September 29, 2009

Tips for Abroad.

I received my abroad handbook today and it has many useful tips about surviving in another country. Allow me to share some highlights.

These are direct quotes from this publication. Here is a picture so you get an idea of what kind of book this is:



Keep in mind these are actual quotes:

On avoiding con artists:
"Be wary of smooth operators."

On arrival:
"Upon your arrival, you may experience an immediate sense of euphoria--everything that is new seems intriguing and exciting. Inevitably, the novelty wears off and shifts to a new and sometimes unsettling awareness"


On return:
"You may be concerned about how your family and friends will react to the 'new' you."


On Substance Abuse:
"If you experiencing any substance abuse problems, consider deferring your participation in an overseas program."

More on Substance Abuse:
"Leaving the country will not make your problems go away--if anything, they will worsen."

On travel:
"Be careful to observe traffic lights."


On protection:
"Be aware that it is common in some cities for thieves on motorcycles to pull gold chains off the necks of pedestrians."

On relationships abroad: (!!!!!!)
"Some countries do not admit that they have an AIDS epidemic. Assume AIDS is everywhere."

Now that I have learned these tips. I feel ready to travel anywhere.

Moby Show

This is the best I could do photo-wise for Thursday's trip to MobyTown courtesy of @sethjhoffman twitpic extravaganza.




You can't see much, but you can see his still bald head and his vegan, sissy ways. You can even make out the bald head of his MobyClone drummer playing behind him. On stage with him was a soulful black woman who did all the 'ooh lordy, troubles so hard' kind of stuff, a skinny white girl with bangs who did the softer types of female vocals (a la Dream About Me, which unfortunately was not played). The skinny white girl was actually Kelli Scarr, the opening act who just stayed on through his show. There was also a chick bassist in a suit who didn't really do much beside play bass.

The music was great but there was no flow between the songs. Moby kept stopping to make snide comments and tell stories about why each song was his favorite of some subcategory (favorite to play live, favorite with female vocals, favorite all time, etc.) The best parts were the few times that he appealed to the 'ravers' of his past and put the guitar down, jumped on the bongos and just went nuts.

Bottom line, Moby is really annoying, makes great music.

September 25, 2009

Lumberjack. Vermont.

I'm off to Vermont in a couple hours to go cut down some trees. Curious? Scope this map:



I headed on over to goodwill for the occasion and picked out a sweet lumberjacking shirt.



Hopefully there will be pictures of me up there with an axe, but I am not sure because I have no camera access. There is no TV either (obviously because it is Vermont) so hopefully I will be able to catch up on my book: House of The Scorpion (thanks Claire!)

September 24, 2009

It's Official! (Mazel Tov)

I just officially was accepted into my abroad program. This is what things might look like in a couple of months:



Now celebrate with me!!

Sheer Brilliance

This shirt.woot is freakin' brilliant.



[source]

By the way I am going to see Moby tonight at House of Blues! Should be incredible. More on that later.



Remember Gwen? Remember Gore Lieberman 2000?

September 23, 2009

Two Interesting Things. One Useful.

I am working in the mail room at my school right now. A kid just came and picked up a package. Everything was going smoothly until he was just about to leave and he stopped and turned to me and asked: "Do you know what is in here?"

"What kind of paranoid freak is this?" I thought to myself. "Is he really accusing me of mail fraud?"

I realized a moment later when he asked me whether or not I liked basketball that he was really just opening up the conversation so he could brag about what he just bought. I am always wondering what people get, so I played along.

"Yeah, I like basketball," I lied.

"So you like Michael Jordan."

"Yeah" I told the truth.

"This is a piece of history." He crooned with a sly smile on his face and the package still in his hand above his head.

He proceeded to brag that he purchased a piece of the actual court played on when Michael Jordan pretty much won the NBA finals with a fat fever and the flu. Damn.



(this video is unfortunately kind of boring, but it has good demonstrative value).

