You smell like a monkey and you look like one too!

So we have a tradition of Wednesday night spaghetti warehouse visits. They offer a fabulous deal of $5 gets you soup/salad (you can upgrade to Ceaser for $.99), spaghetti dinner and soft drink. I mean it's amazing! Martin and I are the innovators of the get together and this week we set an all-time high of 11 people (including both of us) together for the super fabulous deal. Given the mass of people it truly felt like a special occasion and kyle noted and decided to declare that this past wednesday was Josh's birthday(the real day being October 1st)!

What ensued was a shocked Josh captured by Martin himself.

So for everyone out there come and join us this wednesday for a fun filled tasty dinner.

Trials and Tribulations of Televison.

I've never understood the hatred for Comcast. I've always found their service to be reliable. Their Digital cable is superb, their cable modem service is far superior to their DSL rivals, and generally their prices aren't that terrible(I said generally).

This all changed for me though...It started back in february when we canceled service so that we could re-sign up with another roommate in order to get a new customer deal(these usually run 6months-year). We returned all the hardware to the comcast location and sweated out the week of no internet and no tv(make homer go something something).

Then we signed up for the 3 for $100 deal (cable, internet, phone) and the installer had the easiest of install jobs where all the cords were laid down and literally the install specialist just had to come in with the cable box and modem and hook them up. So the gentleman came in hooked it up and we were good to go.

Fhew back in the saddle cruising the web watching late night HBO. That is until the next day when all of the service has been shut off. I return home to roommates confused and lost trying to make fire with sticks. So we call comcast they have no idea why its been shut off and schedule a service man to come out a few days later. We proceeded to bitch and moan and then retention gave us 6 months of free Cinemax to keep us happy.

So a few days go by again living like cavemen(no offense Geico Guys) and the service guy comes out and tells us they put a terminator on our line. Having no idea what a terminator was he briefly explained that it shuts off service completely and that it had been resting on our line, strangely enough this had never been a problem before. So he fixes the deal and and we're back and running again. (BTW: this is probably around march 10th)

So why trying to fix my grandmother's computer(don't ask) I had to use the phone line to test her modem. You guessed it! No phone service, there is no dial tone what-so-ever. So we call again and they say to hard reboot the modem(which I had already done like 4 times). I hard reboot for them and then it doesn't work so they say they ahve to send someone out yet again. 1st available apointment almost a week later.

This takes me to the current waiting for comcast serviceman again. The rest shall be updated when the present becomes the past.

Drink your milk and take your vitamins

I blew what? How'd you get in my bedroom?

Let's go to a punk rock show

So for awhile me and double T have been really digging this band called Billy Talent. They've been described as screamo or punk, but I'd call them punk with an edge and a dash of UK sound. That simplifies that. But I digress, so this past Sunday after recovering from St. Patty's Day (a mixture or beer, whiskey, and corned beef and cabbage) we went to the Trocadero located at 10th and Arch in Philly.

So thanks to a sweet hook-up we got invited to a pre-show pizza and soda party with Billy Talent. Sadly we(me and my 2 friends who went) were 3 of the 4 oldest people there, the other being some early teens father. But due the our old man status we all needed a pick me up and I took the gang to a market i knew of around the corner that sold what has become lovingly known as 'Crack-Bull' - The original Red Bull before it became marketed to the masses. It has a very similar taste, just stronger, thicker, and non-carbonated(That's what she said). But yes we drink our syrup elixirs and head in to this pre-show, pre-teen, pre-jail party. After waiting for maybe 20 minutes the band comes out very non-chalant and just takes a few pictures with their young groupies and sign posters, while me and my friends sit in the corner chilling out. Then the lead singer tired of standing in the same spot walks right over to us and chats it up with me, I'm sure the others in the group would have talked if not for their lack of energy. Gotta say he seemed like a real cool/chill guy, seemed to really like what he does. So after chatting it up with him we decided the Pizza that we were told was to be part of this deal wasn't showing up and we needed to get some food, so we left to go to wawa/dunkin to get even more energy.

