MagneticMediaFed proudly presents: Season Finale 2004! Well dearest readers, sweeps is over so I might as well go along with the rules and present an exciting finale entry for this broadcast season. Hopefully I can wrap up a lot of the loose ends from plotlines throughout the year and give you a little something so that you'll return soon, anxious as a cocaine-addicted-lab-rat on testing day, increasing the site-traffic and thereby hightening the quality of the content. Or some shit like that. I don't know. I'm kind of making this up as I go along... New News So I restart my computer this afternoon because it was acting slow (it'd been a couple weeks since I had done so) and when I reopened my iTunes I noticed that something was different. There was a blue "Library" icon on the left panel. Upon opening it I noticed that it was an entire music library that wasn't mine. Aparently, someone in the building must have an airport and also must have their iTunes library on "Sharing." This means that right now my music collection has increased 50% without using up any disk space. I love it!! My library, on the other hand, isn't "sharing"-- so I feel kinda guilty about listening to all of this girl's music, but I'm getting over it. Hell, maybe I'll even start sharing and our building can turn into a kind of super-duper-music file. Here's proof: Otherwise, today was low key. It's my only day off this week and I decided to spend it watching "Alias" (7 eps down, 8 to go), and playing "The Legend of Zelda, Link to the Past" on Super Nintendo. I'm doing really well in it. I restarted the game from the beginning and am already considerably farther than the last time around where I got frustrated and gave up (I had turned into a bunny and couldn't change back). As for Alias, it get's better with each episode, which is good, except for that fact that it took me about 3 to really get into it. It's shot well, edited well, has great action sequences, but I feel the writing is a little stilted at times... which is expected given the subject matter. I will say this: In the current climate of huge special effects and such, I think people have forgotten how exciting it can be to just watch people get chased through hallways. "Alias" has a lot of those moments, and I'm always glued to the screen. The "Chase" is the absolute oldest trick in cinema. It's kind of built around the entire theory of editing-- creating spacial distances using time. More big-budget movies need to have chases that don't revolve around explosions, but simply running in hallways with low-lighting. That's excitement! I'm getting hungry. I think I'm going to turn the rest of this SPECIAL edition of MMF over to my ghostwriter Roger M. Whoorlehey D.D.S. ************* Hello readers! I'm Roger Whoorlehey, you probably don't know me outside of my day job as "Dentist to the Stars," but I've been trying to get into writing for awhile, and Rick has been kind enough to let me fill in from time to time. Here are some classic posts that were actually my work: 1 2 3 That being said, it's my duty to make sure that this entry is tip-top, what it being the season finale and all. I think I'll start out by telling the story of Rick's $300 cell-phone: If you remember last spring Rick spent $300 on a new cell-phone. It was $300 instead of $100 because 1) Sprint offers no discounts to current subscribers, and 2) because Rick can't say no to salespeople thinking that rejecting them will directly cause them to not like him and tell people that he is an ass. The phone looked like this: It was a nice phone. Small, sleek, color, all that jazz. In June he started having trouble with it randomly restarting, and had to have it replaced. The new one worked fine. Then came the great financial crisis of 2003 that September and Rick hastily canceled his cell service to save $50 a month. The phone ended up in a drawer. In December he had to start his service back up because the move to NYC was starting and a cell phone was crucial. Though upon rebooting the ol' phone it kind of froze and wouldn't restart/work. He had it replaced and got a free phone with his new service that he'd use while waiting for the replacement to come in. It was alright, but too big. So anyway, he get's the new phone and it works for about a month until the same exact thing happens. Remember this is phone #3. This time around, there aren't any replacement in the shop and so he settles for a downgrade. It was this. This phone worked, which was good, but it didn't work well. Rick could only get service in his apartment if he pressed himself against the window and then just prayed trains wouldn't go by, as they'd cut out the call. Also the battery was less-than desirable and, the up-button wouldn't work. Flash forward to last Friday when Rick grabs the phone in the morning, puts it in his pocket and heads out to run errands. Three hour later he pulls it out to check the time and notices something unsettling. The screen was completley ruined. COMPLETELY RUINED. See: So he switched back to the damn Nokia and is washing his hands of the whole mess. Let's recap: 1 year, 2 months; 4 phones; a dozen headaches; $300... and now nothing (except another phone). Speaking of broken, remember last week when Rick thought he broke his toe? Well it likely isn't broken, but still looks awful: Okay, time to lighten things up a bit! Two weeks ago, when the lovely Erin came to NYC to visit Rick, they went to the batting cages. Here, now, is a movie that sumerizes Rick's experience: Click here to watch it! Oh! Rick's back. Looks like it turn it over to him to finish this thing out. Again, I thank you all for reading, and if you're a public figure, I'd hope you'd consider me for any dental work you may need done (we're running a special on caps through July 04). -Roger M. Whoorlehey D.D.S. ************* Thanks for that, Roger! Well, looks like it's time to wind this bad-boy down. I hope you enjoyed reading this year, and I look forward to all those great posts in the near future... but until then!!... Will Rick's toe heal? And what about those 15 episodes of "Alias?" Will he get them watched in time? How about the summer? Will Rick die of heat exhaustion in his airconditionless apartment in Brooklyn? And speaking of Brooklyn where exactly is that new Nets stadium going to go? Will Rick make it back to Omaha for the anual "Walk of Peace" on the 4th? Did anyone see "Saved"-- it looked good, but it also looked like it might miss it's target? And I still don't have a TV. What's up with that? I have no more food in the house. I need to go grocery shopping. Did you see where I left me keys? Hrm... Oh, there they are. On the desk. All these questions and more will be answered in the new season of MAGNETICMEDIAFED! Starting Friday, June 4th. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you soon. Sincerely, Rick   ¶ 11:46 PM 0 Comments