2. A while back I spoke of firefox add-ons. I'm still pretty into them but it is rare that I find one that I just have to share. We'll here. This is pretty amazing. Especially if you are into stuff like Elefantitis or El Rincon Del Kik.

It is called Youtube to mp3. It does exactly what it sounds like. On your youtube, a little link will appear that allows you to download just the audio from any video in mp3 format. Amazing.

September 19, 2009

Update

Hey! Shana Tova!

Things have just been going dandy. I've been cookin', workin' etc.


More later.

September 9, 2009

WorldWide Monopoly

Obviously, this is one of the most exciting things the world has ever seen!



It's kind of hard to tell what that image is, but basically, Hasbro and Google.Maps have teamed up together to create a real life, worldwide game of Monopoly. Yes. You can purchase any street in the world and go hogwild all over it. You can even use Google.SketchUp to design your houses and hotels and place them there.

It launched today but I have not once been able to access the website because there is so much traffic. They repeatedly apologize for this on their blog, but apology or no apology, I still don't own Lomita Dr., Buswell St., Lombard St. or Infinite Loop. Now that's a fatty. Especially today...

I still can't even handle this.

September 6, 2009

Football Season

Football Season has officially begun. Today was the draft. Here's my official roster:

Payton Manning
Brandon Jacobs
Willie Parker
DeSean Jackson
Chad Ochocinco
Felix Jones
Heath Miller
David Akers
Eagles Defense
Michael Vick
Beannie Wells
Donald Driver
Arnaz Battle
Glen Coffee
Carolina Defense

Thanks to the commissioner Natan

September 5, 2009

Smell-O-Vision

Last night I went to a screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the movie with Gene Wilder, not to be confused with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the title of the original book and the new Tim Burton movie).

This was no ordinary screening. This was in SMELL-O-VISION. That's right, an olfactory element was added to the show.

Basically, when we saw some fruity stuff, they blew fruity smells etc. Amazing. Oompa Loompas! WonkaWILD!!!!

Check out @sethjhoffman 's photo stream... Basically, the only reason to ever join twitter.

http://mypict.me/x2DL
http://mypict.me/x3c9
http://mypict.me/x4oO
http://mypict.me/x4tk
http://mypict.me/x5y7
http://mypict.me/x7zV
http://mypict.me/x89X
http://mypict.me/x8IT

September 3, 2009

Going Insane!

I have a great new job on campus! I now get paid to sit near a printer and give people what they printed. Some days I have the pleasure of working with other people. Other days (like right now) I get to sit by myself in a basement for 6 hours going insane.

I did all my homework. Plus got a little ahead. I watched 4 episodes of Futurama. I ate a bag of chips. I listened to some music. Here are some favorites from today:

Beg, Borrow and Steal by The Rare Breed

Apparently there is some confusion as to who originally recorded this song. Pandora had it right, I don't know why are so defensive in this video. Anyway, it is fun two watch two old Jews rock this hard.




Lovingly Yours by The Mockingbirds

This song is the seed of the Pandora station that got this whole thing going. It's off my 'The Mod Scene (1962-1968)' compilation that blows out the water pretty hard. (Yea, I just yipped that saying off the horntail.)




Black Biscuit by Seth Kauffman

This dude's name is ridiculous because my roommate is Seth Hoffman, but that is entirely coincidental. Really, I was listening to this guys song on Pandora and I went to give it a thumbs up, only to realize I had already thumbs upped it on March 03, 2007! Guess I really like the song (because I rarely thumbs up stuff). Anyway, I looked all over the internet for the song and the best I could find is a 30 second Pandora sample of it. Turns out this Seth Kauffman character is great. His recent work is under Floating Action and Black Biscuit is the best song from both bands, but here is an enjoyable record / video.



Pretty much every Thursday I'll be coming out with these more extensive posts. So stay tuned!

September 2, 2009

Things I Miss 1/1

I was planning on doing a bunch of posts on stuff I miss, but I am not sure that will happen. This video sums it all up pretty well though... Enjoy: