i saw this car the other day and had to break out the phone.
the car made me chuckle because in some ways it seemed like a stereotypical older cadillac. it had these huge pipes, was sittin low, and had the naked ladies on it.
what wasn't stereotypical was the two ladies driving. and the license plate. now, i'm not 100% sure, but i think the license plate has something to do with being homosexual (2bqb401 - 2 be queer before '01?). it was also accented with little rainbow sticker parts.
i gotta say, i wouldn't have expected to see two middle aged white women driving a late model caddie with naked lady silhouettes and big pipes.
over at the beehive the do a re-occurring post called 'did they just say fresno?' it's a good little feature, and often highlights ways that fresno is being noticed by the world at large. well, they missed one, and i thought i'd post it.
i was watching espn's e60 on tuesday, november 3rd, and one of the stories near the end really caught my attention. here it is:
that's right, mutton bustin @ the big big big big big fresno fair. take notice fresno, we are on espn's radar.
so,i check out a lot of different websites and blogs on a routine basis. most are somehow culture related, as that's a fascination of mine. well, i was on boing boing on 10/30 and saw this thing called dr. sketchy's roadshow, and it was touring through california. i thought i'd check out the website, and holy cow, they are coming through fresno on 11/9.
Monday, November 9, 2009 – FRESNO, CA: High Class Tattoo (7:00 PM)
A: Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School is an alternative figure drawing salon. The original Dr. Sketchy’s was founded by Molly Crabapple in New York. Today, there are nearly 100 Dr. Sketchy’s branches worldwide.
Q: So is the Dr. Sketchy’s Roadshow an art class, or a workshop, or a meetup, or what?
A: The Dr. Sketchy’s Roadshow (like Dr. Sketchy’s Los Angeles) is a pop-up social club where artists and art lovers can gather to create and celebrate art. The club’s mission is to host alternative life drawing salons that offer top-notch models, refreshments, prizes, and casual networking opportunities… all wrapped up in an entertaining package.
it's $10, but it sounds pretty interesting. so, check it out if it sounds like your sort of thing. it's unlikely i'll go, but it sounds cool. (just to be clear, i doubt i would go because this isn't really how i go about creating my art. if i were a photog or actually sketched, this could be pretty cool for inspiration, but it's not how i work.)
so, yesterday i turned 34. i wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who wished me well, or came over for cake, or bought me a drink, or gave me a present. i appreciate them all. and, if you see me around any time soon and still want to buy me a drink or say happy birthday, i'll take it.
it's funny, some people really stress out about birthdays, lie about their age, and generally have a problem with getting older. not so much me. birthdays are nice, but really, i don't make a big deal about them. i mean, i've had parties before, and some of them were a blast, but generally, i like hanging out with people and so any chance to hangout is welcomed.
nothing is new in life at 34, at least not for me. l i v i n.
friday night was a great night for fresno. i mean, the weather was crisp, it was the beginning of the weekend, and the met was hosting green eggs & the met, which i was going to attend.
the evening got off to a great start with dinner over @ oggi. i had the lasagna and enjoyed it. i also was pleased that they were serving minestrone that night. it doesn't seem like much of a surprise that an italian restaurant serves minestrone, but the minestrone here is delicious.
after dinner, we headed down to the met. for the last event, we parked on the street, but tonight we decided to hit up the parking lot, which, btw, was free. it would've been free on the street, too, but i like pointing out that you can park in the met's lot when you're visiting. and, you should go visit. not only do they have the artwork of dr. seuss, but they also have shows by matisse and chagall right now.
speaking of the work of dr. seuss, it blew me away. of course, there are drawings from his books, but his other pieces are great, and interesting. i didn't know that he did work for the u.s. military under director frank capra. and, many of his pieces of that era show the foolishness of bigotry while being visually intriguing. i also enjoyed the taxidermy pieces.
and now onto the event. remember how i went to dinner before the event? i wish i hadn't eaten so much because the hors d'oevres looked amazing. i talked to people that had some, and they seemed to enjoy them all. i did have one of the seuss-y cocktails before switching to well drinks. i had a "sneetch on the beach" which was like a sex on the beach. pretty good, but not a type of drink i would normally order. but i enjoyed it enough. the bartenders for the evening were very nice, and i'm glad that i could tip them. i also want to congratulate the met for pricing their drinks very reasonably ($3 beers, $6 cocktails).
the decorations for the event were immaculate and really did help set the mood for the bands. ass mentioned in our podcast before the event, ceilidh wanted to transport people into the world of seuss, and i think she accomplished that very well.
