tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32417872024-03-07T04:55:19.209-05:00robotpolisheris meRobotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10007647679680007473noreply@blogger.comBlogger851125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-1491969011289691732009-08-30T19:02:00.001-04:002009-08-30T19:02:09.752-04:00Back from the synth hospital. Shiny, buzz free, factory patches
reloaded. Whoo!<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/3872584104/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2510/3872584104_26f716e7ce_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/3872584104/">Back from the synth hospital. Shiny, buzz free, factory patches reloaded. Whoo!</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/lintbrush/">robotpolisher</a></span></div>Sent from my mobile device. Apologies for any typos.<br clear="all" />robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-72675769168976742992008-11-09T22:03:00.005-05:002008-11-09T22:28:45.661-05:00Why this place lies fallow and why Web 2.0 has taken my publicly expressive and thrown it to the 4 winds.I really used to enjoy blogging, and so it's a shame that I've fallen off it so badly. I realize that there wasn't one horrible Moment of Public Discovery say that led me to stop blogging actively. It's that other "web 2.0" sites started filling the needs that this trusty old blog used to and step by step my attentions and my life-tracking started moving there.<br /><br />I was never one of those bloggers who really poured his heart out on his blog (with I guess a few exceptions). But odds were good that I wasn't going to write anything on here that I wouldn't tell you in person after a few beers and a hug, and I guess since my audience never REALLY extended beyond a few folks I knew here in town and a few far-scattered friends who used it to keep up with me, well it never really became a place to vent to strangers, if you will. On some level I think I'm a little jealous of the folks who could (and still do) pour their hearts out on a blog, but it never felt genuine to me. Maybe it's that steely Swedish reserve. My author voice was a little less... that. When I did want to spit some bile out or mention how happy I was about xyz or how thrilled I was with person ab or c in my life, I generally did it in pretty oblique terms.<br /><br />So what it ended up becoming was more of a journal of things I did, a track record of weird memes I ran across, shows I went to, parties I went to, elections that happened. Every once in a while I guess I'd rant a little about politics but in general it was mostly maybe a way to document the things that happened in the world around me.<br /><br />So then I found <span style="font-weight: bold;">Flickr</span>. Maybe despite my love for writing, I'm a very visual person. And if something worthwhile and or interesting is happening around me, odds are good that I'll snap at least one photo of it. So in a weird way, starting maybe even 4 years ago when I first got on flickr actively (first photos' from election 2004!) it started becoming the way I tracked the trips, parties, shows, days in the park. I noticed as soon as I started posting a bunch of things there I fell off more and more here.<br /><br />Well and then there was the "link factor". I'd find interesting and/or weird things across the internet and post them here, in part because I wanted to remember them, and in part because I wanted to make sure that all my friends saw that weird new site I'd just run across. But slowly it dawned on me that as sites like <span style="font-weight: bold;">plastic.com</span> (back in the day), and later <span style="font-weight: bold;">digg</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">reddit</span> started agregating the most interesitng or passed around stuff, really I was duplicating, not creating, and that there were better ways for me to keep track of interesting flotsam and jetsam that had come into my life. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Del.icio.us</span> actually filed a big gap, providing a way for me to put away things to look at later, things I found interesting & maybe to a lesser extent share them with other folks. But the sharing thing slowly went away actually as a motivation. If I was really convinced someone would love something, I'd just email it to them or bug them over IM.<br /><br />I used to love writing about the music going on in my life, and hey I still could, but i do that now in person with people, on a very fun small-community music board I'm on, and in a way I keep up with what people are listening to and get a sense of what my own music filter has been taking in via <span style="font-weight: bold;">last.fm</span> which I've been a little addicted to since I first signed up back in the audioscrobbler days.<br /><br />I guess out of all of this, the part that it took the longest for me to find a decent substitute for was the oblique mentions of the good, the bad, the historical. Something textual to tie the whole thing together. And that's where <span style="font-weight: bold;">twitter</span> has come in. I was originally skeptical as shit, and I'm still sorta feeling my way around it, but in so many ways that matter, it really has filled a certain last remaining gap in my life that this blog used to fill. It's a place to vent about the small mundanities, revel in the small pleasures, mark the passing of small milestones. Its short contained format in some ways works becuase increasingly one of the things that made it easier for me to just post a photo to flickr of the amazing weekend I had is that I never found enough time to sit down and do it blogging <span style="font-style: italic;">justice</span>, to sit down and write out everything I wanted to say.