Michael DeLuca

This place reeks of hipsters and is super overpriced, but has sandwiches and is right off my stop and open 24 hours. The good outweighs the bad and this is how I get nutrients while I am intoxicated.

Whiskey is like warm gloves for your tummy.

I used to watch this on TV as a kid solely to see the final fight scene and then hear Peter Cetera's Glory of Love during the end credits. It's like a perfect 12 minutes. The concept of a cassette single was beyond my 6 year old mind and Napster was almost a decade off. Ironically, both those things are probably so far in the past now for most of today's kids they are as clueless as I was. GET OFF MY FUCKING LAWN!

...It's covered in broken Pabst bottles, cigarette butts, butterfly knives and I think I saw a cobra or maybe it was part of a beer bong I made from a cobra. So one live cobra, one dead Cobra beer bong. It's dangerous. That's all I'm saying, children.

Also, turns out there's this whole movie that happens before the fight/ultimate-romance-ballad-I-had-on-a-makeout-playlist-in-early-college... 16 years too late. The movie is watchable and fun.

Really, it feels like everyone won the night I watched Karate Kid Part II.

Serious review... so you guys can just skip on by

After hearing so many good things about these YongNuo flashes, I decided to cave in and pick one up. First off, it's awesome that Amazon has them because they are primarily sold on Ebay, ship from overseas and take a few weeks to arrive. I am way to impatient for that. Amazon + Prime means that I can waste a ton of money and feel almost instantly gratified. Almost.

The flash is actually quite impressive. The build quality isn't bad at all and the unit feels really sturdy. The only real complaint I have is that the battery door is pretty flimsy and awkward. But otherwise, so far it syncs perfectly, E-TTL function is working and it's producing good results. Mind you it's just been shooting various cats and drunk people over the past 3 days.

It's not as robust or solid as the Speedlite offerings, but it also costs less than half as much as the 430EXII and a third as much as the 580EXII, both excellent flashes.

For budget hobbyists and newbies who need a flash or gearheads (who always need a new flash) this is worth picking up. Again, especially for folks new to digital photography... $300 -$500 bucks for a Canon Speedlite can be a lot to swallow and also possibly better invested in glass... $100-$125 for one of these YongNuo's will seem a lot more reasonable and the flash performs impressively.

They make Nikon flashes as well... I am not a Nikon shooter, but I expect that the quality of the YongNuo Nikon flash is on par with this guy. Then the only thing holding you back will be your shitty, shitty Nikon.

That's a joke (since Nikon makes a hell of a camera), but if it starts a flame war... awesome!

I needed batteries. Yeah, I went to Best Buy for batteries. Like a senior citizen might.

Then there were a few products I wanted to get a little hands on with. I mean, I am not going to buy them at Best Buy, of course. Buying things is what the internet is for.

Best Buy is just like an Amazon showroom for me...
and a battery depot.

This show is getting a little bit better this season, but that's like saying your head cold has cleared but your 23 knife wounds to the face are still fatal. The fact that I can barely remember enough of this to write a review, nor do I care to go back and rewatch it for said reviewing purposes, to me speaks volumes.

There are still funny moments on this show (Creed describing the Lochness monster a few eps back had me in tears), but I think at this point they have lost sight of most of the characters. Michael's personality is now always dictated by what kind of comedy the show is striving for. The character just feels too wildly inconsistent, more of a device than a human. I liked the little moments early on when he would be surprisingly good at his job, or compassionate, or intelligent, but it felt natural and 3dimensional then and importantly, it was EARNED.

I could go on, but it's the same junk everyone else has pointed out. Pam and Jim have become unbearable and I commend the writers for not only picking up on it, but bringing it front and center. I know Carell is leaving and I want to see this to the end, but watching the newest episode of the Office used to be something I looked forward to. Now, I feel like it's a chore. The show has run it's course, I certainly hope they don't try to keep it alive too long after Carell leaves if they can't freshen it up.

On a positive note, while I think the Michael and Holly thing get's a tad ridiculous I like them and, even if it sounds stupid, I simply care enough about these characters that I want them to be happy.

