Going to the Toronto Film Festival this year?

Some of my favourite memories of Toronto is being the annual Toronto International Film Festival. I attended every single year from about 1995 until I moved to the USA in 2002, and unfortunately the festival always happens during school time. It's perhaps my greatest aspiration to have one of my films show there. That is one of my measures of success.

Anyways, one of prof's films will be screened this year. His name is Jay Anania, and his film is Day On Fire. Don't know much about it, but he was very stressed during production last winter, and one of my classmates has a small role in it.

I spoke with Jay last night, and he's definitely going to be there for the screenings. He was also taking calls from his assistant who was with the colour timer, and a proper sound mix wasn't even done yet. But, it will get done. So if you're bored, go and check out his movie. After the Q&A, tell him I sent you. For real.

For screenings and tickets go here.

I saw the Kid that Saw Dead People

Apparently, Haley Joel Osment is now a student at Tisch. I think M. Night Shyamalan pulled some strings for him.

Manatees are so hot (and smart too!)

Our poor friend the roly-poly manatee is having a renaissance as of late. Getting respect for finally not being as dimwitted as once believed. I didn't know this, but the manatee doesn't eat animals. Also, no one eats manatee!

Huzzah for the manatee, our cute, portly, misunderstood friend.

Boot Camp

Classes formally start next week, but this week we started on our "Writing Boot Camp". Basically, it's a chance to workshop our 10-minute scripts for faculty and class mates in a constructive setting. The idea is to get our screenplays very strong so that when classes start, we just focus on producing, casting etc...

I was dreading it because, quite frankly, I think my story sucks. Everyone shared their ideas, and we read a few completed scripts. Some of them are pretty good.

After class I met up with the prof, and we discussed my idea more in depth. I pretty much knew the weaknesses in it, and we found some solutions to the problems. I came out of the meeting with a stronger story, and a direction in which to take it. So, I feel somewhat at ease of my idea, because I feel that it is filmable.

Either way, today is the beginning of a massive undertaking. Stay-tuned.

Screw Pluto (ignore previous post)

Although it's great to see Pluto dominating International newspapers, and generating so much interest amongst the general public (myself included), it really is kind of useless news. Yes, it affects people's funding, and yes, textbooks will have to be changed. At the end of the day, the whole Pluto thing boils down to semantics. There is no new science.

What is far more important, and what is a real discovery is the fact that not all stars in globular clusters are of the same age. Globular clusters are just spherically shaped groups of stars that orbit the core of a galaxy. It was originally thought that globular clusters were some of the earliest objects accreted in a newly formed galaxy, and were the same age. The new research clearly shows a variation in the age of stars within a cluster. In short, everything I know is wrong.

Globular clusters are sometimes useful in determining the Age of the Universe, but these new results probably will not affect the accepted values for the age of the things by too much.

Poor Pluto (an ode to an ex-gf)

I once dated a girl that was in love with Pluto. She knew everything about Pluto, and would rattle off stats about "Percival Lowell who discovered Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona".

We had this one astronomy prof who belonged to a small minority (at the time) of people that refused to recognize Pluto as being a planet. She would get so upset whenever Pluto came up and vowed to never take a class taught by this prof. I'd try to persuade her to take it (it was required), but she'd say "No Way! Jeez, he doesn't think that Pluto is a planet. Imagine what else he's wrong about!"

As it turns out, the astro nerds have decided that Pluto is not a planet. That girl must have her head in the oven today. Then again, she also claimed to have been an alien, so maybe she's long gone.

Here's also a really nice/funny op-ed about the drama concerning Pluto.

More Signs that I am old

I went to Canada's Wonderland today, which is the equivalent to a Six Flags type amusement park.

Went on most of the roller-coasters and a few of the other thrill rides. There is this one called Shockwave (pictured above) and that was a mistake. I still feel nauseus and dizzy. I'm not kidding.

I also feel old since I kept on thinking about all of the physics involved: conservation of energy, conservation of angular momentum.,etc...

