Initial Perspective

This may not exactly follow poetic conventions of meter, rhyme or quality, but I've never claimed to be a poet.

"Initial Perspective"

'Twas the day of NYC Pride,
and all were celebrating.
I watched a parade
just standing there, waiting.

I saw politicians
and go-go boys galore;
but I said to myself,
"Surely, there must be more."

I stood there for hours,
then round the corner I did see...
the Pride Center of Jersey
and my new friend Chris D.

I got his attention
and briefly we did meet;
then he continued marching
to Christopher Street.

I started to wander
over to Pride Fest;
not much to see,
certainly not their best.

Then Chris called me up;
"Hey, let's get together."
I went to go meet him
knowing the day would get better.

We walked through the fest,
again, not much of a treat,
then we decided
that it was time to eat.

We went on our way,
and accidentally walked north,
but eventually made it
to Broadway and 4th.

All during this time,
we talked as peers.
An amazing conversation,
best I've had in years.

After the lunch,
down to Stonewall Inn,
packed with many revelers,
hard to hear in the din.

First bar I've been too
in God knows how many years,
Though Chris managed to
allay all my fears.

A couple of drinks,
a couple of songs,
back into the street
away from the throng.

Up to the 20's
and a place called View Bar,
to meet Chris' friends,
since it wasn't that far.

We met up with Stephen
and also Chris Nash;
then things got really fun
as the stories got hashed.

Off to X es
and my lack of dance skill.
Seriously, I need some moves
for a vibe I can kill.

I gave it a try,
and I'm not good still,
then a random stranger grinded me
and got up in my grill.

A few drinks for Mr. Highbrow
and the shirt nearly comes off,
Sex Vs. Intimacy
and who we would boff.

Then Chris N. had to go
and help out a friend,
He was quite a great guy
sad the time had to end.

Off to Cafeteria
for a late night bite,
more great conversation
late into the night.

Now it's 1:30am
and Stephen left then
I had a good time with him,
hopefully we'll meet again.

So Chris and I walked uptown
thankful for no rain,
then one small problem,
Chris D. missed his train.

So to Jersey I drove him
and we talked more on the way.
Eventually his house was reached,
and thus ended the day.

We parted with a hug
and promises to meet again soon;
back to NY I drove,
and got home before noon.

On the way back home,
I was sad the day had to end,
but one thought made me happy,
I've made an awesome, great new friend.

Team Duncan

After a marathon viewing of Total Drama Island and the 1 hour special, I am ready to enjoy Total Drama Action! I've got the first 13 episodes ready to go, then will be able to enjoy it on a week to week basis. Plainly, I am rooting for Duncan to take the win on season 2. I find him to be the most consistently funny character after Izzy, but there's no way she'd ever win. Besides, who doesn't like the bad boy?

Strange End to a Strange Life

Surprised, but not shocked.

A former co-worker of mine put it best when he said: "I think it's ironic that every little boys crush dies on the same day as the guy who had a crush on every little boy."

Maybe not exactly the truth, but funny.

Which reminds me:



I never owned this poster growing up, I might have realized I was gay a lot earlier if I did (seriously, it's a bit creepy). At least both of them have their peace now.

Scratch That

Oh well, maybe it's Andy Roddick's time again.

Daddy?

Being adopted, I have occasionally wondered who and where my birth father is. Never really have had much of an interest in finding him, maybe someday. More often, however, I think of how cool it would be if he turned out to be a celebrity. And who would be cooler than Jim Perry? Sure, there are some game show hosts that might be more famous than him, but between Card Sharks and Sale of the Century (two of my favorites), well....I just think it would be neat.

Above is one of my favorite clips, the only time a contestant shot the moon on the Big Money cards.

How sad is it that all the great hosts will probably be gone in the next decade or so? Ludden, Cullen, Barry, Rayburn are already gone. Kennedy, Barker and Hall are in their 80's and Perry, Dawson, Eubanks and Martindale in their 70's. Only Chuck Woolery is still in his 60's and just barely.

Maybe I should do more game show posts? It's one of my favorite topics.

Le Sigh

Jeez, I just can't catch a break anymore rooting for Marat. Already out of Wimbledon. Oh well, hopefully I'll catch him at the US Open before he retires.

At least Janko and Andy are still in the running.

You don't need no stinking report

So I was on the job last weekend driving the taxi. It had been a nice, albeit long day. The last train pulled in at 2:30, I got two fares from it, both a couple miles away. Ok, so it won't be a quick finish, but I should still be done by 3:00 then home by 3:30. I drop off the last fare, turn to head back to the station where I will hopefully get the word to fill up, I go to turn left onto the main road back to the station when...

SHEAR!

A young woman blows through the red light facing her and takes off the front of the cab. It was a rather amazing accident. Oddly, I didn't even feel the hit. It was so neatly done that the car wasn't jostled into another position at all. The detritus covered about a 100 yard radius. The front part of the cab had nearly been shorn off; save for a few dangling pieces, it was a clean break. Bumper, headlights, grill, all neatly shaved off right to where the hood started. Three more feet into the intersection and it would have been the driver's side door she hit.

