Prayers for Rabbit

For those not in the Who-know, John "Rabbit" Bundrick has been the official keyboardist for The Who since the late 70's. We just found out that his wife, Sue, is unfortunately in very bad shape right now. Pete Townshend wrote a very eloquent diary entry on his website about this.

We've nothing but the kindest and supportive wishes for Rabbit right now.

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Nostalgia Cat Blogging

This one was taken back in either '97 or '98 when Moon was 5-6 years old (and digital cameras.. well.. weren't as sharp). I swear on all that is holy and sacred that the product placement was definitely unintentional. Though, I have to say this would've made for quite the advertisement.

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Dig the new tunes..

If you like on the right side of the page (under the profile section), you'll notice a little music player there. I decided to try out a new embedded playlist player called Finetune. When you sign up, you create a playlist (minimum of 45 tunes) from their fairly huge library and then you just throw their Flash player onto your site. Pretty slick, don't you think?

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Wait a minute...

I've noticed for a little while now that gas prices have been creeping downward, slowly but surely. Today, we actually broke the $2.00 barrier again today and I was able to fill the tank at $1.99/gallon. I honestly couldn't remember the last time we were at that price, so I did a little research and here's what I found:

(info obtained from New Jersey Gas Prices)

So, the answer to my question is that we were at this price level in March '06 and December '05. There were a couple of other interesting points I gleaned from the chart:

1. The crude oil and pump prices were on a gradual increase until Katrina, at which point there was a severe spike in the prices. After that spike (and numerous protests from angry constituents), the prices came down over a two-month period to the levels of December '05.
2. The increase in the price of crude oil during Katrina didn't correlate with the price increase at the pump, as shown later in the year. To me, this definitely brings up some questions as to the intentions of our esteemed oil companies during that time, who still haven't truly been held to task on this issue.
   
3. The more gradual the price increase since March, the less attention this issue was given by the MSM. Since the hit wasn't as immediate this time around, the perception is that people got less aggravated about it. However, I can't imagine that's the case since the cost of fuel gets passed to the consumer in multiple ways (e.g., natural gas, car, airfare, shipping).
4. The recent decline started in August, now reaching our December '05 point.
   

I haven't seen anything in the media or the campaigns about this fact. What's behind the prices coming back down this much? Is this an election ploy to remove the effect of gas prices from the voting equation? If so, how come no one is bragging about it? If not, then what is behind crude oil's price coming down around the same time?

A lof of questions, I know. It's 2006 and we've only just begun our detox program to get off this oil stuff. A long way to go, indeed.

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Easy #2: Curveball

Trust me when I say that this game is quite addictive, and you will be playing it for hours. What's especially cool is that it seems like you can actually apply some "english" on the ball to assist in the curving.


You can find more games like this at Crazy Monkey Games.

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Careful with that axe, Eugene

Every so often, I like foraging through YouTube to see if I can find any of my favorite vid moments. Lo and behold, I was very happy to find what I think is Pink Floyd's best version of this song, hands down. This performance was part of a film titled Superstars in Concert, and it was shot in either 1972 or 1973 (around the time of Dark Side of the Moon). Enjoy!

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Happy 10th Season

In celebration of South Park reaching its 10th season, I present to you The Spirit of Christmas, the (uncensored) animated short that started it all.

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Turn, turn, turn

Well, we knew this day would come. My photo page on Pete Townshend's site has now scrolled off the active news page into the previous news entries section. I'm still very happy that the photos got there to begin with, and hoping that on the second leg of the tour I'll be able to get some more great shots of Rachel Fuller and The Who during their performances in the NY area.

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What should I read next?

OK Folks. I'm looking for some advice on what my next book series should be. I'm getting closer to finishing the Ghatti's Tale series from Gayle Greeno and I need something "on deck" when I'm finished with it.

I know it might be geeky, but sci/fi-fantasy is my genre of choice when it comes to book reading. Straken, by Terry Brooks, is now available in trade paperback, so I might choose that to finish up the High Druid of Shannara series. Other than that, I've gone through some Piers Anthony, Margaret Weis / Tracy Hickman, and Terry Goodkind among others.

Let the recommendations begin!

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Wednesday Cat Blogging

As a follow-up from Monty the other day, I'm introducing you to the other ruler in our friends' home, Sammy. Unfortunately, Sammy had quite a scrap with a neighbor's cat and ended up needing stitches to put one of his ears back together. I think you can tell how annoyed Sammy is about the collar, but interestingly enough he appears to be comforted by.. Alice Cooper?

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Welcome back, Sam Fisher

Well, for all you console geeks out there, the newest installment in the Splinter Cell series hits the stores today. I'm glad to say that I've played each one in the series and absolutely love it. Ubisoft really does a great job at adding new features in each version to make it a step above of its predecessor. I can't wait to see how this newest release looks on the Xbox 360 in HD on a 56" screen. :)


In addition to Splinter Cell, I'll be placing a deposit on another 360 game that's supposed to be released next week, titled "Phantasy Star Universe." It looks like more of a sci-fi RPG and it's developed by Sega. The preview screen shots and videos look pretty damn cool, so I think I'll have to give it a try.

As it is, I'm still well involved with Oblivion, which is one of the best games I've ever played.

