bored

a silly itunes game. bored. whatevs.


How many songs total: 1343
How many hours or days of music: 3.1

Sort By Song Title
First Song: ABC - Ziggy Marley (also, ABC’s by K’Naan)
Last Song: ‘87 - Bouncing Souls

Sort By Time
Shortest Song: You Gotta Stay Positive - Good Clean Fun (0:05)
Longest Song: Suzy Greenberg -Phish (18:23)

Top Five Most Played Songs:
1) Hummingbird - Born Ruffians
2) I Need a Life - Born Ruffians
3) Ziggy Says - Ziggy Marley
4) The Good Life - Ghost Mice
5) Oversleping - I’m from Barcelona

Last Album: 8-Bit Heroes - New York Robbers
First Album: All Hour Cymbals - Yeasayer

First Song That Comes Up On Shuffle: All Choked Up- Hello Nurse

Search the following and state how many songs come up:
Death - 3
Life - 28
Love - 70
Hate - 2
You - 156
Sex - 3


well that was fun.

blame canada

I am such a fool. I have had SirusXm radio in my car for the past 6 or 7 months. It’s the greatest investment I have ever made, by the way. Terrestrial radio is a dying medium. Aside from the fact that there isn’t a decent station in New York anymore, they have become less and less bold with anything they do, it’s just a really, really boring scene. But I digress. I’ve been mostly listening to Opie and Anthony, but there are so many great music stations. Stations that play punk, stations that play indie, there’s a 90’s Alt channel, hell, there’s even a station that plays only Jimmy Buffett (and other Margaritaville inspired music).


About 6 weeks ago, I was sitting in stand-still traffic on the Long Island Expressway (shocker? hardly!). I was casually scrolling through the SirusXm stations, and I noticed that XM 87 was playing “Hummingbird” by Born Ruffians. Born Ruffians were pretty much my favorite band of 2009. My iTunes top 25 of the year featured 10 of their songs. I owe this, of course, to SarahSpy and her 2008 Best Album list. (Her 2009 list is pretty impressive as well. Freelance Whales might be my Born Ruffians of 2010). So naturally I turned on channel 87, which is called The Verge.

The fact that I went 7 months without discovering this channel is pretty much my only regret of 2009 (forget losing my job and falling into debt). This station plays the best bands that I have heard in a long time. And here’s the kicker. It’s almost all exclusively Canadian artists! I’ve been suffering the monotony of American indie bands for so long while there are so many undiscovered gems north of the border. Shame on me! Why the hell has everyone been telling me to listen to some boring ass shoegaze band from Williamsburg when I could have been listening to an upbeat but poppy indie band from Saskatchewan? Shame on all of you as well!

Now I know I’ve had some beef with Canada in the past. There’s no evidence of it, but probably 13 years ago, I created an Anti-Canadian website, using the now defunct Geocities. But that was so long ago. Since then, I have really embraced Canadains and their way of life (except French Canadians). And now that I’ve discovered a handful of awesome bands from our neighbors to the north, I have a whole new respect for them. So while you keep listening to your simple noise band from Flatbush, I’m going to keep on searching for the best song writers in Winnipeg.

Here’s a few of the awesome bands that have taken over my iTunes the past few weeks.

Rah Rah - Sounds like a party

Library Voices - Pop as Fuck. But so good.

Quinzy - I’m not gonna lie. I feel good when I listen to Quinzy.

Japandroids - I remember Michael Nelson writing something about them when they were playing in NY not too long ago. I wish I checked them out then. How only two people can make such great music is beyond me. I mean, the Presidents of the United States of America put out a lot of great music with 3 people, but Japandroids combination of a drum and a guitar is so rad.

So that’s that. For now. I’m sure I’ll be stuck in more LIE traffic sometime soon, and I’m sure I’ll discover the next big thing from Quebec sometime soon too.

hoarder? not me

The concept of Hoarding has become a hot topic lately, mainly because of A&E’s hit show Hoarders. After watching every episode of the show at least once or twice, it dawned on me that I myself may have a hoarding problem. So I looked around my room, but I didn’t see any dead mice or cats, didn’t have to climb over a four foot pile of used diapers, and surely didn’t have to put on any gas masks to combat the stench of 5 years of taco bell wrappers. But I did notice that I have a ton of stuff. Stuff that I probably could throw out. I just don’t want to. I don’t think it’s a psychological issue. I just don’t know why I would throw out a perfectly good H20 1998 European tour tee shirt when I could still be wearing it. I rarely do, but that doesn’t mean I might not ever wear it again. Sure, I probably won’t ever take out my talking Mr. T keychain out of it’s box, but there’s no way I’m tossing it.