<br /><br />Constrained to a small # of characters, you have to get to the meat of the matter, and hey, then at least you (ok I)'ll get it done.<br /><br />In a strange way, it's also become what my friend-network of blogs used to be. I remember going to a halloween party where two of my friends met for the first time and one asked "oh you're [blog alias]?!" and my other friend responded with "oh, wait YOU'RE [blog alias]". And then there wasn't a lot to talk about. Blogs at that phase of our lives I think gave everyone maybe a falst impression that they knew everything relevant going on in their friends (who blogged)'s lives. I think maybe twitter also keeps some folks from keeping closer tabs on the folks around them than they used to.<br /><br />On the other hand, maybe it let's use keep up with people we wouldn't have otherwise bothered to keep up with?<br /><br />The one thing I find that I still lack is a good place to actually practice... writing. I used to write for pleasure a lot when I was a disgruntled suburban teen. I like stringing together not just a few words into a sentence, but a whole thought into a messy arc of paragraphs and and chapters. It's never been the mode of expression I've been the best at, but it's damned satisfying sometimes. Maybe someone will cough up a good web 2.0 project devoted to letting people shoot their mouths off longform.<br /><br />Well and then there's the music, but that's another story.<br /><br />So, well that's where my output energies are going these days. If you used to read this and want to keep up with me by any of the bold-faced venues above, get in touch (you know how) and I'll send you what you need.<br /><br />Beyond that, I think this here blog'll probably fade further away into a nice archive of a certain period of my life, and in my interaction with technology. It was a good run. Thanks Blog!<br /><br />Now more than ever.robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-76580454410677212992008-08-19T13:33:00.002-04:002008-08-19T13:45:56.692-04:00Foods to try before you dieI picked this up over at <a href="http://habiliments.livejournal.com/278482.html">Molly's place</a> and thought oooh fascinating. Maybe it's 'cause I'm just off a really good lunch and food is big on my mind right now....<br /><br />About 55% of 'em down though, I'm pretty happy with that! Living in NY is good for that kind of thing, I guess. Sadly I'm at a bit of a disadvantage since plowing down any of the shellfish on there would probably put me in the hospital. I guess that means I just have to try to make up for it with the rest of the stuff!<br /><br />So how about you?<br /><br />-----------<br /><br />The Omnivore's Hundred is a list of foods the gastronomic Andrew Wheeler thinks everyone should try at least once in their lives.<br /><br />The rules of the meme: bold those you have tried, strikethrough those you wouldn't eat on a bet.<br /><br />1. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Venison</span><br />2. Nettle tea<br />3. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Huevos rancheros</span><br />4. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Steak tartare</span><br />5. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Crocodile</span><br />6. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Black pudding</span> (if you try just one "scary" thing on this list, I advise you to try black pudding. Don't let that whole "it's blood" thing freak you out).<br />7. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cheese fondue</span><br />8. Carp<br />9. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Borscht</span><br />10. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Baba ghanoush</span><br />11. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Calamari</span><br />12. Pho<br />13. <span style="font-weight: bold;">PB&J sandwich</span><br />14. Aloo gobi<br />15. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hot dog from a street cart</span><br />16. Epoisses<br />17. Black truffle<br />18. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fruit wine made from something other than grapes</span><br />19. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Steamed pork buns</span><br />20. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pistachio ice cream</span><br />21. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Heirloom tomatoes</span><br />22. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fresh wild berries</span><br />23. Foie gras.... hm.. not sure.<br />24. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rice and beans</span><br />25. Brawn, or head cheese.<br />26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper<br />27. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dulce de leche</span><br />28. Oysters (curse you shellfish allergy!)<br />29. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Baklava</span><br />30. Bagna cauda<br />31. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wasabi peas</span><br />32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (see 28)<br />33. Salted lassi<br />34. