“…Like oil and water.”

Never has that phrase conjured such vivid imagery.

Unless you’ve been living at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico you’ve heard about a minor incident that is troubling the oil behemoth, BP, the environment, and governments from 6 continents (Australia doesn’t really care).  Having heard rumors of a particularly leaky pipe, I took it upon myself to do some research.  Unfortunately, there just isn’t that much media coverage…  psssshhhh!! All news sources, including your aunt’s blog are firing on all cylinders, gathering information and cyring, “Foul!!”  At this point, opinions are like kittens, people are giving ‘em away (Isaac Brock).  Forget public opinion, we need some answers.  Bring in the “experts!” Continue Reading

Despite frequently attending concerts and a habit of writing monthly email novels, I’ve never combined the two passions into a written concert review.  The time has come.  However, I will warn that my “review” is not at all traditional and doesn’t have all that much to do with the band.  Regardless, I think you’ll all wish you had been there for a finite amount of time to witness the performance I was lucky enough to live through.  Ladies and gentlemen…..please give it up for….. Continue Reading

Spring has officially sprung like Wayne’s wiener for Tia Carrera.  Don’t worry, that won’t be the only penis reference in this email.  However, there is more important news to report.  As you may have heard already, Vampire Weekend has come to an agreement with 20^th Century Fox to score and co-star in an upcoming box-office smash.   It will be the Columbia grads’ first feature flick, but thus far the entertainment community has fully embraced the foursome’s foray into film.  Riding a similar wave of hype that preceded their debut album, Ezra, Rostam and the Chrises are primed for Hollywood success that may exceed their meteoric rise to indie-rock stardom.  The trailers are due out within the month and aim to recapture an audience left behind in 1989.

Vampire Weekend at Bernie’s Continue Reading

After a two-week whirlwind the Olympics are over.  Whew. I am undoubtedly a lifelong fan of the Olympics, both summer and winter, but the time commitment is grueling.  A four-hour primetime broadcast for 15 days straight, with additional daytime coverage and a late night recap?! I had to talk myself out of buying a six-pack of Snuggies and riding out the entire two weeks on the couch.  Thank god for DVR.  Employing this little technological miracle to speed through commercials, I was able to slash the extensive primetime sessions into a streamlined 2.5 hour chunk of non-stop adrenaline.  Further implementation of LEAN techniques (read, “situational fast-forwarding”) enabled me to carve out an additional 30 – 45 minutes, during the following: Continue Reading

Photos | Mike Swor

In the electro-wiki-twitter-youface-dot.com era of music, bands scream to the forefront, riding tidal waves of blog hype, but are just as quickly sucked back into the vast sea of “who’s got next.”  However, Hockey, a Portland-based 5-some are steadily making their way forward amidst throngs of bands vying for the attention of critics and labels.  While their biggest fan base seems to remain on the west coast of the States, the word is spreading, and not just in English.  Still, there is so much work, work, work to be done and I aim to find out what keeps them afloat.  On the evening of their *SOLD OUT* show at the Casbah, in San Diego, CA, I track down bassist Jeremy “Jerm” Reynolds, and singer Ben Grubin at a local pizza place and between bites they tell me the story of Hockey. Continue Reading

2010 is kicking ass and 13 weeks after taking my big Structural Engineering exam, I found out that the end of 2009 kicked ass, too.  I have officially been granted licensure as a Structural Engineer in California.  I got my blackbelt!! If a couple of exclamation points and the bolded font don’t sufficiently convey my enthusiasm, you can supplement with the image of a 30-year-old man doing karate kicks and punches in the dining room at 8:30 am after seeing the test results online.  Suck it, Chuck Norris!  Thanks to all of you who offered your love and support while I was buried in textbooks and building codes.  I owe you all some good karma.  Now I’m striving to be a full-fledged creative writing ninja.  Hi-ya!! Continue Reading

Welcome, everyone, to 2010!!  Let’s settle something right away.  It’s pronounced

two thousand ten. [too] [thou-zuh nd] [ten]

NOT,

O-ten. [oh] [ten]

Two-K-ten. [too] [key]* [ten]

Naught-ten. [nawt] [ten]

Twenty-ten. [twen-tee] [ten]

The year two hundred one time ten. [th uh] [yeer] [too] [huhn drid] [wuhn] [tahymz] [ten]

*Dictionary.com Continue Reading