I know I don’t need those beer bottles. But I like the bottle design. So sue me. I know a 26 year old dude shouldn’t be holding onto a stuffed Mighty Mouse doll. But I like Mighty Mouse. So I’m keeping him. I could have chucked all of my race bibs. But looking at those gives me inspiration to keep running. So I’m keeping them.



Do I need another Mighty Mouse doll riding a dinosaur on top of my bookcase? Probably not. I probably don’t need that coconut head, the Abe Lincoln bobblehead, the robot pencil sharpeners, or some of Pez collection on display either (trust me, that’s only about 1/8th of my collection. The other 400 pieces are at my parent’s house). But I like everything here. I’m not scared that if I throw them out my pet fish are going to die, which makes me a non hoarder. I don’t have any psychological ties to any of this stuff. I just like it all.

I have come across a problem, however, when it comes to some of my clothes. Well not clothes per se. Just a belt and a pair of shoes.



I bought this Quiksilver Scout belt just about the same time I got my learners permit. Being the late bloomer I am, that was right around my 17th birthday. I’m seven weeks away from turning 27. I’ve worn this belt almost every single day of the last (almost) 10 years. Any time I’ve needed to wear a belt, this was it. Weddings, Funerals, Baptisms, Proms. On an everyday basis to keep my shorts and pants from falling down. This was, and still is, my only belt. I love it. But, in maybe the past 6 months, the belt has began to stop doing it’s job. The fraying has become too severe, the buckle barely buckles, and the only evidence that it was once a bright baby blue color is about to fade away. I find myself adjusting it 4 or 5 times a day to keep my pants up. I’m not crazy. I know I need a new one. I started looking about 2 months ago. But I cannot seem to find a belt even remotely close to this one. All the surf shops sell are studded belts. I refuse to wear a leather one. I don’t know what to do. An eBay search for “Quiksilver Scout Belt” yields 0 results. I am at a complete standstill. Keep in mind, I’ve had this belt for just about 10 years. I plan on having my next belt for at least that long as well.



These Converse are another story. I got these mothers right before my senior prom. So that was in June 2001. As we near the end of 2009, I’m still rocking these bad boys like 3 days a week. My family and friends despise them. They have rips, holes, and tears. They are filthy. They are basically unwearable. They barely stay tied or on my feet. Again, I know I need a new pair. But somewhere between 2001 and 2009, Nike bought out Converse. I do not support Nike. Never have. So what do I do? I love, love, love my Chuck Taylors. These guys have seen everything. They were there for Q and Not U’s final show. Guess what I was wearing when I saw Andrew WK with 30 other people during heavy blizzard a few years back. Yup. These very Chucks. So now what? I might be able to get another year out of these things. But I can’t see myself consciously going into a store and buying a pair of Nikes, which is what Converse now is.

So I’m not a hoarder. Do not call A&E to try and get me on that show. Maybe you can get me on Intervention though, since I clearly have an addiction to keeping things.

damn the man. save the empire

As some of you may know, I am a recent victim of the recession. Well, I was basically forced out my job. I was going to be laid off, and instead of just firing me and letting me collect unemployment, my company basically made getting up and going to work a completely miserable experience. Every day was worse than the previous. They cut my route in half, therefore cutting my pay in half. My boss would just show up and give me grief about the most asinine and menial issues. They would have me drive 60 miles out east, then send me back to a store 3 miles from my house. They forced me to quit. It’s amazing how in the course of 8 weeks you can go from not minding going to work in the morning, to absolutely dreading it. The corporate world is (pardon my french) bullshit.

So, being pretty much down to nothing in the ol’ bank account, I decided to take a job with a non profit environmental protection organization. I figured it would be completely different than working for a huge corporation like I was. I’ve always been an Earthy type of fella, have always done my part to protect the environment, and I knew the group really well. I won’t mention their name, because I really do appreciate what they are doing. They are responsible for a lot of the great things that have happened on Long Island. I knew I would be working with young, like minded individuals. People that have been shunned from the corporate world and were looking to get in with a grassroots campaign to make a change.