finally, to the bands. first up was yesterday's chonies, who i think i've mentioned before here that i don't care for their music. but in this venue it seemed very appropriate and interesting. i still wouldn't book them for my birthday party, but it worked for that night. wheels of fortune went on second and played a good set. their sound was a little different because their bass player was sick and not there. a good set, but i think i've seen better from them. up third was uni and her ukulele. i didn't hear all her set, but thought that what i did hear was fun. it takes guts to get up in front of a big crowd with just you and a ukulele, but uni does it well. finally, el olio wolof was up. honestly, el olio pretty much was what sold me on the event. i love el olio, and haven't seen them in ages (the sort of broke up but have reformed). el olio was as good as ever, and i had such a great time listening to the music and even dancing a bit. i haven't danced in ages, but how can't get up and move to such good music. anyway, i recorded el olio's last song, and present it to you.
not really good quality sound, but whatever. you can also see one of the sets that was done for the evening in the background.
it was a great night, and the met staff is doing good things. congrats to everyone that had a hand in putting on this event. i can't wait for the next one to come along.
tonight's episode of the office was rather enjoyable, and they advertised their new webisodes featuring a music video. i knew i needed to watch it right then.
it's funny, not too long, and i love the nard dog in that clip. and ryan's rap humorous.
It's that time of year again. Volunteers and staff have been quietly ramping up for 2010's Rogue Festival. October 1st marked the day that applications were opened for artists and November 15th marks the day that applications close. If you or someone you know is interested in sharing their artistry with throngs of Fresnans, now is the time! Obviously, there are a limited number of spots available and they go on a first come, first served basis so don't delay! If you know an artist who should be showing, be sure to let them know and urge their participation. You do not want to miss out on a chance to showcase your art in the largest festival of its kind on the West coast.
A few details: This year's venues for visual artists include La Luna Loca, Veni Vidi Vici, and Ashtree Studio. This is the first year that we are offering spots for 3D visual artists. As well, Ashtree Studio is offering the premium gallery spot again this year where the "Why did you do it that way?: An Artist Forum" will be taking place. You as an artist get three opportunities to talk about your art and field questions from attendees. It's a fantastic way to share depth and insight into your work.
umm, so i love hip hop, and i also love strange things, like a guy playing the banjolele. this chap goes through many of hip hop's greatest hits in quite an interesting and enjoyable fashion. it's five minutes long and doesn't touch nearly enough of hip hop. i could use five minutes more.
this also reminds me of a conversation i had with boney beasely from argyle pimps before we recorded our podcast the other night. now, we hit a little bit of it in the podcast when we discussed embracing or avoiding schtick. but, this guy, mr. b really reminds me of many of the nerdcore artists out there. it's well done, but is it hip hop? and do they really consider themselves hip hop artists? that is for them to decide, but it still leaves me wondering about how much of gimmick do we "allow" in hip hop before we start saying they're something else? and, do we apply that rule across the board, say with horror rap, nerdcore, or even a more established gimmick like gangsta rap?
some video i took last night of the fay wrays during a very enjoyable show.
i loved fay wrays last night. the played stuff from the new album, some newer songs and more. wheels of fortune were enjoyable, but i keep talking to people that don't enjoy them so much. i can't figure out why.
shoot, i even enjoyed racelegs' set, and i haven't in the past.
so, i'm actually working my way through papers, but also am fixing a late lunch. i'm making some breakfast sausage that i bought at the store the other day. i didn't read the package too closely, but apparently they have a maple flavoring to them. smells awesome.
i have a bunch of papers to grade right now. so, of course, i'm surfing the net and stalling. i've had three weeks to get them graded. i have to have them graded and submitted by the end of the day.
so, i didn't realize until yesterday that maine has a ballot initiative that would repeal the right for gay couples to be married. i started looking for information on what the bill actually would accomplish, and mainly found out that the people that are for prop 1 are using the same ads & tactics that the pro prop 8 folks out here in ca. used.
later in the evening i was checking blogs and ran across this video. it's a video of an 86 year old ww2 vet, speaking at a public meeting on april 22, 2009. please watch.
this is for my people out there that enjoy the wu, especially the fellas over @ dumbdrum.com who posted a rza/colbert interview recently.
wu tang clan ain't nuthin to geek with!
i did think his quote about how he would rather raise nerds than gangsters was interesting. they've come a long way from the 36 chambers and talking about banging somebody's genitals with a spiked bat, or sowing someone's anus shut and feedin 'em and feedin 'em (two hilarious lines, btw). i'm fine with this. actually, i'm glad that he's grown up as a person. now, if the wu were to put out a new album talking about how they still were gangsta and were doing dirt right now, i might call out the cognitive dissonance. but i'm fine with him saying, 'hey, i'm a producer, i'm into all this nerdy electronic stuff, i love video games.' i'd even be fine with him saying that he liked guns, too. just as long as he doesn't try and come all hard core today/i make movies about road trips with kids tomorrow.
i'm often amazed at how misinformation lingers. people think iraq was involved in 9/11. or that there were wmd's in iraq.
