The Quiet American

apparently my friend eva put me on some list of USF blogs, so i felt like it was high time to update the old boy. that and their’s been a bit of news in the two months since the last post.

first off, i moved to a new apartment two weeks ago. instead of living in the dearth of culture and fun that is the marina (my old neighborhood), i’ve relocated to the inner richmond, which is much closer to school, has better/cheaper/more dining establishments, and is more inline with who i am as a person (read: cheap). fortunately for me, my friends and roommates sam, monica, and charles (when he gets back from paris) have lived here for the past year so we’re not being gouged by our landlord. let me tell you, it is a seller’s market in san francisco my friends.

their’ve also been some changes on the job front as well. in my quest to find full time work this summer, i didn’t have to go very far. around the same time as my move, my boss let me know that i was being promoted to a new position, which consists of me doing everything the servers and food runner don’t do. i’m kind of a host/utility guy. basically i got a dollar raise (sean o’brian’s got nothing on me), make more tips, and most importantly, will be working around 35-40hrs a week. plus i now have the ability to actually order food. obviously having acess to such a great new power requires the utmost of responsibility and maturity, two things i’m sorely lacking. so stop by after 1pm and say hi.

also, as some of you might have noticed, Pacific Catch (my work) has become a bit of a minor celebrity. feast your eyes upon our small screen debut

that’s right, a commercial for the most talked about device since the atom bomb features our restaurant (sort of). i guess someone from apple lives in the marina and really likes our food, so about a month ago she contacted management and asked if we’d like to be featured in the spot free of charge. i’m convinced that the real reason they featured us is because apple just happens to be opening a new store a block away from the restaurant and that it couldn’t hurt to direct some traffic to that part of town. very sneaky.

naturally, the ad has sparked a bit of interest in us. last sunday, when the ad aired during 60 minutes, we had several hundred people call us due to our staring role. since then we’ve had people from canada, new york, florida, utah, arizona, and all over the state call and talk to us. since the ad went online, i’d say we’ve had over a thousand mac fan boys call. most of the time the just call and hang up, but occasionally someone actually talks. here’s hoping for more business.

Sweet Candy

Happy belated Easter to everyone. I hope everyone a good day.

As mentioned last time, part of my Easter sunday was spent on lombard st. watching people dress up in unncessary costumes as they hurtled down the crookedest street in the world.

Last year there were around 30 racers; this year they had easily over 100. there so many people at this years event that the organiser is concerned about next years event. apparently the homeowners on lombard weren’t too thrilled about the amount of people hanging out in their flowers. fortunately the organiser was able to get enough donations to pay for all the damages.

Also, sunday was spent watching Planet Earth. i’ve watched several sporting events in high def, and the super bowl was the only one that actually left an impression. however every episode of seen so far has been spectacular. this show is easily one of the most powerful messages to help promote the conservation of the planet. the last four episodes are on this sunday, and the following weekend at 8pm and 9pm on the Discovery channel.

Here’s a fairly interesting read about the death of Microsoft. it’s not that the company is going to filing for chapter 11 anytime soon, it’s just that the shadow that it casts is only a fraction of what it used to be and will be shrinking exponentially unless some serious changes are made.

not much else has been going on except sending my camera of to Canon to have it fixed, trying to find a new jacket at Patagonia, and gearing up for the NHL playoffs. let’s pray my roommate doesn’t go in to cardiac arrest when he’s screaming for the sharks. oh, and if you didn’t notice, the braves swept the phillies, took the series against the mets, and have beat the hapless nationals twice. all in all, an excellent start to the season.

A Few Less Cars Would Be Nice

Wouldn’t it? less pollution. detroit would be a shell of it’s former self. no more ogre-ish automobile industry and UAW lobbies. everyone get on board!

Yet another Critical Mass has come and gone, and as per usual, some moron driver thought it would be a brilliant idea to try and forcibly move one of the cyclists that had stopped in front of his car. Naturally, a hundred bikers surrounded him and after a little prodding by the police, he waddled back in to his car. other noteworthy moments include the whole mass riding on the freeway for a bit and some jackass unhooking a streetcar cable from its wire. we hate people in SUVs, not public transportation.

Also, if we had fewer cars than maybe we could do this more often:

This is just one of the reasons why san francisco is better than where you live. i know what i’m doing at 4pm on this sunday.