  Query It's almost 11pm. I'm suppose to work until 1, and then I'm suppose to be back here at 7am. I kind of want to just sleep here, but I don't want to be forever known as "that guy who slept at work"-- not so much because its atypical, because I don't think it is. In fact, I'd say many people spend the night at their job every day, but typically those people are of higher rank with the company. I've only been here 3 months. Does that equal sleeping right? It's hard to say. If I'd been here for 3 years, I'd spend the night in a flash... but I don't know if I've earned that yet. Hrm. Remember to STAY TUNED FOR OUR EXCITING SEASON FINALE! COMING IN HOURS!!  ¶ 10:55 PM 0 Comments

  Smartest Cab Driver in the city: Whoever drove me from midtown to Delancy and Essex tonight. During our chit-chat (he said he was talking to me because I had a beer in my hands and he was afraid I was drunk and didn't want me getting sick... unfortunately, I was wayyy sober and drinking root-beer) he asked where I was from. I said Nebraska. He then said: "Oh, Chuck Hagel and Ben Nelson. And Bob Kerry is on the 9-11 panel." Good work, kind sir. Going out, out, out. Double taping tonight at the Late Show and the Pages celebrated the end of sweeps by going out. It was a good time-- heightened this time around by my actually knowing the people I was conversing with. I didn't have much cash and thus didn't drink much, but nevertheless the conversation was good. Error? It may have been over-estimating myself, but I rented the first 15 episodes of Alias, Season 1, today at Blockbuster. Hopefully I can get through them by next Friday. Stupid Sometimes in life we do things that are stupid. Today was one of those times. I was walking to Borders to kill some time and had to cross the street. Right off the curb was a huge puddle, probably four feet across. I could have easily walked around it, but instead thought to myself, "jump." So I did. I took a couple steps and then lunged across. The second I became airborn though, I knew this was a stupid mistake. I wasn't going to land right. Sure enough, BAM! right on my toe. Oh, lordy the pain. But worse, the fear that I broke my toe and didn't have insurance or the money to get it fixed. This is seconds after it happened. My mind is racing... Popscicle stick and tape! Wrap up my foot. Anything to kee the toe straight. Walking was painful. Luckily, by the end of the day it faded into simply an annoyance. Hopefully everything is okay and I won't wake up with a purple food. Remember to stay tuned to MagneticMediaFed for our exciting season finale! Coming soon!  ¶ 3:04 AM 0 Comments

  Getting a little political Am I the only one who doesn't care about the hightened terrorist threat? Look, I understand that we live in different times, but in this instant I think it's fair to use the cliche "What can I do, I'm just one man!" I've never understood this whole terror level, and the fact that they came out yesterday and said that there are plans for an attack this summer simply make me think, "okay?" DON'T TELL ME, JUST STOP IT. When I walk around I look at the ground for the most part, as I don't want to run into anyone or step on anything. On the subway I read magazines. And believe it or not, when I'm at home I don't spend my time staring out the window looking for people who look suspicious. This is New York. Everyone looks suspicious. Hell, in our neighborhood, I'm probably the most suspicious person there. Who is it helping to announce that there are terrorists in the country. If you know, you don't tell everyone, because THEY are grouped into that 'everyone' and can then adjust their strategy. Just get them. We elect you people to do the work that we don't know how, and don't want, to do. So quick passing the buck to us! I know it may sound absolutely crazy, but I don't know how to catch a terrorist. I don't! Do you use peanut-butter and fly paper? A box propped up with a stick and some humus under it? Do you need more funding? Fine, tax me and I'll try to work harder. But putting seven mug shots on the screen isn't going to do it... at least not for me. They always seem to look a little bit like John Travolta. Okay, enough whining. I'm done. Have a pleasant night.  ¶ 10:47 PM 0 Comments

  Fun at newsstations There is a bank of 6 televisions in one of our control rooms that let us watch normal cable TV. Usually the channels are populated with cable-news stations and Met games, but there is one TV that TODAY isn't showing normal cable, but showing a feed that is coming in from somewhere unidentifiable. It simply shows a man who looks like Horatio Sanz staring at the camera and occasionally talking. Seeing this image on a standard studio monitor is nothing, but on a normal TV, its absolutely hilarious! The down-on-his-luck guy That's what William H. Macy plays. All the time. And never more than in The Cooler, which I watched last night. The picture, overall, was decent-- a solid three star movie, maybe even three-and-a-half, but only for it's solidness. It rarely goes above one's expectations. But what I found most interesting about it, was that the movie seems to really be not about luck, but about old and new. A major plot point is an old-school casino with management that wants to revamp. Though the theme is almost bigger in how the picture is made. It's very much old-cinema meets new-cinema. When people are talking, the camera is still and well framed. Lots of shadows. But when we're seeing a montage things get kicked up to the present with a lot of changes in camera speed and fancy editing. Really, this is the way it should be. Style get's boring when you're flooded with it, but mixed in to traditional filmmaking it becomes quite striking. Of course, the subject matter helps. Vegas is flashy, and diving into crazy jump cuts in the middle of you average romatic comedy probably won't work. I also rented "Bubba Ho-Tep" but am only 60 minutes in. It's good so far though...  ¶ 10:36 PM 0 Comments

  Techsavy So when I was at CompUSA last week I noticed a trend in technology that I wasn't expecting: laptop computers are getting bigger, not smaller. And aside from the powerbooks, they aren't thin either, but quite bulky indeed. I'm sure they're jam-packed with hardware but still, portability has to be worth something, right? Also, I'm officially a strong supported of Gizmodo. So take that.  ¶ 12:44 PM 0 Comments

