My Celebrity Sightings

I was listening to a radio program the other day, and the topic of conversation was “celebrity sightings.” It got me thinking about my own celebrity sights and interactions.

Mark McGrath
(singer of Sugar Ray, host of Extra)

I used to work in the men’s department of a hip clothing store in downtown Philadelphia (this is where most of my sightings take place). McGrath came in one day and seemed to be flirting with my manager. When he did turn his attention away from her, he asked me a question about the “vintage” clothes we had. I told him that the styles and sizes varied. He said, “So it’s a crapshoot,” but he said it in such a way that he was trying to be clever and funny. I didn’t laugh and said “yes.”

Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedwick

It’s no secret that Bacon and Sedgwick are married, and that they live in Philadelphia. Again, while working in downtown Philly, Bacon came in every once in a while. I never saw him buy anything, and I do remember one time watching him come down the steps, walk over to the designer jeans table, look at a few tags, then leave. I have also seen the two actors walking down the street together. Nothing too special.

Lukas Haas

To be honest, I had no idea that I had spotted a celebrity when I saw this guy. I was sitting in a diner in Los Angeles with some friends when those friends told me that Lukas Haas had just walked in. I looked at the guy, but had no idea who he was. “He was that kid in the movie Witness with Harrison Ford,” my friend told me. I had never seen the movie, nor have I seen it still. But apparently, Haas has been in a ton of movies since. So I guess this counts.

David Alan Grier
(pictured right)

Again, working in the clothing store allowed me an interaction with this legend. He bought a few things while I was working the register, one of which being a leather cuff (fancy word for and oversized man’s bracelet). He handed me his credit card, I ran the purchase through, had him sign the receipt, then compared the signature on the receipt to the signature on the card. It was pretty obvious that this man was David Alan Grier, but it was policy to compare the customer’s signature on the receipt to the signature on the credit card. That, and I also didn’t want him to know I knew who he was and was somewhat nervous to be interacting with him.

Papa Roach

Okay, so I’m not sure how many members of the band I actually saw. But, again, the band came into the store in which I worked. I noticed the lead singer, and then I noticed a bunch of other douche bags in all black with black nail polish on. So, I assumed they were all in the band together. They didn’t buy anything. I later found out that the band had a show that night in the city. I didn’t go.

Diego Luna

I was somewhat surprised that I recognized this guy when I saw him. I had seen him in Y tu mamá también (which I thought was way overrated, unless you like movies about young boys having sex with an older woman and each other) and knew that he was in Dirty Dancing Havana Nights (which hadn’t been released yet), but I was still surprised that I knew who he was (though not his name) upon seeing him at a movie theatre in Los Angeles. I didn’t speak to him at all, but I did stand close to him in the lobby of the theatre, but not on purpose.

So, I have seen a few celebrities in my days, but no one that would impress anyone, really. I am now also realizing that all of these sightings took place in the same year. I haven’t randomly seen anyone famous since then.

Big Things A-Comin’

Big things are on the horizon for me, but few of them are things I look forward to.

1) In the next two weeks, I get to see and visit with a lot of great people - some that I haven’t seen since Christmas, which has been entirely too long.

2) I am getting two cavities filled at the end of this month. I lucked out, actually, because I admittedly am not the best at taking care of my teeth. I feared worse upon my last visit to the dentist.

3) I am having minor surgery at beginning of next month. It’s surgery that I have needed for a long time, but a combination of no healthcare in the past, a hatred/fear of medical doctors, and poor timing have delayed its happening. It’s nothing too scary, but it is the first surgery I’ve ever had in my life (unless you count a root canal; again with the poor tooth care), so it’s a little nerve-wracking.

4) The band that I used to play drums for for almost five years and was also one of the founding members of is breaking up the middle of August with one (or two) last show(s). Although I haven’t been a part of the band for a long time now, it’s still like seeing the closing of a book that I was a part of. I have been invited to be a part of the last show, but now with my surgery, that may be up in the air. But I’ll still be in attendance and one of my favorite bands that we ever got to become friends with is coming all the way out from Omaha to play this show in New Jersey. It should be a bittersweet evening.

5) Come the middle of August, I will have been married one year. Honestly, it hasn’t felt like a year (insert joke here)*. Plans are still being made, but they do involve a bottle of Canadian wine and frozen cake.

