Flyin' solo!

Well, Katie's gone off to do her Montessori teacher training for the summer, leaving me to wallow in my own filth fend for myself for a few weeks. She'll come home on the weekends, though, so that's a good incentive for me to hide the bodies keep the place tidy.

I had a birthday. I got some cards from various quarters, a couple of games from Dad and Liz, and a slew of books I've been coveting from Katie. On my birthday proper, Katie took me down to Chinatown to one of the only games arcades in New York City (arcades having been pretty much slain by the current wild success of home consoles). We played $4 worth of games, Katie beat me down at Street Fighter II, we got some Häagen Dazs and headed up to Central Park, where we rented a rowboat and rowed around the lake for a bit. Then we went home and spent a goddamned hour trying to find a parking spot for the car because it was Puerto Rico day immediately went home and were happy and nothing was bad. Katie led me on a treasure hunt for the aforementioned books, then we went over to the park for a nighttime picnic! So fun! I loved my birthday.

Fun stuff:

I found a cool little toy on the internet that lets you create your own World of Warcraft-style item descriptions. Pretty funny for anyone who plays the game, mildly amusing for the rest of the people in the world. I created the item to the right. I think it's funny.*

[strained silence]

Fuck you guys.

Here's a little flash game that's cute and clever. It's called ClickPLAY!, and the framing story (such as it is), is that the poor neglected "Play" button, ubiquitous in flash gaming, has finally had enough and wants nothing more than to run away and hide. The object of the game is to click the little bastard. Fun!

Hefford tried to send me the link to this video a long time ago, but he made the miscalculation of sending it via Facebook. (Which, I must mention, was the source of many Happy Birthday wishes... some from my closest friends and relatives, some from complete or near-strangers, and some directed not to me, but [well-meaningly, I've no doubt] to Katie. Ahem. Facebook.) Either way, I can only hope for three things: 1. that they really are making Beyond Good & Evil 2; 2. that they will not release it only on the XBox 360, which I have no intentions of buying; and 3. that they will not release it too soon, because I do not have any money with which to buy a PS3.

Now, blogger is acting up, so I will cut this short and hope the post publishes without too much drama.

I hope to talk to you soon!

Now fuck off.

Love, Adam
Never rub another man's rhubarb.

*The funniest part is that it's a Paladin-only item, but Paladins can't equip Fist Weapons! LMAO!

Not much!

I know, but what can I say? Work is work: project management is boring. Sarah and Beverly had a lovely visit. I'm looking forward to Rebecca visiting in August. I played the new Punch-Out!! at Nintendo World, and it was really fun. There's a new Super Mario Galaxy coming out. Yoshi will be in it.

We saw a few movies recently. We went and saw Up in the theatre, watched The Wrestler at our friend Donna's house, and watched The Graduate the other day.

Let us review them!
Up was great. It was a great movie. It was great from top to bottom. And it was in 3D. And it was great. Up is the kind of movie every other movie wants to be. It was a great movie. Go see it.
Final Score: 10

The Wrestler was a very good movie. Mickey Rourke was robbed. The depiction of the pro wrestling culture was a little shallow, but it was geared to people who don't know anything about wrestling. (Watching it with two Montessori teachers was an experience all its own: "Do they really cut themselves??? Ohmygod.") Bonus points for featuring Ernest Miller as the Ayatollah in the final fight. Bonus bonus points for Marisa Tomei as the strung-out stripper love interest.
Final Score: 10

I honestly didn't know what to make of The Graduate. Good music, good actors, decent camera work and cinematography. I think it may have been that Dustin Hoffman was just a little too inscrutable. Is the message of the film that women are over-emotional, fucked-up people with no will of their own? Is it that the best way to get the woman you want it to be a fucking creepy motherfucker (lol) and stalk the shit out of her? I always heavily criticize the 'forced romance' plot device (also called "I love you so much for no reason!!!!! See Transformers for a really stellar example), but it seems here that it's the entire reason for the movie. Anne Bancroft was so good at the beginning of the film (back in an age when a cougar was a cat), but Mrs. Robinson dissolves (devolves?) from "confident, interesting older woman with some emotional baggage" into "paranoid wicked witch" mode at the first hint of competition from her daughter. Too bad. Really, the movie fell apart in the second half. Katie brought up a good point when she said, "Where is he getting the money for all this?" Driving around in his Spider, buying an engagement ring, I felt it really hard to relate to young Benjamin. Bonus points for KITT as the dad, Mr. Roper as the landlord, and Dr. Leo Marvin as the guy who says, "Shall I call the cops? I'll call the cops."
Final Score: 0

We went to see some theatah as well, catching a performance of "Sophistry", featuring our favourite actress, Ellen Dolan. It was quite funny, even if it couldn't really settle on what kind of play it wanted to be.

I consistently say that my friends are almost universally more talented than I am, and an excellent example of this is Oliver Benjamin Thayer. Oliver (or "Jolly Ollie" as he likes to be called) has just released his second full-length album, entitled 12 Women. You should go to his website and download it, along with his previous effort, Small Apocalypse. SA scored a perfect ten on this very website (Small Apocalypse, not South Africa [although that gives me an idea {see below}]... too much World of Warcraft has got me using shorthand for everything... lfm hVH 1heal 1dps gtg.... eep!). Jolly's been after me to review his new CD, but my headphones are broken, so I need to get new ones so I can listen to it on the train... it's a whole big thing. So, 12 Women review coming soon.

You know, I've only ever reviewed movies and one CD. I think I'll try to review some more diverse stuff. Like, I dunno, countries, books and... um.... people. That ought to be good for a laugh. Wanna see something (or ~one) reviewed? Leave a note in the comments section, and I'll take it under advisement.

Also (serious face), my grandmother hasn't been well lately, so if you know her think a good thought at her, and if you don't, think a good thought at someone else who may need it.

Well, I have to get back to waiting for a shipment of books from the client which was "sent out a week ago" but we still haven't gotten it, not that that's a big deal, you know, I mean, we've only got editors in Barcelona, Mexico City and Berlin waiting for stuff we need to send them after we receive it, and oh, we aren't getting an extension on the deadline, well that's just hilarious arrrrrrgh work. As always, I'm both disdainful of and intimidated by Facebook, so you may need to actually talk to me in order to let me know what's going on in your life. We have skype, and we love talking on the computer, so leave a comment or send me an e-mail, and we can set up a date.

Parting shot: bizarre, yet real.

One last thing.

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

When I was a kid, speaking in tongues was a good way to get burned at the stake.

Now fuck off.

Love, Adam
I think Katie might need an intervention for her addiction to Intervention.