  Close Calls I woke up today at 9 with stomach pains. Now that I'm insuranceless, it's considerably more nerve-racking as I have no choice but to ride it out. A hospital stay is no where in my future. So I immediately got up, took some medicine, and started chugging water. It's now 12:30 and I think I've beat it. So that's a relief. Yesterday I get into work and all anyone wants to talk about is The Sopranos. I don't have a TV, but Adam has been taping the episodes and sending them to me (I've only seen up to ep. 5). But I've also grown accustomed to going into work on Mondays and hearing more about the plots than I'd like to. This time around, things were a little different. The energy amongst the fans at work was much higher. Peaking with my boss walking into the control room and saying "Did you see the Sopranos last night?" The producer said, "Yes, but no one in the pod has, so shut the door." We were on break so I jumped up and said "I'm gonna leave, I haven't seen it yet." So I go out and get some lunch. It's like 15 minutes later and I walk back to the control room and see the door shut and my boss waves me away. Good. As long as I don't walk into the discloser of info. I then go to the lunchroom, sit down and instantly have the entire plot revealed by the table in front of me. They seemed pretty excited about the show. So now I know what happens and I'm kind of pissed. Oh well... hopefully by the 6th season I can watch it live with the rest of America. But seriously, I'd never of guessed that __________ would have wound up __________ .  ¶ 12:33 PM 0 Comments

  It's no surprise that I desperately want an iPod BUT! With each passing day, I find myself leaning more and more toward the mini. I know, it's only a $50 difference between 1,000 songs and 3,000 songs, and I know that my iTunes currently has 17-Gig worth of music, but the Mini is so damn cool-looking, and let's not forget SMALL. Right now small is key with me. Now that it's summer I don't wear sport-jackets and thus lose about 3 pockets worth of carrying ability. The mini is damn small and has a belt hook. And let's be honest, we're talking about having 1000 songs. That's a hell of a lot of songs. Especially since I only listen to about a dozen albums on any given week. I can always swap out stuff for other stuff... right? And the price really isn't that rediculous. If you think about the target market (high-end, flash-memory based players) it's perfectly reasonable. The average high-end flash player costs between $150-$200 and we're talking about hundreds of megabytes, not gigabytes. I mean, I was shopping around for a bigger memory card for my camera this week and a 128-meg chip was close to $100--- in the MP3 world, that would hold like thirty songs or so. Hrmmm. Mini. Maybe this summer they'll drop the price to $199. If they do that, I'm sold.   ¶ 12:45 AM 0 Comments

  Alright, let's do this! So today wasn't good. Well, it was better than it could have been, but overall BAD. It began like this: 11:52am : sound asleep 11:53am : sound asleep 11:54am : open eyes 11:54:15am : swear loudly and jump out of bed 11:55am : put on pants and a shirt, run to the bathroom 11:56am : brush teeth 12:02pm : stand on train platform and wait at the mercy of the MTA. I was suppose to work today at noon, and for some unalienable reason, slept through 2 alarms that may or may not have actually gone off. Because of a recently completed subway station in our neighborhood, I then got to watch 3 express trains zoom by waiting to get into the city. Moral of the story, I was late, and that sucks. You know that feeling? When you first look at the clock and have the collective "oh shit" feeling race through your body? Yeah, that's the worst. Um... "Control Room" was also sold out at Film Forum, so I just came home after work. Alas. Pom Juice So Erin bought me some pomagranite juice this week, because I had mentioned how intrigued I was about it. I don't know if it's available in your neck of the woods, but out here there is this new stuff called "Pom." It looks like this: It's advertised as being exceptionally good for you and will make you live forever (or something). It also costs $3.95 for a bottle slightly larger than the average Snapple. I found this shocking. How could it possibly cost that much money!? It must be this wonder-juice! All natural, ultra-healthy, and surely tastes like God himself filled the bottle with all of the heavenly liquids known in the cosmos. So I was really excited to try it out. To my great disappointment, it's awful. JUST AWFUL. It's like drinking a mixture of wine and blood, but without the alcohol and/or vampire-like capabilities. So why charge so damn much? I could understand $4 a shot if it was incindiary, but it isn't. It's just blah. Are there really people willing to shell out that much every day just for eternal youth. Absolutely. S21 I tried to see "Control Room" last night also, but was sold out as well. I opted to check out "S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine" a documentary about the interogation and murder of over 17,000 Cambodians. Needless to say, it was heavy subject matter, which made what I'm about to tell you so much worse. Having just finished a completely exhausting week I sat down in the theatre and fell asleep for about 30-40 minutes. I felt so awful. Not so much because I paid to see the movie (it was just $5... eh) but because it was kind of on par with that Seinfeld episode where he makes out during "Shindler's List." It's just inappropriate. When I got home and read some reviews I was happy to find out that I didn't miss as much of the picture as I thought I did, but still... inexcusable. There will be a time in my life when I'll start sleeping when I need to sleep and doing things when I need to do them. Someday that will be my life. Unfortunately, right now it's a bit of the opposite. Seaguy Before S21 I went to the comic shop to pick up this new book called "Seaguy" which is written by the author of this series I gave up on last fall called "The Filth," but a review of it seemed promising. Here is Seaguy: While I wasn't blown away by Seaguy, yet, I did find it to be loaded with potential (though it's only part of a 3 issue series). The premise is that it's a world filled with super-heros, but none that really know what they're suppose to be doing. So you see these guys wearing costumes and just doing everyday things. There's a big-bad guy and a mysterious plotline and all the heros are trying to sort out what to do. The bad part is that it is strikingly similar to an idea I had. It's like that scene in Waking Life where Ethan Hawke speculates that once someone has an idea, it's automatically 'released into the environment' where others can pick up on it. I guess this means I need to be more dilligant with getting stuff made.  ¶ 11:45 PM 0 Comments

  Brand New Recoil! Yes, yes. The latest Recoil issue (#19) entitled "The Glorious Flight" is finally ready to be read by the masses. You can get your own FREE copy by clicking on either of the links below. And remember, Recoil is guaranteed to be fresh, full of typos, misspellings, and love. Enjoy. Recoil in PDF format (9.7mb) Recoil in gradual increments  ¶ 2:29 AM 0 Comments