There is such thing as too much fan.

Perserverance

I recently heard the story of a friend from high school. As long as I can remember, she always wanted to be a dentist. That is a completely questionable desire, but hey who am I?

Anyways, a clever girl she busted her ass through high-school and did quite well. Went off to a good university, applied to dental schools and got rejected. Kept on working, but never lost sight of dental school. Rejected over and over and over. I think it's been at least 5 years.

Anyhoo, apparently she finally got in this year and starts in September. I probably would have given up long ago, but I'm glad to know that there are still a few people that still believe in themselves, are willing to put in the work and suffer a bit to achieve their goals.

Here's to them and hopefully you.

The Best Ball Players Ever

At the game last night, they handed out those perforated carboard ballots that they usually hand out for all-star voting. I was like "huh? The All-Star Game was back in July!". Anyways, it turns out that it's a new list that MLB is trying to do: Who are the best players ever to play for each franchise?

An interesting list, which I can't even imagine beginning to compile, especially for storied teams like the Yankees, Red Sox etc...

As I was casting my votes, I realized that it's really tough to do this. I mean, there's no doubt that Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson etc... they were all great players. Or so I've been told. I haven't had the opportunity to really see them play before my eyes. Like I *KNOW* that Ken Griffey Jr is incredible. I *KNOW* that Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens are dominating pitchers. I guess, I wish I could have seen all of the 'greats' play on a field, such that I'd have a greater appreciation for them.

You can see the list here. There are a few interesting things:
- Greg Maddux doesn't appear for the Braves, but John Smoltz does.
-Randy Johnson doesn't appear for the Mariners, but for the Diamondbacks.
-Pete Rose appears for the Reds. Could this be a sign from MLB to let things go?
-Nolan Ryan appears both for the Astros and the Rangers.
-Marc McGwire doesn't appear for the Cards or the Athletics.
-Barry Bonds appears, which I think is great.
-The Nationals, I'm assuming also had the Expos past to draw from. Why wasn't Andre Dawson included?

Now for the Jays: Pat Hentgen, Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, Tony Fernandez and Dave Stieb.
Joe Carter and Tony Fernandez are shoe-ins. Dave Stieb is questionable. Alomar and Hentgen definitely don't belong on that list. Alomar was a supreme douchebag. Hentgen wasn't dominating.

Because of these glaring ommissions, I wrote in George Bell(which should have been a no-brainer). I also think Fred McGriff, Jesse Barfield and Roy Halladay deserved to be on this list.

What do you think are the good choices, and not so good choices for your team?

Gratuitous Cute Cat Entry

IMG_5930.JPG,
originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

I never thought that I'd be passing around photos of cats, but here it is.
This little guy is my sister's, and his name is "Moo Moo". An all round cutey, he's really interested in running water.

I shall never post another cat picture. Mark my words.

I went to the fights tonight, and a baseball game broke out!

High Drama at Skydome tonight.

The Jays laid into the Athletics in the first few innings, hammering out 8 runs going into the 3rd inning. Somehow the A's came back with a bunch of solo HR's and kept on coming. The Boss comes out to give Ted Lilly the hook, and some choice words occurred between the two. All of it to see up on the massive screen in the stadium. Not sure what they were arguing about since Lilly should have been yanked after giving up a comfortable lead. Using my masterful lip reading powers, I clearly saw a 'Fack aff' from Lilly.

With the relief warming, the manager followed Lilly to the tunnel where they physically duked it out. Gibbons emerged back to the dugout with a bloody nose.

Look for Lilly to be sent down in the coming hours.

(the Jays lost, in the end).

I'm all set for the New Fall Fashions

According to various reports from the world's red carpets and runways, I will be at the height of fashion this year. Hats (which, if you know me, I'm always wearing), and thick eyebrows are all the rage.

Don't hate me because you want to be me.

