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So Fast, So Furious

2013-05-29T01:37:00.000-07:00

Ack consumerism! Buying stuff, is that all I talk about nowadays? Maybe. I've been using Amazon Prime for most of this calendar year so that means anything I wish for can arrive in two days flat. That is very dangerous. Very dangerous.

I've got a semi-camping trip in a few weeks, so of course I need to get a new compass, a powerful flashlight, and a paracord bracelet. What's a paracord bracelet you ask? Well, it's like a hardcore friendship bracelet that you can use for saving lives. Or stringing up laundry, whatever your needs. I'm using it to feel manly.

One of the best parts of shopping, aside from the packages arriving to your door, is doing all the research. I mean, how else would you learn about the difference between zinc-carbon and alkaline batteries? Well, a new site, The Sweethome, focuses on household items and gives you their best recommendation. (The parent site, The Wirecutter is a fine resource as well.) Learning about the best nail clippers, the best laundy detergent, the best lightbulb, this is the kind of stuff I live for. I mean, even if I'll never own a home to put a Nest in, I still really want one.

Also, since I just signed up for New York's much anticipated/maligned bike share program, I needed to go online shopping for some safety gear. Two little lights to alert drivers so they can slow down before inevitably running me over, possibly a bike helmet so my skull remains intact post-impact, and who knows what else. Health insurance? Who needs that in America today! The only thing I need are these Swrve knickers I had the foresight to buy last year. Every young man needs something between pants and shorts so manpris is the way to go, even if they cost a pretty penny. Who cares if I won't actually own a bicycle, or how poseur-y I'll look with my reflective stripe? With all my bike gear ready, I'll be set to ride in safety and style.

In addition, I am still field testing the so-called "greatest hoodie ever made." American Giant fucked up our order six ways to Sunday but my black hoodie is finally here after many months. So far I can report that the heavy cotton makes me very...warm. The quality is undeniably legit but I'm not entirely sure if I don't prefer my twenty dollar Target hoodies instead. We'll see.

Oh, and I finally got it together and signed up for Moviepass. I think I've talked about the movie subscription service before, but had hesitated on committing to it. Three months is so long right? This despite the fact that I'd long wished for exactly such a thing. With Moviepass, you can watch all the movies you want, in virtually any theater. The last few years running, I've spent like $500 annually on going to the movies. I did some sensible math and Moviepass will be a tremendous savings. Now if that damn card would arrive in the mail already, I'd be all set.

The summer of 2013 is lining up to be subscription service galore. I'll be riding around the city and then ducking into a nearby theater for an air conditioned break. And definitely a Slurpee. So get your knickers and over-qualified hoodies ready, who's with me? I'm gonna live my summer a city block at a time, stopping at every intersection to look both ways. Because that's how adults do it.

Last thing: I saw Before Midnight. Prior to watching it, I made a list of qualifications for the people and space I would see it in. See, during Before Sunset, I made the mistake of dragging a friend along who hadn't seen Before Sunrise. Throughout the film she continually made fun of Ethan Hawke's jacked up teeth and that totally took me out of the moment.

For this third film, I demanded that anybody I watched the film with remained silent. In fact, I wanted the entire theater to be silent. That meant either an early morning or late night viewing, preferably with nobody in my line of sight. I also needed any potential movie buddies to be pre-screened for absolute love of the first two films. No middle ground, it had to be L-O-V-E.

I was expecting a religious experience and I didn't want to mess up my emotional attachment to the series in any way. After satisfying all these requirements -- save for a person off to my side who actually answered their phone during the movie, like really -- I saw Before Midnight before the spoilers could get to me. Needless to say, I won't give a review here, as even a thumbs up or thumbs down would be incriminating. If you've seen Before Midnight already, we should have a discussion. I have a lot to say about it. So much.

Swinging in the Backyard

2013-05-23T16:29:00.001-07:00

I've spent a lot of time recently downloading a raft of iPhone games. With Hay Day done and over with, I've been looking for the next fun thing. Basically I need three games in rotation at all times: an one-on-one game, a farming game, and something multiplayer strategy. Oh and sometimes a building game like We Rule or Clash of Clans.

For one-on-one games, Letterpress has fallen by the wayside, and I can't get into Candy Crush or Dots. Anything but Candy Crush! My next best bet is the OK Go supported Say the Same Thing, but if that doesn't work out, it's back to Chess with Friends. (Lately I've been using the Caro-Kann Defence and suffocating the hell out of white. Caro-Kaaaan!)

The farming hole is huge right now, as Hay Day has lost all its charm for me. The problem is, nothing is better than it right now. Supercell is just too damn good at making their farming games. For a second I thought Mouse Town would be awesome, but it's got no multiplayer element. The novelty of defending your cheese wears off pretty fast. And Megapolis certainly didn't fill a void either, as much as I wanted a city simulation. If you got something better than Hay Day or Clash of Clans to farm, recommend away. As mayor and Magellan of our games group, my constituents demand cute graphics and high social interactivity. And of course it has to be free.

The real stuff I'm having difficulty finding is replacement for Uniwar. Most of the problem is that Uniwar is just too good. We've been playing this thing for four years and it still stands the test of time. However, we need a change and since there's a boom in iOS strategy games currently underway, I dug in for some heavy research. The dream, of course, is to play Magic 2013. But nobody plays Magic except me, plus I don't have an iPad. (More on that later.) Before searching, I broke down what qualities I was looking for in a battle game.

Asynchronous multiplayer. That erases most of the RPGs and first person shooting games. Staying connected for a twenty minute game session is not happening. Neither is pass-and-play. I can't get anyone to come hang out with me, much less sit around passing an iPad back and forth. Potential single player gems like Hunters 2 get eliminated from contention too. We need at least four players.

Strategy based. Ideally hex based, since we are now familiar with these type of games. I personally want as much complexity as possible, but I know that's not for everyone. But the main reason Uniwar has worn out is that new units aren't being introduced and the tactics are getting stale. I want massive replay value.

Nice graphics and clean UI. They don't need to be incredible, but something more than serviceable. More important is how annoying the user interface is. Small text is the worst. Empire Four Kingdoms kind of lost me there. On the other end of the spectrum, I almost went with Autumn Dynasty just because the watercolor art style looked so beautiful. Air Tycoon Online seems quite interesting, but the graphics are nowhere near as appealing as Pocket Planes, so that's out.

Cheap. This is a tough one, as most of the good games now require money upfront. Many of my friends still refuse to drop a penny on iOS games, but I think that will have to change. Uniwar cost $2.99 when we got it, and there are often sales. Anything worth playing now costs at least three bucks. While I used to hate paying for apps, a few dollars is less than what I lose at the laundromat in faulty machines.

With those factors in mind, I think I found the game of me/us. Neuroshima Hex! It's got a lite version I tried out, and I just ponied up for the full version. You can read the reviews to get a sense of the game, but already I can tell it's got a great mix of strategy, depth, and replayability.

The only downside is that while the full app is a mere $4.99, getting all additional expansion armies costs $7.99. That could price it right out of my friends' willing-to-pay range. Still, I'm gonna do all I can to push them to play Neuroshima Hex, because it seems like it's absolutely fantastic. Now I just have to figure out which factions I like...

While researching and testing all these games, I found the perfect blog to follow to stay up on the games I liked: Pocket Tactics. It's a "journal for core gamers" and I blitzed through a ton of their reviews. Check out their Best of 2012 and Most Anticipated iOS Games of 2013. Also, I want to recommend Shut Up & Sit Down and Polyhedron Collider as interesting traditional board game blogs. SU&SD have a podcast too.

Games that seriously pique my interest are the soon to be here Warhammer Quest, Frozen Synapse ("a smaller scale and more action oriented take on Diplomacy"), and Settlers of Cataan finally having online multiplayer. Also, I took a look at Stone Age and Caylus but will wait for Agricola. A lot of these are board game ports, and I'm excited for the idea of not having to find friends to play games with. Because, you know, finding serious board game friends is harder than finding the perfect iOS game. At least for me. Someone come play with me! Wah wah.

The downside of all this awesome stuff coming out is that I don't own an iPad. Some of these games require the bigger screen, and since I have no intention of buying an iPad, I'll just have to borrow my sister's mini to play this stuff. I hope she doesn't mind. Oh and I downloaded Street Fighter IV because it was on sale and I mean, it's Street Fighter for your iPhone. The port is pretty great, and I'm happily throwing fireballs and hadoukens sporadically and with little to no precision.

Last thing. Who would I be if I didn't immediately tell you to download Robot Unicorn Attack 2? Your worst friend, that's who. RUA2 is just as lovely as the first one, and now available with a black stallion too. If only they would let you insert your own soundtrack. I would queue up Nina Simone's "Sinner Man." Heyo Rainbow Dash, away!

Bennett Madison

2013-05-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

Years ago, before I had ever read any young adult books, my agent told me to pick up Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls. It captured me right from the start. A girl detective with killer fashion sense and Mean Girl-esque snark to match? I was hooked. After I read the first Lulu Dark, I Googled the heck out of everything and was delighted to discover that there was a sequel. And of course I started following author Bennett Madison's, well, everything. His blog, his Twitter, whatever the heck was out there in the technology wasteland of the late 2000s.

Basically I unabashedly, and stalkerishly, became a fan.

A few years later, I went to an author thing in New York and saw Bennett there and maybe said out loud, "Wow, Bennett Madison." I met him and we talked the shared language of X-Men and Wizard of Oz obsession. If you know anything about me, that's pretty much two of my favorite things ever. (I dunno where it went, but Bennett had a short story on Figment that included extensive X-Men references, which I probably should have saved somewhere just to re-read over and over, it was so good.)

I could go on and on about Bennett's lyrical writing voice, his expansive smarts, his winning humor (Q: What's your favorite blonde joke? A: Courtney Love), his iconic hair, but that would just be gushing. Plus embarrassing. Anyway, ever since 2009's Blonde of the Joke -- featuring malls and shoplifting, a rite of passage for every proper young person -- I've been waiting for Bennett to release another book. And now it's here: September Girls.

"When 17-year-old Sam accompanies his older brother and increasingly distracted father to a washed-out beach town for the summer, after his mother inexplicably bails on the family, he expects to spend long hours watching The Price Is Right. What he doesn't expect are legions of gorgeous, though somehow strange blonde 'Girls' (as Sam thinks of them) all eyeing him like he's, well, special. After Sam meets and feels an instant connection with one of the Girls, DeeDee, the summer takes a crazy turn."