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sauerkraut</span><br />35. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Root beer float (blech)</span><br />36. Cognac with a fat cigar<br />37. Clotted cream tea<br />38. Vodka jelly<br />39. Gumbo<br />40. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Oxtail</span><br />41. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Curried goat</span><br />42. Whole insects<br />43. Phaal<br />44. Goat’s milk<br />45. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more</span><br />46. Fugu<br />47. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chicken tikka masala</span><br />48. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eel</span><br />49. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut</span><br />50. Sea urchin<br />51. Prickly pear<br />52. Umeboshi<br />53. Abalone<br />54. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Paneer</span><br />55. <span style="font-weight: bold;">McDonald’s Big Mac Meal</span><br />56. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Spaetzle</span><br />57. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dirty gin martini</span><br />58. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Beer above 8% ABV</span><br />59. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Poutine</span><br />60. Carob chips<br />61. <span style="font-weight: bold;">S’mores</span><br />62. Sweetbreads<br />63. Kaolin<br />64. Currywurst<br />65. Durian<br />66. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Frogs’ legs</span><br />67. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake</span><br />68. Haggis<br />69. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fried plantain</span><br />70. Chitterlings, or andouillette<br />71. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gazpacho</span><br />72. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Caviar and blini</span><br />73. Louche absinthe<br />74. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gjetost, or brunost</span><br />75. Roadkill<br />76. Baijiu<br />77. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hostess Fruit Pie</span><br />78. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Snail</span><br />79. Lapsang souchong<br />80. Bellini<br />81. Tom yum<br />82. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eggs Benedict</span><br />83. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pocky</span><br />84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant<br />85. Kobe beef<br />86. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hare</span> ... I think. I'm fuzzy on my definitions here.<br />87. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Goulash</span><br />88. Flowers<br />89. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Horse</span><br />90. Criollo chocolate<br />91. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Spam</span><br />92. Soft shell crab (see #28)<br />93. Rose harissa<br />94. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Catfish </span>(if the catfish tacos at san loco count)<br />95. Mole poblano<br />96. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bagel and lox</span><br />97. Lobster Thermidor (see #28)<br />98. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Polenta</span><br />99. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee</span><br />100. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Snake</span>robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-16664927427552242762008-08-19T01:54:00.002-04:002008-08-19T02:05:10.959-04:00Things I've done in the last 86 hrs (or so)<p>Just to keep you caught up</p><ul><li>went swimming and laid around on the beach at Fort Tilden</li><li>watched a crapton of Olympics</li><li>almost saw 200 guitarists playing at once (damn you rain)</li><li>took advantage of a summer friday to go see a 4:00 showing of Tropic Thunder with a couple of beers smuggled out of the work fridge</li><li>spent an amazing day with J driving all around New York state looking for just the right place to have our wedding (and maybe even finding it!)</li><li>played soccer kind of half-assedly but enjoying it a ton<br /></li><li>continued plowing through Mad Men (which I'm enjoying a bunch)</li><li>...aaand paid down to zero a credit card that had led to phone calls, lost sleep & general horror. It hadn't been down to zero since college when I first got it but was burdened with all kinds of bad-mojo stupidly aquired debt which I'm beyond thrilled to see the back of. Hey, there's something to be said for getting your financial shit together. Whoo hah.<br /></li></ul>robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-47003006249295003992008-07-28T17:44:00.002-04:002008-07-28T17:59:25.271-04:00GrAMPa, Greenpoint & Sub NeighborhoodsA bit back I was having a conversation w/ some people about how increasingly different the chunk of Greenpoint J & I live in feels from the "main" strip of Greenpoint that hugs the river and is now the home to lots of bars, bookstores and all kinds of other newfangledness. True, the last few years have seen the opening of a coffeeshop over on this side of McGuinness and we do now have a Sushi restaurant AND an organic dry cleaner (which is just odd). But still, I feel typically pretty compelled to explain to folks that I live in something like the Greenpoint Annex, or "Not the part of Greenpoint you're thinking of". It's a quieter, Polisher, more sewage-factory-having part of town and hey, I love it.