Briefly speaking...

The posts and going to be a bit sparse this week...gots lots going on this birthday week!

Quick recap of the weekend...

- Went to San Diego this weekend and hung out with my friend Michael. We basically game show geeked out the whole time as I brought over some stuff from my collection.

- San Diego was beautiful. The weather was gorgeous. We grabbed some lunch in Hillcrest Saturday afternoon. Such a cute little area.

- Thanks to my trip in San Diego, I was able to find the missing LPs for my wall of albums! Woohoo! The full wall should be up by this weekend.

- Scissor Sisters concert tonight at the Wiltern! YAY! Anybody else out there going?

Foot....meet mouth!

Is there a "Most Outrageous Game Night Special" in the works? Because last night, I attended a game night and made a faux pas that will probably go in the annals of horrible answers.

First of all, it was great getting together with the game show gang and it was especially cool to finally meet Clay Zambo, whom I've known for years via the online game show discussion groups.

Anyhoo, we were playing a game of Taboo and Clay was giving clues to our team. Here's the exchange (to the best of my recollection):

The word was "Birth Control Pill" or "Pill"

CLAY: It's an oral contraceptive...

ME: DIAPHRAGM!

And cue me totally losing it after realizing what I had just said. I was in such hysterics and one of my contacts popped out of my eye! Ah, the joys of going with the first thing that comes out of your mouth...and in this case it was a "diaphragm."

A big plus of the evening was a successful (finally!) attempt at playing "Go!" We've tried this a couple of times at previous game nights to not-as-great results. Quite a fun game. Even more fun was the fact that there were many crimes of grammar as the game progressed. Wait...I think I may have just committed one there!

Twintastic

So this evening, Tim, Drew, and I went to Molly Malone's to see Evan and Jaron perform. What an awesome show!

Much like the last show I saw of theirs a year ago, this was just the two of them singing to a small crowd in a nice intimate setting in the private room of the bar. And like last time, the show was loose. One thing I'm always taken aback by is how funny Evan and Jaron are. The banter in between the songs is just as entertaining as the songs. Their sense of humor really shone through providing a nice light touch in between some of the more serious songs. Hell, they ended with a song about cheering up by thinking of their enormous penises! There were a few new songs that were new to me that really stood up..."Broken" and "I Don't Know How to Live You Anymore." There was also a new funny song called "What It's Like to Be a Twin" which asked the question, "if they weren't brother, could they be lovers?" And to top it off, there were a few nifty covers including "Sister Christian" and "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" The show had an "anything goes" feel to it with songs sometimes being interrupted by a side comment from Evan or Jaron and one song "Sister Christian" being cut off when Jaron couldn't remember the words. And they did "Wouldn't It Be Nice to Be Proud?," one of my favorite E & J songs. Without a doubt, I got more than my five bucks worth from the show. A great way to spend the evening...it's funny, on one hand, I wished they got more recognition and airplay than they do now, but on the other hand, it's kinda cool to see them in such a small setting.

In any case, if you haven't gotten their latest CD, go get it from their website. And go see them live!

Could've been so beautiful

So last Friday night, a bunch of us went out for dinner for Tim's birthday. We went to Tokyo Delve's, a rock-n-roll sushi bar in North Hollywood. It was my first time there and (make sure you're sitting down) my first time eating sushi. I had always been under the notion that sushi was nothing but raw fish. Seeing how I get turned off by restaurants that have a "B" grade from the health board here, raw fish never something at the top of my "to eat" list. (Insert joke here)

As I perused the menu, while loud 80s music played the in background and waiters and bartenders shouted "shake! shake! shake!" while martinis were mixed and alternated screaming "sake!" and "bomb!" when people downed sake bombs, I noticed that there cooked fish was part of the sushi category. I figured, what the hell, and gave the jumbo shrimp rolls a try. Good stuff. The night was capped off as their popstars revolution show featuring the waiters and bartender lipsynching to 80s pop songs like "Hangin' Tough" and "Like a Virgin." Totally cheeseball, but still fun. :-)

We capped off the night by then heading to West Hollywood to Popstarz to see a live performance by...Tiffany! So it was a gay club and not a mall...but really, what's the difference? :-) She didn't hit the stage until 12:30 and it was um, interesting to say the least. I can't say I'm a Tiffany fan, but it was um, nice to say that I've seen her person...prancing around in a leather mini-skirt...with a flowery thing over her boobs on her shirt...Oh, and I totally forgot she sang "Could've Been So Beautiful"...which she did a capella...um, no comment... O:-)

The king is dead...