  "You're Bill-Ghostbustin'-Groundhog-Day-Murray!" So I went to see "Coffee and Cigarette's" this afternoon, which I liked a lot, but did not love. I'm sure I'm stealing this observation from some critic, but I don't remember whom-- anyway, whenever you have a movie that is comprised of parts it automatically makes people say "I liked this part more than this part" or "I didn't like the section with___________," which is unfortunate for the movie as a whole. Unfortunately, when you have sections as good as the Alfred Molina/Steve Coogan section other parts just don't seem to compare. But Bill Murray is always good. So there ya go. After, I walked into "Super Size Me," which I think I enjoyed more. It's an incredibly entertaining film and did exactly what I was hoping it would do: not dwell upon the stunt-nature of the film and instead fill the middle with facts. Sure, it's interesting to see what happens to a body after ingesting 5000 calories a day for a month, but seeing how similar foods are marketed towards kids in schools is as compelling, and helps fill out the picture. Bottom line: if you're looking for motivation for a diet, go see the movie. Personally, my eating habits are god awful, but haven't yet bit back-- perhaps a pre-emptive diet/exercise plan is necessary.  ¶ 1:54 AM 0 Comments

  Exhausted Between taping stories this morning I was dozing off, which I hear is frowned upon in most occupations. The reasoning is twofold: 1) This week has been jam packed with action and adventure, and 2) Instead of working at 7am, I had to come in at 5:30am. That's early for Ricky. Too early. I often wonder in these instances if I should just pull the all-nighter, as it seems less painful to gradually get more and more tired as opposed to tricking your body into thinking it got more than 4 hours of sleep only to pull the rug out a few hours later. As for the ins and outs of the week, I'll leave that to THIS GIRL, but will say that much ground was covered and we had a super-duper time. And what else... So um... when do I get to throw a perfect game? I did a little top-down restructuring of my fantasy-baseball teams. So WATCH OUT! I could really go for watching some TV...  ¶ 10:48 AM 0 Comments

  Hey Andrea I'm wrong. I was totally thinking "Tony Bennet" not "Tony Randall." The first isn't dead, yet.  ¶ 12:34 PM 0 Comments

  I should be asleep... I got up to get some water and put some music on, and happened to check my mail. I received the following piece of junk: ------------ From: iris morris Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 16:57:45 Subject: Our church will ordain anyone who asks Our church will ordain anyone who asks! Become a legally ordained minister within 48 hours As a minister, you will be authorized to perform the rites and ceremonies of the church! Perform Weddings, Funerals, and Perform Baptisms Forgiveness of Sins and Visit Correctional Facilities Want to open a church? Chick out Ministery in a Box. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW ----------------- Visit correctional facilites! Sign me up!!!

  ¶ 2:56 AM 0 Comments

  Old News Let's recap the past 5 days. FRIDAY: Everyone knows that the Late Show taped at 4am, but not everyone may know that I was in the background of an audience shot. Fun. But what was really fun was the show itself. As many faithfuls to this blog know, I'm a night person, and so whenever something big happens between midnight and 5am, I'm all about it. Hopefully you got to see the show. (If not, I think there's a tape of it somewhere in Omaha...) SATURDAY: I no longer work on Tuesdays and instead work Saturday mornings from 7-3. This isn't so bad once you get into the city, which was precisely the problem this past week. While trying to shave off some time in my commute, I walked nearly a mile to an alternate, easier train. Once there I discovered that it wasn't going across the water, thus causing me to go from a 1-train trip, to a 4-train and 1 taxi trip. I was thirty minutes late, which wasn't a big deal, but caused a hell of a lot more stress on my end than I had hoped for. Leading to Saturday night when I was suppose to meet Erin at the Howard Beach subway stop, connected to JFK. I headed out there and instantly my idiot phone went dead. This is no good as I now had no possible way of contacting her. Then I got on the wrong train. After one stop I get out, and sprint back to the original station, along the way cashing a Fiver for a bunch of quarters for the pay phone. So I'm off to JFK. The catch is that the train wasn't going to JFK that weekend and instead had shuttle busses. I get on one and end up in Far Rockaway which is what is sounds-- FAR. It was like a 20 minute trip. I get out, look around and talk to an MTA employee who tells me that I have to take the bus back to where I started and then get on the Howard Beach bus. I do this, I make payphone calls, I meet up with Erin, all is well, I nearly lose my mind in the process... SUNDAY: I worked at The Late Show from 10-6 and then went out for dinner with Erin, and told her that she should from this point on, refrain from getting rides from strangers... Good times. I was tired. MONDAY: We slept late and hung out at the flat (I'm going to start calling my apartment a flat because it sounds cooler and is shorter), and I eventually went to work (I'm working a hell of a lot for having company, but I kind of didnt' expect to have 2 jobs a month ago. Oh well.) TUESDAY!: Coney Island! Nathans World Famous! Batting Cages! (4 for 28 on various speeds) Closed Brooklyn Museum! Walking! Little Italy! More Brooklyn! Drinks in Brooklyn while watching comedy shorts from funny people(s) such as Eugene Merman, Jonathan Benjamin, and Stella! WEDNESDAY!: It rained, but we still navigated a bit of the west village and sat at Grand Central and failed to complete today's crossword. This now get's us up to speed. Stay tuned as I have some killer stuff to add to this site in the coming days (including, hopefully, pictures.) PECORARO, OUT.  ¶ 8:46 PM 0 Comments

  Five Hours I have a break at work in 5 hours, and then there will be a post... a great post. Until then... XOXO  ¶ 5:28 PM 0 Comments