today, i was speaking to someone about prop 8. this person said that the were fine with however people want to live, but they didn't want it taught in school. this baffled me (not really) but i did my damndest to remind that there was nothing in prop 8 about schools, and that there were, in fact, already books in schools that dealt with homosexuality and other different types of families even though prop & passed.
so this guy, nathaniel kassel rides his bike through nyc and gives people high fives when they're hailing cabs. pretty funny, especially when you see the various reactions. most people seem alright, but some people really freak out. i'm not sure how i'd react, but i think it would be sort of heartwarming to just randomly get a high five.
sadly, this wouldn't work in fresno, as we can't hail cabs in the street.
ah, tuesday of the fair. it seems like it always rains on tuesday. maybe i'm wrong, but it does always rain one day of the fair, at least enough that many will stay away. i usually try and go that day.
but today, today was corin hoggard day. no one wants to sit at the channel 30 booth when it's raining out. well, almost no one. corin and shannon handy were there today despite the rain. and not only did corin get me in, he gave me this bad boy:
that's right, the new head shot. autographed just for me. okay, they do these for everyone, but this one was for me.. and while we were tehre, a kid named anakin was also getting an autograph. turns out he was also a mutton buster.
after chatting with corin, we moved along for a late lunch, consisting of far too much meat. i enjoyed a plate of ribs and part of a turkey leg. i think i could have eaten more of the turkey leg, but it was a little too salty.
during lunch the rain started to really pick up a bit, so we went finished eating and went into the buildings were they hock junk. there wasn't too much to see, but we looked none the less. the rain stopped and then it was off to the midway.
as to be expected, the midway was like a ghost town. the rain will do that. and, the rides of the midway weren't opening until 3. so, we bought some tickets, and waited for the rides.
you know how fun it is to ride the swings with only one other person on the ride? it's amazing. sure, the seats were a little wet, but the ride was a blast. after teh swings, there wasn't much else to do. i was full, i had enjoyed a ride, i had seen most of everything to see and we decided to go.
and then the sky broke open again and dumped rain on us the entire walk back to the car.
so, a friend of mine, and some other people i've met, have started a new blog that is tons of fun. it's called picture fresno, and it's found at picturefresno.blogspot.com. the premise of the blog is that they show a partial picture of a fresno landmark and the goal is to leave a guess in the comments. if this sounds familiar, it's because two of the authors were recently on our podcast.
i'll be honest, it's pretty tough. i managed to guess a few, but some have got me, and others, stumped. you should click on over and try your hand at guessing fresno spots. a few new go up every day.
(click the photo to go to the re:fuse fest artist & line up page)
hey, the re:fuse fest is upon us. tonight is the opening party @ full circle brewery and the rest of the festival takes place tomorrow. with seven venues you might be struggling to figure out who to see. or, you might not. but have no fear, i'm hear to help you with some suggestions. i'm even going to put an * to the shows that i think are a don't miss, you'll kick yourself if you do shows.
-the festival kicks off @ 3 w/yesterday's chonies playing the spiral garage. go to the garage and buy your pass, and then head over to joe's steakhouse for buffalo guns. now, you probably would have to work to really hit all these, or at least hustle between spots. -3:30 buffalo guns (joe's steakhouse) *-4:00 wewalkanddrive (spiral garage)* -4:30 down word (joe's steakhouse) *-5:00 the escorts (club one) -6:00 black pennies (spiral garage) -7:00 this one's a toss up - blake jones & trike shop (spiral garage) or motel drive (club one) *-7:30 populus (joe's steakhouse)* -8:00 40 watt hype (club one) - this is a toss up with wheels of fortune (spiral garage) but i haven't seen 40 watt hype in a while so i'm saying them. *-9:00 the sleepover disaster* - this is the last sleepover show for a while, and possibly ever. do not miss it as they close out the shows @ the spiral garage.* -10:00 after show @ tokyo.
now, i realize it will be tough to hit all these recommendations. if nothing else, hit my * don't miss shows. if you don't trust my recommendations, hit up the website and pick your own re:fuse fest route.
whatever you do, don't miss this festival. $15 for a ton of good bands.
ah, the post art hop show. it's a monthly tradition, and generally it's a good time. i've seen a ton of great bands over the last few years and have graciously dropped tons of cash to tommy and toshi. i've also encountered several bands, both local and out of town, whom i've bought cd's from and started to follow.
last night doesn't really fit in to the above description. maybe that's too harsh.
so, the first act was michael k. he was a solo act with an electric guitar. i've seen ted leo play (on t.v.) all by himself with a guitar and rock the crowd. michael k. was no ted leo. i'm not saying his music was bad, because sonically it was fine. it just lacked energy, or anything to pull me in at all.