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Ready the pitchforks and torches

Following Shakes' Yahoos and Boobs post comes this article in the LA Times, via Crooks and Liars. It seems there's a growing sentiment to go back to the golden age of mob rule with the ability to sue judges if people don't agree with the ruling. In other words, if people don't get what they want, they can keep fucking around with do-overs and reset buttons until they do. The law means nothing unless it is in complete line with their interpretation of the bible.

You folks scared yet?

Update: Apparently the LA Times article isn't available for free reading anymore. Sorry about that.

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How conveeeeeeeeeeeenient..

Isn't it just fascinating that Saddam Hussein's verdict and sentencing will be issued on November 5th, just prior to elections? I guess they had to hammer out the scheduling with Osama-Bin-Forgotten to make sure that the sentencing didn't conflict with a new video message that he would release on the 6th.

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Blue Man Group

We finally got around to seeing Blue Man Group for the first time this past Saturday. It was a spontaneous thing after hanging out at the Farmer's Market in Union Square. I thought the show was awesome, a really unique experience. I even landed a minor supporting role when the Blue Men decided to leave me with their flashlights and a bowl of Captain Crunch in the middle of their act. Needless to say, I started popping those crunches like there was no tomorrow.

I love Captain Crunch.

I immediately regressed to those wonderful days of childhood yore when I would be ecstatic about breakfast cereal. The Cap'n was one of my favorites, along with Frosted Flakes. What about yours?

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Monday cat blogging

Allow me to introduce all of you to Monty. He is one of two cats who rule the house of our wonderful friends Anna & Alan in the UK. Quite a nice garden pose, don't you think?

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Guitar Legends - Pink Floyd edition

The current issue of Guitar Legends is all about Floyd and nothing else. For details about the issue, head over to Brain Damage, the greatest online Floydzine in the universe.

(Thanks to BD's Matt Johns for the props!)

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Propaganda Remix Project

If you have not already encountered this site, I highly recommend you visit the Propaganda Remix Project immediately! The artist, Micah Ian Wright, has created some amazing topical posters in the style of WW1 and WW2 propaganda art.

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This is just ridiculous

Moon and Feather demanded more feline blogging time. So who am I, their human slave, to say no?

The other day saw the first Easy post, so consider this entry as Pure #1.

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Son of a bitch..

I had the pleasure of coming home to an 84-degree abode. After some troubleshooting and looking around, it turns out that the compressor outside is blowing cold air. The cats have it made downstairs. At least we have a ceiling fan in the bedroom to move the air around. We're really hoping that we can get an HVAC guy to check this out tomorrow. Since the same system is responsible for the heating, the sooner the better! Here's hoping we can get a decent night's sleep. [clink]

Update: Everything is now as it should be. It was a dirty filter issue which caused the freon to ice up and restrict the lovingly cool airflow into the rest of the abode. Now we're good to go. Let freedom ring.

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Way too much fun

You'll have to thank Shakes for the inspiration for the above sign.

Major props to Tom Hilton's site for enlightening me to Says-It. Yes, you could play there all day.

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Easy #1: Hexa

OK We'll see how this works out for everyone. I'll try (at least) once a week to come up with something that qualifies as either pure or easy. In this case, today's puzzle, Hexa, may not be the easiest thing in the world but it's not as bad as it could be (i.e. more pieces).

Drag the pieces on the right to the board. Once on the board, hold down Z while left-clicking a piece to flip it, or hold down X while left-clicking to rotate it. Knock yourselves out and let me know what you think.

The above puzzle, and many others, can be found at Puzzle iT!

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Made the move..

OK it's official. I'm now using the new and improved beta Blogger. I think I'll sneak around the settings to see what new and cool things I can do. In the meantime, the site is still live, so that's as good a sign as any.

Update: First biggie - no more publishing spinner. Another big addition is the ability to set blog permissions, a la Wordpress. Next thing I noticed was interactive template designing. Unfortunately, this requires an upgrade to the current template, with the warning that I'll lose stuff I've already customized. I think I'll hold off on this one for a little bit, though I am really damn curious (feline influence).

Next update: Yes, well alright. I've started fooling around with backgrounds and images to spice up the place a bit. So sue me.

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Yet another open jam..

After some research on NJOpenMic, I wanted to try out the rock/blues jam at the British Invasion Bar & Grill in Tappan, NY. With a name like that, why the hell would I want to stay home? Well, turns out the place is really called Kelly's Pub. They had a great room for playing with a nice stage area. The atmosphere seemed pretty laid back and the music was fantastic. The musicians were very talented, and the drummer had a Tama kit that was much easier to play since it wasn't as confusing a layout as I've previously experienced. The keyboardist, Chuck, was an absolute mad scientist.

I was consciously aware of being somewhat restrained, but I think that's par for course when I'm first starting out at a new jam location. You know, not 100% comfortable with the new digs yet. Interestingly enough, I ran into a drummer whom I had seen a few years ago at a different jam. I'll definitely be going back there and see how it feels the second time around. They have a really good feel for blues-based jamming.

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A Proud Moment

I'm very happy to be able to share the accomplishment of having my Who gig pictures posted on Pete Townshend's website. Many thanks to Hamish, Pete's webmaster, for being so kind and showing interest.

For those who missed the earlier post, all of the pics can be viewed on my online photo site.

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