Sigh.
It's come to this. Moving and I don't have the luxury of keeping a massive wall of BDs/DVDs. Cases will be stored away for when I am rich and have a robot to take care of all my problems but for now I bought one of these to check out. It's quite sturdy, even when full so I am pleased with it - understated enough, solid handle, easy to browse through, doesn't feel like the pages are going to rip out.

Now, just need a couple more...

PS Netflix, especially Netflix streaming, makes it easier to have plenty of films to watch so in some respects a giant wall of wasted life seems silly. But I kinda love commentaries, special features and BluRay, glorious, glorious hi-def.

I don't care if I am flying at 6am, 12am, 3:30pm, on a Sunday, to a job interview, to an AA meeting, with an alcoholic friend I shouldn't drink around, next to impressionable youth (that was the case this time)... when the cart comes by I am getting a whiskey drink. The old people scoff at me, but scoffing doesn't hurt as much with whiskey fire in my belly.

Feelings on this can be summed up...

- I am really loving this season so far. This is the only show that I gladly pay for on iTunes since ditching cable 2 years ago

- Blais is a tool. I don't know why people love him so much. Go Carla or Angry Dale. I'd like them both to win, actually. Top Chefs. Top Cheves? I like Cheves.

- Jimmy Fallon flat out fucking sucks. He actually appears to be mentally handicapped. He blows a load over an ice cream cake (figure of speech, folks) and his man-child mentality sucks a minotaur's dick (not a figure of speech, the world is a crazy place people).

- Jimmy Fallon really, really sucks.

Rent/Move-in check for the new apartment that is ~600 miles away.

Depressing - paying nearly a month of rent when you can't be there for 3 weeks.

Exciting - not worrying about finding a place in anymore and nabbing a pretty badass apartment.

Neutral - the decorative curtains I plan to hang up and my feelings towards most of Tony Scott's output

Man, so initially I showed up to this place because I thought it was some sort of underground Cock Fighting lair cleverly hidden in full view of the general public. It's not. It's a bar. That was my first misunderstanding of the evening.

My second, and possibly more grave, miscalculation was about what exactly Cock Fighting is. All those specialized exercises I developed while at the gym and staring from fellow gym members were for naught. It's a shame they threw away so many of the free weights I was using, as well.

Combining the "thrill" of shuffleboard and the pedophiliac nature of bowling you bet your ass I deleted this application right away.

Needed some fuel. Without the fuel my car will not run. I tried filling the tank up with AAA batteries because I wanted to try that electric car thing and I was getting really poor miles per gallon (0mpg) so I decided to switch back to traditional methods.

It's been pretty cold these past few weeks, so I was bundled up nice and good with my gloves and black ski mask. Can never be too careful when dealing with subzero temps. I've also recently recovered from quite a cold so my voice is quite hoarse and gruff, people have told me I sound like Gary Busey with a throat full of tacks, or more commonly, the voice of God.

Upon walking into the gas station to pick up a lunchable and a couple air fresheners shaped like Count Duckula I heard a few screams and the scuffling of feet out of the door that's chime was ringing like a kitchen bell at a fat camp. Some folks were crouched on the floor, praying or something. Not sure if they were facing Mecca or not, since they were all laying in different positions. Some were crying. I'm always moved to see people who care so passionately about their faith and beliefs.

As I approached the register the young man just started throwing money at me. I hadn't even scanned my rewards card, so I wasn't sure what to make of this, except that these must be the rewards that I was promised?

Anyway.
It was really hard to carry all the cash and candybars out to my car because of the gun I was carrying so with my gravelly, recovering voice I requested he "put all that in a bag." He did. I don't know, it was a weird trip to the gas station.

Well, I am sure everyone is interested in the fact I paid my credit card bill on time. I did.

But I'd rather take this time to tell you that my cat is fucking awesome.

Pictured?
My actual cat.