Late-Night King Johnny Carson Dies at 79

Very sad news...Johnny Carson was a big influence of mine and one of my inspirations to get into the television biz. I can still remember convincing my parents to let me stay up to watch the "Tonight Show" as a little kid. Thankfully, we got a VCR soon after and I was able to simply record the show and watch it the next day. I didn't get all the monologue jokes at first, but I could tell that his was the standard to live up to. I did my best to emulate and achieve that level of comedy in the few years I dabbled in stand-up, but realized that it wasn't easy as he made it look. While I love David Letterman and consider him to be the best in late-night today, there is still nobody who could come close to the level of Carson. Television truly lost one of its legends this weekend.

To sum up last night's Amazing Race...

YAY!

That's pretty much it...I have no more to say. Oh wait, I do...

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Plugging away....

Ahh...love how impromptu life can be at my house...

As we all watch the "Surreal Life" and The Golden Globes on Sunday night, Ted said, "Who's up for Disneyland tomorrow?" With it being a day off for a bunch of us, we figure, "Why not?"

So yesterday, a bunch of us trekked down to Anaheim and make our first pilgrimage Disneyland for 2005. We decided to take things at leisurely and try to check out some of the stuff we normally don't see when we go to the "house of mouse." We went to Innoventions which Tim appropriately nicknamed "The Hall of Consumerism!" Got to see how we'd all look 20 years from now. Essentially all the computer did was take a picture of our face an puffed up. So, basically we're all just going to get a little fatter in the future. Over on the California Adventure side, we saw "Golden Dreams," or as I like to call it, "Where's Whoopi?" It's an inspirational look at California's history with Whoopi Goldberg as a muse-like spirit guiding California's dreamers. Yeah, you see where it's going...Cue bombastic love ballad to dreams and California....HERE! The drive back wasn't as fun...A hour and 45 minutes to get home. Oh well, at least we put the iPod to good use with little medley of TV themes.

A couple of plugs...First, if you're in the San Francisco area next weekend, be sure to catch The Burglars of Hamm. A few of us saw their performance of "Easy Targets," a hilarious take on bad one-man shows. Really funny stuff. This weekend, they're going to be part of a sketch comedy festival up in San Fran. Definitely check it out if you can.

Also, tomorrow my friend Will is going to be featured on an episode of "Room Raiders" on MTV. I believe it airs 4:30 PM. (If you have DirecTV on the west coast, it's 1:30 PM). It should be a lot of fun if any of the other episodes I've seen are a good indicator. Besides the fact that I'm outside MTV's demographic (EEE!), I could never be on that show. I would dread at what somebody might uncover in my room!

Birthday craziness...

Such a crazy weekend so far...thank goodness it's a 3-day weekend. Two birthday parties...First, there was my friend Jeff's party at the Fiesta Cantina on Saturday evening. Lots of fun and 2-for-1 margaritas! YAY! And then, this morning, my friend David had a big birthday brunch at the Grand Lux Cafe. Nothing like getting my fix of buffalo chicken sammich topped off with the creme brulee duo. Double YAY!

I plugged in the Atari Flashback yesterday and I have to say it's a bit disappointing compared to the other plug-and-play retrogame packages out there. While it's a replica of the Atari 7800, it's a TINY replica. The controllers feel like they could snap at any moment in my hand. Also, they don't have the best control. They're especially awkward when using them with Atari 2600 games. Speaking of which, I rediscovered Haunted House while playing the Flashback. You mean the game was all about finding pieces of the urn and that's it?!? I can't believe this game boggled me when I was a little kid...

Fired up the Nintendo DS as well this weekend and I've been enjoying it so far. I'm still not used to using the touch pad as a control device. That being said, it's still a cool system. The graphics are really good...amazing what can be done now with handhelds for a low price. This one is definitely no Virtual Boy. Eee...my eyes still ache just thinking about that old system...

Here's a pic taken Jeff's party last night. I think it pretty much sums up my frame of mind this weekend. :-)

Double vision

Had a great evening with the roomies (including our honorary roomie Tony) last night. We went out for dinner...wanted to go to Olive Garden, but it was crowded. We then tried Outback Steakhouse, but it was crowded as well. So many people out to dinner on a Thursday night! Don't they know "Joey" or "Wickedly Perfect" is on?!? :-) We ended up going to Sharky's.

