Ray's blog

So who's who?!?! Even I can't tell, but all this looking at rugged dudes with 5 o' clock shadow is giving me the shakes!

I like to watch Grey's Anatomy. Its a guilty pleasure. My wife got me into watching it, and we have both watch it slowly devolve into the mess of a show it is today. One of our favorite characters on the show, Denny is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who also happens to be in the Watchmen movie.

At another completely different place and time, me and the wife were at the movies, and we saw a trailer for Vicky, Christina, Barcelona. And we said "Holy Shit!, that's Denny!" I looked it up on IMDB, to find out it was actually Javier Bardem, the crazy creepy killer in No Country For Old Men. After further review, I'm convinced that these guys are twins who were at some point separated at birth. Photo evidence to follow...

UPDATE: So the photo upload is bonked right now, I'll post pics as soon as I can, in the meantime, look it up yourself! You'll be shocked and awed!

On my return flight home with my beautiful wife sleeping next to me. American Airlines now lets you get on the internet while inflight, which is a boon for me. Gadget blogs and gaming sites can make a flight home whiz by, you know.

This week and half in LA has been one of the best times in my life. As you know, me and the guys, besides my wedding, haven't seen each other in months. Its a weird thing. Some of us live close to each other, others live states away. But we all see each other just as frequently, or infrequently to be more precise. Me, Mikey, and Frank always joke about it. We always talk about getting together, but never seem to. When you're home there are three things you want to do...

1) Stay home
2) eat cereal late night while you play Street Fighter
3) Stay home

I'll take "stay home" for $1000 Alex. I'm a home-body, I freely admit that. The thought of showering to go out annoys me. Shaving? A nuisance! Getting dressed!?!? Perish the thought. Me and the wife like to laze around in what we call our "bubble" at home, with our dogs, our TV, our fireplace, and our Chex mix. Where am I going with this??? Oh yeah, now I remember...

My Chem hadn't seen each other in a long, long time, so it was with great anticipation, excitement, and a touch of nervousness that we all got together, hung out, played, raced go-karts, and almost missed our flights home. All in that order. See what was great was that we had about a week to hang out, and play, all of it was no stress. We didn't put time constraints on anything, there were no deadlines. Really all we wanted to do was hang and write stoney jams together, which is what we did.

It was great to see Bob killing the drums again. All of us, Bob included, didn't know where he would be at after his surgery. Was it too early? Was jamming going to be too much? His surgery was actually a really big deal, basically they made a tendon for him or some crazy shit. For someone who uses their wrists like he does, it could be make or break for him. And you know what? The motherfucker hasn't missed a step. We are so lucky to have him as our drummer.

We also found time to race go-karts, as you can see in the above picture. Shit was intense! The go-karts can get up to 50 mph on a straight away, so they can be a little tough to control. Fear not though! You're talking about a group of dudes well versed in the artistry of Mario Kart, so these little spitfires would be no match for us! Or so we thought...

Bob of course, was shredding everybody. His skill on the track is matched only by his love of a frothy Coffee Bean Quintuple Espresso. Whenever he whizzed by me, all I could make out was a ghostly streak of black and blue checkered flannel, and the hint of a blonde beard tucked messily into a yellow-jacket helmet. He was a Norse God, sent down from the heavens to strike man asunder. This vision has not yet escaped my nightmares.

With Bob in first place, the rest of us trailed far behind. The slowest of us got lapped two or three times, seeing the ball-shrinking blue and yellow flag, which basically says you are slow as shit so pull over and let the faster guy get past. One by one, we fell to Bob's deadly power-slide combo, falling 3 and then 4 laps behind. Grown men ready to denounce their manhood. Our wives at home lamenting our loss. And yet there was still hope...