September Girls is some next level YA, if I may say so. I've read a lot of young adult since those first Lulu books, and while many of them have captured my heart, I've been waiting for YA to move past certain viewpoints and constraints, especially contemporary YA. I think September Girls does that, all the way. I can't even think of a comparison novel.

I went to see Junot Diaz speak a few weeks ago and something he told the audience was (in reference to a dumb question about Oscar Wao and literary symbolism): "Moby Dick was not about a whale." September Girls is not about mermaids. Or maybe it is. You figure it out. #dracarys

Below are a wealth of Bennett related links. Because the Internet was made for sharing. Take special note of What Cassie Wore, Bennett's short-lived gem of a Tumblr dedicated the timeless character on Skins. You know, before she changed her name to "Gilly" and moved to Westeros to schelp around incest babies. Life beyond The Wall is tougher than it was in Bristol I guess.

Go grab a copy of September Girls. I promise you'll have a time. It'll be an extravaganza.

Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go

2013-05-09T01:35:00.001-07:00

What to do when your basketball season is over, and there's a long gap between Game of Thrones and Mad Men episodes? You simmer and wait for Sunday, that's what. I guess when there's no worthwhile television to suck up your time, the best thing to do is turn to consumerism. Below are ssome items I highly recommend.

As warm weather approaches, it's time to throw on some shorts and expose those pasty winter legs. An enduring problem I've had over the years is how to wear your low cut sneakers while at the same time preserving the look of no socks? (People who don't wear socks in their sneakers are disgusting. Dis-gus-ting!)

I've tried to buy the lowest profile socks I could, but they were never good enough. My socks still showed, especially when wearing Chucks. My friend Brian used to roll his socks over -- heel to toe -- to create cushion on the front while maintaining the no profile look, but that wasn't an elegant solution. Enter Ninja Sox.

"Ninja Sox are the true no show sock! They are crafted to wear with low top shoes and are designed to give you the look of going sockless and provides the feel and comfort of wearing socks." When my friend @ykoad tweeted about his recent purchase of Ninja Sox, I took one look and knew I had to buy some also. Six pairs and a few test sessions later, I'm sold. My entire summer sock collection will soon be ninjaed out.

After some more research, a lot of companies sell no show socks -- or "footies" -- but I don't care. I'm going Ninja Sox forever, mainly because of the name, but also because Ninja Sox come with a special "no slip silicone patch" that ensures the sock stays on your heel. This is high technology my friends.

And here we go, the great gummy penguin faceoff. For more than a decade, I have been touting the deliciousness of gummy penguins. "Gummy what?" you say. Let me tell you about them. These black and white beauties are denser than normal gummies, provide a wonderful chew, and feel like Shamu skin to the touch. They are also peach flavored. I love them so much I even sang their praises in my book. Multiple times.

For a few dark years, there was a gummy penguin drought as Sweet Factory stopped carrying them. I was in a panic. At every candy vendor, I would desperately ask the same thing, "Do you have any gummy penguins?" Nobody had any idea what I was talking about.

For awhile, I tried out these gummy tummies penguins from Trader Joe's -- introduced to me by my friend Anna -- but while they were delicious, they were not true peachy gummy penguins. These Trader Joe's versions were more like traditional gummies, albeit with a delicous burst of juice built into the tummy.

Eventually I found the answer to my gummy dilemma: the Internet. There are online sites that sell gummy penguins in bulk, and even in a twenty pound bag. Yes, twenty pounds of gummy penguins for $80. A steal if you ask me. And they come straight from Antarctica to your door, it's amazing. Unfortunately, after ordering a couple of pounds for taste testing, I figured out that penguin gummies are best ingested fresh. If they sit around for too long, they tend to not be as chewy. The solution is to order two pounds from Amazon, and if you have Prime like I do, shipping is absolutely free.

Recently, Sweet Factory has returned to the penguin gummy game by not only re-carrying the penguin gummies, but also stepping it up a notch by giving their new penguins colored tummies also. Mainly it's a fake out, as the coloring has no effect on the peachy taste. Still, a nice combo job of both the traditional and Trader Joe's versions. I dare say we are in the golden age of penguin gummies. Get on board.

If my predilection for sugary things wasn't obvious enough, let me share with you my new find: Good & Delish 4 Star Maple Leaf Creme Cookies. First of all, these things are made with real maple syrup. And have no preservatives, artificial flavors, or hydrogenated oils. I know, who cares about that marketing mumbo jumbo! How do they taste?!

I'm here to report that these cookies have a wonderfully thick outer layer along with a melty center. Someone really took the time to balance crunch with creme. Did I mention these things look like maple leaves? So brilliant right? As anybody knows, all the best cookies come in animal or plant shape. Or are made by elves. Or Girl Scouts. Or Diddy Riese. Plus the box art features a crane, as a maple piece is lowered to create a cookie tower. You may not be able to see it, but in the background of the image are New York skyscrapers. The connection between precise engineering and delicious cookie could not be more clear.

I bought my first box of Maple Leaf Creme Cookies at Duane Reade, but they are available at Walgreen's too, since Good & Delish is Walgreen's private brand. The cookies come in normal and organic variations. I prefer the organic ones because they are a bit softer to the bite, but to be honest, I have a box of each within easy reach. These addictive cookies have now slotted into number two on my all time cookie list, right after Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Stars Cookies. Those beauties were seasonal and now discontinued, so I guess I have only the maple leaf cookies to live for now.

Snack snack snack crunch, snack snack snack munch.

Never Ever Be Any Good

2013-04-15T02:12:00.001-07:00

Listening to: iTheory, "Thinkin' Bout You (The Frank Ocean Project)." From what I can tell, Geoff Ibe is a college student in Arizona who somehow has the time in-between classes to do smoothed out Frank Ocean covers. Taking into account my weakness for anything "Thinkin' Bout You" related, this version is my favorite so far. The fact that this is produced by a young Asian American student pushes it over the top. Throw in a cover of "Weak" Ibe did with some friends and it's game over. Here is iTheory's Bandcamp page.

Bonus: He also produced this Niki Fajardo cover of Elle Varner's "Only Wanna Give It To You" and I've had it on repeat too. Clearly there is a lot more productivity going on in university kids' dorm rooms than when I was in college.

For a second, I thought the cold was over and I could celebrate having made it through a New York winter. Case in point, a few weeks ago, as the city rejoiced and people came rushing outside to enjoy the weather, I stayed indoors to get tan by the glare of my laptop screens. "Why go out in all the crowds when it would just be sunny from here on out?" Little did I know that it would only be a tease.

This past week, when it neared eighty degrees, I knew better. JMZ called me up on Thursday and said "Let's go skateboarding!" I immediately said "yes" even though I (a) don't own a skateboard and (b) haven't skateboarded since middle school. In fact, the last time I got on a skateboard, I was trying to play basketball on it at the same time and ended up breaking my arm. I'd like to think that fateful date short-circuited both my professional skate and basketball careers.

We found a guy selling a cheap board on Craiglist and set off toward the Newkirk Ave stop to buy it. The eight dollar board was passeable -- for child's use, which was fine by me -- but the wheels were heavily cracked. So we made a pit stop at Skate Brooklyn to buy some wheels. That's when sticker shock hit. A lot has changed since the Eighties! Skateboards now cost $100-150 for the entire rig. Deck, trucks, wheels, bearings, risers, etc. I had been hoping to just drop a few dollars and get a nice afternoon reacclimating myself to skateboarding. Instead, JMZ and I faced some tough financial decisions. The guys at Skate Brooklyn were super knowlegeable and helpful, and we ended up dropping sixty bucks on a new set of wheels.

By the time we got to Central Park, it was nearly five in the afternoon and we didn't have much time left to hit the loop, or give me time to bunny slope it, as it were. JMZ assured me that riding a skateboard would be like riding a bike, and I believed him, but apparently I never really got good enough at skateboarding in the first place, since no muscle memory kicked in. Within five minutes of struggling and wobbling, I'd already received unsolicited tips from a stranger -- "Keep your head up and look ahead instead of down" -- and managed to go chasing after my board as it shot out from underneath me.

Needless to say, my dreams of cruising around on the streets of New York this summer will have to be slightly delayed. My goal isn't even to do any tricks or anything, I just want to get from Point A to Point B in a fairly efficient manner. I did manage to get semi-comfortable on my board by the end of the day, but as this (embarrassing) video can attest, I've got a long way -- and many more MPHs -- to go. The good news is, all weekend long I've been reading about how to skateboard, watching inspiring videos, thinking about re-reading Jocko Weyland's The Answer Is Never, and twitching my thumbs thinking back to when I used to play the shit out of Tony Hawk. I figure that should take me halfway there right? Plus all the skate lingo I learned? #laserflip #thrash #durometer

There's a larger conversation here about being a poseur, but we'll shelve that for another time.

Since that initial foray back in the saddle, I've bought two skateboards -- including a miniboard for JMZ. Basically, the ratio of me surfing the Internet for skateboard stuff versus time actually spent on a skateboard is about 10:1 so far. I mean, when in doubt and without skill, accessorize! I also desperately wanted to buy these electric blue cruising wheels, but that would just be ridiculous so I stopped myself. By the end of summer I hope to be risking my physical health at a street corner near you. Please scrape me off the sidewalk and say hello. But don't call an ambulance because I don't have insurance. Because I am a writer.

My friend reminded me that I have a tendency to get really into something each summer, and then promptly forget all about it soon afterwards. A few seasons ago it was the ukulele -- I can only play one song -- and last year it was bird watching. I hope to somehow conflate all of these faux hobbies into one...by buying a backpack that can hold my binoculars, the neglected uke, and my flashy new skateboard. Yes, I will travel around with gear that I can neither use effectively nor impressively. It'll prove all my doubters wrong for sure.

In related news, I lust after this 2010 Incase x Paul Rodriguez Skate Pack. After AMR showed it to me online the other day, I saw someone in the street wearing it out by Herald Square. I literally stopped in my tracks and wanted to ask him where he found it. Or rip it right off his shoulders. And then skate away.

For a potentially cheap, fun thing to do, skateboarding is sure turning out to be expensive. And obviously it's seriously kicking my consumerism instincts into overdrive. Maybe it was better when it was winter and my hobby was being a hermit. That was definitely cost effective.