  Hey, Erin's here! Okay, not too much time to blog, but here is the rundown for future posts: 1) trials of Public Transit 2) I was in the background of Friday's Late Show... 3) more trials of Public Transit 4) My cell phone is the devil incarnate. until then.  ¶ 1:56 AM 0 Comments

  I just typed up a decided sized entry... and then it wouldn't post--- which I blame on the filters here at work. Damn. That sucks. Maybe I'll retype it later. On an unrelated note: Does anyone else think "Soul Plane" looks like it's setting the civil rights movement back about 20 years? Maybe that's just 'cause I don't have soul.  ¶ 11:08 AM 0 Comments

  Absolutely THIS could very well be the movie I've been waiting my life to see.  ¶ 2:16 AM 0 Comments

  Forked I just got home from a raucus night out-- at work. Bigger, more intensive post later, but first I must sleep. If I'm not back by the end of today, just keep the following in mind: TONIGHTS LATE SHOW IS AWESOME. AWE-SOME. ta  ¶ 7:49 AM 0 Comments

  Du...de I enjoy the fact that everyone that was in my social circle in the late 90s has taken up residence at The Du for a period of time. And really, why shouldn't they?!  ¶ 10:54 PM 0 Comments

  What I foresee me doing this summer I just bought a fan to place in my room, and based on my 3-minutes of interaction with it, it looks like my summer will be comprised primarily of me staring into said fan and moaning at a low level. It's hot here. Perhaps amplified by the flash-flood rainshower that came down ten minutes ago. It's kind of like living in a sparsely furnished humidor. Hey July, bring-it.  ¶ 2:41 PM 0 Comments

  John Mayer and Esquire The third-of-a-page column Esquire has given to John Mayer has disaster written all over it. In practice it's just kind of shaky. Like my roommate and I were discussing, Mayer likely has much better musical tastes than his music would suggest. In practice, however, I'm unconvinced. I mean, you don't want to open your very first column with a sentence lik: "...I don't see how [The White Stripes] are in any way a manifestation of the blues." You don't? Have you heard The White Stripes? Perhaps next month...  ¶ 12:44 AM 0 Comments

  Squandered! So I totally hesitated in signing up for my free G-Mail account, (quick editorial: after much deliberation I realized that I could care less if they scan my email and target me with ads. First of all, it's not like my normal inbox isn't already packed with hundreds of messages containing words that look like "VGiARGA" and "NEpiS SIxzE" I may as well get spam that I could actually be interested in-- plus, it wouldn't be my primary address and instead a great place to redirect mailing lists and such, and let's not forget about the 1GIG of storage! BAM! That's like having your own free webserver.) and it appears that now I've missed the boat-- at least until it goes public. Man, for once in my life I'd like to be ahead of the curve with something. True: I do have already have the new Wilco album, but it wasn't until I was reading through his blog that I remembered that fact. Not that the record isn't good, because it is good-- just not YHF-good, and definitely not Modest Mouse Good News For People Who Love Bad News-good. In any case, I wish I'd acted sooner. I have a sneaking suspicion she is talking about ME! While scrolling through my KINJA I saw a post that clearly is taking a shot at my tastebuds. In an effort to finally put the matter at rest I issue the following statement: "In regard to one Mr. R.J. Pecoraro's assessment that Diet Coke with Lime is totally delicious, it is only fitting for those who question his judgement to react in one of two ways: by saying "Hmm, I've never had Diet Coke with Lime, I will run out and try it forthwhidt!" or "He is absolutely correct." Any denial of his judgement is both treasonous, unfounded, and likely to be under judicial review. In a similar vein, Pistacio is still the best ice-cream flavor, but arguments from the "Pumpkin" and "Cinnimon" lobbies will be heard. Zone bar 1, Rick 1 My last run-in with a Zone bar ended with me feeling like death for about 7 hours. This time around it went much smoother and did, in fact, curb my appitite for about 3 hours, which was the goal. When I work noon-8 there really is no good way to eat lunch. You either eat at 11:30 before work and then get starved at about 5, or you eat at 2:00 when we go on break and then have to spend 2 hours going crazy with starvation since you didn't eat breakfast (I have no food in the house). Actually, this isn't much of a quandry at all. There's pleanty of time to eat-- it'll just cost, because everything in Chelsea is expensive. Wasn't it Elvis (the real Elvis) who said "I don't wanna go to Chelsea!"? Yes. Yeah, anyway. Perfect evening The weather tonight was so effing lovely that I kind of regret going to see "Superstar in a House Dress" at Film Forum. The movie was decent, but the walk back to the subway was spectacular. I've more or less hung up the sport jackets for the summer as the temps are at a level that is unpleasant toward heavy wool and coorderoy, and thus have been walking around in rolled up sleaves. It was cool enough out so that i wasn't sweating, but hot enough so I didn't feel underdressed- it was one of those great moments in wardrobe/weather-coalescence. The bad news being that with every passing 80-degree-plus day the third floor that is The John Ritter Memorial Apartment gets hotter and hotter. Luckily open windows have worked thus far. The best is going to be in Mid-July when Hugo (our super-- and super he is) breaks down my door to see a giant puddle of Rick melted all over the floor. Awesome. I'm out.  ¶ 11:22 PM 0 Comments

  Awesome is: Having scrambled eggs with Tobasco, a bowl of Oreo cereal, and several 'lemon creme' sandwich cookies for dinner. Awesome indeed. Food issues As illustrated by the above, I've gotten into this bad habit of buying groceries, eating most of them in 4 days, subsequently eating nearly every meal out and then fixing bizarre combinations or arrant foodstuffs for about 2 weeks, when I go back to the grocery store. Perhaps some day this pattern will come to an end.  ¶ 9:12 PM 0 Comments

  I have nothing to say right now... BUT, since we're on break at work, I may as well say something: 1) I love Diet Coke with Lime. 2) Okay, back to work.  ¶ 3:00 PM 0 Comments