Our good friend Sanch was getting closer and closer to catching Bob's time. Sanch was taking turn after turn like a man possessed. Somehow becoming one with the kart, it became an extension of his will. He and the kart were now one and the same, entering an untread realm of awesomeness the likes of which us slower racers could only dream. As the race's close drew nearer, uber-Sanch (he will now be referred to as such) eased through each curve flawlessly, shaving seconds off his time and gaining more speed in the process. And then it happened...

Approaching the S-curve known as "Dead Man's Gallows," uber-Sanch headed in fast, positioned perfectly to enter the next series of turns at top speed. Just as uber-Sanch was about to hit his power-slide, his back gave out, and he (and the kart) went careening into the side wall at full RPM. From a distance, all one could see was pieces of colored wall and tires flying high into the air. Closer up, I do not care to know what was witnessed that day.

Stripped of his powers, Sanch sat motionless in his kart, tires and rubble upon him. The Taskmaster, perched on the crumbled side wall, towering over Sanch and his wrecked go-kart, scolded him for his apparent inability to apply the brake. A more emasculating site has never been seen. Sanch claimed innocence, saying that he was tapped from behind. Yet no one was near him...

His quest for glory cut short, Sanch hung up his racing gloves and was never heard from again. What happened that day? Did he choke? Or was there something else? Ask those on the pavement, and they will reply that they saw nothing. Some in the grandstand however, will tell of a black and blue checked spectre, haunting the MB2 race course till the end of its days...

Part II to come when I can!

I'm loving Christmas this year. My first foray into lighting the outside of the house went really well, no injuries were reported so I guess it could be considered a success! Let's see, we got a light-up snowman, some cool flashy candy canes, a mom and kid penguin and a bunch of other stuff out there, and we couldn't be happier. I do of course have extension cords, power bricks, and all manner of stuff making the proper connections, so hopefully I won't be going up in smoke.

Watched "A Christmas Carol" last night. I hadn't seen it in years, and was just blown away at how moving this movie can still be after watching it so many times. You will be teary-eyed pretty much for the entire movie. Alastair Sim gives an amazing portrayal of a man who realizes he's on the wrong path in life, and decides to make a change for the better. Sim is the shit in this film. This movie is an example of perfect casting. From Cratchit to Scrooge's maid to Tiny Tim, you can't picture a single role in this movie played by someone else.

What was really interesting is that "A Christmas Carol" was made in 1951, but it feels like a movie from the '30s. That sounds weird, but when you compare it to Citizen Kane or It's A Wonderful Life, which were both released about 10 years before, this movie feels very old-school. Maybe that's because Citizen Kane was so ahead of its time, but that's another discussion. When you watch it, check out the lighting especially, it feels very storybook like or almost like a stage play. Very cool.

I'm definitely watching this movie again this Christmas, I highly suggest you do too...

So I'm talking to my brother Ed on AIM today. He flew in for Thanksgiving from Florida and we got to spend some time together, eat delicious steaks, and jam with my other brother Tito and Ed's friend Carmine. Lemme tell you that after a case of Bud, I play drums like Keith Moon and Tito can shred "Dirty Deeds" on vocals better than Bon Scott. Carmine also wrote an insane riff, only problem was we all were too drunk to play it well...

Anyways I'm chatting about his flight, and how my Dad got him sick, and than he says this..."so I'm making a homebrew 120gb drive for my xbox today." I question him further on it, and he sends me here (http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=660096). After a quick scan of this document, I realize this shit ain't easy. This, after he told me a few days ago that he made cymbals for his rock band 1 drum kit with HIS BARE HANDS. I couldn't do anything but smile. You see my brother Ed follows in the footsteps of my father, who is straight up into electronics. He loves them.

You know those weird circuit boards and iodine and wiring and capacitors and all manner of strange things that Radio Shack carries yet no one seems to buy? My dad LOVES that stuff. He used to take me and Ed to the computer shows, where they'd do presentations on the latest unveiling of the Atari 800, which was a computational beast at the time. This machine was hot shit. A fully integrated computer crammed into a case the size of a small typewriter. Take that Apple!!!