All of the Lights

2013-04-10T03:04:00.002-07:00

Did you hear? The new X-Men comic features an all female team comprised of Storm, Rogue, Kitty, Psylocke, Jubilee, and Rachel Grey. I don't care if this is a marketing thing or whatever, I'm all in. I mean, I even read that Jubilee is the main character and if that's true, I'm about to start collecting comics again. I mean, I run the pre-emiment Jubilee Tumblr, Fuck Yeah Jubilee, on the entire Internet so I feel like it's my absolute calling and duty, right?

Jubilation Lee has come a long way since Uncanny X-Men #244. She went from being a mall rat, to Wolvie's sidekick, to getting shuffled down to Generation X, to getting some love in the X-Men cartoon, to getting whitewashed in the classic but rarely seen Generation X made-for-TV movie (her character was played by Heather McComb, James Van Der Beek's wife), to getting her scenes chopped in X2: X-Men United. Also, she had her own mini-series, was a playable character in X-Men Legends, lost her powers and became Wondra of the New Warriors, and is still recovering from a nasty battle with vampirism. Whew! Basically I can not wait to start reading this X-Men series. Mom, clear out space in the garage, it's comic book collecting time (again)!

Marvel recently launched a new service, Marvel Unlimited, which is like Spotify for its comics. Available for iDevices, I'm seriously thinking of testing it out even though I lack an iPad to properly view the art in all its glory. But having all those archived comics makes me salivate. X-Men forever.

Speaking of comics, or um, graphic novels, a couple of weeks ago we went to Carnegie Hall to check out an interesting symphony inspired by Art Spiegelman's 9/11 memoir. The University of Kansas Wind Ensemble was on hand to play a piece commissioned from composer Mohammed Fairouz -- who is sickeningly, just twenty seven. The piece was called "Symphony No. 4, In the Shadow of No Towers," and its four movements were built upon panels from Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers.

The night before, we read Spiegelman's large format graphic novel -- Speigelman did Maus, which everyone should have read by now -- and got very curious how the symphony would sound. I am not a musician, although I did spend many years playing the flute, and we sat a little too close to the front of the theater to fully experience the wonder that is Carnegie Hall. Pro tip, from my godsister who plays for the Boston Symphony Orchestra: The acoustics for Carnegie Hall is conducive to sitting up high. Next time I'll know sitting fifth row is actually a sucker's seat. I was so excited to be up close too. "This is not a concert, it's a classy symphony."

I'd explain more about what Fairouz's piece was like, but it's probably best for me to turn it over to the following links and videos. Suffice to say, my favorite part of the symphony was the third movement, when the red and blue states went to (sonic) war! It wasn't quite the "1812 Overture," but it was something. Also, if you want to test out your classical music skills, try this Sporcle quiz, naming famous pieces of classical music from audio snippets. I did this with my friend and she shamed me and knocked it out of the park. Of course, she's like a classically trained pianist, but still. Losing always hurts...

One Man's Memoir of 9/11 Becomes Another's Symphony
Mohammed Fairouz on "In the Shadow of No Towers" World Premiere at Carnegie Hall
10 Years After Iraq, A Symphony On The 9/11 Aftermath
KU: Journey to Carnegie Hall
Video: In the Shadow of No Towers, The Composition
Video: Journey to Carnegie, Part 1 & 2

Seaweed Is Always Greener

2013-04-04T03:30:00.000-07:00

My favorite museum, stretching back many years, had been the American Museum of Natural History. It was the first time I laid eyes on a (fake) blue whale, a sunfish, and many other fine specimens. It didn't occur to me that a better natural history museum existed. Sadly, in a blow to my ignorance and my childhood, I went to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History recently and within minutes, knew that this was far superior.

Sure, the whale on the ceiling of the New York natural history museum was bigger -- a blue whale versus a right whale -- but everything else at the Smithsonian was better. The only defense I have is that Sant Ocean Hall is much newer. It opened in 2008, and features a giant squid. Yes, an actual giant squid. It's only thirty five feet long or so, but c'mon, it's a freaking giant squid. Oh yeah, there are actually two giant squid in the hall. The other one is slightly smaller at "only" twenty feet. Pew pew, mind blown.

And then there were all the things I'd never seen before -- except maybe on nature documentaries. Like this prickly thing that I thought was maybe a strange Dumbo squid. Or how about this beauty with the daddy longlegs? The hits kept on coming too. It wasn't just the ocean stuff. The mammals and dinosaurs were also amazing. I saw an echidna, two pangolins, a pair of giant sloth skeletons, a coatimundi, a hyrax, a cloud leopard, a teeny tiny European mole… Ugh, it was just so much. I saw things I had never even heard of, like a streaked tenrec and a kinkajou.

Related: With certain friends, we talk about animals a lot. Like a lot a lot. And we used to play a game where we'd pick a letter of the alphabet and then go around naming as many animals starting with that letter as possible. Whenever I see a new great animal, I try to store it away for future game use. The Smithsonian blew my mind. I can't wait to scream out "kinkajou, kinkajou!"

Most of my commentary during our museum excursion, aside from general wonderment, had to do with how fluffy the fur was for all of the stuffed mammals. Basically, this was me the whole time: "It's so fluffy!" The brown bear in particular seemed to have had all sorts of hair product applied. Plus it was gigantic, which led me to believe it had to be a Grizzly bear, but since that's just a sub-species, perhaps it wasn't labeled as such.

The presentation of the specimens were a bit cramped, but I'd rather have a lot of things to look at rather than not much of anything. Exhibit A: California Academy of Sciences, which has a pathetic natural history display. Sorry San Francisco, you deserve better.

Coincidentally, I just happened to read this great article from Lapham's Quarterly, "How to Be a Stuffed Animal," about the sponsored hunts that the American Museum of Natural History used to acquire specimens, along with some interesting tidbits about advancing taxidermy techniques and philosophy. It also made me realize the difference in how the AMNH showcases their collection (in a diorama-like style) versus at NMNH, which was just straight animals. A highly recommended read.

And let's not forget this piece, "The Private Lives of the Cryptozoologists." My friend has been obsessed with crytopzoology for awhile and he recently visited the International Crytptozoology Musuem and met its founder, Loren Coleman. Coleman's book, Cryptozoology A To Z, is the one to buy if you need a gateway into this fascinating world. Okapi what?!

In other news, the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. haven't bloomed yet. Luckily there exists a cherry blossom cam to see when the proper time to visit our capital is. On the list of cams that I'd recommend watching, it's about one hundred slots below the Shamu Cam and fifty times less useful than Surfline. Really, it's better to just go to D.C. and hope for the best, like we did. Also, Ai Weiwei's first major U.S. show at the Hirshhorn is (sadly) over. We missed that too.

What we didn't miss was getting a chance to try out D.C.'s burgeoning ramen scene. While Toki Underground will have to wait for another visit, the shio broth at Daikaya is complex and delicious. They also play Prince and D'Angelo while you eat. If you're into that sort of thing.

Starlight Express

2013-03-28T00:51:00.000-07:00

You know I love my musicals. Well, now there's a new one that has captured my heart: F#%king Up Everything! I stumbled upon it looking for something Off-Broadway to watch and boy am I glad I clicked on the eye catching title. It wasn't easy to find stuff online about F#%king Up Everything as it didn't officially open until two days after we saw it. For our preview showing, we got to sit right in the middle, two rows back, and had a spectacular view of everything.

"Can Christian Mohammed Schwartzelberg stay true to himself and still get the girl? Or will he lose her to the guy in leather pants? Set against the backdrop of Brooklyn's indie music scene with a gallery of hipsters, stoners, artists, cougars, songwriters and puppeteers, F#%king Up Everything is a rock musical comedy with heart. And ironic t-shirts."

Having had a similar seat for Rent, I can say that I've never been so happy to get an up close and personal view. "Please, spit on me (when you sing), I'm right here!" F#@king Up Everything was part of the New York Musical Theater Festival a few years ago and it had a short run in D.C. before getting ready for its sure to be successful time here.

I'll just say it here: I think F#@king Up Everything is going to be this generation's Rent. Plus Friends. Yes, Rent plus Friends. While the music isn't quite as strong, F#@king Up Everything has Rent beat in at least one category: humor. F#@king Up Everything is hilarious! Max Crumm and Joey Gotay are perfect in their roles and their comedic timing was spot on. Dawn Cantwell is Toni Amos redux -- see her do Janis Joplin here. Overall, there were so many laugh out loud moments that I actually, well, hyperventilated during one part, which was embarrassing since I was trying to not be too loud.

Maybe the show is too cutesy indie for some, some reviews (perhaps written by some out of touch old people?) have been mixed, but I thought FUE was clever in how it sent up hipster stereotypes. And again, the show was hilarious! If you get a chance, see F#@king Up Everything before everyone else starts talking about it. The play just started rehearsing a month or so ago, as you can see by the casting call they posted in January. Amazing right?

The only downside of F#@king Up Everything is the "#@" they were probably forced to put into their title. It sure makes Googling difficult. In this day and age, is it really that offensive to put "fucking" in the name? Concessions must be made to people's sensibilities I suppose.

Stuff I've Been Consuming: Jan - Mar

2013-03-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

BOOKS READ:

The Getaway Car, Anne Patchett
Deadweather and Sunrise: The Chronicles of Egg, Geoff Rodkey
NW, Zadie Smith
Adaptation, Malinda Lo

MOVIES WATCHED:

Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow
Tears of the Sun, Antoine Fuqua
Gangster Squad, Ruben Fleischer
Side Effects, Steven Soderbergh
The Gatekeepers, Dror Moreh
Beautiful Creatures, Richard LaGravenese
Oz the Great and Powerful, Sam Raimi

[fiftyfifty.me | Pinterest | Google Doc]

Three months in, my fiftyfifty.me is suffering. You would think that being stuck inside for multiple storms and winter weather would increase the number of books consumed. That wasn't the case. After (barely) successfully completing the challenge last year, 2013 is going to be a struggle. So far I've completed four books and seven movies. That's a good bit off the pace. I'm unconcerned about movies, of course, since I'll easily eclipse fifty this year, but books, uh oh.

The books I have read have been mostly gems. I talked about how much I loved Ann Patchett's Truth & Beauty last year, and while The Getaway Car is only a Kindle single, I just had to read it. It's a short memoir about her writing life, and it made a nice companion piece to Truth & Beauty.

We did NW for book club, and if were not for that enforced completion, I probably would have put it down. I generally love Zadie Smith but this was a tough read. I think most of it could be attributed to the beginning section, told in a first person perspective that I found difficult to get into. I found myself being constantly distracted by reading other things by Zadie Smith, such as her book of essays, Changing My Mind and her famous article from 2008, "Two Paths for the Novel." I had trouble shaking the idea that Smith was experimenting a lot with her form for NW. All in all, while the book eventually improved for me, I couldn't in good conscience recommend it except to Smith completists.