the second act was yesterday's chonies. i've seen this band play on the sidewalk outside of tokyo garden before and thought they were sorta quirky and interesting. since that time, they've played around town and even been involved in an internet controversy. i know what i like, and i know what i don't like. i don't like yesterday's chonies. as a strange brass band, their music could be interesting. but, it ends up just being a mess. time isn't kept that well, the singing ranges in and out of tune, and it never seems to come together. i will say that i did enjoy some parts, and the washboard actually created a sound that hooked my ear a bit.
wheels of fortune went on third, and it was their cd release show. i like wheels, and have talked about them here before. right from the start there were sound problems, and they seemed to carry through most of the show. seriously, lots of unintended feedback, and the band seemed a little frustrated and rattled. they pushed through, and i commend them for that. i enjoyed the songs, and after the sound issues were cleared up the show seemed to really come together for wheels. unfortunately, by then they were almost done with their set.
rademacher closed out the show, and i honestly was a bit surprised they were even playing. they literally just returned from a midwest tour, by car, on wednesday. in talking to the guys before their set they all seemed a bit weary and in need of a few more hours of sleep. to their credit, that weariness didn't carry over to their set. it seemed pretty crisp and i enjoyed it.
i will say that my main goals of the night were to see wheels of fortune and pick up their cd, as well as rademacher's new ep, and i accomplished those. the bands i wanted to see were enjoyable and i've got some new cd's to listen to.
first of all, i'll admit that i have been to tower dogs three times in the last four days. yes, that is excessive. but i enjoyed it the first time, and several friends have wanted to try the spot out so i tagged along. i have had: the tower boat - chili & cheese over fritos - i like the chili enough, although chili + beans might be good for a boat. the chili dog - chili & cheese on a dog - however, i love this chili on the dog. the kraut dog - saurkraut + dog - grilled kraut was awesome with mustard and the dog the mexidog - chorizo + nacho cheese & jalepenos - pretty tasty, and i'll try this again the caliente hot! hot! hot! dog - habenero sausages, grilled onions & red peppers + sour cream - umm, the habenero sausage was dang spicy. not unbelievably hot, but pretty spicy. grilled peppers and onions nice.
i have loved all these dogs. seriously. these are nice, high quality dogs. the service is quick, and it happens via a walk up counter.
seating is limited, and outdoors, so this may be a problem in hotter or colder months.
they're open 11 am - 10 pm M-Th, but here is the real kicker: friday's & saturdays, 11 am - 3 am! holy crap, bar crowd, you need to hit this spot.
the only real drawback may be that the dogs are a little pricey for some. the dogs pretty much run between $3-$4. but i'm down, they're dang good.
so far, the business traffic seems to be decent. i'm hoping it keeps up after the newness fades. and, i can't wait to try the last call dog. it's only available after 11 pm, and comes with a polish sausage, eggs, hash browns and nacho cheese. super yum.
i saw this video on a couple of different websites and thought it was cool for a couple of reasons: i love tetris i like skate videos it looks fake, but the more you watch you realize it's real
sometimes people just don't get the message. last night, adam, brian and i went to see inglorius basterds. we had kept meaning to go, and never got around to it or had other stuff get in the way. anyway, we finally went, and enjoyed the movie very much. most of it.
you see, since the movie has been out a while, the theater was rather empty. that's good. of course, people are going to come in, and we know that. since we were the first into the theater, we picked seats which we felt were the best. of course, people sat near us. that's not bad, in fact i assumed it would happen.
during the previews, the couple behind us was talking a bit. not too loudly, but it did slightly irk me that the guy pretty much had a comment for everything. i like my movie experience quiet. anyhow, the movie starts and the guy is still commenting every so often. adam had already given him the obvious look over the shoulder shush, but he was still talking. i gave a head turn and said, "sir!" still yapping though. and then brian had heard enough. he turned and asked the man to be quiet because he was ruining the movie. this seemed to work. for a bit. he had a few more comments, and then he and his lady friend were out. they left.
i thought it was possible that they might have been offended a bit by the movie, as they left after a pretty violent scene, but they could have also been annoyed brian told them to shut up (not in those words). if it was the latter, i don't care. well, really i don't care either way why they left. i'm just glad i didn't have to hear someone chat the whole damn time.
not totally sure what's happening, but the southern wall of roger rocka's got a new paint job. i'm hoping they put up the old logos and what not, as that roger rocka double r & top hat were the coolest.
i also hope they extend the make over to the whole building because the front is looking pretty shabby.
so, i've recently become a little obsessed with the song metro by berlin. i heard it at a local establishment and not only did it remind me of my enjoyment of synth pop from this era, but it also reminded me of some other things. but i also think the song in kick ass, and totally worthy of listening to. so do it.
at one time i had looked for the song on itunes, and it wasn't there. but it is now. so, you know what i purchased the other day? metro. it's also got me thinking about maybe checking out one of their greatest hits.