<br /><br />Unless it's the middle of the winter and I'm cursing having to walk 15 minutes to the G. But still.<br /><br />It's got a lovely identity of it's own and so we thought, since every subneighborhood on the planet has its own snappy acronym, it was about time our fair sub-chunklet of Greenpoint had one. A lightbulb went off over my head and thus <span style="font-weight:bold;">GrAMPa</span> or <span style="font-weight:bold;">Greenpoint Around McGolrick Park</span>.<br /><br />I don't expect to see it on an official map anytime soon but feel free to use as you wish.<br /><br />And just as I was thinking about this, a coworker set me Very Small Array's <a href="http://www.verysmallarray.com/?p=530">map of Greenpoint Subneighborhoods</a> which makes a genius kind of sense. I mean minus the obvious ommission of GrAMPa.robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-5383685834864151462008-04-21T16:03:00.002-04:002008-04-21T16:04:39.466-04:00Good cause for updating the blog for the first time in half a year<div style="float: center; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="260" height="195" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.173" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=a03abce224&photo_id=2430689982&show_info_box=true"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.173"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.173" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=a03abce224&photo_id=2430689982&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="195" width="260"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/2430689982/">Happiest. Flickr. Posting. Evar.</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/lintbrush/">robotpolisher</a></span></div><br clear="all" /><br /><br />Heck. Yes.robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-3517751263730860282007-11-02T01:12:00.001-04:002007-11-02T01:12:06.661-04:00Because I need one more distraction.Twitter. Are any of you on it? Is it vastly more interesting once you have more than 4 contacts on there? Do I really need one more thing trying to get my attention? <br><br>I suspect the answer to all of these may be no. <br><br>But here's my twitter style update: Work's intense. But... interesting. Many interesting things and trips have happened that have gone unblogged. I'm off tomorrow to Mass for the weekend.<br><br>Perhaps I'll blog about that. <br><br>Hm.. that's more than 140 characters I think.<br> robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-89549563893140424342007-10-09T10:20:00.001-04:002007-10-09T10:20:52.262-04:00I became a citizen 4 years ago todayIt's an exciting milestone, but looking back at the last 4 years of US history, I'm starting to think that maybe I'm a jinx... Hm...<br><br>Either way, I'll make sure to have a burger or something equally domestic for lunch today. Like a Bud. <br> robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-48006617047456393652007-08-16T23:00:00.000-04:002007-08-17T00:01:05.511-04:00Go Junior, Go Senior!Last night before my new job (more on which soon, I promise...) Jessie and I went to go see Junior Senior at the Highline Ballroom. Highline Ballrom is kind of a mixed bag (nice big stage and good lighting, two bars... all that's good stuff. 7 bucks for a Bud though? And a bathroom attendant guy? Er, I dunno.)<br /><br />But onto the most important part: Jessie and I saw Junior Senior with some other folks at Mercury Lounge 2 years ago and we just blown away. You can tell that a typical New York audience is really fired up if they start maybe swaying a little or start nodding their heads extra enthusiastically. But then every once in a while you get a show like this:<br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=275155&server=vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF" height="360" width="480"> <param name="quality" value="best"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"> <param name="scale" value="showAll"> <param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=275155&server=vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF"></object><br /><br />That's more like it.robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-77286882729294330262007-08-10T17:35:00.001-04:002007-08-10T17:35:45.655-04:00I am sucky bloggerRemember that epochal event I mentioned and then didn't elaborate on? Today's my last day at the job I've been at for nearly 7 years. Last time I had a last day at a job it was election day 2000. We all know how that night ended up. I think tonight will be better. <br><br>Either way, big stuff is afoot and I will get with the blogging about it forthwith. In theory. New job starts next tuesday. Eep! In the meanwhile I've got that excited giddy feeling you got when you were a kid and you were running off the high jump at full speed. Kinda scared crapless but mostly yelling "wheee!" Now I've just got 800 loose ends to tie up before I leave tonight so no more writing now. But more details soon! <br> robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-14292687786115446822007-07-24T11:47:00.001-04:002007-07-24T11:47:53.809-04:00Reasons Life's Purty Darned Good<ol><li>Spent an awesome weekend with a large batch of friends in a gorgeous house up in the wonderful Catskills swimming at a beautiful swimming hole and playing wonderful games of kubb and BBQing surprisingly tasty food. It appears I may have picked up some kind of tick-borne disease that forces me to overuse adjectives. Hm... At any rate it was really amazingly nice to be out of the city for a weekend. Just plain did my soul good. And the stars, man. Good god the stars.