I started working for these guys last Tuesday. Basically, what they had me and 12-14 other people doing, was going door to door in a given town on Long Island, asking people for money. But, the thing is, apparently it’s only legal to canvass in New York between the hours of 4pm and 9pm. So we would be catching people either as they either just got home from work, were making/eating dinner, or putting their children to bed. People don’t want to be bothered while they are doing any of these things. They especially don’t want to bothered by some hippies preaching about the environment and looking for a handout. Now, while it’s true that I don’t really like talking to adults (I deal much better with toddlers), I thought I might be able to convince some people to donate to a cause I truly believed in. Not so. The second someone said they weren’t interested, I was just like “ok, see ya. sorry to bother you. enjoy the night.” This, I suppose, was the exact opposite of what I was supposed to be doing. They train you to be, for lack of better terms, a really annoying jerk. They give you all of these methods, similar to Jedi Mind Control to be honest, to get people to sign a petition and give you money. And there are some people who have been doing this for years, and are literally collecting four to five hundred dollars a night (keep in mind, you get 42% of what you collect, on top of an hourly wage). In the 5 nights that I did this, my highest night was 57 dollars. In 5 hours. I was the lowest collecting canvasser every night. And it’s not because I didn’t know what I was talking about. I knew the issue very, very well. But I refused to drink the Kool-Aid that these guys were offering. I never got, and I don’t think I ever could, get comfortable with pretty much tricking people into giving me money for something they might not necessarily agree with. And that is what the big money guys do. They nag and nag you, hold you accountable, and make you feel like they are doing you a public service by knocking on your door at 8:30pm while you are in the middle of feeding an infant and putting the other kid in the bath.

Now, I know that the only way to get things done is with money. Bills to help the environment cannot get passed without lobbying, and lobbying costs money. And a lot of it. People do need to be aware of the issues, and of course they need to contribute, but the way that these organizations go about it is not only outdated, but quite frankly, rude. Half of the people I came in contact with said “Can’t I just donate through a website or something?” That would make perfect sense. But no, these guys want money right there and then, and they prefer it in credit or checks. I don’t know about you, but if a strange hippie came to my door, in the freezing cold rain, going on and on about making a change, I’m not giving him my credit card information.

I only lasted 5 nights with them. On the fifth night, I got back to the headquarters, couldn’t feel my hands or feet, and the director called me into his office. “You know man, this isn’t really meant for everyone. If you can’t make the standard (collecting $170 per night) in your first 5 nights, then you might be one of the ones not meant for it. Nothing personal.” He was right. Even though I was out there fighting for something I really believed in, I couldn’t just deal with pestering and nagging people that were busy.

Like I said, I really do respect and appreciate what nonprofits do. They are out there fighting a fight that most people could absolutely care less about. But when it comes down to it, everyone involved is out there looking to make money for themselves. And of course that is the bottom line, making money. But the way that this was run was no better than any other major corporation I have worked for, and that’s what is most upsetting to me. It was pretty much “get money now, save the environment later.”

If one of these people come to your door, and trust me, they will (unless you live in Central Islip, Wyandanch, or Roosevelt), give them the time of day. Listen to what the issue is, and if you decide that it’s an issue you can get behind, I encourage you to go online, learn more about it, and then maybe donate some money for the cause. Door to door sales should have been eliminated years ago. If some hippies want to campaign a neighborhood, just spreading their message, that’s fine. More power to them. But when it comes to collecting money, that is something I know I’m not real comfortable doing, either asking for it, or giving it out to strangers on my porch.

Hoarders Drinking Game

Take a shot when:

someone can’t throw out dog hair because it might kill their dog

more than one pound of feces is uncovered

a dead mouse or rat is found. take two if a dead cat is found (via d.rocks)

a mullet is spotted

Chug a beer when:

a caption says the house is being repossessed

a 1-800-GOT-JUNK truck shows up

a psychiatrist claims they are a hoarding specialist

a hoarder can’t throw out a doormat because their dead mother will get upset

BEST SHOW EV-AR

515 Chemicals women apply each day. Check it out

I’m glad I’m not a woman.

i’m pretty sure i want this.  Yubz Talk Cell Phone Handset 36 bucks.

The current cover of New York magazine. I know it’s incredibly unhip to say it, but I think Grizzly Bear is the most overrated, boring, uninteresting band out there. How many scene points did I just lose?

Amazing!

via http://worstthing.tumblr.com/

Could a Human Beat a T.Rex in Arm Wrestling?

No. The answer is no. But read the article anyway. Some interesting facts regarding the arm strength of the Rex.

Hey girl, I love you. Marry me?

A map of all the Subway restaurant in the US. My god.

Actual Screencap from cnn.com earlier tonight. They are clearly trying to cause panic and chaos.

Mother Jones opened a serious can on Fiji. Just another example of “green washing,” something that I’ve been doing some serious research on. I will have a report on my findings sometime soon.

I killed The Great Cow Harbor 10k on Saturday. I PR’ed by like 6 minutes. I’m not ashamed to say I was a bit sore yesterday and today. The hills of Northport will do that to anyone. But I know from past experience the best way to shake off some stiff quads is to go for a slow run. So I went on a easy 7 miler earlier, and about 2 miles from home, the heavens opened up. I got friggin soaked. I was none too pleased. I thought for sure that my iPod Shuffle would be ruined, but it was not. So I suppose that’s good. Party Hard.