the song also brings back a bit of nostalgic memories to me. i didn't have this tape, but i remember listening to it on my first walkman at my aunt kat's. i think she might have lived in this little apartment in santa rosa at the time. she had the tape, and while we were there visiting i just remember listening to the song, rewinding, listening, rewinding and so on. good times.
ah, the blog week is coming to an end as a lot of people don't check blogs as much on the weekend. for me, the blog week started well, but sorta took a backseat to a lot of other things.
this weekend looks to be a fun time, and there is a ton of stuff going on. shoot, i'm actually using my calendar to manage my time.
friday looks to be a pretty average friday of hanging out with friends, probably over @ the local. during the day i'll finish up my work week and maybe catch up on some dvr'd stuff.
saturday will kick off with the tower streetscape planning meeting. this is the third meeting, and the second i'll have been to, and i'm excited to see the next step in the plan. the drag of it: start time of saturday morning @ 11. that doesn't sound too bad, but i admit that some saturdays i don't drag my lazy rear out of bed until 12.
after the meeting, i'll come home, and adam and i will be sitting down to record a podcast with fresno blogfather, mike oz. i plan to do my best bubba impression and sing the mike osegueda song. so, if you have a question for mike oz, feel free to leave it in the comments.
post podcast adam and i have a rogue planning meeting. we're in charge of art venues for the next festival, and applications go live on october 1st.
after that, it's off to my bro's for a little housewarming party. should be nice, and i'm sure i'll see some folks that i haven't seen in a bit, as well as friends that i see around a lot.
sunday will bring another football and some other fun. the main part of the other fun will be at the tower district's octoberfest celebration
i'm pretty excited about this, and hope it's not too hot to walk around in. i also have a feeling that this will be a lot better than sudz in the city.
these photos were taken the other day basically due to a few things: 1. i was bored. 2. i thought i'd share my chops with you. my right chop specifically. 3. document the chopiness.
enjoy.
btw, it's odd cropping pictures of your face, cutting down part, deciding how much to leave in so you don't just have a chop floating out there all by itself.
so, is jennifer's body a good movie? i probably won't know until like a year from now when it hits cable. and, it looks like a lot of people are taking a very similar tactic. it finished 5th in the weekend box office totals. now, it's possible that 5th isn't bad. especially if the movie was going up against some real winners. let's see who finished ahead of the highly promoted and anticipated jennifer's body:
1. cloudy with a chance of meatballs - hey, it's hard to beat a movie intended for kids. seriously, parents and children's book lovers are definitely going to turn out for this movie.
2. the informant - well, this movie has seen about as much ad time as jennifer's body, so that's not the issue. maybe people just want funny over scary/weird. or, maybe matt damon is a bigger star.
3. tyler perry's i can do bad all by myself - uh oh, the wheels are coming off here. this movie has been out two weeks. it made a lot less than it did it's first weekend. but this movie looks epically bad to me.
4. love happens - aaron eckhardt is dreamy. and he's got helluva chin. err, wait, i mean jennifer aniston is hot. and this movie looks awesome. well, it's a romantic comedy, so i'm sure people were looking for date material or something.
5.jennifer's body.
the good news for jennifer's body is that it did beat sorority row, which looks like a steaming pile of crap.
but box office numbers don't tell the whole story. reviews also matter. rotten tomatoes has it rating @ 42% currently. that's not so good. tonight, i watched the review of it on at the movies. one of the reviewers was trying to say how the movie was sort of good and highlighted the co-star of the film, amanda seyfried. he went on quite a while about how it was a sort of decent movie with a few problems. the other guy dismissed that review and launched into a pretty rough take on the movie. he said that the other review was basically ignoring the major issue with the film, megan fox sucks. sure, amanda seyfried is good, but the movie apparently rambles all over, and did i mention he thought megan fox sucks? oh yeah, i did. he went on from there.
however, roger ebert, formerly of at the movies, said this, "There is within Diablo Cody the soul of an artist, and her screenplay brings to this material a certain edge, a kind of gleeful relish, that's uncompromising. This isn't your assembly-line teen horror thriller." interesting. not convincing, but interesting.
what i do know is that megan fox, who is allegedly the hottest thing around, couldn't get teenage boys to open their wallets. and that's pretty bad. i mean, really, it's a psuedo slasher, teen boys like that. they're advertising some sort of lesbian-y subtext, teen boys like that. megan fox is easy on the eyes, teen boys like that. megan fox was in transformers, and teen boys turned out in droves for that thing. so what went wrong?
beats me. all i know is there are probably a half dozen other movies out right now that i would rather see.
i'll say this right from the start, i'm opposed to strip clubs. and, i've never been to one. i'm not saying this from a 'look at me, pat me on the back,' standpoint, but more from the standpoint of it seems creepy to me and i've got ways i'd rather spend my money.
however, it seems that some of the ladies working in the clubs are quite talented on the pole. get your mind out of the gutter dirty bird, i'm talking about how they are quite acrobatic. check this video, and don't worry, it's safe for work, and probably not offensive. hell, i don't know what offends you.
back in my salt lake city/usmnt recap i talked about walking in behind a supporter group that i initially thought was sam's army, but it turned out to be the american outlaws. they were spirited, they had chants, songs, and even some musical instruments. they definitely provided a lot of heart for the u.s. crowd at that game.
after i found out who they were, i decided to check out their website and see what they were about. their core values and history are this: Mission: To support the United States National Team through a unified and dedicated group of supporters.