Two books I can wholeheartedly recommend are Deadweather and Sunrise: The Chronicles of Egg and Adaptation. The former is the first in a new middle grade series about pirates. Sorry, let me say that again: Pirates! The setup reminded me of so many classic adventure stories I read growing up, but jazzed up with sophisticated humor for older readers and compelling action for younger kids. I've read a lot of middle grade and can report that Deadweather and Sunrise stands out in a big way. I just saw Geoff -- whom I met at last year's KidLitCon -- and told him how excited I was for the next two books in the series.

As for Adaptation, fellow 2009 Deb Malinda Lo smoothly switches genres from fantasy (Ash and Huntress) to scifi. Adaptation starts with a mysterious series of plane crashes -- caused by flocks of birds -- and the race is on to find out what's happening. As fair warning, I was compelled to shoot through most of the book in one day, and you likely will be too. Malinda is a huge X-Files fan and that shines through. Adaptation's sequel, Inheritance, is coming this fall, so that'll give you plenty of time to get on-board the conspiracy train before September.

Short shots on the movies I've seen this year. Zero Dark Thirty was tensely majestic, Gangster Squad had Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone ('nuff said), Side Effects had a hilarious plot twist that made me question if Soderbergh was even a deft director anymore. The Gatekeepers is an Oscar nominated documentary that interviewed six former heads of Shin Bet, Israel's internal secret service. If you're into that kind of thing, it's definitely worth a watch.

Beautiful Creatures is from a pair of 2009 Debs, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, and their best selling novels worked wonderfully on the big screen. The movie was beautiful and atmospheric, and let's be real, the film is way better than the first Twilight. I've been following along on Kami and Margaret's Tumblrs, which have been full of behind-the-scenes tidbits. Kami and Margaret both have new series coming out later this year, Unbreakable (The Legion) and Icons, respectively.

I was terrified that Oz the Great and Powerful would suck, since I love anything Oz-related so much. If it flopped -- like 1985's Return to Oz -- we might not see another Oz movie for decades. Luckily the movie came out huge, to the tune of an $80 opening weekend, and a sequel is forthcoming. Sure it wasn't the greatest movie ever, and maybe Mila Kunis' huge head was distracting, but overall I found Oz to be humorous, gorgeous to look at, and with some nice hat tips to the original. A lot of critics thought James Franco mailed in his performance but I appreciated his wry take on the Wizard. I think I giggled a lot, mainly at some of the lines by the little China Girl.

Speaking of James Franco, who's ready for Spring Breakers?! Aka possibly either the best or worst movie of the year...

Mesospheric

2013-03-19T05:06:00.000-07:00

Listening to: Music for Ants, "You Just Made Yourself Available: The Breakup Songs Mix."

Can you believe it, I've only gone karaoke twice this year. That number usually represents how many times I used to go per week. Last night, after a bit of soju served in a watermelon, we went to Duet 35, which is located just outside K-Town.

On the list of things that make a great karaoke place, Duet 35 had most of them: open till dawn, relatively cheap, BYOB and food, reliable sound system, mood lighting, great song selection. Repeat, great song selection.

We'd been searching for "Thinkin Bout You" forever and there it was. Sure there weren't many other Frank Ocean songs, but "Thinkin Bout You" was there! Now if we could just find a place with the rest of Channel Orange, I would never go anywhere else. I was also stunned to see that they had Patti Rothberg's "Inside," a track that I didn't think anyone else knew, much less had transferred to karaoke status. I picked up Between the 1 and the 9 at a Wherehouse during senior year of high school and had it on repeat forever. Even then I knew it wasn't the best but I enjoyed it regardless.

I was also impressed that they had Lianne La Havas ("Elusive"), a few tracks off Foster the People's Torches, Joe's "I Wanna Know," and so much new stuff I couldn't identify most of the artists. It hit me hard that I am way aged out of the new release pages. Sad day, sad day. But if you're wondering, it's possible to almost do the entire 10,000 Maniacs Unplugged album, which if it were to happen, would make me automatic BFFs with anyone who could successfully pull off a convincing Natalie Merchant. Additionally, next time back to Duet 35, my friend JMZ and I are destined to perform "Frontin'." Don't wanna sound full of myself or rude...

Duet 35 also had the real videos to some of the songs, most notably all Mariah and Christina Aguilera tracks -- please see Exhibit A. And the karaoke video for Gilligan's Island was straight up Sweded, with a child sitting in a bathtub and D-rate actors as the Professor and Mary Anne, etc. Overall, when we stumbled out of there at half past four in the morning, I was ready to do some more singing/screeching. Last karaoke related thing: While Duet 35 had a lot of indie tracks, they did not have any Tegan & Sara, which is just fine because T&S are the coolest and provided the world with their own instrumental for "Closer" and a karaoke version just for me! Okay, everyone else too.

Big life changes I've been pondering: What to do with email greetings and sign offs. I've one of those people who always has a greeting and an outro. Typically it's just "hey" and entirely superfluous but it feels weird not to do it. And I like to sign off with something too. But after reading this Slate article about the obsolescence of sign offs, I think I should give no sign ons and sign offs policy a go. Please don't be offended if I now sound curt in my emails, I just want to be a part of a movement.

And after a month of waiting, I finally got the Mailbox iPhone app. I don't need another email application, as almost all my email is done on my laptop, but I wanted to see what the hype was all about. What could possibly be worth signing up for that had 600,000+ people in line ahead of me? So far Mailbox is decidedly not life changing but it is certainly smooth and easy to use. One day I hope to get important enough to use it to achieve Inbox Zero. Right now I don't have to deal with hundreds of emails a day, much less a thousand.

Also, the other night, I ate firefly squid. They are from Toyama Bay in Japan and look like this. Unfortunately we did not glow afterwards, as that effect would probably have cost more than a few dollars per squid. I'm not generally into novelty eating but I'll make an exception for things that light up. What other foods could I eat that contain bioluminescence?

Spring Is Nigh

2013-03-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

Currently pushing: School of Thrones. This Game of Thrones parody, set in high school, is genius. "Prom is coming!"

When news hit that Google Reader was shutting down in a few months, I did what any sane person would: I panicked. I mean, I've been a huge fan of Reader for years and am always spreading the gospel of RSS, while constantly on guard against subscription bloat. Without Reader and my 600+ subscriptions, how was I going to keep up with the world? I cursed Google's good name, and just like everyone else, started looking around for alternatives…while simultaneously holding out hope that Google would reverse its decision. However, after reading a few articles, the decision was clearly a permanent one. On Wednesday night, I went to bed with a heavy heart, worried about the future of my feeds.

"Why, why, all you idiots who still visit web sites individually, it's all your fault! If only you had adopted Reader when I told you to, usage would not have declined! "

Luckily, morning brought clarity as my friend pointed out that with the RSS king abdicating his throne, a new and better reader would emerge. From here until July, it would be a giant battle for control of Middle Earth and the hearts of the dedicated geeks that live and die by RSS. In the twenty four hours since the announcement, the Internet has already gone through the grief cycle and now everyone is scrambling (even somewhat excitedly) for a solution.

I've tested out some of the options already but so far all are lacking. Feedly and Flipboard are pretty, but not for me. I need more power and don't care about an engaging interface. The Old Reader and Netvibes aren't even working right now, but I fear they won't be adequate either. I'm thinking that the true savior won't reveal itself until the programming community has had a chance to react. Meanwhile, I will await the prophecy and hold off on declaring my allegiance to a new king.

Sidenote: If Google somehow decides to shut down Blogger, I'm gonna turn on them so hard. I might even consider giving up Gmail. I mean, no I won't. That would be blasphemy! Ack.

A few months ago, I talked about how addicted we were to Clash of Clans. Well, no more. Now it's Hay Day all the way! Hay Day is actually Supercell's first game, before they created Clash. It's the farming game we've all been waiting for. Ever since the demise of Papaya Farm, my friends and I haven't been able to replace the vegetable sized holes in our digital hearts. Well, it's safe to say that we have found that replacement. My sister actually spent money to buy speed up diamonds the other day, a first for her.

While Hay Day doesn't bring too much new stuff to the table, it is very refined and the interface, graphics, and gameplay are all stellar. Plus there's a ton of amusing details embedded in Hay Day. Like when your pigs stand up and wave at you, while plastering silly grins on their faces. Hi-la-ri-ous! I can't wait to see what the horses do. A few things I wish the game had: a global stock market, a way to directly trade with your friends, and more social features when you visit other people's farms. But that's just nitpicking. For now, Hay Day has completely taken over my life and if you download it, it'll probably consume you too. Fair warning.

While reading around about Hay Day, I stumbled across this blog, Deconstructor of Fun, that does a wonderful analysis of monetized games. Their interview with Supercell's Timur Haussila about Hay Day is very interesting. And their analysis of what makes Clash of Clans so fun, with its talk of "core loops," is a lesson in constructed addiction. The blog is a must read for anybody who plays iPhone games. I'd say throw the URL into your Reader but well... Just bookmark it, I guess.

Destroy All Everything

2013-03-07T00:50:00.000-08:00

Listening to: Soko, "I'll Kill Her." From AMR via Et Musique Pour Toi, the most charming track about annihilating your ex's new object of affection. "If I find her, I swear, I swear… / I'll kill her, I'll kill her / She stole my future, she broke my dream."

Completely missed City Bakery's annual hot chocolate festival, which ran during Februrary and featured mysterious flavors such as Sunken Treasure, Love Potion, and Ode to the Polar Bear. Regardless, I must scurry over there to get one of their giant marshmallows.

Things recently seen: Martha Graham's "Phaedra Unbound" and "Achilles in Heels" at the Joyce Theater. "Art of Scent" exhibit at Musem of Arts and Design, Museum of Chinese in America's "Marvels and Monsters," and then last night we hit up Punderdome 3000.

We got to the event late so we were relegated to the back, but it was still quite the experience. The wall art for the Littlefield Theater featured a springbok antelope as David Bowie and a white tiger homage to (possibly) Kenny Loggins. Some of the competitor's names were fantastic. Pun and Teller. Punda Express. Big Pun. The Black Punther. Punky Brewster. I think I'd like to have been "Josie and the Pundercats" or simply "The Pundercats" but those must have been used already. In-between each round, members from the audience recite classic TV theme songs, which was kind of awesome. "It's a rare condition, this day and age, to read any good news on the newspaper page..."