Bottom of the Pack

Maclean's Magazine, which is like a Canadian version of Time or US News puts out an annual ranking of all the Canadian Universities. As in the USA, these rankings have become points of shame/pride amongst students and schools. However, there have been a lot of people on both sides of the border questioning the validity and honesty of such rankings and just how useful they are. The good thing is that a lot of the big schools in Canada are choosing to not deal with Maclean's anymore. I think the whole ranking system in the USA and Canada needs to be revised or just completely done away with. The only way this can be done is if the top schools refuse to deal with the rankings. Students should be concerned with getting an education that suits their needs rather than the brand name.

The Greatest New Show

Reason to get cable

The Sweater

The National Film Board of Canada has finally gone through their vaults and digitized a lot of their awesome animated shorts. Most of them were just impossible to view, and to have them so readily available is really a great treat.

My favourite has to be Sheldon Cohen's "The Sweater", based on the childhood story of Roch Carrier. I hadn't seen this since grade 5, and honestly I think it still holds up today. The story concerns a young boy in rural Quebec that plays hockey with all his friends, all of them donning the very same Maurice "Rocket" Richard Montreal Canadiens jersey. Soon, the guy's jersey becomes way too old and small so his moms goes through Eaton's (R.I.P.)catalogue and orders him a new one. What comes in the mail a few weeks later is not a red, white and blue Canadiens jersey, but a blue and white Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. Mon dieu! His mother forces him to wear it, and he must deal with the fall-out.

The animation is just impeccable. The film elevates to a folk-art with it's caricatures and fluid transformations between people, places and things. Also, Roch's francophone accent is so beautiful.

This film is a national treasure, and YOU MUST WATCH IT HERE.

The Coolest Record Store in the World?

On a recent tour of the East Village, a friend and I checked out Hospital Productions. The self described "shrine for noise and black metal", which I am not a fan of either per se. I like my metal doom or death.

Anyways, it's a pretty cool little joint. You have to literally go through another record store (Jammyland), go to the back, climb down this rickety old ladder, **ask a guy for an egg, give a secret handshake, and say "Blaze in the Northern Sky", then this secret vault appears**. OK, everything between the ** is false, but you do have to go down a ladder at the back of some other store.

What you'll find there in the space equivalent to my bedroom, is bins and racks of noise and black metal (as advertized), and the helpful proprietor. The dude, who is also in his own band, is an all round good guy. Although they didn't have what I was looking for, some old Impaled Nazarene he had a good stock of stuff. I ended up buying some Wolf Eyes.

I wish duder well in actually trying to fill a niche market. Good for him.

Zen and the Art of Cashing In

I read 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' as part of my 1st year Philosophy course back in undergrad, and it completely blew my mind. It really changed the way I thought about science, and I became enamored with this value of quality. I haven't read the book since then, and I really do wonder how I would think of it after all my physics training.

'Lila' the book after Zen, never really was as popular. A copy is sitting on our bookshelf, about half way read. The problem with 'Lila' is just that it's not so well written. It's really heavy-handed, whereas Zen read like a road story with quick little diversions.

Phaedrus himself, Robert Pirsig, has recently resurfaced to push the new re-issued 'Lila'.

It's a kind of shame, because I like my recluses to remain reclusive like Terrence Malick, J.D. Salinger. They keep it real.

On the Road Again

IMG_5840.jpg,
originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

With the summer dwindling away really quickly, and classes finally ending yesterday, I decided to take a bike ride from my place in Bay Ridge Brooklyn all the way to Central Park. I decided to follow the 4th-Ave subway route into the city over the Manhattan Bridge.

Passing through some of the 'hoods in Brooklyn, I got to see so many things that I never get to see on the subway. I felt a better understanding of the diversity involved. The stank of Chinatown, the radical-chic of the East Village, the madness of Mid-town. I felt one with all of the bike couriers.

Anyways, I've posted a few pics from my trip on my new flickr page.