At least 30 of my friends on Facebook have statuses bitching about how Summer is officially over. “I can’t believe summer is over! back to the real world” or “where did the summer go?” and even a “wake me up when September ends” was thrown in there. Jesus tap dancing christ people. Summer isn’t over officially over until September 21. Just because Labor Day is coming up, doesn’t mean the temperature is suddenly going to drop to minus 39 degrees and everyone is going into hibernation. When I saw Jimmy Buffett last week at the beach, he said “Summer on Long Island is gonna last until November 19th this year!” Now, that may be a little bit of a stretch, but it’s not crazy to think that we can enjoy ourselves until then.

While on the subject, in late July I wrote a post, but never published it (because I didn’t like the way it sounded for some reason), about major supermarkets pushing Autumn on us way too soon.

Right around July 7th, I noticed something disturbing at my supermarket accounts. In the stockrooms, pallets upon pallets of Halloween candy was coming in. Candy corn, bite size Snickers, mini Kit Kats and the such, in abundance. Not too long after that, they were out on the shelves in the seasonal section, pushing the seasonal summer crap (water balloons, coolers, beach chairs, margarita mixes, etc) into a small corner ready to be marked down. A week after that, around the second week of July, Back to School rubbish started going out to the shelves too.

Can’t we let the kids enjoy summer? They were literally OUT of school for three weeks before the stores started shoving pens, pencils and binders back in their faces. If I was a 8 year old kid, being dragged to the supermarket by my mom while all my friends were playing on a Slip N Slide, and had to be bombarded with back to school nonsense, I’d become damn near suicidal!

Anyway. I went back to school tonight myself. I’ve returned to CUNY Queens College after a 3 year hiatus. It was alright. Parking sucks. But I’m not about to go updating my Facebook status declaring the end of summer and my life just because the calendar says September 1st. Jeez.

Stop Making That Duckface!!

“That summer heat has got me feeling lazy
The air is warm and the sky is hazy
People getting down, getting crazy
People getting down, getting stupid, getting crazy

Hey - it’s a summertime thing
Summertime thing”

-Chuck Prophet “Summertime Thing”

I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed P…

I only heard this song about 8 days ago, but I’ve officially made it my summer jam. Living in Long Beach, I swear every night is a good, good night (mazel tov).

I’ve never had a problem with the Black Eyed Peas. I love that Will I Am had someone punch stupid Perez in his stupid face, and I don’t even mind that dude Fergie.  They sound simply angelic in this song though. I love it.

The only time I don’t love it, however, is on a Tuesday morning at 6am, driving to work. I heard it on Z100 this past at that time on that day, and I was actually annoyed that they were playing it. No one, not even me, is thinking about partying on a Tuesday night at 6am on their way to work. I know they only have a few songs to play on the radio these days, but I would save this gem until around noon-ish.

If there is one thing I love more than sleeping in my car, it’s seeing other people sleeping in their cars.

In my opinion, there are two good reasons why one would sleep in their car.

The first, and the one that I personally find myself in on an almost daily basis, is that you are just tired of working. You need a break from the normal rushing around working rubbish. You just need a quick nap. Some time to relax. Time to think about your job and how much you hate it. I constantly see buisnessmen, suits and all, in their car with the seat laid back, just sleeping in the shaded area of parking lots. It’s glorious. By the way, if you ever find yourself looking for a catnap on Route 83 in Farmingville, Long Island, I suggest the Vietnam Vets Memorial. Not only is their optimal shade for those hot summer days, but it is extremely quiet. I may be screwing myself by letting the entire internet know about my underground nap spot, but I don’t care. If you hate your job as much as I do, you deserve a nice nap in a good spot like that.

The other reason for sleeping in your car, and the one that I’ve taken part of quite a few times as well, is that you had an amazing night and are too looped to drive. Nothing beats waking up in a parking lot of some bar, in your own vehicle, knowing that not only did you have a really fun time, but you also knew you shouldn’t be driving. A few months ago, I woke up in my car in the parking lot of some bar in Levittown, with a completely strange chick in my passenger seat. I was confused as hell. I nudged the girl, she woke up, looked at me like I had 4 heads, didn’t say a word,opened the door, and got into her car that was parked next to mine. It was bizzare.

Either way, if there is one thing that I’ve learned from working on the roads during the day and drinking heavily during the nights, it’s always keep a light blanket and small pillow in your car.