  "To work and exploit the booming music scene" So THIS is the great new label? Whaaa? C'mon Jenny! What'd Omaha ever do to you? Speakin of: They had a small write-up in this month's Vanity Fair, a magazine that I've decided I like greatly.  ¶ 12:37 AM 0 Comments

  Bob, b-o-b I watched "Masked and Anonymous" a couple days ago on DVD. I saw it at Blockbuster and figured that in my life I'm sure there have been worse things I've spent $4 on (I'm looking in your direction "Porceline Elvis!"). To my expectations, the movie was nonsensical at best, but to my surprise, it wasn't nearly as BAD as some made me think it was going to be. But yes, the best lines go as follows: Reporter: What're you thinking about Jack? Jack (Dylan): Cellulose. It's in the grass. Cows can eat it, but people can't. Ta-dah! Speaking of Blockbuster, I've been hitting it for about 3 weeks consistantly, and feel that I'm nearly caught up with all the new-stuff I missed. The films I have left are: The Company, The Cooler, possibly Owning Mahoney.... Also, does anyone think it'd be worth my while to rent the entire first season of the "Bernie Mac Show," as I've only seen a couple episodes of it, but found it quite good--- just let me know. And just when I was going to sign up for a G-Mail Account Google/Blogger goes ahead and get's rid of the option--- this company has done me ill this evening. Rick, OUT!  ¶ 12:05 AM 0 Comments

  Film Criticism Hands down the best movie review of the year come from my friend Nathan: "I went to see Van Helsing on Tues. night for free. I give the movie two thumbs down. I give Kate Beckinsale ten thumbs up. Yowza." I haven't seen the film, but I have a sneaking suspicion that truer words have never been spoken. So about my weekend... 1) Saturday I walked from my apartment to Queens Plaza, which is a hell of a walk for those of you not keeping score at home. 2) I read about 20 pages of Jimmy Corrigan and found it the best kind of fascinating. I will purchase it post-haste (as it's wayyyy to dense to read at the bookstore, and because I'm trying not to be so damn cheap). 3) Went to a sketch show featuring a kid I work with at The Late Show. It was funny indeed. 4) I came home last night around 1:30 to an apartment with zero (read: ZERO!) electricity. This provided the following quandry: I had to work at 10 the next morning, and absolutely needed my alarm clock to get up as I was feeling quite out of it. Obviously, the alarm clock wouldn't work. It needed electricity, as does most of the modern world. Then I decided to set the alarm in my cell phone, but quickly noticed the SINGLE bar of power left and realized that it wouldn't make it though the night. Soooo... what? What to do? I dig through one of my drawers looking for my OLD cell phone, find it, turn it on, and pray that it has a charge left in it from 5 months ago. It does. This is good. I set the alarm and go to bed. Of course, I sleep off and on all night, constantly waking in a panick to check the phone to make sure it's still on. It always is. Life is good, but bad because of the lack of electricity. I deal. 5) I work a majority of today at The Late Show, checking in various potential audience members. It was surprisingly busy for a Sunday under the guise of "mother's." 6) I stuff myself at Nick's on 71st and Columbus and stagger out breathing slowly and hoping that the tons of food I ate doesn't try to make it's out. All is well. 7) I call mom. 8) I take the long way home... just like Supertramp. 9) Watch some "Strangers with Candy."  ¶ 11:30 PM 0 Comments

  99 Problems In Jay-Z's 99 Problems Video there are naked men, a bullet-riddled Jay-Z, Vincent Gallo, and in the version I saw, about a hundred blank spaces where the swearing would be--- it makes the song very difficult to get into. And speaking of videos, is MTV.Com the new MTV2? Also, iTunes now has music videos for free--- which is fantastic.  ¶ 10:50 PM 0 Comments

  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! NEW BLOGGER INTERFACE! I'M NOW THREE-CLICKS INSTEAD OF TWO CLICKS AWAY FROM ENTERTAINING AMERICA! WHY? WHY MUST GOOD THINGS CHANGE!? xoxo, Rick  ¶ 9:18 PM 0 Comments

  Is 1:1.33 the new 16:9? Absolutely! I rented Elephant today, and was kind of floored by it. Stylistically, it's probably the most interesting thing to come out in years (trumping my previous nominee Eternal Sunshine...), and dramatically the tone meshes perfectly with the subject matter: complete and utter nihilism. The most fascinating aspects of the movie, in my opinion, were 1) the use of full-screen instead of wide-screen, and 2) creating a field of focus that would only sharpen items in what I presume to be a matter of inches, and thus throwing the rest of the frame into a wash of color. As for the fullscreen nature, I've began to realize that we can't just have one, or the other-- both full and wide are absolutely necessary in telling different kinds of stories. I guess the question is just whether we want black bars on the sides or on the top and bottom. My theory is that widescreen is subjective and fullscreen is objective. When you watch something like The Sopranos in widescreen you're able to mentally place characters on different points across an X-axis, which in turn adds weight to that character. Is he centered? Is he off to one side? What is balancing him? This is compared to the news or talk shows where we're watching everything in full screen and not really aware of a persons relation to those borders. It's matter-of-fact and the subject matter then dictates our feelings. So in Elephant, when we watch these incredibly mundane scenes unfold from various vantage points, we aren't being told how to feel. It's cold, which is arguably far more chilling when the gunfire starts going off in the hallways. We're so used to hearing the music build or seeing the cuts becomer quicker or more simply having the director telling us what to feel, but that never comes and frankly, it makes you want to cry. The issue of shallow focus is a fascinating one also. At first I thought they were shooting (film, not bullets) from far away with a telephoto lens, but soon realized that that would be impossible with the amount of movement in the camera. In a short behind the scenes feature on the DVD, I was able to see that instead it looked almost like they were using a wide-angle at the end of a long-lens (which may or may not actually be something that one can shoot with)-- in any case, it's really fascinating to watch. Most of the movie is tracking shots following behind various characters through the school hallways and they are the sole item in focus, often leaving the frame and creating a near-watercolor visual on screen until someone else comes in to the selected focus area to take their place. I don't know what it is, but I've been seeing some really great movies lately. More specifically, great movies that are unique to themselves and really give the viewer something to latch onto to mentally. Hooray!  ¶ 10:22 PM 0 Comments

