30 August 2011

Well, despite Irene's best attempts - we still made it to the Dispatch show at State College on Sunday night. I would say that the show wasn't quite as epic as the one at Red Bull Arena that we saw back in June, but it was still a really excellent concert nonetheless. Hopefully these guys make a habit out of doing some touring in the future. And I'm REALLY hopeful that Tara Endicott is able to book either Braddigan or Chadwick (or both) for a show at Burlap in the not too distant future! That would melt my brain off.

Here's a poorly shot video of one song from Sunday's show. My co-worker Kelly was supposed to come to the concert with us, but she and her loved ones got a little more hard hit by the hurricane so she had to stay home. So I figured the least I could do was record her favorite song from the new EP. The fellas miss a few notes here and there, but I guess that just helps to confirm that they're actually singing live. :)

23 August 2011

Apparently there was an earthquake in Virginia that was felt in our area today. I was in the basement playing guitar and didn't even notice, really. I thought I was, perhaps, just getting into it too much when the vase on top of the TV fell off and hit me in the head. Suppose that might've been more related to the quaking earth, though.

But anyway, we continue to feel aftershocks all afternoon.... oh wait, that's just the jackass kid next door listening to terrible hip hop music with the bass knob cranked up all the way. I bet he didn't feel the quake either. When does school start up again?

19 August 2011

Our cable modem died sometime on Tuesday evening. Once RCN came out and confirmed that it was indeed the hardware and not a problem on their end, I headed out to secure a replacement modem. My internal compass originally pointed to Best Buy, but then I detoured to Walmart in Glenolden because it was a lot easier to get to. (I know, Walmart is horrible, non-union, sells stuff from China, blah blah blah.)

When I got to the store, they had exactly one kind of cable modem in stock - a Motorola Surfboard. This made the decision of which one to buy really easy, thankfully. And I'd actually researched this modem when I bought the first one 5 years ago, so we were good to go. I took it up to the cash register and that's when the story got funny/interesting for me.

So the lady at the checkout starts ringing me up and as she scans the modem, she looks at it with a puzzled look on her face. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what do you use this for?" she asks. I hesitated a moment, fearing this was perhaps a trick question. "I'm uh... using it for my internet connection with RCN...," I said. Another puzzled look. Seeing my chance to enlighten the masses, I said, "You can buy your own modem to use with their service and then you don't have to pay the modem rental fee every month." "Oh," she replies, "I was gonna say, don't they give one to you? I didn't know you had to pay for it." Yes, dear, you're not the only one who doesn't look at your bill when it comes in. But, nay, I won't go there. I'm trying to be helpful. "Yeah, they charge you $5 a month to rent their modem. So if I buy this one for $60, in a year it will have paid for itself. And my last one lasted for 5 years, so you figure I saved $240 during that time." This information is met by a look of dawning comprehension. "I guess that does make sense. But $5 a month isn't too bad, though." And I quit.

I guess logic only works if it finds a willing host.

06 August 2011

So I watched this movie called "Paper Man" tonight on Netflix. Jeff Daniels, Lisa Kudrow, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds... with a cast like that, you'd probably anticipate a comedy. I did. But it wasn't, really. It turned out to be one of those sort of slow paced indie films that makes you think about life. It actually reminded me a little bit of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", to tell you the truth. And not just because they both take place (at times) in Montauk - even though they do. But I suppose that's neither here nor there. Anyway, here's my thoughts:

1) It's a shame that independent films don't get more recognition. Emma Stone was excellent in this picture. The sort of excellent that probably would have (or should have) warranted an Oscar nod, had someone at a big studio simply decided to produce this film instead of Sundance. And that's not to take anything away from Jeff Daniels, who was also outstanding.

2) What is it about Montauk? Is it really a magical place, or is it just that people are so enamored with New York city and this is just happens to be a pretty, nearby diversion from the hustle and bustle of city life? I bet it's probably one of those places that was really nice back in the day, when it was actually just a fishing village and not a quaint convenience for the city dwellers. I don't know if I'd like to go there in the summer time. Probably crawling with tourists. Maybe I'll have to take a trip in the winter and experience it when Joel and Richard both did.

3) I still want to get better at having actual friends. That's one of the strands of the plot in "Paper Man" - how these two characters interact with many people, but have real friendship with almost none of them. I can relate to that a lot of times. Maybe not to the extent that Richard and Abby do, but still.

4) I'm jealous of people who hug when they greet each other. To a certain extent, my height makes that difficult for me. (A lot of people don't know how to hug someone tall. You don't put your arm around their waist. That's just awkward.) But also there's just this standoffish side of me that I truthfully don't know the origins of. It's not like my parents never hugged me. Just kind of developed along the way in my teenaged years at some point. But yeah, I'd like to get better at hugging too, I suppose.

So there you have it. More deep thoughts spurred on by my friend Netflix. I haven't been missing cable much at all. Indie films are cool and I have much more exposure to them via Netflix than I ever did with television. That and BBC. Doctor Who and Torchwood? Oh man. That's another post for another day.