Last night, someone (allegedly) fired shots on my block and then proceeded to speed away in a black sedan. I heard the gunshots ... maybe 5-6 of them but didn't see anything out of the ordinary by the time I got to a window. When the three cop cars and two motorcyle cops showed up, I followed my ambulance-chasing father and sister to the corner to huddle with the other neighbors that are far too nosey for their own good. Nothing much was known about the events surrounding the gunfire but the cops, as reported last night in a speculative whisper-down-the-alley session and then again in this morning's paper, found several shell casings.
Two days ago, I finally made up my mind to buy a Canon 20d with the 17-85mm lens kit. I arrived at my local photo shop only to get to the counter and find that it has been "on order" since March 7th. I wait to buy very few things I want ... THIS IS WHY.
I bought and read two comic books this past weekend. First, Superman / Batman - Supergirl written by Jeph Loeb, penciled by Michael Turner and inked by Peter Steigerwald. First off, it was as beautiful as everything else Turner and Steigerwald turn out. Secondly, and more surprisingly for me, it was a good little story. It was everything a casual reader might expect and, more importantly, might want from Batman and Superman. I thought the dialogue was spot-on and the banter between the two heroes was hilarious at times.
The second book was Art Spiegelman's Maus. For those of you that don't know, it's about a son (comic book creator) who asks his father to tell him all about his experiences as a Jew living in Europe during the early to middle 1900's. It's been a while since I've read anything historical in any sense and it was a good reminder of how unfathomable something like the Holocaust is to myself and probably most people born in the 80's.
After a long, Holiday weekend, it was excrutiatingly painful to go to work today. To further provoke my unwillingness to go to work, it was beautiful outside and my cousin's talk of "the shore" at a family picnic yesterday had my mind already checking into an imaginary beachfront property.
I just finished watching the complete first and second seasons of Dawson's Creek. It's only the second tv-show-based-DVD-box-set that I've ever purchased. My first purchase was Joss Whedon's Angel and I've already got the first two seasons of that under my belt. Season three of Dawson's Creek is on it's way from Amazon and once that's finished, I'll be all set to watch the two shows as I did a couple years ago, meaning - I'll be watching the episodes of both shows that aired the same weeks in the same seasons while they were still on TV and producing new episodes.
While it required elaborate arranging on some Wednesday nights, I saw Dawson's Creek and Angel back-to-back until both shows ended. It was funny going back and watching the first two seasons of both shows mostly because I didn't start watching them religiously until the third or fourth season of Dawson's Creek and the corresponding second or third season of Angel. I might never have watched the shows with such interest if I had seen the first few episodes ... or maybe that's just perspective, I don't know.
NEway, they're two of my guilty pleasures for vastly different reasons and I can't tell you how anxious I am to relive my Wednesday nights by watching them again. It's funny because, otherwise, the only thing I see on TV is an occassional SportsCenter / Baseball Tonight and actual sporting events.
From my office window, I saw a late 90's Saturn sedan drive by. It was old and gold and looked pretty fly.
Okay, no more rhyming.
Surpisingly, there were no bling-bling wheels, rims or dubs. Instead, safety-patrol-orange paint was sprayed on oem-issued hubcaps for that look of, well, I have no idea.
I laughed out loud to myself. It was the highlight of my day.
Alright, this post is right up there with curing cancer, ending world hunger and solving the mysteries of cold fusion.
I've been out of the what's-going-on-with-celebrities loop for, well, pretty much my entire life. I never did care too much about what happened to my favorite TV characters and movie stars while they were off being something OTHER than my favorite TV characters and movie stars. That being said, I've always made exceptions for certain female actresses, artists and musicians because, well, I'm a guy.
SO, I happened to flip on the TV while I was eating dinner and since I must've just missed Sports Center, I simply left the last chosen channel play in the background as I enjoyed my dinner. As it so happens, a show called "Celebrity Beefs" or something thereabouts was about halfway through when I hopped on for the ride.
The premise of the show is explaining what celebrities are fighting with other celebrities through the perspectives of seemingly random journalists, comedians and other celebrities. WELL, let me tell you ... I don't think I remember one thing OTHER than the fact that Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan hate each other! Granted, I can't tell you what either of those chicks do (acting, art, music?) but I CAN tell you that they're both hot in that used-to-be-awkward-cute-girl-next-door-but-now-I'm-hot look they've got going on. I'm crushed. I DO hope they can put aside their differences and work things out. I always pictured them as gal pals that shopped at ridiculously expensive and exclusive stores together and then went and had try-on sessions for their new school-girl outfits before they had scantily clad pillow fights at their weekly sleepovers, sigh.
I've been known to be a bit nostalgic at times (let's leave it at that) and I was watching a DVD last night when a song came on that made me think of someone / some place / some time from years past. That happens to me every now and then and it's somewhat startling but it's almost always a pleasant kind of startling that makes me smile (even if only for me to see).
I'd like to make this a poll but I know polls seem to see very little action late in the week ... SO ... I'll simply list a couple of songs that remind me of certain people (to list places / times as well would be overwhelming ... MOST of my CD's remind me of one place or another at some time in my life so I'll focus on people) and if anyone wants to share, that'd be cool with me.
Alright, don't take this as "just another tax cut". I firmly believe that books / reading materials should not be taxed. Isn't it hard enough to convince some people that reading is good for them? I know this brings up many gray areas of what qualifies as a "book" or "reading material" but I'd rather deal with those issues and give people greater value for their literary dollar.
Look at it this way ... Philadelphia is rated America's 2nd fattest city in 2005 according to the Men's Fitness magazine. PA doesn't tax food. I'm thinking that if PA didn't tax reading materials, maybe we'd have an uncontrollable reading "problem" instead of an eating problem :-)
This article on money.cnn.com describes how Loews (not Lowe's) is going to post movie start times AFTER factoring in the time for the trailers and commercials that precede every show. While the commercials are becoming more and more annoying (considering many are replayed on TV every day), I still enjoy the trailers for upcoming movies so I'd still probably make sure I was at the theater early enough to see the pre-show entertainment.
Now, for those of you considering showing up for just the movie and skipping the commercials and trailers ... please, don't make a big deal when all of the "good" seats are already taken.
Welcome to May my fine readers. Even though it's been rainy around here and in the 40's and 50's as of late, I can see the light at the end of the seasonal tunnel. The beauty of spring and the heat of summer are right around the corner now. I eagerly await steady temperatures in the 80's and, hopefully, the frequency of rain will decrease now that "April Showers" have passed on to allow for "May Flowers". Here's to the prospect of a beautiful spring / summer in the Valley!