Being a pretty big fan of Park Chan-wook I feel like I should be ashamed it took me this long to finally sit down and watch this one. It's mostly everything I was expecting, albeit just a little uneven. It's a Korean flick so in general that means it's a little heightened, certainly quirky and unpredictable with an odd sense of humor and since it's Park Chan-wook it's brutal at times and pretty slick to look at.

The film starts off pretty strong, but meanders a little in the middle and, honestly, at least on the first watch, I was getting a little impatient. The movie pulls it all together pretty spectacularly and the ending scene is wonderfully composed and executed, shifting between surreal and powerful imagery and some inspired comedic bursts. The comedy comes from the logic and reality of the situation and I was quite pleased with the character actions and counter actions. You know when you watch a movie and think, why doesn't Character X try doing Action Y to get out of Situation Z? Well, for me, I felt like I was scripting that last sequence and I mean that in a good way. Nothing feels cheap and the ending earns it's brilliantly timed last shot.

When a movie starts off strong, gets a little mushy in the middle, then ends on a high note this can be a good thing. A lot of times, the second watch gives you new perspective on those moments that didn't click at first and I don't have a problem with a movie that requires a couple viewings to get everything from it. There are intelligent ideas here and interesting explorations of the characters and their motives. I was not bored... I was just unclear where the movie wanted to take me. I think I have a much better idea of that now having bought the horse.

I am staying away from too many plot elements because I am not sure what I'd consider a spoiler or not, you could go into the movie not even knowing it is going to be a vampire film, but I don't think knowing that part will ruin your enjoyment. Look at the cover and read the synopsis and you know it's a vampire film. But in no way that you might expect or seen before.

It's not as great as Oldboy, which is certainly his most popular film and rightfully so, but it's a very interesting watch if you are up for it.

On another note, I am pretty excited to see the short movie Paranmanjang (Night Fishing) Park Chan-wook recently shot entirely on an iPhone.

It's a good little brew pub in Ypsi where I used to live and frequent often from ages 18-24.

A birthday party, a smattering of friends I may not see again before I move out of Michigan and a beer called Serpentarious, which prompted drunken nonsensical patronous spells and harry potter references for at least 4 minutes. Maybe 5.

The last thing I remember from this night was throwing a taco out of a car window and then running into my apartment ahead of everyone else giggling like a little girl. I mean, boy. Boy.

Woke up in the middle of the night face down on my bed in my coat, scarf and gloves. Apparently, the transition from sitting in the car to falling asleep at 12:30am was pretty smooth and insanely fast.

It was the magic beer that lead me to such an abrupt yet peaceful rest.
And the vodka before the magic beer.
And maybe some of the normal beer that happened before the vodka and magic beer.

Ok, while i promise not to be as gross as my Google Places review, this icon also seems to imply or promote some sort of...

Eh, nevermind.

In all seriousness (since this IS the internet), Springpad is a great service. If you are using Evernote, check out Springpad to see if you like it more. I think I do.

If you aren't using either, you may or may not care about all this I just wrote.

this icon looks too much like an, um, well an anus that, like in life, I am too afraid to touch it...

....In fear I will love it.

Sunday morning... turned the app on and left my iPod outside then went to Build a Bear to prepare some illegal drug and weapon shipments.

Came home... fucking thing didn't even cut the side yard and where it did manage to cut the lines are going counterclockwise around the house when I SPECIFICALLY selected a diagonal pattern. Fucking Steve Jobs!

This app is total bullshit, you are better off paying your neighbors kid or grandpa to cut your grass. Yes, I believe grass cutting is much like cold weather deaths in power outage situations - suitable for children and the elderly only.

Since getting rid of cable I've had to pick up some of the shows I don't get to watch anymore on endless Sunday hungover BRAVO marathons. This was actually the entire first season, which I picked up when stranded in NYC over the holiday blizzard.

I happen to have a weakness for bravo reality shows, irresponsible drunken MILF (and not so MILF) behavior and laughing at folks with a high sense of unearned and absurd entitlement. Because I am entitled to that and I think I earned it by doing nothing.

When all is said and done, during every end credit of every episode, the sobering reality of my not super rich person life presents itself but usually I am done crying by the time the next ep fires up.