Then it got strange. The police were called. The young woman said her father worked as a captain in the police department. About four minutes later, her father did pull up to the accident scene, shortly followed by a squad car. The police took my information and my side of the story. I went to ask the woman for her information and exchange mine, but she wouldn't talk to me. She said I would have to go through her father. Her father would only mention how old the cab looked and wouldn't give me any information. He would keep going off to talk to the two officers by himself. Every time I would sidle up close to see what was going on, one of the officers would say that everything was all right and I could sit down and relax. When the father was not talking to the officers, he was telling his daughter to be quiet and sit in his car.

Eventually, I was given a slip of paper with both of our information on it and told that this was all I needed. The tow truck for the cab came, I went back to the station and got home about 4:40am, then had to be at work eight hours later.

Cut to today. I went downtown to get a copy of the police report. Everyone I know said it was very strange to have this father do most of the talking since he wasn't even there for the accident. I should make sure that this report didn't say something completely opposite of what happened. I agreed and went to see what the report did say. I get to the records office, give the details of the date, time and report number and was told the the report was a "Code 4", meaning that no official report of the accident was to be filed. Hmmmm. This smells to me like a cover up. Most likely the girl was drinking or realized she was at fault for the accident, and her father did not want negative consequences for her, so he made sure that nothing would be filed that could be harmful to his daughter.

I still haven't heard anything from the cab company about it, I would like to talk to the boss so I can find out if there's anything information I'm unaware of, but none of my phone calls are returned (not a huge surprise). For the moment, it looks as if the matter is closed, at least there's no report that claims something negative about me, and I drove this past weekend, so the company can't be too mad. If anything else develops from this, I'll update.

Waiting for the call.......

So back on June 9th, I had an interview for a teaching position. I thought the interview went rather well and even sent a thank you note the next day filling in some of the blanks I felt were left from the interview.

Cut to today...and....nothing. No word at all yet. I'm slightly loathe to call since I don't want to be viewed as a pest, but I would imagine that two weeks should be enough time to make the decision, especially as the school year ends on Friday. I'm not going around assuming that I didn't get the job, but after this amount of time with no contact, I don't think it's looking too positive.

Brooke

I don't know. I've just been in a Rupert Brooke mood recently. A tad melancholy, a tad crazed, a tad restless.

At least it's only once a year......

Thank God I'm still amazingly youthful looking.

Earth Shmay

I'm not sure where all the hoopla for this comes from. Earth Day? April 22nd? The way I see it is this. At this current moment in time, I'm 35 years old (36 in 8 days). If I'm a very lucky person, I'll make it to 100 to get a Willard Scott shoutout. Yes, there are some definite signs that global warming is speeding up, but I can't see anything truly significant happening to Earth in the next 64 years. So what do I care? I'm no Earth hater by any means, I'm not spraying aerosol cans into the atmosphere for shits and giggles, but I just can't buy into all the roohah for this. Now, if reincarnation is proved to me, thereby ensuring my continued existence on this planet beyond my life in this body, then I will reassess the situation.

Salmon P. Chase, Where Are You?

Slowly the Walls Start to Close

American Idol-- Free Child with Every Song

So I finally sat down to watch American Idol in earnest this season. I've sort of popped in and out the past few weeks, but after watching both of the last seasons in full, I just wasn't ready for another few months of auditions and Hollywood week. I didn't even really watch the first few weeks of public eliminations as they went back to the original way of eliminating contestants and I didn't want to watch 9 people sing every week that I wasn't going to see ever again.

So this was my first introduction to most of the contestants this season and I must say I was decently impressed. It's hard to choose an absolute favorite at this point, but Adam Lambert's version of "Black and White" was the best of the evening by far. Though how awesome would it have been if he performed the Macaulay Culkin rap piece from the song?

Anyhoo.....not that I'm old...I'm not....and maybe it comes from living in close proximity to NYC, but I was shocked at and lost count of the number of contestants who were 23 or under and were married with children or unmarried with children. Holy Crap! It seemed like every other person had a child or was divorced. I was just basically out of college at 23, and even if I could have gotten married in this country back then, it was the last thing on my mind. Even my sister didn't get married until she was 28 and was 30 when she had her first child. Is this something new, or has my head been stuck in the sand?

Another Reason I'm Happy

Dancing With the Stars is back on! I don't know exactly why, but I love watching this show. Plus it brings Mark Ballas (who is just hot) and Johnathan Roberts (who sadly is married) back onto my television. Here's hoping both of them make the finals......

Reason I'm happy.....

Thank God for Tivo! I thought Reaper was coming back on the 17th. I never took off my season pass from last year, so imagine my surprise when I found a brand new episode awaiting me the other day. Ah, so nice to have Bret Harrison back on the hair. Spring is definitely coming.

New Netflix Queue

I' ve added a something or other, feedburn? rss thingy? to the sidebar showing the top few films on my Netflix Queue, in addition to the ones I have at home. Cringe to the horrors of the crap I watch!

Hmmm..

Well, I've had time let it sink in. 21/24 correct on the Oscars, my best year ever. 87.5% Can't be upset though, never would have gotten all 24. Could have guessed Sean Penn, and possibly The Dark Knight in Sound Whatever, but never would have seen Departures in Foreign Film. I don't think it even opens here until June. Ah well, bring on next year.