What we could use more of are some teachers; maybe then we wouldn’t have 5th graders having sex in class. this might have gotten more of a reaction out of me if i didn’t constantly have my mom thanking me for not being stupid, which was code for, “i just delivered a baby from a 12 year old.” at least they had the presence of mind to post a look out.

i’ll leave you with some links that will hopefully cheer you up.

learn how to use Flickr 

ways to get Macs for cheap

10 day survival pack for $25

Death to BOSTON!! & St. Valentine

While i should be studying for an accounting quiz tomorrow, i couldn’t help but take a moment to share this with everyone (catie & mom).

Apparently the Cartoon Network hired a guerilla (or non-guerilla, but just savy) marketing firm to help promote one of it’s staple shows, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, by putting up 20 lite-brites with the image of one of the show’s characters giving the finger.

While San Francisco was somehow able to cope with 20 lite-brites hanging around the city, Boston, America’s bastion to higher learning, FREAKED OUT! the suspicious looking objects caused traffic to come to a halt, stopped some subway lines, and even forced the Boston PD to close down access to parts of the Charles river. needless to say, Massachusetts own governator was not happy.

But their’s more!

recently a video has surfaced on the internet showing who was responsible for this breech of national security.

Thank you to all of the salt of the earth Americans for standing fast in the face of great danger. idiots.

Oh, and a very unHappy Valentine’s Day. what a worthless holiday. oops, almost forgot how much i care about my significant other; better have a day to remind me to be romantic once a year. i honestly didn’t have a problem seeing happy couples at work tonight. i had a problem seeing all of them on Valentine’s Day and watching them stare longingly in to each others eyes while they held hands. it just seemed so fake because i rarely see people pay that much attention to one another. tomorrow they’ll roll out of bed and carry on like nothing happened. what a crock.

I for one have been celebrating this bore of a holiday by watching arsenal make hardwork out of beating an absolutely mediocre bolton side and by listening to Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” on repeat.

Back on the Horse

thanks catie for haranguing me.

time to be a bit better about writing. i guess i stopped because nothing terribly exciting was going on. school, work, partying, etc.

thanks to mom, i now get the economist, which includes wonderfully non-biased articles about current affairs. which gives me plenty of opportunities to sound off. also, i was talking to my accounting professor who is scottish, and she was telling me about how the UK version of the magazine is quite different, with a much stronger emphasis on political discourse, finances, and being un-biased.

lastly, for those of you who don’t already use a RSS reader (ie: Vienna), you should check out Google’s attempt: Google Reader. i switched to it in an attempt to cut down on the amount of applications i was running at one time. also, i can add a google reader window in my customized google homepage.

Shame on America

it’s been an amazingly sad week for america. last tuesday president bush signed the Military Commisions Act, something that’ll be surely looked at as a taint on American history. unfortunately i’m not a very eloquent person, so i’ll pass the buck to Keith Olberman to give you a little more information regarding the act. both clips are about 8 minutes long.

the worst part about this whole situation is the utter lack of interest by the rest of the country. i particularly liked the comment about how america just yawned and tuned in to dancing with the stars. i made sure to ask my law professor to bring up this issue in class and disucuss the constitutionality of it. bringing it up to my professor was my little effort to try and get the word out. i’d like to think that the people in my class will remember whatever my professor is going to say, but i’m not holding my breath.

i’m really hoping that history looks very very poorly on George Bush & Co. they make me ashamed to be called an american. the fact that this current administration has any support takes my breath away. anyone who voted for him should be ashamed of themselves. he’s don’t nothing but hurt the poor, make the rich richer, and destroyed any goodwill we might have had with the international community. oh yeah, i forgot, apparently homos getting marriend is the biggest assault against america these days. fuck george bush, dick cheney, rumsfield, rice and everyone else in the white house in their stupid asses.

it’s not like the democrats are that much better, but at least we might be able to keep god out of the government. the one thing that’s really lifted my spirits lately is this excerpt from Richard Dawkins The God Delusion.. While the excerpt is entertaining in it’s demolition of the notion that god created the earth, it would be a little more helpful if Dawkins wasn’t as intolerant of other opinions as the people he’s railing against. someone once asked me what my religious views were, and i replied with “if i wanted a crutch, i would just break my leg again.” seriously, what’s the point of having someone else telling you what to think.

oh, arsenal demolishing reading, 4-0, provided some comfort as well.

here’s hoping i don’t get thrown in jail for posting this.