</li><li>Had to head out into pouring sheets of rain yesterday morning to move Karu (our adopted car for the summer) and then head to work. I ran like hell to the bodega around the corner to get an umbrella (as we were fresh out) and arrived soaking. So I ask for an umbrella and the guy behind the counter says they're fresh out. Nuts. Seriously, it's ark-building weather outside. I start looking around and pick up a copy of the Post to use as a temporary umbrella. It's got to be good for something right?<br> <br> In the meanwhile the counter guy's been looking around the store and he's on the phone. He comes back to the register and says "Yeah sorry I tried looking to see if we had any others and called the owners to see if we had any more hiding anywhere. But hey, I mean, do you just want to borrow mine?" He asks, producing a small umbrella from under the counter. I'm just kind of in shock. "Wow, um, thanks!" I stammered back. "I live right around the corner, I'll bring it back later?" "Sure! No problem." He says. And like that, I'm off for a rainy day, well protected.<br> <br> I dunno, maybe I've just been in New York too long, but I'm always kind of just astonished when someone who's basically a stranger does something totally unnecessarily friendly and helpful, even if it's just with something like a $3 umbrella. I went back this morning and thanked him profusely and gave him his umbrella back. He looked kind of surprised to see me but thanked me for bringing it back and pointed to the new stock of Chinese umbrellas. "Next time, we got you covered.".</li><li>Twisted Mister won the World Series of Pop Culture, which does my heart good 'cause hey man, NYU pride, right? But seriously, I have absofuckinglutely no idea what I would do at that age with $83,333.333333333333333333. Probably something really stupid.</li><li>Today promises to be an interesting, possibly epochal kinda day. Of that I can say no more. But yoikes.<br> </li></ol> robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-65061338304738281052007-07-16T08:32:00.000-04:002007-07-16T08:37:14.603-04:00Ways in which by time is taken upIt's summer in New York and there's a million better things to be doing than sitting inside watching TV. I've even made a pretty conscious decision of late to avoid watching just "whatever's on" in favor of ya know, just reading a book or <span style="font-style: italic;">anything</span> else.<br /><br />That said, I'm not ashamed to admit that I think I could watch 24 hours straight of the World Series of Pop Culture no problem. Okay maybe I'm a little ashamed.robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-37709667962213572362007-07-09T01:04:00.000-04:002007-07-09T01:22:25.186-04:00Art of The Spectacle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1370/758227165_7acb8f748b.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1370/758227165_7acb8f748b.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />This weekend I took in two things which were both intended to fall under the banner of "spectacle".<br /><br />One was a Friday night viewing of the Transformers movie. I have a hard time deciding whether my standards were too high or too low going in. Honestly I'm still split on the whole thing. On the one hand it had BIG. FUCKING. ROBOTS. Smacking each other around, firing guns, crushing buildings, blowing up busses and (hilarilously) flicking off humans like they were fleas. On the <span style="font-style: italic;">other</span> hand, the second John Turturo's character got copiously peed on by a gigantic CGI robot you kind of had think to yourself that boy, there's a reason Michael Bay doesn't direct comedies. Oddly enough some of the, let's say, "actingy" bits in this movie were actually quite good! Funny, a little affecting... ya know, better than expected. And then you have the star of Barton Fink being peed on by a giant CGI robot.<br /><br />also, I couldn't stop thinking of this<a href="http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF077AD-Disassemble.jpg#144"> Perry Bible Fellowship comic</a>. My final rating of this movie on a scale of 1-10: It's summer.<br /><br />Then on Saturday on a whim I decided to see if I could get into the Boredoms 77 Drummer musical piece that they were playing in a park basically under the Brooklyn bridge. Because it was 7/7/07. and the # 7 is very important. apparently.<br /><br />I got down there about 4:30 and the line stretched far enough that from the front it still took about 10 minutes at a brisk pace to get to the end. Apparently the park had a capacity of 4000 and I would estimate based on how many people didn't get in that at least twice that showed up. Actually I would guess that of the people who were standing in line, maybe 15% of them had ever heard a song by the Boredoms. I'm honestly in the other 85%. But then, New York loves a spectacle and a 77 minute long piece with 77 drummers? come on now!