History: The American Outlaws started in Lincoln, NE as a local supporters group. Throwing viewing parties at local bars and attending every game possible sparked excitement amongst some of the leaders of the group, who felt like they could do more. In attending these games, a lack of consistency was observed from game to game with regard to the level of supporter organization, particularly with events surrounding the game (ie tailgates, parties, etc.). We then decided to make AO a nationwide, non-profit supporter group. a country as big as the United States, organization is a critical aspect to creating a unified culture of soccer fans. The more the fan base is unified, the greater the fan presence, the more intimidating the atmosphere, which finally leads to better results on the field. This is the goal of American Outlaws.
this sounded really cool to me. i like the organizational idea, providing a unified fan experience, having local chapters be "experts" on where to party, tailgate, etc. and, i hope to attend more national games in the future, even if they're only friendlies leading up to next year's cup. so, i joined the american outlaws. for $15 a year, i thought it could be worth it. camaraderie is definitely nice, but they're also getting hook ups, like discount flights from continental airlines. the $15 also gets you some gear: a t-shirt & a bandanna.
today my gear arrived:
i know it's a stretch, but i'd love to see a fresno chapter start up. what do we need for that? Chapter Criteria
* A minimum of 25 paid American Outlaw Members * Have a "home base" bar, where fans can expect to meet to watch each game * Host a viewing party at said bar for EVERY GAME * Complete the AO Chapter Registration, which will be mailed to you * Inform national AO of new members as they sign up
in my mind the real difficult part of this might be to get the 25 paid members. because i'm pretty sure that we can find a bar (sequoia, hero's, some other place) to watch all the games at/host viewing parties.
why would we want to be a chapter?
Benefits of Chapterdom (if that is a word)
* Chapter awarded free banner from national organization * Chapter receives discounts on merch, as well as benefits in other areas * Chapter receives free promotional swag from organizations, such as NIKE * Chapter events receive national recognition to all AO members nationwide
sounds good, right? and, i also think that if we could get a chapter together it would help out the fuego support. so, get yourself over to american outlaws. sign up. let's get our chapter on and support the usmnt.
get your kilt on this saturday. i grew up going to the highland gathering every year out at kombs ranch, but stopped going a while back. a few years back they switched over to roeding park. this year, i'm pretty sure i'm headed down olive to the 32nd annual fresno highland gathering to see some scottish throw events (hammer especially, weight toss for height, etc) and the pipe bands while eating bangers and mash or meat pies. i'll also be looking for some gear to complete my kilt and whatnot.
The 32nd Annual Fresno Highland Gathering & Games September 19th, 2009 Gates open @ 8:00am Competitions start @ 9:30am
-Come and see- Professional Athletics - North American Hammer Throw Championship-Junior Athletics Highland Dance Competition - Country Highland Dancing
Piping and Drumming Competitions - Mass Pipes and Drums
Clans and Society Tents - Living History Stage - Scottish Stories
Celtic Merchandise - Great Food - Fantastic Music
Fresno SPCA Mobile Adoption
Parking regulated fee - $3.00 per vehicle
General Admission; $15.00
Seniors (60+), Students, and Military with ID; $10.00
what are you doing tonight? forget that bizness over @ cedar & shaw, you should be ovver at floradora and van ness.
audie's olympic is hosting a cd release show for fresno's indie vets rademacher. they'll be playing, along with others, but the real gem is a chance to pick up the new album.
here's the original flyer for the show, when it was supposed to be a double release party for rademacher and fay wrays.
sadly, fay wrays had some problems getting their cd all ready to distribute and had to postpone their release. but, i have heard that fay wrays will be having a cd release show on oct 22nd @ audie's olympic. you won't want to miss that, or the new cd, which i have a pre-release copy of. it's fan-effin-tastic.
1 euro each, 15 000km, 13 countries, 3 years running. Some are willing to kill people for a paper called money.
In a world of economic crisis where money becomes obsessive and when life is hard without money, this young couple from discovering the concept of money through meetings, poor, rich, middle class, everyone tells them how they live or survive.
Still believe in the phrase “money does not buy happiness, it is through their journey that no man will discover, learn, suffer and seek answers to their questions.