So after a quick tour of the convention center, we returned to the Troc to get in some good ole music. As follows is a short review of each band:







Band Numero Uno: I gotta say I didn't even catch the name of this band, probably since they weren't billed to be playing and seemed to be a local band that just got a hook-up to play before the touring bands. This was evident by one of the band member's mothers cheering for them and yelling at fans who voiced their distaste for the band. Their sound reminded me of trying to be dashboard, but still trying to pretend they were a punk band. Also their stage presence was lacking big time, and their outfits were soooo obviously over planned.

Grade: D+

The second band was a band called DriveBy, but don't be fooled with their Bloods vs. Crips style name, they were a modern day punk band. This band was definitely more punk than the first and was the first band to get the crowd moving and into the music. They managed to keep my attention throughout their set, though once again the band seemed to lack some stage presence. Their outfits were simple in that everyone wore black, kinda a main stay for punk, but simple and not overly thought about. The band was good enough for me to listen to again, but doubt I'd buy concert tickets to see them.

Grade: B





Band 3, enter the Cancer Bats. I gotta say I have no idea what they were doing at this show. Their music was a metal kinda grind music. Though their guitarist, a 5 foot viking who obviously got beat up alot in high school, truly wailed on the guitar for their 30 mins. The singer, if you can call it that, screamed lyrics, once again if you can call them that, the whole set to the point that I felt the need to use the bathroom twice. Perhaps it's just my distaste for this kind of music or just the pure ugliness of the band, but my interest level crashed and burned on this band.

Grade: D



Enter the main attraction of the evening, Billy Talent. I had heard good things prior to this show that they put on a good performance. So for this band we decided it was time to leave the safety of the upstairs bar area and head downstairs amongst the sweat dripping pre-teen coeds. From beginning to end this band did not stop rocking. The sound was fantastic, and the lead singer and guitarist were amazing at keeping the crowd into it and performing on all cylinders for Philadelphia. As a Canadian band they of course spoke of the differences between USA and Canada, but spoke of their love and told us to consider them USA's little brother. The added hate for 1 President Bush was of course spoken of.

Grade: A

So with the night ending and my ears ringing I left feeling that my $12 spent were well spent thanks to Billy Talent's performance.

Books for Recreation?

I know kids, I am as shocked as you are that books can be considered entertaining. No I'm not talking about the penthouse forum. Today we bring you Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk(yes the author of Fight Club). This book is amazing, beyond the fact that its got a really great plot about a survivor of a former cult society and his reaction with modern day society which leads to his suicide. No its not really sad or overly serious, yes I know suicide is not something to laugh at, but don't worry you won't laugh out loud, just inside. But seriously this is 1 of 3 books I have actually read more than once and am currently reading right now to help pass the time while I'm at work. No I'm not reading it right now, I'm busy typing on this blog.

As an interesting side not this book was sanctioned to be made into a movie, but its plot dealing with a plane and hostages and hijacking said plane has been seen as unmake-able since that whole 9/11 thing.

Captain America gets blood on his jeans, Mama America unhappy...

So if you haven't heard yet, yesterday marvel comics killed off Captain America. Though an almost unstoppable return of Capt. is imminent, this is quite a blow to comic book fans. CA's been around since 1941 fighting off America's enemies, starting with some guy named Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party. Today's CA was fighting a greater foe though, the US Government. He and all other superheroes were being required to register and subsequently release their true identities to the US government.

I for one salute the creators for making such a bold and blatant social and political commentary. It may have required them to take such a drastic step as to kill off one of the more popular comic book heroes, but in the end have left us with such a great message that only Captain America could.

"Individually, they are super heroes. United, they are the Ultimate Avengers..."

SUPERDAN RETURNS...

Why have you returned?
Well according to my last post in my last blog, its been a long time since I've done this here blogging thang. This time around its on my terms, not by some college course's predetermined timelines.

What can we expect this time around?
Well your guess is almost as good as mine except for the fact that I control this blog and you don't. What you can expect is hopefully some fun pictures, neat-o techno gadgets, and in time fun videos for the kids.

How often will you be posting?
God you ask alot of question. Well hopefully I'll do this everyday, but for now lets just say at least twice a week, is that ok with you?

I guess it'll do.
Well it had better. Ok well thanks for joining and hopefully you enjoy reading this here blog (as the kids call it).