And let's talk about "Art of Scent," which was basically sticking your head into a giant butt in the wall. I mean, to put it in a classy way. On the real, the exhibit is beautifully designed and you go around the room smelling classics like Chanel No.5, Drakkar Noir, L'Eau d'Issey (my old college standby), and Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana. After a short time though, you'll get woozy because all that perfume and cologne will send your head spinning. There was also a guy there inexplicably carrying a flute around and occasionally blowing a few notes into it. I should have asked him if I could give it a go. We could have battled.

The night after we saw Martha Graham, we met my friend's new boyfriend, who turned out to be an ex-ballerino. You can't imagine how excited I was. I wanted to get his professional opinion about the quality of dancing in White Nights and Center Stage, but I held back. Having no opinion on Martha just a few short hours ago, after talking to him, I was ready to dismiss Graham's work as "too obsessed with mythology." Yes, yes, right on! What can I say, I'm easily influenced.

Awhile ago, I sent in a pitch for the sequel to Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology, but that was summarily rejected. That sequel released late last year, Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology (Secret Identities). I have to pick up a copy and see what kind of stories beat mine out. I mean, besides all of them. My dream of writing a comic book will have to live on for another day. I won't give up because I'm tenacious like Lex Luthor, but unfortunately, far dumber.

Alongside "Marvels and Monsters" exhibit, MOCA also had "Alt.Comics: Asian American Artists Reinvent the Comic Book," featuring the works of Gene Luen Yang, Lark Pien, and GB Tran, Jason Shiga, and a few others. I'd tell you to go check it out but the whole thing is over, sorry. For me, it was most interesting to look at the artists' old works, before they were published. All the childhood drawings, the chapbooks, the sketches, it was quite interesting and makes me hope that one day someone will want to collect my archives. Any volunteers? Mom?

While we're here: Occasionally I drop in to post stuff on Chinatown Do, a Tumblr that covers anything Chinese related that the contributors see during their Internet rounds. I've never met any of the other blog people -- aside from Joy (Swash Design), who invited me -- but it's interesting to see what catches their individual attentions. Mine tend to be articles and stuff about factories, so I'm glad the others do lots of images and videos. I'd already been trained to stop at anything online mentioning "Chinese," so Chinatown Do has been a nice outlet to repost stuff.

Angry Asian Man has been going at it for twelve years, and last week he featured my friend's sister, Ursula Liang, as his Angry Reader of the Week. Ursula is making a documentary about 9-Man, a streetball game played in New York's Chinatown. They hit their Kickstarter goal last year and I'm looking forward to watching the finished product.

And if there haven't been enough links for you, two blogs I've been into lately: Writing Like an Asian and Eating Asia. Explore at your leisure.

Twice is Nice

2013-02-27T12:26:00.005-08:00

Listening to: Tegan and Sara, "Alligator (Toro y Moi remix)."

A few years ago, AMR gave me the gift of Tegan and Sara. In his usual thoughtful way, he didn't just dump a load of MP3s on me and tell me to listen. Instead he compiled a special "getting to know Tegan and Sara playlist." With such homework on hand, I diligently listened to the songs he put together, and got a taste of what T&S were all about.

Needless to say, I was sold. Not only was their music great, with an underrated knack for making making perfect length songs, but Tegan and Sara were the coolest (identical) twins around -- eclipsing even Tomax and Xamot. Their hair, their tattoos, their personalities, their Internet presence, their dedicated fan base. For example, AMR is a hardcore T&S fan, and anything they release, be it a special edition book, DVD, or box set, he buys right away. He is one of their 1000 True Fans -- although in their case, that number is obviously way higher. While I'm not quite on that level, I am very sweet on them.

Last week, I finally got to see Tegan and Sara live, as they toured in support of their seventh album, Heartthrob. This album is their mainstream push and it's packed with catchy anthems. Their first single, "Closer," is irresistible and the karaoke inspired video even more so. And even though I've been racking up the concerts so far this year, it's safe to say that seeing Tegan and Sara will be a highlight of 2013.

The first thing AMR did with me after I properly consumed his CD -- which was presented without track names -- was to fill me in on Tegan and Sara's background. How the first time they collaborated together was writing lyrics for dance music producers, how they live on opposite coasts, how they started (and continue to) write their songs independently of each other, with a few exceptions. Due to this last quirk, it means that for most of their early albums, you were either a Tegan or a Sara fan. You should be both, of course, but it's good to know which one you're partial to. It turned out that 90% of my favorite songs were Sara's, and I do prefer her higher pitched voice. For example, my favorite T&S song is "I Was Married," a Sara track through and through.

Tegan and Sara Selects
Track list - Zip file
17 songs, 51 mins, 66.7 MB

Above I share with you AMR's special Tegan and Sara Selects playlist, the stepping stone into the world of T&S. It's a gift that he gave me, and now I re-gift to you. Please download it, listen to it, figure out which identical twin is which and then queue up Heartthrob, because it deserves to be on repeat forever.

Got Buns, Son

2013-02-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

Despite living in Fort Greene, I haven't been down to Greenlight Bookstore more than a handful of times. The first time was when I got locked out of my apartment six weeks ago and had to find shelter because I have no friends in the neighborhood. Plus I was jacket-less. After spending quite some time in Greenlight, I remembered why I really shouldn't go into bookstores.

Thank goodness I didn't have my wallet on me because I would have spent so much money. On a return visit, I somehow managed not to have my wallet again and had to put a staff recommendation on layaway, Kazushi Hosaka's Plainsong. It's early on but I already love it. I haven't had the chance to get to the end because I'm behind on this month's book club reading -- Zadie Smith's NW -- but I knew just flipping through the pages at Greenlight that Plainsong was right up my alley.

Also, I love Zadie Smith's movie reviews from Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays. It's the movie equivalent of reading Nick Hornby's Stuff I've Been Reading columns. It goes to show that if someone is smart, they can write about anything. The tough part is getting that smart...

The other night, we went to Greenlight for Eddie Huang's book release. I've been following him for a few years and love his new show on Vice, in which he visits various cities while eating and educating -- in his own special way. Having never met Eddie or spoken to him, I was curious what he was like in person. Put it this way: my friend, who was previously a bit of a Huang hater, proceeded to not only buy Eddie's memoir, Fresh Off the Boat, but wait in line to say hello to him afterwards. A new fan!

The event featured a Q&A with former NY Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton and the bookstore was packed with a very diverse crowd. For all authors out there, learn to make your readings funny. I can usually pay attention for about three minutes during a typical reading, but Eddie's personality and reading was just hilarious. Semi-pro tip: in a pinch, laugh at yourself, the crowd will awkwardly follow. Watching Eddie read made me want to write things that are like, actually funny when read out loud. Or just, you know, funny period. Dare to dream I guess. Below are a couple of my favorite Fresh Off the Boat Vice episodes, along with a lot of book related links.

Right after the book event, my friend and I drove to Flushing and threw down three dinners in a row. First we stopped at Hahm Ji Ban for what was possibly the best Korean BBQ I've ever had. Then we froze our asses off while getting skewers (the good one at 39th and Prince), before stumbling into Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao -- one of the places Eddie Huang visits in his Munchies episode -- for soup dumplings, Chinese churros, sweet soy milk for dipping, and a bowl of noodles. All followed by an ultimate stomach meltdown. Obviously.

On My Parade

2013-02-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

Listening to: rainymood.com. Who doesn't love the sound of rain, but huddled up safely indoors? I've been listening to this site for a whole day straight. There's a link to a song of the day below, or you can just put on your own moodtastic song on. Now to get a Rainshower Glade plug-in to have my room smell like rain too. Um, delicious.

In late January, it was announced that Rajon Rondo was out for the season with a torn ACL. Maybe you don't care about this. But it ruined my life. It ruined way bigger things than that too. It ruined my fantasy basketball team, it ruined the Celtics current season, it ruined the Big Three era. An athlete who tears his ACL won't be fully recovered for a year at least. By then, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce will be even older. Immediately following Rondo's injury news, pundits were speculating that general manager Danny Ainge would have to blow up the team.

Over the holiday break, George and I attended a Celtics game and thank goodness we did as KG, Pierce, and Rondo may never play together again. We wore jerseys and everything! Unfortunately, the Celtics were blown out by the Clippers, but we sat real close so it was still fun. However, if the Celtics are going to rebuild, it could be a long time before we can be that excited again. Since George is a semi-new fan, she doesn't know how long it can be between great teams. She's only been around for the good times. She doesn't know the actual feeling of going over twenty years between titles. I fear she will soon find out.

Also, I am concerned for our siblingship. Without the Celtics' championship hopes to rally around, our relationship could collapse. I mean, what else will we talk about? Danny, I'm pleading with you not to break up a happy home. Don't trade KG or Pierce. Don't make George sad. Otherwise I'll never hear the end of it. #goceltics

And then there's football, another sports disaster for me. I've laid out my reasons for being a Falcons fan before, but mainly it's because I was hardcore into Deion Sanders. Liking teams in faraway places actually compelled me to apply to schools in Boston and Atlanta just in case I wanted to go there. Clearly I was not the brightest high schooler. "Yes, Boston College, Emory, I'd like to attend. Never visited, but I like sports teams in your city!" Instead I went to Michigan, which obviously has a huge sports culture but somehow I emerged with no school spirit at all. UMich's basketball team is/was number one? Really? News to me.

Anyway, the stupid Falcons broke my heart too. After going 13-3, earning themselves the best record in the league, and having an almost MVP candidate in quarterback Matt Ryan, they proceeded to collapse big time. Nobody believed in them because they were being talked about as paper tigers all season long. But I hoped they would be better than everyone thought. Roddy White and Julio Jones were Andre Rison and Michael Haynes 2.0!

It had been almost fifteen years since the Falcons made it to their lone Super Bowl, and that game was pretty much over from go, as John Elway and Terrell Davis shellacked the Falcons 34-19. This time around, I was hoping they could redeem themselves. Starting off with tempered expectations, I was watching the Falcons verus 49ers game a few weeks ago, hopping between the laundromat and a burger joint -- I don't have a TV so watching sports has been dicey. When Atlanta jumped out to a seventeen point lead, I thought it was over. Then the 49ers came back to almost tie it up by halftime, and I went straight into panic mode. Suffice to say, the Falcons failed to score in the second half and San Francisco emerged with a 28-24 victory. Epic collapse.

