effects. Towards the end of the commercial Mr. Burns sees people playing in the park and having a good time. He longingly looks and wants to be apart of the "happiness". One of the revelers, Apu, gives him a coke and includes him in the festivities. Now I am all about sharing a beverages among friends, and even offering something to a stranger, but Mr. Burns? Mr. Burns, within the Simpson's Universe, has maintained a power plant that has cause immeasurable environmental damage, he has stolen a child from a family, blocked out the sun, murdered people (subjective|Tree House of Horrors episode), and has had noted packs with the Devil himself. Why would anyone ever want to share anything outside of fist sandwich with this man? Now this commercial in past years may not have been such a big deal, but which rich person is Mr. Burns is representing in the commercial? Is he Bernie Madoff, or one of the bankers, or a member of Wall Street? Would you give a coke to any of those people or invite them to hang out in the park? Seems to me that Coke wants us to help out these pour rich bastards that screwed the hell out of all of us. Is this apart of a larger PR scheme to humanize the super rich? It just might be...throughout the Super Bowl another Ad ran for 'Undercover Boss', which takes a CEO and places them in "lower level" positions. The show ran just after the 'Post Game Wrap Up' and featured a very nice CEO of a waste management company getting into "lower level" jobs. This CEO was extremely personable and caring. The CEO showed general concern about the workers around him. This CEO is not like the CEOs that screwed up our economy. Those types of CEOs would never do a "lesser" job. Some can't even get their f'n coffee. 'Undercover Bosses' featured CEO may have been a bit of a dick at some point (not sure), but he didn't wreck his company for a profit or layoff tons of workers to show a inflated company asset numbers. The Simpson's/Coke commercial and the 'Undercover Boss' represent a new spoonful of crap that America will have to eat will watching the boob tube. This kind of crap can lead to statements like "he's not such a bad guy even though he fired everyone, cause he has a family" or "don't tax the rich, cause then they won't hire". It's pretty much madness. Give a Coke to your boss and ask for a raise or a contract so you can't get fired. Then you can see how much he doesn't focus on the bottom line.
As unemployment climbs to a necessary boozing proportions, NASA and, super corporate giant, GM, have teamed up to make a robot that will replace you at your factory job and your space job. NASA and GM named this robot Robonaut, but refer to it as R2 (which is retarded cause it's totally more like C-3PO). The robot is pretty badass and seems to completely mimic all the movements of the top half of a humanoid. Obviously once in space this robot will get all red eyed bag guy on us and try to destroy the world. Until then, Robonaut will shake your hand and pretend to not have a mind of its' own. If we were the Robonaut (Ro-bo-Cop?) we'd probably play nice too, just so we'd have a job. Some of us with jobs pretend to be mindless all the time for our bosses, but we can't lift up cars or be in space without air. Alas...
Today, I got back on my trusty steed(bike), Captain Awesome, and took a spin around the neighborhood. It was a bit cold today around 30ish, but it felt good to get back out there after a long winter break. Went and saw the good people at Brooklyn Bikes to check what new things they had in stock. Think I am going to need a saddlebag and tire change gear by the time the 5-boro comes up. I also need to get in shape for the 42 miles! Some images of Captain Awesome... Sincerely, Ben
Keiichi: "The latter half of the 20th century saw the built environment merged with media space, and architecture taking on new roles related to branding, image and consumerism. Augmented reality may recontextualise the functions of consumerism and architecture, and change in the way in which we operate within it."
So a report just came out saying that Fox is the #1 trusted news source, beating out CNN by 10%. Fox holds 49% of this supposed viewer trust. I now understand why people are confused. If they trust the ones that factually lie then how can they even begin to know what's real. In an off the cuff comment the Roger Ailes, President of Fox, said he was in the "ratings business" and thus not in the news business. Case in point is when Fox news cut away from the Presidents Q&A with the GOP early, just cause. What the hell? Like what the fuck? So the problem is clearly that the American people are being fed lies...how do we fix this?