Feed Me Seymour, Feed Me

My spies told me about this freaky plant that's on display at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. The rare event has this flower blossoming and smelling like dead bodies. Scary!

Perhaps, I'll check this out while I've got a c-47 on my nose.

Snob Movie Review: Miami Vice

Michael Mann treads a very similar aesthetic path in Miami Vice as he did "Collateral" a few years ago. It still kicks ass though. Filming mostly at night once again with a hot colour pallette, you can feel the steam in Miami. The Director of Photography, Dion Beebe, will probably be forgotten come Oscar time, but he's done great work here.

Instead of an opening title sequence, Mann gets right down to business putting us in a pulsing club with Crocket & Tubbs as they negotiate the underground crime syndicates.

Much like the great TV-Series, the plot is a bit run-of-the-mill, but Mann is able to throw in a few twists to always keep us interested.

My only qualms are Colin Farrell's awful hair, and the casting of the stunning Gong-Li. The former looks really dumb, while the latter looks like a fish out of water in some of the more dramatic moments on screen.

Make no mistake, this is a well made and entertaining summer movie.

Trailers for Books

Apparently, all the rage in the tough publishing industry is to make video trailers for your books. Get people interested in your story by showing them a glimpse of what the story's about, and hopefully they will go and fork over some cash for the hardcopy. The Times has an article on this trend. They get film students to make them on a budget. Cheap labour for the publishers, something to add to the reel of a film student. Mutually beneficial.

I actually did let the publishers know that I was interested, and they did send the three books over. Nice covers (i.e I haven't opened any of them yet). I still don't know if I will have time to even carry out the production of this trailer even if I won (which is slim), but maybe I'll try on whim. You've got to submit a script and a storyboard for them.

The books look to be geared towards young adults, and they should be sending a few more picture books. I think that will be more interesting.

Chuck Norris Bridge

The whole Chuck Norris thing is completely done in my books. I'm not even gonna pretend to post a picture.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that still think it's the cat's meow.

More unfortunate, are the poor Hungarian people that built a new bridge and opened the naming of it to the internet. By the recent vote casting, Chuck won't win, but if this thing spreads around the world, jeez, the possibilities....

What would Nell Carter Say To This?

NYU is planning to build a big 26 floor dorm right in the East Village (a few blocks from Campus). It seems that a lot of the locals are angry.

PUH-LEASE! Greenwich Village/East Village residents are perhaps the richest people in the city paying huge amounts of rent, or sometimes very little rent in their controlled buildings. The Bohemian life that made that whole area cool in the first place (remember the glory days of RENT?) no longer exists amongst the overcrowded bars, chic boutiques and trendy eateries.

It's called a free market, homies.

Snob Music Review: TV On The Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain

I first learned about TV On The Radio when they opened for legendary The Fall in Chicago back in 2003. The crowd was filled with a bunch of old punk rockers, which didn't really care for them. In all honesty, they weren't that great, but you could see the potential. Their 'Young Liars' EP came out, and then their first LP 'Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes' dropped. The latter getting a ton of acclaim. I didn't like it. I thought it lacked a focus, and at times was just boring.

The Brooklyn-reppin TVOTR's 'Return to Cookie Mountain' is already released in other parts of the world, but won't get a domestic (US/Canada) release until September. It's well worth a steal (then buy it when it comes out), because it's awesome. Their avant-garde tendencies somehow workout this time. Parts of jazz, soul, electronic, harmonizing vocals and straight up indie-rock really come together really nicely. It's definitely the most original music I've heard in a long time.

Hog Butcher of the World

I spent last weekend in Chicago, and (as expected) I had a great time. A lot has changed in the year that I have been gone, mostly for the better. However, the racial polarity is still such a problem.

The near-South Side is being rejuvenated and there seems to be a bit more Sox caps around town. Where did that Pink line come from?! Looks like a waste of time.

Had some really good times with the group of wacky people that I'm lucky enough to call friends. What struck me was the pace of the city, which is much much slower than what I've come accustomed too. Walk faster you Midwestern folk!

Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START

For all the parents complaining that video games rots brains... it doesn't! In fact, they indicate the deterioration of the brain. Nerds are showing that old people playing FreeCell indicate their stage of Alzheimer's. I guess the obvious reason is to keep their brain occupied. This is a good use of research where simple technology can be used to have extraordinary applications.

Playa Haters 2.0

I'm a fervent mac user, but I honestly can't stand the new commercials with the grup guy being too cool for the stuffy shirt PC user.
You've seen 'em.

Anyhoo, here's a good parody of them.

The sad part of the whole thing is that I'm sure it would have been easier/quicker to create that whole video on a mac.

Playa Haters

I traveled across Canada back in 1999, and I learned that nothing unifies the country more than their unrelenting hatred for their largest city, and my home town, Toronto.

Without doubt, Toronto is the financial and cultural centre of the country. Admittedly, someone could make a reasonable argument for the greatness of Montreal, but there are a lot of historical reasons for the rift between those two cities.

I can't think of any other country where everyone outside of their largest city vehemently hates the said city. The good thing is that Torontonians don't let the hate get too much to them. I remember a few years ago, The Toronto Star had huge billboards that said "Our News IS the National News".

We're Half Way There....

The first concert I ever went to was back in grade 5, when I saw Bon Jovi (Skid Row opened) at the old Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. It was their "New Jersey Tour", and honestly it was such an incredible concert.

Back in 2001, Bon Jovi played a show in Hamburg, where I was doing research for the summer at a Particle Accelerator . A few colleagues and I somehow talked ourselves into the show (the concert was being held adjacent to our experiment's building, and we flashed our badges with authority), and had a blast. They played a long set mostly of 'best of' stuff, but they rocked out. Incredible energy, it looks like they were still having a good time.

There's a certain kitsch associated with the band, but as time rolls on, it becomes clear that Bon Jovi are the new Rolling Stones. Here are some insightful articles about the band, one a review of the show in Jersey, and another from Chicago.

In Defense of Critics

I've always felt that one of the professions that people love to hate is the movie critic. Who the hell does Roger Ebert think he is to pass judgement on any thing? A.O. Scott (the critic from the Times) wrote a really nice piece about the role of the critic in modern times.

I feel that people over estimate how self-important the critics feel that they are. Most readily admit that they are just folks with opinions, that love movies.

Also, I think it's important for people to find a critic that shares their same taste. Critics have to sit through so many movies, most of them bad, so when something comes across that they collectively champion, I tend to listen. However, I don't lose the fact that they are just folks voicing their opinion.

Let's Not Burn any Bridges

Almost every day I pass over the Manhattan Bridge to get into the city from Brooklyn. Not usually the first bridge that comes to mind when you think of NYC. My goal for the rest of the summer is to check out each of the four not-so-famous bridges in this article.

From Being Colonized to Being Colonizers

Current anthropology studies are suggesting that much of England was once ruled by the Germans. In fact, by studying the Y-chromosome, the brainiacs can ascertain that England probably had some sort of apartheid-like system of governance (a minority of people being the head of power). Fascinating, considering that England went on to become one of the world super-powers. This still doesn't explain the bad teeth.

The New Spielberg: Compliment or Dis?

M. Night Shyamalan has been touted as the new Spielberg on several occasions from the few films that he has made. The Times addresses him and looks into his hype machine.

Yeah, he's NYU alumni, and I've only seen one of his movies (Signs), but there's something quite boring about this work. Granted, he's brown, he's resurrected a genre, and doesn't seem to be making too many compromises, but I just wish he'd stop selling himself and focus on doing something different, and not what's expected of him.

How to Quit Smoking

In order to effectively and quickly quit smoking all you need to do is have a stroke.

Some of homies have found out that some stroke victims no longer feel the need to smoke.

This work raises so many questions about the nature of addiction, and how it can be controlled.

This is breakthrough work, methinks.