6) The final year of my schooling begins the second-to-last week of August. It’s been such a long time coming, and I can’t wait. Never before in my life have I wished for a school year to start so eagerly. The beginning of the school year means several things: a) losing this feeling of uselessness that I’ve been feeling for a few months, b) I’m that much closer to graduating, which means c) we’re that much closer to moving out of this area and hopefully closer to (most of) those that we care most about.

7) My brother is moving across the country at the end of August. He’s been no more than a two hour drive away from me for my entire life, so this will definitely take a lot of getting used to. Everyone on this coast will miss him terribly, but I for one am definitely proud of him for being brave enough to take on a challenge such as this. I already can’t wait to visit his new town as I remember San Francisco as being an awesome city.

*joke: More like a century!

I Want One

For anyone who wants ideas as to what to get me for Christmas this year, here’s one:

(I really wish this wasn’t real)

The Sites I Read

There are a few websites that I have a tendency to visit and read, and I thought that I would share those with you:

The Wooster Collective
I have a low tolerance for art, I think, but The Wooster Collective shows art done on the street. Whether it be wheat pasted posters or sculptures placed in odd areas, a lot of the work found on this site is really neat and creative. Favorites: Joshua Allen Harris, Wanted: Kool Aid Man, Remo Gaillard (though this is not really art; still impressive).

The Consumerist
This site is dedicated to keeping consumers informed of the products and services they use everyday. It showcases outrageous behaviors of big corporations and stores while giving consumers a place to air their grievances with their banks, cell phone companies, and any other company that has wronged them. The site also provides helpful information telling how to save money and even how to take advantage of certain loopholes. The site is informative, entertaining, and often times outrageous (some of the stories will piss you off). Though I do sometimes feel overwhelmed by how many updates it provides everyday. I only have so much time to read the stories. You know, I’ve got television to watch and video games to play.

FOUND Magazine’s Find of the Day
Everyday, FOUND Magazine showcases another piece of found treasure. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of the magazine, it is a place where people share the interesting notes, pictures, drawings, etc. that they happen to find on the street, in the subway, or anywhere else. Often times, the found items are perplexing, funny, and at least entertaining. Some favorites: Mark My Words and Obey, Watch Your Man, Reasonable Fear.

The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks
Apostrophe Abuse
Grammar Blog
All of these blogs showcase sad and pathetic excuses for grammar, particularly those in public places. You can spend a lot of amusing and depressing time at these sites. There are way too many posts on these sites to choose favorites.

The Onion
I know you know about it, but I have to mention it. Probably the funniest website on the internet. And the Onion News Network videos are simply brilliant at times, as are the Onion Radio News clips. Favorites: the whole site.

So that’s a smattering of the sites I visit on a daily basis. That is, when I’m not visiting the websites for The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN, and uh… those other really important news sites that I visit daily hourly.

I Kind of Hate the 4th of July

I’ve never really been a fan of Independence Day. I usually like the atmosphere surrounding the holiday: the barbecues, the outdoor activities, people having the day off from work, pool parties, etc. However, as a whole, I kind of hate the day.

I remember my parents bringing my brother and I to places to see fireworks, often times at a local lake. But rather than enjoy the fireworks, I often would get anxious about the dangers involved in such a display. Even at a young age I would get worried that these bright balls that seemed to be made of fire would rain down on the crowd. Even though they often seemed to flame out before even coming close to the crowd, I still had trouble comfortably enjoying the show.

Eventually, it became a tradition for my family to attend a Phillies game at Veterans Stadium (and eventually Citizen’s Bank Park) around the 4th of July to see a game and stay for a fireworks display afterward. There were even times that we were allowed to sit on the actual playing field in order to enjoy the show. One of my favorite memories of spending time with my grandmother is sitting on a blanket on the field of Veterans Stadium, watching the fireworks. But still, the anxiety existed.

When you’re watching a fireworks show in a stadium, not only does the noise reverberate even more, but if you’re sitting in a seat, you can feel everything vibrate. There would sometimes be visions in my head of pieces of the stadium falling apart due to the thundering vibrations of the fireworks. Needless to say, this would often take away from the enjoyment of the displays.

During another Independence Day, and though I can’t remember the specific circumstances surrounding the events, I remember driving from my parents’ house in New Jersey back to the place I shared with my now-wife in Philadelphia with my brother also in the car, when we got stuck somewhere in the city due to traffic and events taking place in celebration of Independence Day. I remember not really knowing where we were after having been diverted from our route, but I remember it was dark and there were loud pops and bangs and other loud noises everywhere around us. I speculate that some of those noises would be reminiscent of World War II noises.