Basically I've decided to give up on sports -- the only thing keeping me going is watching the Lakers collapse too. This past weekend, I even took a hiatus from watching the Super Bowl because it just wasn't worth it. Excuse me while I put up photos of my teams when they were happy, so I can feel better. It's all I have left.

The Love Below

2013-01-25T07:28:00.000-08:00

Listening to: Pop Etc, "How Will I Know." They used to be the Morning Benders, now they are the less offensive but boring Pop Etc. I am not entirely sure how I feel about this cover, even weeks later, but I love watching Chris Chu's awkward yet endearing facial expressions. And well, it's Whitney.

My friend Ameer, who captains our music blog, is a huge speakerphile. Speakerhead? He cruises audio forums, he's got speakers on top of speakers, his goal is to own McIntoshes. Lots of McIntoshes. AMR has regaled me with many a detailed break down of why such and such an amp is good, or how to compare different set ups. All of which is fantastic, because I can always appreciate learning something new. But it's also ruined me.

Yes, ruined me. I can't have shitty audio anymore. Before I could've cared less what the sound coming out of speakers was like. Give it to me heavy and give it to me loud. That was all. I was more concerned about content than audio quality. Now that I've seen the light, I am prone to scrunching up my face if the sound is bad.

For the past five years, I'd been living with these shitty speakers. They squawk when plugged in, the wires are all fiddly, and occasionally the sound drops. It was a desktop audio disaster. I told AMR that I needed to upgrade my speaker situation and after diagnosing my needs, he was ready with an answer. For $15, I got these beauties: Artic USB-Powered Portable Stereo Speakers. I'd link you to the ten minute YouTube video reviewing them but you'd definitely fall asleep. Let's just say that these are the best bang for your hard earned bucks.

As my fellow Artic owner Meggo puts it, "[they] are petite and portable." To that I'll add that they are plenty loud also, with great highs and acceptable lows. Pump too much bass in there and they'll fail, but for fifteen dollars, these little guys are a steal. Upgrade your life, get some now.

And if you are in the market for great but not overly expensive over the ear headphones, may I pass along AMR's recommendation there too? Purchase some Grados. I recently joined the Grados club -- an exclusive place indeed -- and even though I have yet to test them extensively, I am sure they are the best value out there because I trust AMR. After all, he's the genius who came up with the CD for testing audio, so he can't be wrong.

For all you undiscerning buyers who purchase shams like Beats by Dre or something similar, know that we laugh in your general direction. I'll admit that my dream headphones -- Skullcandy Aviators in white -- are a bit cash for flash, but only suckers buy the celebrity endorsed headphones. If you are really that susceptible to marketing and hype, then please contact me because I have some books to sell you. An outdated Rough Guide to Blogging perhaps?

While I'm here, some more endorsements. Lately we've been all in on Clash of Clans. It's a freemium half farming, half tower defense game. The best part of it is that you can give your clan mates stuff like giants, barbarians, skeleton manned balloons, and wizards. The worst part of it is that the game is a total time suck. According to my in-depth research, if you are a new parent with a compelling reason to be awake every few hours, this game is for you! (Currently I am trying to make the move to Arcane Empires, a slightly more complex and in-depth Clash of Clans. The steampunk theme and artwork alone has sold me.)

A goal this year is to be more organized and on top of my tasks. I tried out Bring Home the Milk, Wunderlist, Astrid, and Orchestra. In the end, I went with Orchestra because it's the prettiest. That and the web interface is the best. Did I mention it's pretty? I've been at least 150% more productive already.

My friend Mel goes to a ton of concerts and she introduced me to Songkick, which is an app that scans your iTunes library and then serves up upcoming concerts you might be interested in. I was testing out Thrillcall before but didn't find it all that useful. Songkick has been a delight already and I'm scared I'm about to blow crazy money on live music.

New York has way too many bands coming through and now I know exactly which artists I'm missing. Ignorance really was bliss -- and cheaper. I'm in the process of trying to figure out a metric for which concerts I should attend but right now it's just a free for all. Seen or about to see: Dwele and Anthony David, Jose James, Tegan and Sara, Walk the Moon, Freelance Whales, XXYYXX, and if I can motivate to Staten Island, maybe I'll be lucky enough to see my OTP, Jewel.

So much of me really wants to use/like Spun, a slick looking guide to food, fashion, and music, but so far I've found it lacking. The interface and design are neat, but the utility has yet to be determined. I'm keeping it around and hoping it gets better. I am also on the hunt for a good weather app. Please recommend.

Also, I'm pretty certain I used "OTP" incorrectly. Oh well. Baby steps.

It's Never Sunny In...

2013-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

We're hopping out to Philadelphia this weekend, for a quick jaunt. The last time I was in Philly, it was during the East Coast college tour organized by my high school. We visited a lot of top tier schools, most of the Ivys, plus some schools that were actually within reach for mere mortals.

When we toured UPenn, I noticed the abundance of blue safety lights located on campus and said, "No thank you, my sheltered suburban upbringing did not prepare me for this." Now I return, more than a decade later: street smart, intimidating, and afraid of nothing.

Philly is only a short ride from New York -- just over an hour by train, two hours by bus -- so it'll serve as an easy day trip. I'm riding out with friends from here and then another friend is meeting us from Houston. Right now, our plans are to do the Mural Arts Love Letter Train Tour, which takes you to see fifty murals painted by graffiti artist Steve Powers. "The project...collectively express a love letter from a guy to a girl, from an artist to his hometown, and from local residents to their cherished neighborhood." The tour starts at ten in the morning and we're leaving on a seven thirty bus from New York, so we'll see if I'm actually awake for this thing. Wish me luck.

The most important question to answer on any sort of road trip is to figure out "what am I listening to?" At first I was just going to fire up J.Period's Best of the Roots and call it a day but then I realized that so many great artists hail from Philadelphia. So I took it upon myself to make the greatest Philadelphia mixtape. Hyperbole included.

Yo Adrian!
Track list - Zip file
Disc One: Cheesesteak
18 songs, 1 hr 12 mins, 95.0 MB

Disc Two: Hoagies
16 songs, 1 hr 06 mins, 86.4 MB

All the artists from the mixtape are either from Philly, associated with Philly, covering a Philly native's song, or literally singing about Philly -- with one notable TV related exception. The songs lean heavily toward hip hop and New Soul, because that's the sound I personally associate with Philadelphia. As with the Ultimate Mraz, I broke the mixtape into two sides: "cheesesteak" is upbeat and "hoagies" is for easy listening. Or just mix it all up in one iTunes playlist and see what you get.

The biggest omission, aside from some rap artists, is Will Smith. I know, how can I leave off the Fresh Prince? Honestly, I couldn't find a song of his I wanted to put on the mixtape. The obvious choice is "Summertime," but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It's winter now and the song would just be teasing me. So no Will Smith, and no"Motown Philly." I figured "Motown Philly" gets enough love already, and thus I opted for a lesser played Boyz II Men track.

I was delighted to learn that Hall & Oates are Philadelphia, and they're the only artist that gets two tracks. Everyone else receives one. I only got into Hall and Oates last year or so, and I was/am obsessed. Daryl Hall and John Oates met at Temple University and the reason they sound so damn good is because their producers were behind a lot of the Philly soul sound. I don't care if they were co-opting black music, it's too good! Hall and Oates deserved two selections.

Last thing: I pre-loaded images from the Love Letter Train Tour murals as the album art. When you pick a theme, you gotta go all the way right? Download Yo Adrian! today and let's ride.

Primary Colors

2013-01-17T21:20:00.001-08:00

Taking a cue from the local Nets of Brooklyn, black and white is in! While everyone else is trying to make their uniforms/websites gleam with cutting edge technology and graphics, I decided to follow Hova and go from rainbow to monochrome. Classy to ashy.

A quick template change later and the blog is done with its annual refresh. I also made the agonizing decision to go with truncated posts versus showing the entirety of each post. I have long strongly believed in having completely scrollable posts for personal blogs, no matter the length -- ala most of my favorite (defunct) blogs, such as Hipstomp -- but this template looks much nicer with the "read more" enabled. Most people cruise blogs through the RSS anyway, so it should be no big loss. Sorry for all the forced click clicking.

Also, since it's tough to call yourself an author when you haven't written anything in awhile, I'm shifting this space back to random flotsam and jetsam. YA will still get its due but more likely that'll shift over to a new young adult site Kiersi and I are pulling together. So this redesign is a return to the basics, and a return to the things you missed, and all of the things you didn't. Black and white and read all over...

Speaking of those Brooklyn Nets, I got a chance to visit Barclays Center about a month ago. The outside of the monstrosity is as ugly as everyone says it is, but the inside is beautiful. Right after you get through the doors, you're already in view of the main court, and it's quite impressive. There's no walls or tunnels blocking your way and the scoreboard and seats just materialize right in front of you. Also, there's a practice court or something on the side, which is also kind of neat to look down at.

I was ostensibly at Barclays to cheer for Michigan versus West Virginia, but I have no sports loyalty to my college and barely knew who the players were, much less that we were actually good this year. I know, I'm a disgrace to the UofM community. The nachos were delicious though, and there's a Cafe Habana inside the stadium. Corn is kind of like maize right? Go Blue?

50 Ways to Say Hello

2013-01-07T08:47:00.001-08:00

So my first couple days of January have been spent re-doing the fiftyfifty.me site. Lilly and I started fiftyfifty.me last year thinking just a few people would join. I mean, who else wanted to challenge themselves to read fifty books and watch fifty movies in one calendar year?

Turns out, a lot of people! As the weeks rolled by, we watched the number of participants grow all the way up to 350+. I had laughed when Lilly initially said she wanted to hit one hundred sign ups. Guess I lost that bet.

Both of us scrambled hard to complete the challenge, which we accomplished with some late December cramming, and now we're ready to rock again!

Last year's fiftyfifty.me site was last minute thrown together and since I had no idea it would have to track so many people, a simple blog ended up not being quite up to the task. My goal for 2013 was to make the site more functional and better all around.

With the help of Wordpress, Buddypress, and bbForums, the new fiftyfifty.me site has member profiles and a community space for people to interact. Last year I was seriously using a Google Doc to organize everything. It was, suffice to say, a bit unwieldy. Now all the "Overachievers" can gather and cheer each other on while I sit back, sip a sweet tea, and get caught up on my reading. Seriously, it's only a week into January and I already feel behind because I haven't flipped open a single book yet.