<br /><br />As it was, I stood in line with Lukasz and another guy I know from Taiko for a good long while before we were basically informed to give up. On the other hand we were told, it was going to be "fucking loud" so if we could find ourselves a comfy grassy spot, we would certainly be able to HEAR the show. So off we went over a small fence out onto a breakwater of big angular boulders. Across a tiny bay, there were a set of fences, some trees and on the other side was where the show was actually taking place. So we set up shop, got ourselves some beers and settled in. And honestly I think we lucked out! Sure we didn't get to see the whole coiled snake spectacle up front for ourselves. But instead we got to sit right by the water watching the sun set, drinking beers, enjoying the company of our friends and listening the music wash out across the water towards us. It was really kind of magical in its own way having nothing to do with the spectacle of the event and everything to do with just a bunch of people getting together just to be and relax and take something in.<br /><br />And yes, I accept that all of that sounds terribly hippie and frutiy, but what can I tell you, it was that kind of afternoon. More than anything, I realized that although I live surrounded by water and streams and islands, I find myself down at the water amazingly infrequently. And even more than that, as you're sitting around chatting with a bunch of complete strangers at some hugely attended manifestation of weird art-rock with the sun setting behind almost century-old skyscrapers on a random Saturday, it's hard not to say that we don't live in the best city on the planet.<br /><br />I'm just saying.<br /><br />Also, it has not yet been destroyed by giant robots.robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-55999813165325129922007-06-21T14:48:00.001-04:002007-06-21T14:48:47.470-04:00Poop.Looks like the whole <a href="http://wiimbledon.net">Wiimbledon</a> tournament has enough press that I couldn't even managed to register. There were three open windows to register and I tried on on wednesday one whole minute after registration opened but apparently that was one whole minute too late. <br><br>Balls.<br><br>I was actually really excited about the whole thing, even though i guess there was a pretty good chance I'd get creamed in the first round by some pasty kid just crawling out of their basement after a months long Wii Tennis binge. Since you're supposed to play under a pseudonym, I was even going to be playing in homage to a childhood tennis icon as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mats_Wilander">Mats Wiilander</a>.<br><br>Bah.<br><br>So now I guess I can go on Saturday and watch other folks play (or hope that perhaps I'll get one of the walk-in slots) but who knows, maybe I'd just sit around feeling jealous that I couldn't get in there and kick ass. Either way: bummer. Good thing the rest of the weekend is shaping up to be packed with really fun things, not the least of which is Midsommar in the park tomorrow. <br> robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-60737575370308005922007-06-09T17:03:00.001-04:002007-06-09T17:03:10.170-04:00Horny<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/537624142/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1357/537624142_45f3440492_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br /> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/537624142/">Horny</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/lintbrush/">robotpolisher</a> </span></div>Hello my name is totally sweet set of mounted horns martin bought at a stoop sale this morning.<br clear="all" />robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-61235455276668120502007-06-04T22:50:00.000-04:002007-06-04T22:53:09.838-04:00Wiimbledon<a href="http://wiimbledon.net/">Wiimbledon</a>: Brooklyn's first Wii tennis tournament. Sure, sounds a little goofy, and who knows if the whole thing will actually end up happening, but give 'em credit for a catchy pun at least. Looks like it's time time to get training. Maybe I can convince heatha and mike to come up to Brookland and show off their skills.robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-36568603429339220272007-05-17T20:19:00.001-04:002007-05-17T20:19:02.978-04:00my first gamefly delivery.<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/502708059/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/192/502708059_7b05b386e9_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br /> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/502708059/">my first gamefly delivery.</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/lintbrush/">robotpolisher</a>. </span></div>Warioware. 'cause i decided that damn if don't just have too much disposible income! i mean my wii might get lonely, right?<br clear="all" />robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-88442448033355033072007-05-14T16:35:00.001-04:002007-05-14T16:35:59.975-04:00Achieve The Honorable<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/498399318/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/498399318_4d0a9d5dbf_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br /> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/498399318/">Achieve The Honorable</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/lintbrush/">robotpolisher</a>. </span></div>Up the Empire in Hollywood. Just got back from spending 4 days out in<br />California with these goofy bastards playing shows, driving long<br />stretches, discussing anatomical functions and discussing anatomical<br />functions while driving long stretches. Good times, good times.<br /><br />Being back at work is proving amazingly painful.