Not only that, but while we were stuck in traffic, there were seemingly-hundreds of people out in the streets, walking just inches away from our car. We were completely surrounded, and I’ve never felt so claustrophobic in my own car. To top it off, we were greeted by the sight of kids (perhaps teenagers) riding through the street and sidewalks ON HORSEBACK! I kid you not, there were actually kids riding ponies through the streets of Philadelphia with glow sticks hanging from said ponies as the hit and abused the animals (I would later find out that the ponies were part of a program that allowed inner-city youth the chance to ride these horses; why they had them out that night, I have no idea). To this day, that was one of the strangest, eeriest, most unique, and scariest nights of my life.

During another holiday, I remember getting separated from my wife (then still my fiancé) as she and a friend were somehow able to get into a crowded bar while my friend and I were turned away at the door. I called to my wife, but she did not hear me. My friend and I were stuck outside waiting for them to come out. Meanwhile, I had to deal with the doorman who thought we were trying to get in through the side door, and then he didn’t believe that I was old enough to enter into the bar. This put me in such a horrible mood that by the time I was able to get inside, I was only in there long enough to tell everyone I was leaving, and that was it.

And now, I am sitting here in this house while I hear our neighbors setting off small fireworks constantly, and sometimes even huge, illegal fireworks. In addition to that, all day we’ve had to endure the R&B coming from one of the houses behind ours. There aren’t many types of music I hate more than R&B. It’s supposed to rain, so hopefully that will drive some people indoors, though that just means the next nice evening will be riddled with whatever fireworks are leftover.

So, needless to say anymore, this holiday is not really my favorite. Though, aside from the fear that I had as a kid of fireworks raining fire down on me, I will say that those days and the baseball games before the displays (and, really, even most of the fireworks displays after I realized I wasn’t going to die) are all fond memories of mine. I always enjoy spending time with my family, so any holiday that gives me such an excuse is not all bad. Unfortunately, the tradition of attending a Phillies game ended a year or two ago, and I don’t know if it will ever pick up again.

I will say, though, that I do remember one nice Independence Day in particular. We didn’t even have to leave the house. It was a few years ago when my wife and I were living in the Art Museum area of Philadelphia. We were just blocks away from an Elton John concert taking place at the Art Museum, which was certainly not something we were interested in attending. But after the concert, there was a big fireworks show, one that we could see from our bedroom window. We pulled one of the chairs from the living room into the bedroom, set it up in front of the window, sat down and watched the show. We were far enough that I knew that we were safe, and we didn’t have any crowd to deal with. And, to top it off, we kept the television on so if there was anything we couldn’t see well from our window, we could see it seconds later on the television broadcast. It was perhaps the most relaxing and enjoyable 4th of July I’ve ever had (including this one).

My Idea for a TV Show: “We’re Running Out of Ideas!”

I have an idea for a show I’d like to see on network television. The title would be, “We’re Running Out of Ideas!”

Here are some of the ideas behind the show:

• It’s a reality show that follows a bunch of television executives as they struggle to create new reality shows and game shows, or rehash old shows and try to put a new spin on them
• It will be a competition between these executives
• The “best” show ideas (i.e., the stupidest premises such as “Farmer Wants a Wife“) will be rewarded and given airtime
• Extra points awarded to any ideas that involve dancing, singing, celebrities, or any combination of the three
• Additional extra points given to shows hosted by pop culture stars from the past who are struggling to remain relevant (i.e., Joey Fatone, Joey Lawrence, Mario Lopez)
• The show itself will, of course, feature the most obnoxious judges still available with preferential consideration given to any middle-aged woman who can make horrible faces and scream at the top of her lungs when excited
• Each season of the show will contain at least one executive from the Philadelphia suburbs with that horrible accent (you know the one I mean), just like all other reality shows, it seems
• At the end of each episode, another executive will be voted off via public voting through a toll phone number; an executive who has been voted off will be said to have been “axed” with the host saying, “You’ve been axed!”

These are just some of the ideas. I haven’t flushed out an entire premise, but I don’t think that would stop me from gaining success with this thing.

Nike Football Ad

I’m working on a long, probably drawn-out story to post on here, but in the meantime, I wanted to post this video. It is a commercial for Nike Football (soccer). A few different versions of it have been played on ESPN during the Euro tournament, but those versions are just snippets of this long, 2 minute original. Also, the commercials aired on ESPN or a tad less graphic (less blood, teeth, vomit, butt, and cleavage).