He will share the adventure at breast height with both cameras and their companion Kitty, a kitten appeared two months on the road in Louisiana. Sacred destiny for a cat!
warning, this post is going to be long. but, it's mainly photos and description of my road trip to salt lake city to see the u.s. men's national team play vs. el salvador.
we stopped somewhere to get a coffee and use the restroom, but the mini mart didn't have public restrooms so we went across the street to wienerschnitzel. i saw this sign and wondered if i was?
this little kid was drinking mountain dew
be careful, eating at wienerdude may cause a reaction. usually, my reaction is a full belly.
we stopped for gas, and i thought this was a pretty cool sign. it's up near grass valley, ca.
we stopped for lunch @ the black bear diner, which was somewhere in nevada. i didn't realize black bear was a chain, but that's not a big deal. i think it's sorta fun to hit up obscure joints on the road.
you don't quite get the scale of the chicken fried steak. it was as big as my hand, which is 8". i didn't finish it or the hash browns. too much food.
maybe i'm six, but it cracked me up to think that there was a big bm on that mountain.
trust me, that sign said "deeth starr valley." the darkside is strong in nevada.
nevada is also home to post apocalyptic beverly hills.
in utah, there are some creepy gas station signs. you clown, scare me.
let's talk about friday nights in salt lake city. friday night we hit up a bar called the republican. i learned about the place via twitter, as someone notified me of a usmnt supporters party there. it was a cool little dive bar. and republican refers to irish, not the political party. it was definitely an irish dive bar, but it was also full of hipster types. who knew salt lake had hipsters, and that a lot of people have tattoos. or at least the people at bars had tattoos. we walked down the street from the republican and had tacos from a street vendor. they were amazing, and that's not just because it was close to midnight and i had consumed a few "pops." it was weird that they had all kinds of little roadside taco stands set up, but it makes sense in an area with a bunch of bars. 4 tacos, and $3 later i was back in my seat at the republican. we saw a bar, called the woodshed,that seemed to have cool music going on, but my tab was still open at the republican so we headed back there. even though there wasn't live music, it had a nice vibe and the drinks were pretty cheap ($4 beers, $3.50 for a mixed drink!). since we had been on the road all day and still had to drive like 5 miles back to the hotel, we called it a night before it got too late.
this is the garlic burger w/garlic fries @ the bohemian brewery. a brewery in utah you say? i thought they were a dry state. nope, they do sell booze. it seems that the beer sold in bars/restaurants is regulated down to 4%, which actually helped the taste of some beers. we had a delicious microbrewed amber beer here. the burger was delicious. and the decor of the place was sorta ski lodge, but they had hops hanging all over, which was an awesome touch.
and now onto the game. outside the game we were befriended by some usmnt supporters that were tailgating. we were just wandering in early, and these guys offered us hot dogs. we were still full from lunch, so we declined the hot dog but asked for a beer instead. they were cool, and freely gave us a beer. since we were having beer i chatted them up about beer & alcohol in salt lake. essentially, beer sold at bars and restaurants is a little lighter, but booze is the same as everywhere. we walked into the game behind one of the supporter groups that was chanting, singing and playing instruments. they were organized, and it really felt like a real soccer crowd. it also makes me want to try and organize a better fuego supporters group.
sam's armythe american outlaws are filtering in. they were seated next to a big crowd of el salvador fans. u.s. soccer supporters need to learn to play a bass drum or a tom. a snare just doesn't cut it. btw, we walked in behind a bunch of these folks.
a couple more photos from before the game.
see how friggin close we were?
i will not do anything during the game that will cause security to come into the crowd for me.
landon and the boys came out to warm up.
the team during the anthem & introduction. now, i'm not a guy that usually sings along, or would chant usa or even call myself really patriotic. but it was awesome singing alongside my countrymen & women as we support our nation side. and, i really think this was the first time i'd ever entered a usa chant.
the team huddles up before the start
tim howard kicking it in goal. you can get a good idea how awesome our seats were from that picture. we were about 18 yards out from goal, seated in the second row. awesome. and rio tinto stadium was very nice. makes me wish fresno had a soccer specific stadium, and a pro team. the only real drawback to our seat was that the u.s. was shooting on the other goal in the first half, and didn't offensively press much during the second, when they would've been shooting in front of us, because they were ahead.
just after kickoff
el salvador scored first due to some sloppy defense, a failure to close down on open men on loose balls, and poor clearance. i've seen this a bit lately from the u.s., and while i realize we were missing some of our key defenders, it's something we must fix before next year's cup.
dempsey's equalizer was awesome. i took video of it happening, but knew the replay video board would be a little better.
and then jozy altidore, who is definitely my favorite u.s. player right now, put us ahead. again, i've got live video, but replay is a little better. jozy is such a talent, but he looked a bit winded in the second half and seemed a bit lackadaisical. he also had a sick goal in the second half that was called back for seemingly no reason. everyone around us was confused. i asked the guys behind us if they say any signal. i checked twitter and the ussoccer feed was baffled but certain it wasn't offsides. the espn story afterward said the ref claimed altidore "nudged a defender." bs.