<br clear="all" />robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-3873759201941779672007-05-10T18:45:00.000-04:002007-05-10T18:44:46.203-04:00oh my we are all going fucking loopy<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/5947/395/1600/z/879685/img018-786206.jpg"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/5947/395/320/z/34543/img018-786206.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>last night's show was a crap ton of fun and once again i've gotten to see a city almost entirely from the confines of a show venue... spent all of today driving to LA and with an hour left, evryone's starting to go slightly insane. but hey, it's a social, memorable kind of insane! Man I've missed touring...Robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10007647679680007473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-75194214473883911222007-05-09T01:12:00.001-04:002007-05-09T01:12:10.560-04:00California all the way... PackingCalifornia all the way...<p>Packing up for a four day trip to go play the rock with Up the Empire. Kind of awesome.robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-38799058859308259872007-05-08T19:01:00.001-04:002007-05-08T19:01:28.048-04:00testing<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/5947/395/1600/z/592542/img001-788049.jpg"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/5947/395/320/z/86198/img001-788049.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>Robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10007647679680007473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-42371752384777478962007-05-07T09:47:00.000-04:002007-05-07T10:04:39.494-04:00Mazel Tov!Had an amazing time at the (second) wedding of <a href="http://eccles.livejournal.com/">these</a> <a href="http://gritsnyc.livejournal.com/">two </a>lovely people yesterday. A couple of folks were back in town who I hadn't seen in a while which was nice. Also the pair's extended families were kind of awesome to meet (for some) or to behold from a distance (for others). But generally the whole thing just had a really fun, relaxed happy vibe to it. Maybe I'm just getting more used to weddings? But really percentage wise, relatively few of the weddings I've been to are of people who are really close, active, most-likely-to-bump-into-them-every-week-or-two kind of friends so that made the whole thing really kind of amazing too. Plus I think somehow oddly I've managed to get comfortable wearing a suit. Yikes.<br /><br />It was interesting though to have a wedding that started at 11, meaning that you're at the reception--in this case at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden--by noon. One would think it an odd time to start hitting the open bar and munching on spare ribs, sushi and gravlax appetizers especially if like yours truly you'd had to run out of the house sans breakfast. But one would be wrong. It were lovely. And that's when it (cockamamie money making scheme I'll more than likely not follow through on #30253) struck me:<br /><br />A breakfast joint. Prix fixe. Open bar. No or few tables. Food consists entirely of hors d'oeuvres carried around by waiters also carrying small cocktail napkins. Formal attire suggested.<br /><br />Afters some discussion with my fellow minglers, it was decided that naming the place Wedding Reception might be a little too basic, so we upgraded to Shotgun Wedding. I think it's got genius written all over it.robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-11837009858853727212007-05-04T19:23:00.001-04:002007-05-04T19:23:47.744-04:00How to have the best birthday of your life and then put off writing
about it for 3 weeks<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/484371705/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/175/484371705_380f32ca3d.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/484371705/">Allow Me To Introduce: The Best People Ever</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/lintbrush/">robotpolisher</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Step 1: have best birthday of your life.<br /><br />So I did a lot of dithering about what kind of thing I actually wanted to do for my birthday. Small informal gathering, big blow out shindig, fishing trip, solo sulking? In the end I settled on having a big ol' BBQ and full on Kubb tournament in prospect park followed by some proper drinking, pool-shooting and taco eating at San Loco. Brilliant. <br /><br />So then of course in the week leading up to the whole thing my nervousness is mounting. Will the thing work? Will people show up? Can I actually get my slacker friends organized into a for-real tournament? Would it stop snowing and actually be nice enough to be out?<br /><br />But when I got up on the 14th the snow was gone, the sun was out and much to my surprise my knees only creaked a little more than they had when I was 30. Finally after a stressful morning of getting all the required BBQ ingredients together with Jessie, Jeremy & Sarah, we ended up in the park which was nicer and warmer than it had any right to be and blessedly kind of empty. I was a little worried at first that we'd shown up 30 minutes late and nobody else was there, but seemingly I'd forgotten the rule that nobody I know shows up to anything less than an hour late.