The commercial follows a player as he plays for a smaller team, is scouted by Arsenal FC, brought into the Premier League, and eventually into international competitions with The Netherlands. It’s directed by Guy Ritchie and features several famous footballers including Adebayor (I think), Ronaldo, Ronaldino, and Fabregas, among others. It’s really fun to watch and shows what a good commercial can do.

Experiment Failed

I decided to shave the facial hair.  It never quite seemed totally right at any point.  I convinced myself for a few days that it looked good.  The weird thing about it was that I was VERY aware of the hair at all times.  It constantly felt weird on my upper lip and chin in a way that’s tough to describe.  I waited it out for a few days in the hopes that the weird sensitivity would go away.  It didn’t, and on Monday, I decided that I had had enough.

I decided to take pictures of myself before shaving.  Upon taking two pictures and looking at them, I couldn’t believe that I allowed myself to left it grow like that.  It looked bad.  I’m glad I didn’t see anyone I knew very well during this dark period in my life.

But, I tried, and now I have pictures to remind myself why shaving frequently is a good idea.  It’s similar to when I let my hair (on my head) grow.  I hate getting haircuts so much that I tend to convince myself that maybe I should just let my hair grow.  “Jim on The Office looks good with longer, messy hair.  Why can’t I?”  Why?  Because I’m not John Krasinski, and he certainly doesn’t just “let it grow” without a stylist carefully sculpting a look.  It isn’t until I finally give in and I see myself with a new haircut that I realize how bad the longer hair looks.  But it seems I always try.

I went 23 days without shaving.  Most people would have a full beard by then, one that must be trimmed.  I certainly did not need to trim anything.

So, in conclusion, long hair anywhere on my face or head: bad.

I’ll Be Back (please don’t say that as if you’re The Terminator; isn’t it annoying how that movie has now changed the way people say that phrase forever?)

I’ve been having some computer and internet connectivity issues the past two weeks which account for the absence of posts here.  Both seem to be resolved, finally, and I will begin working on new things soon.  I know you’re just steeped in anticipation.

The Updates

The Computer
I still am without my computer (which is the reason for the lack of updates), and could be until early next week. I’ve been surviving rather well, actually, thanks to my iPod Touch. I sometimes miss hanging out in my office, though. I’m not quite sure why. I guess when I watch certain shows or Phillies games, I have a tendency to watch them in my office while sitting at my computer. So now, I just sit on the couch to watch them, sometimes playing with the iPod. Granted, the iPod is an amazing invention, but it’s still not that much fun (for me anyway) to use to browse the internet for too long. But I am so glad I have it.

The Facial Hair
I still haven’t shaved it off. In fact, just today I finally felt like there is enough of it to be noticeable as purposeful facial hair. Previously, it still just looked like I badly needed a shave, not that I was growing anything on purpose. That being said, I am still not convinced that it’s a good look for me. It’s better than I had expected, but not as good as I hoped. Its existence is on a day-to-day basis.

The Wii Fit
I still am not exactly sure what to think of the Wii Fit just yet. It’s a little early, I think, to really form much of an opinion on it. I exercised for two days straight, took Sunday off (which is recommended), and have now used it another two days straight. It can be really difficult at times and has shown me how pathetically bad I am at exercising (especially push-ups, which I thought I would be okay at doing). There are some yoga poses that I can really feel working for me, and others that feel like nothing has happened. But I do enjoy the yoga aspect. The hula hooping is actually much harder than I expected, especially when doing it for an extended period of time. The balance games, which I am terrible at, can be fun, but don’t really feel like they are any sort of real exercise.
My plan is to do about 40-45 minutes worth of play everyday. Each day I plan to do yoga and some aerobics, with every other day including strength training. The balance games will be intermittent and probably done if I get tired and need a bit of a rest.
So far, my BMI and weight have both changed from day-to-day. It is recommended that you workout around the same time of day each day, but so far I have been unable to do so. So, my results are going to be somewhat inaccurate, but really I just want to FEEL more in shape (i.e., more flexible, more stamina in exercising, etc.). I will continue to keep it up and keep this page updated with any results I feel.

So that’s the update. By the way, according to WordPress, one of the top searches that brings visitors to this page is “grow of facial hair.” So welcome to all those searching for information on growing facial hair. I am now an expert.