You'll notice the new site looks amazing. That's because Susie (boygirlparty) remade the logo and contributed new artwork on every page. Seriously, it all looks so cohesive and pretty now. I just want to hug the entire site. Like forever.

Go read the 2013 welcome message and sign up a year of books and movies! Then hit me up so we can compare notes because there's nothing I like to talk about more than stuff you've seen and read. I mean, what else is there?

Stuff I've Been Consuming 12

2012-12-31T03:07:00.000-08:00

BOOKS READ:

Steal Like An Artist, Austin Kleon
In the Name of the Star, Maureen Johnson
The Go-for-Gold Gymnasts: Balancing Act, Dominique Moceanu & Alicia Thompson
Tokyo Heist, Diana Renn
Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card
Unemployment, Aaron Lake Smith
Miss Fortune Cookie, Lauren Bjorkman
Prophecy, Ellen Oh

MOVIES WATCHED:

The Central Park Five, Ken Burns & Sarah Burns & David McMahon
Killing Them Softly, Andrew Dominik
Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard
Anna Karenina, Joe Wright
Pitch Perfect, Jason Moore
Les Miserables, Tom Hooper
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino

[fiftyfifty.me | Pinterest | Google Doc]

Made it Ma, top of the world! If this was a race, I would have stumbled across the finish line at the last second, timing it so that I crossed just as the alarm went off. (There are some inept analogies in there. I am not a runner.) The point being, I successfully finished the fiftyfifty.me challenge, with 50 books and 81 movies knocked out in 2012. Anything is poooosssssible!

Moving into December, it really looked like we might not finish. I was eight books short and Lilly had a few more of each to go. As co-founders of fiftyfifty.me, I felt like we had to finish. We had a moral obligation to get through it all. I mean, we can't fail our own challenge right? That would just be embarrassing.

Some travel woes really helped me out, as I got through three books in record time. Mid-December I was stuck in Baltimore due to heavy fog and then had to reschedule my flight back to San Diego. Let's just say that there's nothing better for uninterrupted reading time than delayed flights -- and also long train rides.

During the last week of December, Lilly was jamming through both movies and books while entombed on her couch, while I selected a few short items to rip through myself. I mean, Unemployment by Aaron Lake Smith is a smallish zine. Are zines books? Existential fiftyfifty.me questions like this came up often the past few weeks. In this case, the answer is a resounding "yes." I do feel slightly guilty though, as anything that short really shouldn't count. At least by my personal standards.

However, in my defense, there were some books I read this year that I didn't count on my total because they were for writing research and I didn't want to put them on my list for fear that someone would read those same books and then steal my idea and make it better. A very real possibility since the idea is only so-so. Taking those research books into account, I can honestly say I read fifty books this year. Scout's honor. Here's a chart showing my reading/watching for the year.

Yes, I watched thirteen movies in June. Clearly I must have had summer mumps or something. On the reading front, I totally collapsed in August-September, so that resulted in my year end cram session slash panic. Currently we're working on getting fiftyfifty.me ready for 2013 so I'll post about that when the new site's good to go. I also want to take more time to reflect on what reading fifty books did for me this past year. I mean, besides making me ultra-smart.

Some notes and recommendations from December stuff. While locked out of my apartment one sad morning, I sat in the bookstore and read through Austin Kleon's Steal Like An Artist. It's real short but there are some great graphics in it and the book was pretty inspiring. Camped out at the lone chair in Greenlight Bookstore, I felt a surge of creative power flow through me. I itched to do something wildly productive and thuddingly artistic. Unfortunately, I was keyless, phoneless, and wearing no socks. C'est la vie. By the time I got back into my house, it was nap time.

Reading through Ender in Exile, I got mad at how lazy it was. Of course I had to read it but I wasn't happy about it. There were literally chapters of just talking heads and exposition. Having been recently admonished that my own writing suffered from the same problem, I was frustrated/jealous that Mr. Card was getting away with it. "Look, he can do it, why can't I?!" Oh right, he's a bestselling author who can do what he wants. Ah, power. How I lust for it. Mainly I was just upset that I didn't know about Ender in Exile, published in 2008, until now. And I call myself an Ender fan, for shame!

As for movies, it was a good run to end the year. I thought Anna Karenina was beautiful, and now I think I should probably read the book. Going movie to book probably saved me a lot of hand wringing over inaccuracies, although I can't imagine how even the biggest Anna Karenina fan couldn't appreciate Joe Wright's clever adaptation and much discussed staging. It was brilliant. And even though I saw Kick-Ass twice, I couldn't place Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Vronsky. This ridiculously handsome guy is the same actor? Seriously?

We were going to double down on Les Miserables and Django Unchained on Christmas but nobody else wanted to sit through five hours of movies so we split it up between Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Les Miserables got mixed reviews from our group but I loved it all -- even with some of the spotty singing. Django was, well, Django. Not as good as Inglourious Basterds but close enough.

And if you're looking for a light watch, Pitch Perfect is the way to go. It's not like Glee on the big screen (thankfully), and it's also not "this generation's Clueless," but it's got plenty of hilarious lines and now I have a problem resisting the urge to prefix "aca-" to everything. Aca-bitches, stand up! Sidenote: If I could sing I would be so obnoxious with my talent. I would harmonize to all your sentences and statements. A goal for 2013 is to get invited to a riff off. Also, I have begun casting for my Les Mis wedding flash mob already, just in case I ever stumble into a relationship, an engagement, or an acoustically perfect venue. Remember, love is nothing compared to "One More Day."

Lastly, I think I want to recommend Rust and Bone, but I'm not sure who to recommend it to. The movie features killer whales, Katy Perry's "Fireworks," and Marion Cotillard, so it should be irresistible to all humans, but it wasn't exactly the film I was expecting. I'd hoped for Rust and Bone to stay with me longer, but it slipped away quietly. Rust and Bone did make me want to check out Jacques Audiard's other work though, starting with A Prophet.

So here it is, the end of 2012 and mission accomplished. I'll leave you with a photo of Shamu and friends that I took myself earlier this summer, from the first rows of the Splash Zone. We got completely drenched but it was worth it. The Shamu show is not nearly as good now that the trainers don't go into the water -- for good reason -- and I am torn between loving Sea World and reading too much about how orcas suffer in captivity. Is there really more we can learn from them? Set them all free, even if that means my season pass will purely be used to eat funnel cake.

Sea World's savvy secret: the funnel cake is killer. Another not so secret secret: alliteration and puns suck. Especially together.

Stuff I've Been Consuming 11

2012-12-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

BOOKS READ:

Just Kids, Patti Smith
Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb, Kirsten Miller
Gear School Volume 1&2, Adam Gallardo
A Story of Debt, Ashley Riordan

MOVIES WATCHED:

The Trip, Michael Winterbottom
Skyfall, Sam Mendes
Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2, Bill Condon
Life of Pi, Ang Lee
Lincoln, Steven Spielberg

[fiftyfifty.me | Pinterest | Google Doc]

November was all about the books, as I'd cleared the fifty movies months ago. Plus, there wasn't really a standout of the bunch, unless you count how much anticipation there was to watch the conclusion of the Twilight Saga. I can't even talk about the best part of that movie -- or rather, my theater experience -- because then I would be spoiling the ending. Twihards, ready your hearts.

One thing about Life of Pi: If you were hoping to see more bioluminescent whale in the movie, you will be sorely disappointed. The trailer contains most of the glowy blue whale the movie does. Watch the film to support Ang Lee, but set your expectations low for the whale.

I already gushed hard about the Kiki Strike series, and it's to my great relief that there's a third one in the works. It's called The Darkness Dwellers and it drops in late January. I haven't been this excited about a series in awhile and I'm already sad that I'll probably consume Book 3 in a few hours and then have to wait for more. I have some people say that they start to read slower to prolong a book experience. Usually I speed up to get to the end. However, with this next Kiki Strike I may have to try the slow down strategy.

The other book I'm 100% behind is Patti Smith's Just Kids. Part of me was resistant to it because it was ubiquitous -- you know how that happens -- but I'm happy to report that Just Kids is every bit as good as the critics claim. Having no prior knowledge of Smith's work prior to Just Kids, I found myself wondering what the heck she was famous for. The book starts with her as a young poet trying to make it in New York, then she paints, then she writes music critiques, then she kind of acts, then she gets a haircut and becomes popular for her androgynous look, and eventually she becomes a rock star. The other main person in her memoir, Robert Mapplethorpe, undergoes a similar all over the place artistic journey. Reading about their struggles and successes was both depressing and inspiring.

What Just Kids did for me was to make me realize that if you're an artist, everything can/should be your art. Your interests, your obsessions, your life, it can all just be a part of it. In fact, it pretty much has to be. Smith's book led me to think about how being an artist is more about a mentality than what you can do. "I take photographs, I paint, I sculpt, I write, I sing, etc."

The reality is that you set out to explore the world and take it in with an artist's curious sensibility and expression, and then you see where that goes. And if you don't have the necessary technical skills, you learn'em.

For quite awhile, I followed Ashley's blog, Writing to Reach You, as she chronicled her journey getting out of over $20,000+ in debt. Using an impressive amount of discipline and sacrifice, she cleared it all out in under a year and half. That's pretty amazing, especially since she was concurrently getting her PhD, working multiple jobs, and still being a regular person with regular social obligations and stuff. Ashley's been out of the red for a few years and now she's compiled all those blog entries into a free eBook! Go to A Story of Debt to check it out and download it.

I wish more of my favorite blogs did this actually, as I'd love to have complete copies of old favorites like Technicolor.org or Hipstomp. Instead I find myself trolling through the Wayback Machine to read everything. Is there a service that can turn websites into ebooks? I'd pay handsomely for that.

Outrageous, So Contagious

2012-12-12T19:47:00.001-08:00

Having been in New York for awhile now, I've slowly accumulated some items and detritus of staying here life. Like a bed, got one of those. (Well, a mattress.) There are towels on hand for guests too, a big step forward. And I have three types of hangers. It's all impressive stuff. My roommate has started making noise about getting a toaster oven, although I prefer a plain old toaster. So many decisions when you stay put in one place for longer than three months yeah?

Also, my friend lent me his big JBL HLS810 speakers. These make any space comfortable, as I think I'd rather have music than couches. I mean, living room dance space is always at a premium right? Our apartment is right above a street side window, and across from a school, so it's important that we blast age appropriate music. Luckily my collection of teen pop is quite extensive. Don't kid yourself, the Carly Rae album is actually kind of good. "You were here, and then you left / Now there's nobody, nobody / Now they're all just second best..."