  Welcome Interstate Bloggers Here's a new one.  ¶ 12:24 PM 0 Comments

  Waxing of the proverbial car Look, this is not a paid endorsement, but I just want to talk about how fucking great iTunes is. It's the perfect application. It doesn't crash. It isn't riddled with excess, and it has the great fortune of being the one that is copied, instead of being the copier. I mean, what's their selling point? NO ONE HAS A MINI-DISC*! Let it die already! And hey! On iTunes 4.5 they have this thing called "Party Shuffle" which makes me really wish I had enough friends to throw a party. But you know what? It doesn't matter. There's a party in my head everyday! BAM! *Actually, the Mini-Disc has it's place, and that place is in portable recording equipment.  ¶ 1:37 AM 0 Comments

  News to me Tonight at work while I was running audio on one of the shows we did a story about people without health insurance and how there is this event taking place in a week called Cover the Uninsured and it was the first time in my life where someone on televsion said "for more information go to..." and having me grab my pen and jot it down. So it just goes to show you, every now and then you'll see something worthwhile on television news. I'm also pretty excited about my likely future as a health insurance-statistic. Whoo!! 43-million baby! Also It's funny when people prank-call our call-in segments. The best being during our political show when a guy called in and said "Yeah, I've been living in Manhattan for 10 years, so I think it's safe to call myself a Manhattanite, and I was just wondering if you thought the smoking ban would have an impact on the race with the penis-party..." at which point I clipped him off. You have to give credit to a guy who's willing to go really far to say the word 'penis' on televsion. Piazza, New York Catcher Congrats to Mikey for breaking Fisk's record for home-runs by a catcher. Hooray  ¶ 1:25 AM 0 Comments

  OH NO YOU DIT-ANT! I received an email from an anonymous friend (he lives in Omaha and has a last name that rhymes with "Burch") where he doubted my insistance that Pistachio is HANDS-DOWN the best ice cream flavor. He votes for mint-chip. True: mint-chip is tasty, but it has nothin on Pistachio, which is the Cadillac of ice cream. Sorry Paul, but you've been served! (ice-cream, of the pistachio variety)  ¶ 10:41 PM 0 Comments

  Elbow Grease I had this plastic bag from Old Navy sitting on my floor. Having some extra time this afternoon I decided to clean up my room a bit, and to my great surprise, the bag had fused itself to the wood. This resulted in a SHHHLLLLIP sound when I pulled it off, and also resulted in a broken imprint of the bag, silly-putty-style. After a brief panic attack, I grabbed some soapy water and successfuly scrubbed it clean. The previous was an example of turning nothing into something. Thanks for reading.  ¶ 2:15 PM 0 Comments

  Magnetic-Media-Fed Takes a Stand: Pistachio ice-cream is absolutely the best flavor. Anyone who disagrees doesn't know what they're talking about. OUT.  ¶ 8:55 PM 0 Comments

  Movie Fan So long to the other-other-Elvis. Just don't get any ideas, Tony!  ¶ 6:46 PM 0 Comments

  Hey Bloggers! Kinja is like having a magical little elf run around the internet and letting you know who has recently posted. Of course this brings up the question of what am I going to do with these extra 7 minutes every night. I think we all know what the answer is: crack.  ¶ 1:03 AM 0 Comments

  So what else is new? Last night I went to Film Forum and saw 1) High Noon and 2) Modern Times. Both, obviously, were good. That brought the grand total of movies watched over my weekend to 6, which is stellar. Bored. I don't really have anything else all that grand to say right now, just sitting here on break at work, drinking coffee and eating a delicious chocolate-chip-almond cookie. I watched a couple more Strangers with Candy season 2 episodes last night-- including my all-time favorite episode where Jerry runs over her art teacher and it rips his face off. I know what you're thinking "HILARIOUS!" You're right. I'm gonna read websites now.  ¶ 2:08 PM 0 Comments