We'd go to flea markets, usually held in gravel filled parking lots, and buy computer games in a plastic baggy because they really didn't sell games in stores at the time. It was a long drive down there, but we'd be rewarded with a McDonald's Hot Cakes breakfast, and if you were really hungry, you'd get the Big Breakfast...We have broadband internet now, but my dad was overjoyed when he got home his 1200 baud modem, and trolled the usenet and Compuserve for people to chat with and trade programs. My dad once wrote a program on his trusty 800 for my mom. She loves to play Pick-3, so he wrote a program that would pick numbers for her at random. Oh, did I mention he soldered together a board that let the computer SPEAK these numbers? And you know how your fancy XBox 360 and PS3 controllers rumble when you get hit? Well my dad specced out a system where your controller would actually ELECTROCUTE you when you messed up in the game. Unfortunately, he never got to make a prototype.

So when my brother Ed told me about his foray into hacking that Xbox drive, I smiled, knowing full well my dad taught his sons well. That's all for now, Im scoping out a new SSD drive that I'm dying to install in my laptop...

I too am jealous of Gerards blogging skills, and his seemingly ubiquotous presence. Dr. Manhattan, anyone???
Anyways, there are a lot of these kind of videos floating around, but this one is the best. Within 10 seconds, your first WTF will happen, and they'll just keep rolling from there. Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4ijDlbvAxw

There is really nothing more to say than that...

Whether you're a Blackberry man or iPhone (wo)man, you gotta admit the App store is pretty rad. I've been using the iPhone for a good while now, and have come to rely on a few apps that make my daily life easier, keep me busy while driving (yeah I know its illegal, sue me), and suck up any remaining free time I might have left in a day.
Here's a short list of stuff you should check out if you're so inclined...

1. Pocketmoney ($9.99)
Not only does the app's icon make me think of delicious pork bacon, it also helps to keep your money straight. You can set up checking and savings account, and keep a running ledger of your spending so you don't have any more of those all-too familiar, embarrassing moments where you're trying to buy a bag of cheetos and a Quik but don't have any loot left on your card. Yeah, I know what you're probably thinking right now. "I have a perfectly good paper register the bank gave me when I signed up for my checking account, and that shit cost me $0.00." To that I say, "But your register doesn't have a sick ass pig icon!"

2. NetNewsWire (The world is going to end soon FREE as fuck!)
This program is great! You know when you're having an important conversation with your wife about what you're making for dinner that week, and she's trying to write out a shopping list, and all you can think about is the latest post on Gizmodo detailing what GHZ the new intel iCore7 processor tops out at after overclocking with Nitroglycerin? Yeah, that happens to me too...Well now instead of just thinking about it, you can take out your iPhone in mid-conversation, pissing off your wife in the process, and read all the latest RSS feeds that you can stand. It even works for our site too! Huzzah!

3. Super Monkey Ball (I paid $9.99 for this??? I'm a sucker)
Ok, I bought this because it was the #1 app for weeks straight. It had to be good right??? RIGHT? Well its not. I mean it has good graphics, but the controls suck. They really, really suck. Driving your dad's Nova after ingesting 10 beers at the college kegger, trying to balance a tall glass of Sunny D on your head while headbanging to Stone Cold Crazy is exponentially easier than controlling this mess. After maybe 5 tries playing the game proper, I decided it'd be much more fun to send Baby and Gongon repeatedly and utterly to their death. I hate this game. But it sure is a great time waster...

And there you have it. Three essential iPhone apps! Have fun, be safe, and Happy Thanksgiving!

I was wrong....Street Fighter is available on PS3 RIGHT NOW!!!!

Hadoken!

Yes folks. The moment I know you and every guy or gal who ever stepped foot in an early 90's arcade, propped a quarter on the machine, and waited his turn to be the "new challenger" draws near.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD comes out on PS3 tomorrow! This remake has seemingly been years in the making, and its finally upon us, happy day for all.

Round 1....Fight!!!!