<br /><br />But soon the whole thing was in full swing, beers being rapidly consumed, stuff grilling, me yelling at people through a bullhorn to get the whole tournament started. Which, I'm proud to say, went off really well. It ended up being whole fairly complicated double elimination tournament of randomly assigned teams and other than the fact that my team got utterly spanked, the whole thing was really fun. At the end of the day after a stirring Kazoo rendition of The Final Countdown and the Canadian National Anthem, Kubblic Enemy were presented with the Hello My Name Is Kubb Championship Trophy which they get to hang onto until next year, Stanley Cup style, they have to pass it on to the next winners.<br /><br />All the kubb stuff aside, it was just really humbling to have that many people (the picture above's just a portion of them) showing up on your account. My sister and Milo came from Jersey which was great. lots of people I haven't seen in a while crawled out of whatever rock they'd been under and out into the spring. At one point I was walking back down from the picnic house towards where we were all set up and I seriously had this taken aback moment seeing a whole milling around crowd of people having a good time and basically realizing how lucky I am to have such a large mob of awesome friends.<br /><br />(I later proceeded to by the end of the evening get drunk enough to tell everyone how awesome I think they are. But hey, it was from the heart.)<br /><br />All of that over, most of the folks trekked up to Williamsburg to San Loco which has worked its way up to being just about my favorite bar in Williamsburg on account of the pop punk soundtrack, 50 cent empty pool table, margaritas and of course the catfish guaco loco. Once there, I proceeded to play a lot of fun pool, engage in by turns insightful or idiotic conversations... basically it was the perfect capper to what had already been the best birthday a guy could plan for himself.<br /><br />Basically I'm screwed next year as it's gonna almost certainly have to be a notch down..<br /><br />Step 2: Put off writing about said best birthday for 3 weeks.<br /><br />It's really starting to piss me off that things both wonderful and awful are passing by without me at least making some kind of note about them here. I guess I'm just rusty enough at even writing that I keep feeling like I need to give myself the time and space to get it all out properly. But of course then it never happens. Having a blog kind of half-on like this is pretty sad so who knows, maybe I'll just put an end to the thing, but at least I've gotten this event down. So there.</p>Robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10007647679680007473noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-73528893678056601422007-04-13T16:53:00.000-04:002007-04-13T17:06:44.759-04:00I have 7 hours left of my 20'sI have 7 hours left of my twenties, which feels kind of momentous when you look at it that way. To be honest it seems like less of an occasion for any kind of freaking out or anything (I did that about a month ago) and more of a time to sit back and say hey, my 20s were pretty fucking fabulous. I mean for what it's worth, I vastly preferred them to my 10s. But but thinking back, I've done a hell of a lot in those years, been to a hell of a lot of places, played a lot of music, met a LOT of people, turned many of them into great friends, managed to both start and stop smoking. It's been full of love and heartbreak and highs and lows and regrets and all of that good stuff. It's almost never been boring.<br /><br />I think it's safe to say that it was a span of ten years where I definitively made New York my home and I think probably the place I'll always think of as home base.<br /><br />And hey, for what it's worth, I think it's the time when I really came into my own as a person and figured out who I am more than maybe defining myself in opposition to a lot of the things around me I disliked.<br /><br />So anyway, I'm not going to be 10 years older tomorrow, just one year, or hell one day really, so no need to get melodramatic about it. But I guess every time I get a little cranky about my twenties being behind me, I guess it's worth reminding myself that I did make the most of them and now it's time to get on with making the most of this day and this year and this minute and all the rest of it.robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10407467474428629028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3241787.post-86794123367195682392007-03-22T18:51:00.001-04:002007-03-22T18:51:10.030-04:00I would like to be a boss because I like to make rules.<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/430677990/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/430677990_25b718b2c3.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintbrush/430677990/">I would like to be a boss because I like to make rules.</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/lintbrush/">robotpolisher</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> At the Greenpoint YMCA the other day Jessie pointed out this piece of genius hanging up with a bunch of other kids' drawings about what they wanted to be when they grow up . You really gotta see it in detail to get the full-blown effect of how awesome this thing is.<br /><br />Personally I think this has "oldest sibling" written all over it. Be careful, your kids are one day going to end up working for this girl's kids, I promise.</p>Robotpolisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10007647679680007473noreply@blogger.com0