  "Pretty girl on the hood of a Cadillac (yeah)/she's broken down on freeway nine/take a look at her engine stallin' (and)/I leave her purrin' and I roll on by/ bye bye..." A'ight, here we go. ONE, Mean Girls I went to go see the aforementioned last night after work, and found it unbelievably enjoyable. So enjoyable, in fact, I'm giving it FOUR of four stars. But before you start sending me hate-mail claiming that I've lost all authority in the matter of film criticism, let me explain that the movie ISN'T a four-star movie, but simply earns four stars for doing something that few other movies can pull off: create a comedy for the broadest audience possible that is consistantly funny all the way through without dropping off into incredibly sappy territory or excessive moralizing. True: this film indeed does have some sappyness and moralizing, but it can do so while still being funny. Most movies cannot pull this off. What's perhaps more amazing is finding a movie that is consistantly funny at all. I mean, even the great comedies aren't really as funny as we remember them. Caddyshack, Stripes, Animal House, all truly funny movies, but movies that are also scarred with sections that simply don't work. Like anything with the kids in Caddyshack or that whole 'top secret minivan' plotline in Stripes. Really, if you go back and watch all those movies, the only ones that I can really think of as being consistantly funny from start to finish are "The Jerk," "A Christmas Story," and "Raising Arizona." Of course there are still funny movies. I mean, "The Big Lebowski" can still make me laugh consistantly after scores of viewings, but I argue that it's more because the performances are so on the money and the fact that it's a type of humor that is very niche based. I mean, the Coen's know their audience, which arguably makes it easier for them to create a really funny and ineresting movie-- so I'm not denying that there haven't been great comedies made in the recent years, but I would argue that few of these comedies can translate to masses as well as "Mean Girls." Nothing can really illustrate this as well as the audience I saw it with on Friday, which was jam packed with Tweens who clapped when Lindsay Lohan first showed up on screen and who collectively swooned when the lead hunk showed his face, and yet I was able to sit there and laugh for 90 minutes not at them but at the movie. Let's take a closer look. Here are all the comedies I've seen in the theatres in the past 3 or 4 years that I would consider to be completely broad and mainstream: -High Fidelity -Small Time Crooks -Me Myself and Irene -Chicken Run -Original Kings of Comedy -Best In Show -Meet The Parents -Charlie's Angels -The Grinch -O Brother Where Art Thou -Bridget Jones' Diary -Heartbreakers -One Night At McCool's -Shrek -Josey and the Pussycats -Cats and Dogs -Pootie Tang -Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back -Made -Curse of the Jade Scorpion -Zoolander -Orange County -Super Troopers -Hollywood Ending -About A Boy -Simone -My Big Fat Greek Wedding -Barbershop -Old School -Anger Management -A Mighty Wind -Finding Nemo -School of Rock -Elf -Bad Santa -The Ladykillers -Mean Girls Now then, you're likely to say that there's a large amount of great comedies over the past 4 years (as well as some crappy ones), but I'd then argue that movies like "High Fidelity" and "About A Boy" are realy more like funny dramas. I mean they weren't made for the sole purpose of getting one to laugh. And while "Bad Santa" I find absolutely hillarious, it hardly has a lot of cross-over appeal (though it did make a lot of money, so perhaps that theory is a bust). Then the rest seem to be made up of movies that either had a few funny parts (the common killer of an excellent comedy) or had a stroke first and second act, but frequently seemed to fizzle in the last thirty-minutes (Elf, Old School, I'm looking in your general direction). So what does this all mean? It means that my enjoyment of "Mean Girls" is rooted largely in this idea of the perfect modern-American-Comedy, and for my money it met all the requisites. I know that this all seems completely contradictory to everything that I've said in the past, but it isn't-- "Wet Hot American Summer," "Best In Show," "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut," and hell, even "Charlie's Angels" are all funnier than "Mean Girls," but they simply don't fit that model of comedy that I'm grouping it in. Mean Girls is in the shitty-teen-movie-slash-funny-young-star-vehicle category where it, to me, is clearly the heavyweight champion. Paul and I discussed this over a lengthy subway ride/wait this evening and could think of no other movies that were simply funny from start to finish without becoming too much of one thing or another, and it wasn't until the end of the evening when we remembered a perfect example of the type of comedy we were trying to pinpoint-- "Office Space." But all of this is pointless, because it leads to the following: TWO, The Office When it comes to comedy, movies have absolutely nothing on television which can provide the viewer (watching the right program) more laughs per minute than anything in the theatre. Which couldn't be truer for "The Office: Series 2" which I finished watching last night. Now, I frequently go a little over the top with this sort of this, but I think The Office as a whole could very well be the greatest piece of comedic entertainment ever produced, and perhaps better yet: one of the greatest character arcs ever portrayed. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SERIES, DON'T READ ON, BECAUSE IT'LL RUIN IT. (that's a trick I learned from "aintitcoolnews.com) When you think about the character of David Brendt starting with the first season, you have a guy who wants to be the funniest man in the room and who wants to be your best friend, and thinks that he is. That's funny. That's enough for an entire series run. But what makes the second season so fucking brilliant is that you see that the frist six episodes were just a set-up for the second six, where his position in the Office becomes threatened on multiple fronts and he, for lack of a better term, has a complete and utter meltdown over the last 4-5 episodes. If you only watched season 2 you wouldn't buy that this guy would do and say what it is he is doing and saying, but by seeing season 1 you're completely prepared for the character, which is what makes his meltdown so hillarious. This is a man who's entire life is just crumbling in on him and yet by cranking his personality to 11 he's able to make himself feel like all is well and meanwhile letting us laugh histarically at his mistakes-- this leading up to the final scenes which are utterly unexpected and heartbreaking. GO AHEAD AND START READING AGAIN! This can't be done in cinema. There isn't enough time. You can't pace a character the way you can in television. You can't show the repetition of life without the audience becoming restless. But on TV you can, and you're able to get a whole lot more out of it. "The Office" is a perfect television show, and more importanly a perfect character study. It's also the funniest thing I've seen in years. Enough with all this over-analytical media talk, dammit! THREE, Boat trip Andrea got Paul and I into a party on a boat for Found magazine-- this publication that collects letters and writings found on the street and prints them. It was a cool time, and ON A BOAT! We started on the west-side and cruised around the bottom of Manhattan and over to the east-side and then back. The whole thing lasted about 3 hours and provided some quite gorgeous looks at the city and the statue of liberty and Ellis Island and all that. And there was a DJ and $7 drinks. Fun was had by all. Okay, I'm done for now.  ¶ 1:44 AM 0 Comments

  Blogger I just finished watching Spellbound, which was great, and then was rereading some of my more recent posts, and realized I used the word "strangerly" a couple days ago. MagneticMediaFed wants to make it clear that I did in fact know this wasn't a word then, and know it isn't a word now... but I type fast and don't care to proofread. Please don't think I'm an idiot, even if I may be. I swear on the grave of John Ritter that I will have a really great blog entry in the coming hours detailing the following media: Kill Bill 2, Mean Girls, The Office, Spellbound, and a brief description of the party that I'm going to tonight that will take place on a boat. Godspeed.  ¶ 5:46 PM 0 Comments