Having decided to remain here for a little while longer, there's also been a slow accumulation of winter clothes. Jackets, scarves, long sleeved things, beanies, gloves, what is this madness? And when you peel it all off and need to put your pile -- plus you -- on that single narrow bar stool? Impossible.

My purse recently went through a harrowing experience -- it was jacked from me on the mean streets of Fort Greene. All of its contents were stripped bare but the purse itself was unharmed, left discarded on the street next to a subway station. I won't go into the gory details as my purse is still suffering from inanimate object PTSD, but the thieves clearly had their own definition of spread love, it's the Brooklyn way. I should probably consider carrying a more threatening bag. Something spiky.

In honor of its courage front in the face of danger, here's a winter version of Purses Organized Neatly. Last fall's version is here. Two things I'd like to highlight. First, if you're an iPhone user, you know how hard it is to keep your phone charged. I recently got an external battery pack for it and now when I go into a room, I'm no longer sweeping my eyes around for outlets. For $25, the Monoprice 3000 mAh charger comes recommended. I can't recall if we learned about milliampere hours in school, but if I ever get a chance to make up SAT questions, I'd frame everything in terms of practical electronics stuff. Then kids will be sure to pay attention. "If the iPhone 5 has a battery capacity of 1440 mAh, what's the best price/power ratio for Mophie's line of products? Please show your work."

Also, to sing the praises of whoever makes these ubiquitous convertible fingerless gloves to mittens. The convertible part isn't new to me, but the thumbs are now covered and designed with a slit so that you can pop the top down to use your touchscreen. It's likely this is not a novel thing for you cold weather regulars, but to me this is genius. I want to say bravo to the glove designers, and to the many copycats who have since made this item widely available and affordable. I have purchased two pairs of these magical mittens from vendors on St. Mark's -- the first ones were whisked away with the purse -- and am on the search for the perfect color. At $5-10 a pair, my thumbs have never been warmer, or more efficient.

While I'm here, I'd like to R.I.P. my Canon camera. Not so much the camera itself -- nobody uses a point and click these days -- but the Delkin Snug-It's case that I housed it in. That case was the coolest thing in my "protect all electronics" arsenal. Its black skin was pleasurably tacky but not sticky, supple yet strong, much like how I'd imagine Shamu would feel like. And the best part about the case was how the opening for the lens flowered open like a sea anemone. Without this surefire conversation starter by my side, I don't even know how I'll talk to people anymore.

Speaking of killer whales, the unexpected use of "Fireworks" in Rust and Bone was just the best. I wouldn't recommend the film to everyone, but it had some wonderful moments for those with patience. Plus, orcas!

Five Times Five

2012-11-21T07:02:00.000-08:00

A sorta weekly feature of things I co-sign:

(1) What Claudia Wore. Babysitter's Club fans, this one's for you. Everyone else, this is also for you.

(2) Signing Tour: The Reality TV Show. I would like to expand on this and take it to the next level. The level where it actually happens.

(3) Life in Publishing Tumblr. I usually can't do animated GIF blogs but this one is just too good. Plus a companion Why Authors Are Crazy version. Whoever you anonymous geniuses are, thank you.

(4) Let's Discuss Disqus. As Disqus is my preferred commenting platform -- Blogger's generic comments are the worst -- here's Forever Young Adult's breakdown.

(5) Help Revitalize Books of Wonder. If you go to any children's book events in New York, you know about BoW. Now they need some help so go donate at their Indiegogo campaign!

Stuff I've Been Consuming 10

2012-11-16T06:07:00.000-08:00

BOOKS READ:

Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
Truth & Beauty, Ann Patchett
Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City, Kirsten Miller
Don't Get Too Comfortable, David Rakoff

MOVIES WATCHED:

Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry, Alison Klayman
The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson
Argo, Ben Affleck
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
Cloud Atlas, Andy & Lana Wachowski & Tom Tykwer

[fiftyfifty.me | Pinterest | Google Doc]

After two highly lackluster reading months, I finally pulled it together and got some books out of the way. I'm on book #38, with a dozen left for November and December. That's doeable, I believe. Best of all, October's reads are all highly recommended. For our inaugural two person book club, we did Kafka on the Shore. Unfortunately, I thought we were doing 1Q84 and I read through most of that before realizing we had agreed on a different Murakami. I feel like I should get some fiftyfifty.me credit for 1Q84, since it was originally published in three volumes. But that seems to be cheating and I'm not that desperate to pump up my count yet. Sadly, until I loop back to 1Q84, I won't find out what happens to Aomame the assassin and Tengo the writer. "Aomame" is kind of a great name right?

Ann Patchett's Truth & Beauty is about friendship but also alot about pursuing a life in writing. I coudn't stop raving about it after ripping through the whole thing in one sitting, and have pushed the book upon anyone who would listen. Regrettably, nobody has listened to me yet, as per usual. That's okay though because I finally got to read some David Rakoff and now aspire to be as curmudgeonly as he. It'll be a tough trick to pull off because in comparison, Rakoff is ten times more observant, a thousand times funnier, and also a million times better writer than I/me. (Which admittedly, I guess, isn't saying much.) In Don't Get Too Comfortable, Rakoff skewers our culture of narcissism and excess. In solidarity, I want to hate all the things he hates. I also want to be his Instagram friend. Sadly, he is deceased.

Another book I've been pushing hard is Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City. Here's the tagline: "Five delinquent Girl Scouts, one secret city beneath Manhattan, and a butt-kicking girl super spy." What else do you need?! Well, author Kirsten Miller's blog also contains a series called The Irregular Guide to New York City and it explores many of Manhattan's lesser known -- and often subterranean -- secrets. Check out Chinatown's Bloody Tunnels or The Mystery of Track 61. I'm zipping through book two of the series and am relieved another one is about to come out. They are ridiculously good in all respects and I wish there were more books like this. I also need a Kiki Strike in my life to lure me into capers and adventures.

As for movies, not a bad one in the bunch for October. The Ai Weiwei documentary is a must-see, not only because Weiwei is such a compelling artist, but also because of director's Alison Klayman's really great editing and presentation. I couldn't believe it when I did some post-watch research and found out that this was her first documentary effort. Regardless of how familiar or unfamiliar you are with Weiwei's work and his political activism, Never Sorry will resonate. We watched it with my friend's parents, who immigrated from China in the Eighties, and it was interesting to get their perspective on the film. They explained some of the play on words we didn't know, such as caonima and why Weiwei hosted a river crab feast as protest.

I read Perks of Being a Wallflower awhile ago -- way before I knew what YA even was -- but didn't remember much about it. The movie itself was impressive, especially when I realized that the book's author, Stephen Chbosky got to do the screenplay and directed as well. I don't know how many authors get to direct their own movies, much less pull it as well as Chbosky did. The film's soundtrack is kind of killer too. Pretty much I hate Chbosky for accomplishing everything I've ever wanted to do. Okay I don't hate him, I admire him...

Both The Master and Cloud Atlas were overly long but mostly worth the watch. I didn't know about the whole 70mm hype around The Master so I kind of want to see it again, even though I didn't love the film. I have never been so excited to listen to a movie's Slate Spoiler Special. Afterwards I was like , "Please, just someone explain to me what I just watched." I'm not sure who to recommend The Master to, except cinephiles. Actually, upon reflection, Cloud Atlas wasn't a pure recommend either, but I was entertained throughout and I think my interest was pre-piqued by reading about the adaptation of a so-called unfilmable book. Here's the article: "Bending Time, Bending Minds."

Man, this got long. Usually I only talk about the high and lowlights but I guess October was just a banner month. Coming up next, I just read these two great articles about Truman Capote's interview of Marlon Brando and now I need to see some of young Brando's standout movies. On the Waterfront or A Streetcar Named Desire? The answer is clearly, "both."

Stay Stay Stay

2012-11-15T00:42:00.000-08:00

Currently pushing: Letterpress. If you're into word games, Letterpress is for you. I hate Words With Friends for many reasons but this is a delight. And the intuitive and simple design is outstanding. Go try it out, you won't regret it.

After a bit of calculation, I realized I hadn't left the confines of my Brooklyn block for almost three weeks. Between Hurricane Sandy, work, deadlines, the election, the start of the basketball season, and a general downturn in weather, I basically only left the house to eat. And then I figured out I could get ninety percent of my meals delivered over, so why leave? Of course, you can't just hermit up forever. Or so people tell me.

When my roommate came home the other day and declared that it was beautiful and hot out, I knew I had to take a break from writing because otherwise my brain would explode. With a few precious hours of freedom, I bolted out to the city. After some shopping, dinner, and a movie, my phone battery died and I was left to figure out the way home without electronic assistance. (The bane of my existence so far is the crappy iPhone battery.) Predictably, I got off at the wrong stop -- the trains are slightly different post-hurricane -- and ended up far away from my house.

I didn't mind though, I wanted to take a long walk anyway. It was three in the morning, with nobody around, and since this could be the last warm night in New York for some time, I was happy to just set off in the general direction of home and get there eventually.

When I'm out here, I carry a small compass to orient myself. Unless you're pretty familiar with the whole city, or just have an outstanding sense of direction, it's kind of hard to know which way you're facing when you pop out of the subway. Also, I am not good with direction based directions.

People out here love to say, "It's on the west side of the street." Dude, I have no idea what that means. Is it on my left or my right? Unless the Pacific Ocean is nearby, I don't know which way west is. A compass solves all these problems. I recommend everyone carry a compass. Pro tip.

As I belatedly discovered however, my faithful compass is now broken. I wandered the wrong way for awhile, until I noticed that I hadn't hit the Barclays Center like I'd expected. Most of the cabs going by slowed down, figuring correctly that I was lost. Just once I would like to look like I blend in with the neighborhood/environment enough so that people don't wonder what the heck I'm doing there. Oh to be belong! A couple of miles and two hours of walking later, I arrived at my front door, shining bright in-between a coffee shop and a pet supply store.

This is the most exciting thing I've done since Halloween.

I am concerned that the time for long walking nights are over, as the very next day returned us to chilly weather. The good news is that I bought a semi-proper winter jacket -- as opposed to the light one I used through the wind and snow two years ago -- so I'm sticking around New York for some portion of the winter at least. The bad news is that my compass is busted and I could be lost forever.

Which, I guess, really isn't all that different from when I had a compass.