fall of the phoenix

Phish kicked off a tour last weekend here in Hampton, and lo and behold, the city was absolutely inundated with the Phish clientele. The local Wal-Mart parking lot (which is right next to the Coliseum, where they were playing) was chock-full of RVs, VW camper vans, and old buses. In fact, just a little ways down the road from my apartment I saw a sign in front of a rather dingy-looking establishment that proudly stated, "PHISH PHANS PARK HERE!" The venue is at least three miles away. It therefore came as no surprise to find out that Hampton PD was out in force all weekend. Apparently, they were very busy.

I never had a game console as a kid, instead we were the first on our block to have a computer, and later the Internet. As a result I grew up playing Wolfenstein 3D and Day of the Tentacle instead of the Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong Country. All well and fine, but sometimes I wish I did have a Super Nintendo, just like I wish I had some Power Wheels. And now, my wishes may have been granted. Of course, I'd have to buy the cartridges, too. I fear it may be like my desire to own a record player -- if I get one, I'd have to start collecting records. Why are all the fun hobbies expensive?

And now, a reminder of why Flight of the Conchords are awesome:

we'll be right back

A couple of posts ago I made a reference to Legends of the Hidden Temple. This, coupled with recently watching some old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes with my friend Mike, have reignited my nostalgia for the television shows that I used to watch (and in some instances, still do).

I have many fond memories of my early childhood, and a lot of those involved watching Saturday morning cartoons on ABC, CBS, PBS, and the Disney Channel (yay for cable!). I probably owe a lot to the Children's Television Workshop. There are of course the usual suspects -- TV shows that probably everyone knows about. But there are plenty of more obscure shows that I am equally, if not more, fond of. These are what I think is missing from TV today. As I got older, they shows changed, and even then I sensed that their quality was slowly decreasing.

Then again, I don't really watch TV anymore -- with a couple of exceptions -- so what do I know? After all, Sesame Street is still going strong, and there are a few channels that will air reruns every now and then of older shows. But I have to wonder if kids watching Saturday morning cartoons (do they still have those, and if so, are they getting up early to watch them like I did, or are they just playing Halo?) will remember them with the same fondness that I do:

we're not hosting an intergalactic kegger here

NASA lost a satellite today, when the payload shroud failed to deploy, throwing off the dynamics of the launch vehicle and sending to crashing to Earth. (Hah! I'm an aerospace engineer, so I know what I'm talking about. Mostly.) I think it's rather ironic that the satellite, designed to study climate change, crashed near Antarctica. While I'm disappointed about the loss of the mission, we chided my boss at NASA about it since he was involved in a project that ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic when the exact same thing happened to his launch vehicle. Hey, at least we can joke about it, right? Right?

When I put up the hit counter on the left side of the page, it gave me the option of setting how many zeros show up. I think I was a little too optimistic.

And now, I leave you with a little clip from one of my favorite animated films:

the needs of the many

It's no secret that I'm a Star Trek fan; in fact, I have been one since a very young age. You might even say that I'm a Trekkie. Regardless, I am very disturbed by the new Star Trek movie that's coming out this year. Nerd alert: Chekov on board the Enterprise with Pike? And as a bridge officer?! And the new Enterprise doesn't look anything like the original. And what's up with the new iBridge? Where's the multicolored lighting? The analog switches and dials?

Unfortunately, established continuity and decades' worth of episodes and films being thoroughly disregarded by Trek director J.J. Abrams is only the latest event in a long line of re-imaginings and remakes by directors that are hell-bent on ruining my childhood and classic films. What could possibly be next?

That's why I take solace in watching old Star Trek episodes, which were campy but goddamn awesome. I mean, where else will you find a show that has its main characters infiltrate a planet filled with Nazis by posing as them? The answer is nowhere, and it seems that you'll never find it anywhere else. I therefore offer you this tribute to a television show that inspired me to dream and reach for the stars.



And because of that, I'm now an aerospace engineer.

punch and pie

I have just discovered Matt & Kim, and now you know them too. Kim's smile and antics are crazy contagious. And the song has a kickass beat too.



And here's a bit of them live. Not too sure about the vocals yet, but damn these beats are addicting, kind of reminds me of Ratatat.

what a hilarious misunderstanding

Yesterday I came home to find that I had a magazine in my mailbox. Imagine my (pleasant) surprise when I opened the wrapper to find that it was Playboy magazine! Of course, I immediately knew who had done this. Thanks Joshua!

Flight of the Conchords is playing in DC in April (incidentally, they had an interview in the previously-mentioned Playboy. Go FOTC!). God, I want to go. For those of you who don't know who they are, they're the second-most popular folk-comedy duo from New Zealand. Please refer to this video:



They're cool guys. See?

man, gooch is crazy

If you've been watching Scrubs recently, you'll know that Ted finally got a girlfriend in the form of ukelele-player Stephanie Gooch, aka Kate Micucci. If you haven't been watching Scrubs recently, get the hell off my blog. For the rest of you though, please enjoy this song by Garfunkel and Oates, of which Kate Micucci is half.