After which, Ted said the fateful words, "Up for going for Best Buy?" Seeing how I had a bunch of Reward Zone certificates that were near expiration, I figured, "Sure, why not?" Gift certificates + Best Buy = splurging.

Eee...I really went overboard this Best Buy adventure, buying all the stuff I didn't get around to purchasing during the holiday season. I finally picked up the "Atari Flashback" system, which looks like an old Atari 7800 that was left in the dryer a bit too long. I did some DVD shopping as well...picked up "Garden State" and the 2nd season set of "Kids in the Hall." But the big splurge had yet to happen...I walked down the video game aisles in hopes of pulling off something I did a couple of years ago when I found the then-new Playstation2. And I did...there it was...the used-to-be-hard-to-find Nintendo DS. There were even a few on the shelf. So, I picked it up with a couple of games and called it a night.

Ted and Larry did a little shopping as well and Ted picked up something which I had thought of getting but decided that I never was a huge fan of the show, so I wouldn't...he got the "Buck Rogers" DVD set...the old NBC show with Gil Gerard! * GASP * That theme! That opening sequence! That disco vision of the future! And GARY COLEMAN!!!!! GARY COLEMAN ON BUCK ROGERS!!! I had never seen the episode before but had heard about it. Naturally, that was the episode we watched when we got home. So, cheesetastic...so, campy...I mean, geez, all the villains (at least in the episode I saw) came off like old, bitter queens. I'm hooked...I must see more!

Just realized something...in the past three days, I've referred to Gary Coleman, Emmanuel Lewis, and Mini-me in my blog. I've complete the trifecta!

Wanna be starting something...

2005 could be the year of Jacko...

"Court TV Will Enter Michael Jackson's Mind"

"E! to re-enact testimony from Michael Jackson's trial"

I'm especially excited about the re-enactments! Who will play Jacko? Will LaToya appear as herself? And what about Emmanuel Lewis? Oh, the possibilities! Thank you, E! THANK YOU!

Here comes the sun...

A second day of sun! YAY! Oh, how I missed you!

* Gives sun a big hug *

* Burns to a crisp *

Owwwwwww....

YAY for a non-elimination leg of "Amazing Race" last night. I was not ready to deal with an Aaron Philimination. Poor Aaron...He could not get a break from Hayden last night. And Adam in the Scooby Doo old-school scuba gear. Too much...

Finally got around to seeing the premiere of "Surreal Life 4." My head nearly exploded. Just when you think it couldn't get any more insane, it did. Jane Weidlin is into S & M?!? What?!? How did I miss the memo on this? And Mini-me travels around in a scooter? OH, and when did Christopher Knight (aka Peter Brady) get all buff?!?

A drunk little person scooting around an L.A. home peeing on the carpet...that, my friends, is what I'm talking about. Hooray!

Picked up the "Scissor Sisters" DVD at the store yesterday, but not without a little effort. It took Best Buy forever to figure out whether they had it in stock or not...It turns out they didn't, so I trekked over to Virgin Megastore. They had plenty of copies there and they surprisingly had them at a lower price than what Best Buy's. Didn't get to watch too much of it last night, but it looks like it's a pretty thorough DVD. All the videos (minus the newest one..."Filthy Gorgeous"), a full concert, and a couple of documentaries about the band. Oh, and there's a special easter egg. I don't know it off hand, but I'll post it in tomorrow's blog.

Rainy Days and Mondays...

Got me a bit sick...Was a bit under the weather in more ways than one yesterday. Had the worst headache and fever Sunday night. Stayed in bed all day yesterday. It looks like I picked the right day to stay home from work. Geez, the rain was crazy...

God bless Tylenol, by the way...

Well, I'm back at work now. It took me TWO hours to get to the office today in spite of the return of sunshine. Oh, Mr. Sun, how I missed you!

Well I thought about the poultry...

Not letting this rain spoil my weekend...

Last night, went out with a bunch of the guys to West Hollywood (EEEE!). And we went to Popstarz at The Factory (EEEEEEEEEEE!). To be honest, it's not really my cup of tea, but some factors helped with making it a much more pleasant experience than I usually have in WeHo. First, the rain did wonders for keeping the crowds to a manageable number at the club. And second, and probably most important of all, was the company. I think this is the first time a whole bunch of us just went out to West Hollywood and had some fun. And...please make sure you're sitting down...I hit the dance floor. Me and dancing is about as good a mixture as the combination of me, driving, and rain. Seeing how the latter combination happened anyway yesterday, I figured, "What the hell!" :-)

Today, got my hair cut at Shorty's...First hair cut of the year and Max did a spectacular job as always. Highly recommend requesting him if you get your hair cut there...