My bologna has a first name.....

Well, my lack of a well-paying job and worsening financial situation has left me rather apathetic to posting on a semi-regular basis, hopefully when things turn around (if), it will all get better. Still though, no reason not to post my own personal Oscar picks. Tough one this year.

Best Actor: Mickey Rourke

This could just as easily go to Sean Penn, but as the ceremony arrives, I just haven't heard the buzz surrounding Penn as you would normally expect to hear around a winner; so I'm guessing the comeback story of Rourke wins the day here.

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger

It could go to someone else, but then that person would be hated forever. The good thing is that Ledger would actually deserve the Oscar, as his performance was worthy, not just mass hysteria to honor a deceased star.

Best Actress: Kate Winslet

Again, this could easily go to Meryl Streep, and I'm sure the Academy would love to honor her again, but I think the Academy would love to honor Winslet for the first time even more. Plus, it's about the Holocaust, Ricky Gervais is right on that point.

Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz

This race is a bit more open. The only performance that has stayed with me is Cruz's. The Wrestler is all about Rourke, so I don't think it will go to Tomei. Henson was fine but forgettable. Adams was also fine but a bit one note, though people do seem to like her. Davis did a great job with her scene, but I didn't think it was as amazing as others thought. So I say Cruz, with hesitation.

Best Animated Feature: WALL-E

The Panda beat it at the animation awards, but more people vote for the Oscar, so WALL-E will take home it's due.

Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The film looked beautiful, and it got to follow the characters through many different time periods. Maybe The Dark Knight could upset it, and if it had scored a Best Picture nod it might have, but Button has to win something.

Best Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire

Maybe not the best choice, but it was vibrant and kinetic, and that will win the day.

Best Costume Design: The Duchess

After watching Elizabeth: The Golden Sequel win, I realized that Best Costume means best period film, so The Duchess will win for its finery.

Best Director: Danny Boyle

I actually liked Slumdog Millionaire and was happy to see it nominated for so many awards. Frost/Nixon and Button I thought were boring, The Reader was good until that twist, then the film started to unravel. I loved Milk, but I don't think it has enough oomph to overthrow Slumdog in major categories. So Boyle will take home the Oscar.

Best Documentary Feature: Man on Wire

A two way race between Man and Herzog's Encounters. Man wins because 1. The man involved is a great storyteller and 2. It's about the World Trade Center.

Best Documentary Short: Smile Pinki

I arrived 3 hours early for the screenings of the shorts and it was already sold out! What's the deal? MOMA needs to hold 2 screenings at least. A tougher call without seeing them, but consensus seems to be between the MLK associated The Witness and the Indian Cleft Lip story Smile Pinki. I'm thinking cute and adorable wins the day, so Pinki will take it.

Best Editing: Slumdog Millionaire

Spirited and kinetic wins the day. It does seem as if fast paced usually wins the day here.

Best Foreign Language: The Class

The Class is an amazing film, and not just because I'm an unemployed teacher. This category can be tough to call as only qualified voters and vote, and 3 of the nominees has not been released to see yet, but I can't imagine much being better than The Class.

Best Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I'd love to see Hellboy II win here, but I think most people would associate the makeup jobs with visual effects, so Button will pick up the Oscar here, and hey, it has to win something.

Best Original Score: Slumdog Millionaire

Hmmm....I wonder what the opposite of this award would be? Remember when it used to be 2 different awards? Anyhoo, the Indian rhythms of Slumdog will win as it's new to many.

Best Original Song: Jai Ho

Everyone watches the dance to it over the end credits of Slumdog, so how can it not win?

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

The coronation will be around 11:30ish EST. I found Button to be rather dull and that seems to be a minor refrain, so that will keep it from winning. Frost/Nixon was also dull and I'm not exactly sure how that got nominated. Milk would be my second choice, and it would be a worthy winner, but again, no oomph. The Reader's second half keeps it from winning. So Slumdog it is.

Best Animated Short Film: La Maison en Petits Cubes

These I did see. All 5 are good, but La Maison was quite touching and brought a tear to my eye. Only Presto has a chance to unseat it.

Best Live Action Short Film: Toyland

It's about the Holocaust, and is actually good to boot.

Best Sound Editing: Slumdog Millionaire

This probably should go to The Dark Knight, but I think most voters are going to give it to Heath Ledger and call it a day, so the kineticism of Slumdog will win here.

Best Sound Mixing: Slumdog Millionaire

This probably should go to The Dark Knight, but I think most voters are going to give it to Heath Ledger and call it a day, so the kineticism of Slumdog will win here.

Best Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Brad Pitt looking 16 again? What's not to love. Besides, Button has to win something.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog takes a concept that sounds cringe inducing to hear and makes a great film out of it. I know some others don't like Slumdog, but I'm not one of them.

Best Original Screenplay: Milk

Here's the category that Milk can win in. Unless there's an swelling of support for Mike Leigh, Dustin Lance Black will win.

Good Bye 2008

And Good Riddance; hopefully 2009 has better things in store.