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Friday, July 10th, 2009
renegadeof_funk
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9:54p
Cap's Back!
Allow me, if you will, a brief moment to speak about comic books.
It makes me profoundly happy to see that Captain America may be alive again. His death was unsettling, a grim reminder that sometimes characters fade or become lost in the shuffle and can be eliminated. In short, Steve Rogers' untimely death I found upsetting.
My happiness to find out he will likely return is not out of some sense of come-lately patriotism, no. Rather, it is the rejuvenination of a boyhood idol. In my youth, while I was more attracted to comic book heroes like Iron Man or the X-Men, I always had time to read the latest glossy-paged adventure of Captain America.
I think I admired his consummate leadership and indomitable will. I looked at him as a man, even if fictional, who was possessed of a steel resolve and uncompromising valor. Cap always knew what was right and just, and he had the courage to carry it through, even when doing so was difficult or unpopular. He had the strength to affect change, and could not be bribed, tempted or convinced to pursue anything but a righteous cause. He was an icon for the ages, a man that deep on the inside, I wanted to be. A man who understood and could rise to the occasion of heroism.
On top of all that, Captain America was a man who was compassionate enough that could admit when he was wrong, apologize for his shortcomings, and grieve for the losses he suffered. While Cap was a man of incredible fortitude, power and spirit, he was also relatably human. He relied on his friends, knew when to ask for help, and knew when his help was needed. He had the ability to protect his friends and those he cared about.
Maybe it's childish of me to be so introspective about a fictional comic book character, who's most lasting legacy is probably behind him. On the other hand, maybe Steve Rogers is one of the best role models I could have imagined. I think, in my heart, I still wish I could be like Captain America.
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(2 comments | comment on this) Thursday, July 9th, 2009
anoptimist
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6:01p
If I Stop to Catch My Breath
Faster and faster the world goes. Last week I covered my vacation (in two blissful sentences) and various world goings-on. This week I got my 4th of July trip down to the city with Dave (which was awesome!) and that's about it.
Headed down via the usual Metro North route after Dave got off work, getting into the city at my usual Metro North time of 9:15. Since I had a lot of people to see/things to do this trip and didn't want to burden anyone with our guest-presences while flying all over the place, I opted to stay in a hotel. I went with a place near Union Square for its central location (The Union Square Inn, actually) and we were able to get there and check in right quick. We were supposed to head up a few streets to meet up with Sara, Liz, and Danielle to celebrate Danielle's birthday, but I promptly got Dave and myself lost by transposing the street and address numbers that Sara had given to me.
We got there a bit late, but settled in pretty quick. I knew that we were going to a karaoke bar (which terrified me, I am an utterly horrible singer) and was relieved to find out that folks had opted for a private room. My utterly horrible singing would be heard by friends only. This also meant that we got to choose our own songs, and there were some pretty sweet choices. "Sledgehammer", "Been Caught Stealing" (not chosen by me!), and CCR's "Bad Moon Rising", which was notable mostly because it came with a generic make-your-own-video type music video featuring death chasing some old lady through a cornfield. I went with "Say It Ain't So", which is probably my favorite overwrought drinking song.
Before I even realized it it was 2am and the party was starting to break up. Very glad that I was able to see Sara, Liz, and Danielle (especially on her birthday), just wished that there was more time to catch up (there probably would have been if I hadn't gotten lost). In any case, Dave and I stumbled back to our place, I bought a pretzel from a street vendor, and Dave took a picture of it which freaked the street vendor out. Good times.
Got up early and feeling surprisingly decent to catch the NATHAN'S FAMOUS HOT DOG EATING CONTEST at Coney Island. I'll spare too much of the details of this one to say that it involved a long wait, a carney-like promoter, a midget, Eric Fitchett, and a surprisingly awesome and frenzied crowd. Joey Chestnutt won, eating an absolutely disgusting 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
After that we hung out with Eric and his sister + her husband for most of the rest of the afternoon. Coney was absolutely swarmed, but disappointingly lacking in true freaks for the most part. Weather was perfect though, and a good time.
Went back, took a quick nap, then set out to try and find Glenn + fireworks. We were successfully able to catch the fireworks from the Chelsea Piers area, but sans Glenn. Caught up with him, Dave Rose, and Will a bit later, and it was just like old times. Seriously the easiest guys in the world to hang out with. We went to a nearby bar and shot the shit for a little bit, but took it pretty easy on the drinks. I didn't realize how tired I was until I made it back to the room.
We were able to pack in a few more quick events before leaving on Sunday. Went up to Glenn's hood to have lunch with everyone, and Jen Bruno stopped in as well. Glenn told me about a bar that does punk/metal karaoke with a REAL BAND backing you, and that sounded pretty awesome. Also watched the end of the epic match at Wimbeldon and saw Roger get his 15th major. It was a weekend dominated by record-breakers. Also took a stroll through Central Park with Dave R and his cousin Rich.
So that's it! Fantastic weekend. Wanted to make sure I got it all down, get this journal back to its record-y purpose. Work has picked up due a combination of the approach of our 1st quarterly update, and the ongoing State government shenanigans. That's all I have to say about that.
Alright, long enough for now. More stuff later.
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(comment on this) Saturday, July 4th, 2009
syntxofthngs
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2:12a
Gee Wiz...
Does anyone else find it unsettling and eerie that we can remember a time when there "wasn't" an internet? ( When our minds were bleeding out of our ears watching Beavis and Butthead..., remember?)
Guys, my family was so lame when it came to technology. I literally had a DINOSAUR for a computer. This thing was honestly like one of those weird props from the Flintstones, where the bird's beak is the pin for the record player (another antiquated device). I remember having to type in C://win (I think) to start Windows. Whatever program we used for word processing when I was in 4th grade--the year was 1995--had one of those blue backgrounds with the white text and a cursor that was a large, blinking red rectangle. PIZZA BOX SIZED FLOPPY DISKS, okay? I played the original Oregon Trail with utter gusto, as I hope you did as well.
That's likely where my childhood diverts (in one of many ways) from most kids in our generation. [Oh, and for convenience sake, we'll say that our generation includes you too, Dave. Zing! Bet you've been sitting there thinking up an MS DOS joke this whole time. Now I just comically ninja'd it away from you. Double zingz.]
Anyway, back to my childhood. For whatever reason, after securing themselves a VCR, my parents stopped embracing the influx of modern technology in the early nineties. Part of this is due to the fact that my parents tend to be oddly conservative at times. A large part was due to the fact that we were actually painfully poor for many years. So, the cavernous house I live in today stands in the footprint of a much smaller (more decrepit looking) household.
Then suddenly we were getting 250 hours of FREE! INTERNET from AOL in the mail on CD-ROMS! My parents held off on getting a computer with access to the internet until the year two thousand and three. That's right. I was in high school. In fact, I was a junior, so I'd already done two years hard time of no internet, which meant no AIM, which meant every time someone asked for my screenname I'd literally have to say I didn't have the internet.
Anyway, long story short, I feel old and I can't wait to use that line (over and over and over again) on my grandkids. "Well! When I was your age, we didn't even have the INTERNET!" But, of course, by then the world will be a happier place because they'll have legalized marijuana (and taxed it... because it grows easily in the fucking ground), the government will be run by the children of the folks at Google and Ben&Jerry's, and Sarah Palin will be a tiny little sparkle of political humor from many moons ago.
current mood:  over sleepy so just mad awake
current music: obnoxious - immortal technique
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