Shine On, You Crazy Diamond

RIP

Low Tech for the High Tech

NASA is looking at the idea of fixing their problems with some Duct Tape. I've always maintained that NASA was more of a ridiculous political waste of money, rather than a true scientific entity. If they invested more money into space telescopes, and not dubious 'experiments' on board (which can easily be replicated on Earth), the knowledge of our universe and our history would increase exponentially.

Small Junk

OH MY GOD!!! Did you hear that the dude from the Phillies won the Homerun Hitting Contest? HO-LEEE! The Phillies and everything associated with PA is incredible.

Brethren and Sistren

This week's Time Magazine has a really cool article on siblings.

In general, research is finally exploring just how much of an impact our siblings have on us. Parents die, spouses come along later in life, so the only people that are usually around us for our entire lives are the brothers and sisters.

It's a good read, but what interested me where the studies of brothers with older sisters (like myself) or sisters with older brothers:

"The guys who had older sisters had more involving interactions and were liked significantly more by their new female acquaintances," says Ickes. "Women with older brothers were more likely to strike up a conversation with the male stranger and to smile at him more than he smiled at her."

I'm not sure if this is always the case, but there is no doubt that what I know about the fairer-sex (which is admittedly not much), I learned from my sister.

Get your Bling...Give Me Cash

Tired of those ugly, bacteria infested Yellow Lance Armstrong bracelets? Grow up, and get some bling.

Cartier has put out some charity bracelets based on their love bracelets. Check them out here.

I'm not one to advertize, but Spike Lee is endorsing one of them (the purple one), so $100 of the $475 price tag goes directly to the Graduate Film School (i.e. me) at NYU.

Better yet, why don't you just give me the entire $475, and I'll get a dirty hippie to make a hemp bracelet for you in Union Square. Or if you like, I can get your name put on a piece of rice. Bling Bling!

What would PepsiCo Do in this situation?

Looks like some Coke suits were trying to sell trade-secrets to Pepsi! Of course, the morons got caught. However, the weird thing about the story is that Pepsi told Coke about it!!! Too bad, because we all know that Pepsi should have taken the recipe and made their swill taste more like liquid-gold.

It's Always 4:20 Somewhere

Nature has an article about how pot users may be more susceptible to being addicted to heroin.

I can imagine that the anti-pot people will have a field-day with these results; "marijuana is a gateway to more harder drugs!". Which has always made no sense to me.

I don't smoke, but I really have no problem with those that do. As Mike Skinner asks, how can something with no recorded fatalities be illegal, whilst cigarettes and alcohol are readily available?

All drugs (hard & soft, liquor too) are all tried and experimented via social interaction.

Let's (Wok &) Roll

Oh great Craigslist! You've hooked me up with ladies, you've sold junk that I didn't want anymore, you've found me places to live, you've found me actors for films, you've got me jobs and you've let me air my frustrations. Today, you gave me a free wok, fulfilling a life-long dream of mine to own one. You've made a grown man cry today.

Those Eyes are Fierce!

The Blue Jays are sending five players to the All-Star Game this year!! How did that happen!?

The truth is that the Blue Jays are this year's best kept secret. They are one game behind the Yankers in the A.L. East, but they are completely unnoticed. There is no doubt in my mind that the Jays could win this division. Slowly but surely will win this race.

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow hosers out there.

Each year (even when growing up), the media in Canada always tries to define what it really means to be *Canadian*. The Star takes a stab at it with a list of cultural (music, art, film, architecture etc....) things deemed to be uniquely Canadian.

Personally, I find the lists a bit tame and predictable. Where is Godspeed You Black Emperor! , Broken Social Scene, Kardinal Offishall or K-OS on the music list? Each has made significantly Canadian music.

Also, how Robert LePage was left off the movie list is a crime. And what about The Newsroom. Shame.

How to Train a Boy (or Girl)

There has been a lot of hub-bub about this article that appeared in the Times a couple of days ago. I finally read it, and to be honest, it's one of the best written essays I've read in a long time. Check it here.

Tragic

This is very sad.

Happiness=O + (N x S) + Cpm/T + He

They figured out the that the happiest day of the year was yesterday. I missed the memo, and cried myself to sleep (as always).

The variables in the above equation are: O stands for being outdoors and outdoor activity, N for nature, S for social interaction, Cpm for childhood summers and positive memories, T for temperature and He for holidays and looking forward to time off.

Harold Hosein: R.I.P.

No no, he's not dead, but according to the Star, Harold Hosein has been let go by City-TV. He was perhaps the most unlikely weather guy ever: a West Indian accent, older and awful fashion sense. With that being said, it worked in a hokey kind of way. He was more though, he was perhaps one of the only West Indian personalities on TV growing up, and he had this striking resemblance to my dad. With him being really old, it will be hard to get another gig on TV. Let's hope he's got his umbrella to weather this storm out. Zing.

Come Back Pierluigi

It seems that the officiating at the World Cup has taken to the front-seat over the actual matches. Sports Illustrated has a really nice piece on how the refs are having too much effect on the games this year.

What I Hate

You know when you're at the gym, you're taking a shower, you're just about to turn off the water and grab a towel.... then the unthinkable happens:

You hear a toilet flush. I'm not talking about the water getting extremely hot or cold, just the sound of the flush. The toilet is probably in another part of the locker room completely out of sight. *VAWOOOOOSH* is enough for me to lather up again.

Maybe that's just me and my issues.

Greatest Day of The Summer (thus far)

Last Thursday will go down in personal history as one of the best. Started the day off at 9am...at the bar. My roommate and I decided to watch every single World Cup game drunk that day. We were the only ones drinking at the time (people and their jobs...psh!), but there's a certain freedom that goes with it. Anyhoo, we saw Ecuador trounce Costa Rica. Then we hopped on the train and went up to a bar that all the Trinidad Supporters were at. It was amazing. The place was rammed, and everyone was up for a good time. Keeping up with the Trini tradition, the drinks were strong. Trinidad lost, but they played much better and put up a good fight. Damn England! The crowd didn't seem to care, as we left when the fete was just getting hot.

Hopped on the train and headed to Manhattan and watched Sweden and Paraguay's first half. Continued to put back the pints. Got bored at that bar, so we moved to another bar took advantage of Happy Hour specials, and watched Sweden score their winning goal. Hung out in a drunken haze in Washington Square Park, ate a crepe and I think we saw Henry Winkler.

Went off to the NYU screening of Kevin Bacon's "Loverboy" (review below). It was cool because Kevin Bacon was there and answered questions afterwards. Much to my surprise, he was actually a pretty cool guy. So if you get stuck playing the Kevin Bacon game, always reference me from now on.

After that we roamed around the East Village and found a really cool small bar, called Big Bar. Nice place, and we were there catching the tail end of Happy Hour along with a really cool bartender and a revolving door of regulars. One of the guys turned out to be a former D.O.E. grant guy (aka, god to high energy physicists). The fun didn't end there....then we went to Trader Joe's!

How much craziness can we take? Well we got a slice of pizza and chilled in Union Square and that's what did us in.

All in all, a great day.

The Beautiful Game

I won't bore you with my take on the World Cup except to say that I've been trying to watch as many games as possible. Just to keep us sharp during the games, let's not forget about all the awesome physics involved . YAY!

This one's for the Ladies

Pity us dudes.

She's Juiced Up!

There's trouble brewing up at Columbia University, where another science fraud story is brewing. A prof is retracting four published research papers (a very big deal in the sciences), where he was listed as the primary author, but his now graduated student did the work. The results can't be reproduced. The researcher, now studying in Germany, claims that the independent research teams have not been using the right catalyst. Presumably, the catalyst is called 'cooking the data'.

How did the original papers get published?