And this afternoon, Tim, Tony, John, Drew, Graham, and I took a field trip to the Los Cerritos mall to get some lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Mmmmm...it's been over a year since I've had an original Chick-Fil-A sandwich. Ohhhh...how I missed that taste of some holy chicken with a special hint of pickle and a dollop of barbecue sauce. And the waffle fries...ohhhh, the waffle fries. It was so worth driving 45 minutes in rain to get there! My smile says it all:

Speaking of smiles...you can see some new ones on the first batch of 2005 pics in my "Photo albums" section. Enjoy!

Runway or another....

All right, I LOVE "Project Runway." Last night's episode was sooo wonderful. The tears! Kate Hudson's singing cousin! The tears! Austin's near breakdown! Crazy models! And I must say Jay is even growing on me! Hooray!

Quite intrigued by "Queer Eye for the Straight Girl." Even though I don't watch "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" that much, I think I'll give "Straight Girl" a try. Heh...I think that will be the only time you'll ever see me type those words. :-)

Ying and Yang

Gotta hand it to "The Amazing Race." The first half of tonight's show sported some very pretty people swimming around in bathing suits and speedos. But alas, there was a price for all this! The second half sported some very pretty people vomiting spicy soup. Heh...Great episode...and boo on Gus and Hera being Philiminated and Jonathan and Victoria's 3rd place finish. Grrrrrr!

Went to The Apple Store at the Grove last night and they were QUITE helpful. Highly recommend going there if you're looking into going Mac or even if you're just getting an iPod. One of the main reasons I went there is because I'm looking to converting some of these vinyls I found while vinyl hunting to MP3 and it looks like I already have all the equipment I need computer-wise. Now, I just need to find a turntable!

I'm also looking to venture into the world of Logic Express. Has anybody used this program? I love Garageband. (I used it to make "Keep Christmas Gay and Bright.") But, I think I want to venture in more complex territory. Matt, the guy who assisted me at the store, likened it to going from iMovie to Final Cut Express. Anybody out there agree with this assessment?

The sky is falling....

Geez, the rain is not letting up here in L.A.! There is one benefit to the rain...

Everybody else starts driving the same speed as me!

Even my iPod knows it's raining...the shuffle play busted out "Laughter in the Rain" in the midst of my wet drive today...

That's my vinyl answer...

So I took on a new little project today. There was a lot of empty wall space above my piano in my bedroom. I decided to make that the "music" part of my room and decorate it with framed LP covers of some of my favorite artists and albums. There's enough room about the piano to fit a four by three arrangement of album covers and another column of three on the adjoining wall to the left.

I started today by going on a little vinyl shopping spree. This afternoon, my friend Tony and I ventured out into the rain and went to Amoeba Records, Aron Records, and Virgin. In the midst of the vinyl adventure, I picked up for the wall display...

- "Scissor Sisters" by Scissor Sisters
- "The Visitors" by ABBA
- "Bad for Good" by Jim Steinman (EEE! Could not believe i found this in good condition for 2.99)
- "Rockin' the Suburbs" by Ben Folds
- "Are You Ready for Love?" by Elton John
- The "Xanadu" Soundtrack
- "Chess" by the Broadway cast
- "Kilroy Was Here" by Styx (one of the first albums I bought growing up as a child)

I also found the "Growing Pains" album by Steven Dorff (not the actor, but the singer who did the theme song), the "Paradise Alley" soundtrack featuring a song sung by Sylvester Stallone, "Totally Hot" by Olivia Newton-John, and an original first pressing of "Cold Spring Harbor" by Billy Joel (which has a different mix than the Columbia re-release from '84).

I am still on a quest to find good copies of the following for the wall:

- "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John
- "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" by Elton John
- "Abbey Road" by The Beatles
- "Whatever and Ever Amen" by Ben Folds Five
- "Turnstiles" by Billy Joel
- "Greatest Hits" by Queen
- "The Stranger" by Billy Joel
- "Tug of War" by Paul McCartney
- "Imagine" by John Lennon

If any of you come by any spare good copies in your own collection that you'd be willing to part with, drop me a line via E-mail and we'll work something out!