celebrating the win with the fans.
some thoughts on the game: everyone gripes about refereeing, so it shouldn't be a surprise that i'll bitch about it here. it sucked. seriously, the linesman on our side was terrible, blowing several offsides calls. and the head ref, well, i already mentioned his terrible fake foul against altidore, but he was missing calls all night, going both ways. he made up a foul against altidore, and when charlie davies was kicked in the knee in while driving in the box, no call. another thought, it was also great to see landon donovan look back up to fitness and delivering very good balls on set pieces.
after the game, we went back and rested at the hotel, and then hit up salt lake city's night life. i already discussed saturday's lunch at the bohemian, but let me tell you about saturday night. we drove by the republican but decided we wanted to try some place different. we were going to go to the woodshed, but there was nothing happening there. seriously, no bands, and about 4 people at the bar. so we drove to the heart of the downtown and looked for a bar that was jumping. we saw several and looked for parking. salt lake has a very nice looking downtown, and is very walkable. in addition, they have a muni-rail that seems very easy to use. we could have stayed downtown, taken the rail to the game and back. next time. so, we wandered by a few bars looking for what would be a nice spot. we saw a piano bar, but didn't venture in. the pianist was playing the hookie pokey while some girl did it on stage. these mormons know how to get down! all jokes aside, it looked like a fun place, but was jammed to the gills. so we kept on, and settled in at...another irish place. murphy's wasn't as dive-y as the republican, but it was nice. and, a patron (a chef from a nearby restaurant) brought in like 4 trays of food, but we were full and didn't have any. we did have a fun time people watching while having several drinks.
sunday morning we got back on the road.
this part of utah was pretty. it was definitely better looking than our route 80 trip.
i think this is in just as we entered arizona.
traffic slowed a bit due to an accident. a trailer had flipped over and the people were gathering their belongings from the wreckage.
the remnants of the trailer.
more arizona.
again, pretty arizona shots.
i didn't take any photos in nevada. i sort of just was in drive fast and get done mode so i pretty much just did that. one thing i wish i had taken a picture of was the view coming into las vegas. it's interesting to come around a bend and see vegas, even in the daytime. but, it was also sorta gross because so much smoke from the southern california fires.
i knew this photo probably wouldn't come out as good as i hoped. as we were driving on highway 58 you could visibly see the line of smoke and where it ended. it was like smokey hazy sky/no smoke clear sky. crazy.
eventually i made it home. both routes (rt 80 going, rt 15 coming back) took about twelve hours. the route 15 path seemed a little nicer looking, but both get monotonous. one bonus of the rt 15 path was that stretches of utah had a speed limit of 80! that means i wasn't speeding as much.
overall, this was a great road trip. i'd do it again, although i'd love for the destination city to be a little closer.
spent a lot of time on route 80. 640 something miles worth. here are a few thoughts: -went by 4 prisons in nevada -lots of construction zones on 80 in nevada. slowed up the road trip a little -route 80 through nevada not that pretty. lots of scrub brush and not much else -upon entering utah became very isolated. not too much between nevada and slc -not a friendly reception to utah- almost every exit between border and slc said "no services." good thing i got gas in nevada. -slc looks nice at night. good freeway system, too.
ah, the road trip is finally here. by the time this posts, i should be on the road to the greater slc area. google maps says the trip should take 12 hours, but i'm pretty sure we can do it in less, without going insanely far over the speed limit.
check back because i'll try and do short post from the bat phone over the weekend. thoughts on the road, slc, and of course the u.s. men's national game vs el salvador.
ugh. blogging has been a little lazy around here lately with a lot of videos. i blame it on the the heat. it makes me damn sleepy when i'm at home, where i do most of my blogging.
but have no fear, i will press on. i'm hoping to post a flyer today or tomorrow. and, friday through sunday i hope to post some thoughts from my road trip to salt lake to see the u.s. men's national team play.
i may also have some other content today and tomorrow. now, i think i may go take a nap. this heat is making me sleepy.
how effin cool is radiohead that they mix in the yeah yeah yeah's song maps into a version of everything in its right place? the answer: very cool, even if it is only the intro part.
in pulp fiction julius talks about walking the earth like caine from kung fu. this guy did it for a year. well, specifically he walked across china for a year, and took daily still shots of himself as he grew a beard and hair on his head.
back in april i celebrated my 50,000th visitor, which as best i could tell was eli reyes. i think i finally gave him the gift certificate to yoshi now, but i really can't remember.
anyway, the other day i noticed that i was approaching 60k, and thought i would maybe do a post. d'oh! totally missed it. looked at my site meter today and i was already @ 60,109. oh well, it's not like i was going to do any give aways or fantastic post.
but, if you do want to read some interesting posts, there are two new ones up over @ wide world of fresno sports.