Ill Communication

Nothing gets a teacher more angry than the sound of phones ringing in class. It totally ruins the momentum of teaching, and distracts all around. A lot of schools across the nation are starting to ban phones at schools (much to the anger of parents.... all of whom need to get over themselves).

Enter a new program that adjusts the frequency of ringing just above the range of most adult humans, but still audible to the younger crew. I applaud this, and I hope there was a way such that the kids using them had a way to talk at a frequency that I couldn't hear.

What makes it even better is that the original idea of exploiting different audible ranges in different ages, was meant to keep kids from loitering.

My Doppelganger

I was checking out the latest edition of the Onion, and lo and behold there's a dude that looks kinda like me . Weird. I did some more digging around, and he's Aziz Ansari , who is a pretty bad-ass comedian (or so it seems). I should check him out if only for the brown unification.

XXX Nature

A quick perusal through the pages of Nature sounds like science has gone all perv:
money shot #1 , money shot #2 and me love you long time .

All joking aside, very interesting stuff, especially the first link. My clock is ticking.

For the Ice Connoisseur

Like a chump, I thought the only way to make ice was to put it at a temperature below 0 C.
Enlighten yourself here.

Free The Pirates

Earlier today, the Swedish government raided the Pirate Bay . For those not in the know, The Pirate Bay is like a torrent search engine, where you can find anything and everything you ever wanted, but were too afraid/poor to buy.


I feel that the record companies and studios have been ripping off the consumer for decades now, and finally the consumer won't have it. With all the hubbub, the execs will have you believe that they are being robbed blind. The truth is that their profits are staying the same if not increasing.



Anyways, the Pirate Bay guys were great. They thumbed their nose at any form of authority, and openly mocked all of the 'cease and desist' orders that they got. In fact, in an age when people claim to be keepin' it real, the Pirate Bay folks were the platonic form of realness.

I'm taking all of my money out of that Kyjawmneuczcstskaia Fund

Nature's pointing towards a really interesting article concerning psychology, finance and statistics. A group has shown that stocks with simple names consistently out perform stocks with more complicated names. It's kind of a chicken and the egg problem, but still interesting results.

Ponderosa Kicked My Ass

This weekend, my awesome roommate was nice enough to drive up to Toronto to pick up some of my outstanding effects (books, CD's etc...) that never made the trip on my initial move to NYC. A nice long weekend was had which was way too short. Ended up doing a lot of shopping (IKEA, bigups) eating of local delicasies (poutine) and hanging with the folks. Also had time to fit in a baseball game, where the local squadron hosted the White Sox. My loyalties were tested, but I cheered for the pale-hose. If the situation were reversed, I'd be cheering for the Jays. Sox won the game!


On the drive back, we stopped for lunch at Ponderosa, a joint we both remembered fondly from childhood, but a place we both haven't went to recently. We went, we ate, we almost hurled. Needless to say, I started feeling really woozy and light headed by my 3rd plate. For real. Sometimes it's best to keep childhood memories as they are. Untouched.

High Drama in Ottawa

Prime Minister Harper is making questionable choices as of late. Most recently his shunning of the parliamentary press gallery (made up of national media correspondents). Harper wanted a system whereby his staff would decide who would be allowed to ask questions during question period. Naturally, the press balked at this idea and they all walked out of a press conference earlier this week leaving the PM twiddling his thumbs. Harper is now saying that he won't talk at all to the parliamentary press folks, and he'll deal exclusively with regional services. He says that the national reporters are out to get him and his government. Either way, I feel that it's a bad idea to not talk with reporters. It would be like Bush refusing to talk with CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN. Bonehead.

Best Awkward Catch Phrase That Somehow Caught On:

SOUL PATROL...SOUL PATROL....SOUL PATROL

Where's Iran when you need them?

President Bush: "For the sake of economic security and national security," [Bush] said, "the United States of America must aggressively move forward with the construction of nuclear power plants."

I think Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should send an envoy to Washington and try to affect American domestic policy.