Here I Am

it’s been a while. i’m just now getting back in to a nice routine since the demise of my hard drive. it’s weird having to go different sites for news instead of having it all sent to you. also, having your calender nuked is not that much fun. i practically forgot that my birthday was last last weekend.

the big news would be that i finally got a job at Noah’s Bagels. should be pretty exciting stuff. i have to admit that i wasn’t terribly impressed with their application process, seeing as how i was hired after they looked at my application that only had my name, address, and previous employer. whatever, work’s only two blocks from home, so that’ll make getting there easy. especially since it’s half way between my bus stop and home.

however, i’m not sure how often i’m going to be riding the bus now that i’ve developed a rediculous obsession with buying and riding a road bike. last weekend i went riding with some of my friends who are pretty avid bicyclists, and it was incredibly enjoyable. also, san francisco has a rather healthy bike culture, it gets you in shape big time, and all the hipsters in the mission are doing it so why shouldn’t i?

i had another review of mine publised in the school paper, and i’m much happier about how this one turned out. it was for the band Asobi Seksu‘s latest album, “Citrus”, which i happen to be a pretty big fan of.

My review

Final Draft

my next project, after i opened my big mouth, is coming up with a big preview piece about the upcoming Be The Riottt! festival. all the sudden i write two reviews and i feel like i can write a preview of a 23 act, all day festival. should be interesting. also, next thursday i get to see a sneak preview of Borat, which i’m eagerly looking forward to.

lastly, i leave you with robin van persie’s second goal in arsenal’s game against charlton from two weeks ago. i’m thinking goal of the year.

DAMNIT!!

i hate internet explorer. everyone quit using it and switch to anything else because it’s deleted my post two times now.

my hard drive is dead, i lost everything

still no job, still applying for jobs, applied to work at apple

went to meet the firms and i liked talking to michel from ernst & young the most

i’m a 49ers fan now. young and promising team

arsenal trounce pesky sheffield united 3-0. william gallas scores a great goal.

go USF, beat the crap out of Santa Clara tonight. i’ll be there.

damnit!

Getting Settled

it’s been about a month since i came back down for school and i feel like i’ve finally started settling in. sure i still have boxes in my room and i don’t have a job, but that’s all going to be fixed soon. the most important thing is that i have a weekly routine, which is huge for me. anyways, here’s to a good finall year. hurrah!!

it’s only normal that i should start out with a little Arsenal update. while they started their domestic season in a less than inspiring fashion (two draws and a loss putting them in 16th), they have come back with a vengence this week. after beating Hamburg SV 2-1 on wednesday with another wonder strike (above) from Tomas Rosicky to begin their european campaign, Arsenal gave a wonderful performance at Old Trafford to end Manchester United’s unbeaten run and get a much needed 3 points. it was a pretty exciting and tense game for most of the 90 minutes, and it wasn’t until the 86th minute that Arsenal was able to go ahead off of a nice goal from Emmanuel Adebayor. the Gunners weren’t perfect by a long shot, but once the midfield got going arsenal were able to really assert themselves and control the tempo of the game. I was glad to see Adebayor finally get a goal and have a really good outing, but it would be nice to see him focus more on doing the basic things right and worry a little less about doing fancy flicks and such. This should be a great boost of confidence, since we haven’t beaten man u in our last 8 league games, and i’m expecting a whole mess of wins in the coming weeks since our schedule is going to be relatively easy.

also, this past week i finished my review of the film Gridiron Gang, which proved to be a bit of a learning experience.

1. don’t judge a movie by the people that go to the sneak preview.
2. don’t wait in line with all of the plebs when you have a press pass.
3. don’t be surprised when your editor does her job and edits your review

i was pretty surprised to when i got my editor’s revision of my review, because it seemed pretty different to me. but after re-reading it i felt like she did a good job. and it’s getting printed, so there’s that. i just need to learn to not be so wordy. i don’t need to be dickens when i’m reviewing subpar movies. here are the reviews below.
my version

editor’s version

i’ve enjoyed working with the school paper so far, and i’m looking to do some more stuff. i think my next review is going to be of the band Snowden. they sound a bit like a noisier version of Interpol, which is a sound i like quite a bit. i’ll make sure to post that as soon as i finish it.

it’s nice to have a new home to let everyone know what’s going on, and i hope to update this a little more regularly than i did in japan. i think next post i’ll post a bunch of links that i’ve been sitting on for a little while.

take care

I’ve Moved

While Russell In Japan was a fine home for me to air my dirty laundry, i’ve decided to move on, mainly because i’m not in japan any more. also, wordpress seems to be a better blogging site after messing around with it for a few hours this afternoon, and it definitely plays better with camino (my favorite mac browser) than blogspot did.

this is kind of a work in progress at the moment but hopefully i’ll have a proper post within this week, and if you’re lucky i’ll have my first movie review for the school paper done and posted up here.