...fine line between insanity and genius

wes anderson is a personal hero of mine. he's doing what i aspire to do one day. he's my favorite director and his new film is the darjeeling limited . if you haven't seen any of his films then you are not allowed to know me. just kidding. but seriously, he's a genius. here's the site... http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thedarjeelinglimited/ if you haven't seen his work, rent one of the following: rushmore, the royal tenenbaums, the life aquatic, or bottle rocket . watch the movie once, alone. meet me for coffee and we will discuss. then go home and watch it again, paying careful attention to detail. anderson carefully plans every inch of every frame, so there is certainly something you missed. if you like his work, darjeeling has a limited release on september 29th, but probably goes wide the following week. i'll be there for the opening when it comes local, so be ready. if you don't like his stuff, well it's just a matter of taste, and we have two di...

sunday evening, we met up at the boat with deo . i don't wanna talk about it.

i am not a golfer. i still view golfing as so bourgeois . it's expensive as shit. it doesn't fit my personality. even my character in tiger woods pga tour 2004 doesn't fit in. he has a blue mohawk and argyle socks. i borrow my father's clubs and wear addidas sambas. i look and feel awkward on the course. ...but i enjoy the piss out of it. i mean i really love the whole damn thing. the challenge, the camaraderie, the drinking and smoking, driving the fucking golf cart. but i'm horrible at the game. i can hit straight about 98% of the time and of those times, it will go more than 50 feet about 40% of the time. my friends say that it takes some time, and i understand, but time costs money. and money, i don't got a lot of these days. especially not 50 bucks to play at the glendale lakes golf club . but i played anyways. they call it glendale lakes because about 50% of your balls will eventually end up in a lake. we played at 8:40am , yesterday morning, and after go...

" the way she used to look at me made me a thousand feet high, the meaning of the word cool... " one of the greatest songs ever written is "pretty pathetic" by the smoking popes . but don't go listening to the album version, because it doesn't give justice to hearing it live. i guarantee that if you listen to the song live, you will never miss another smoking popes show again. you'll go to shows just waiting for them to play it... like i did last night. but " let's take it from the start... " francesca's forno dan and i drove to al's house, and she drove the three of us to meet up with roy at francesca's forno . located in the old spot where soul kitchen used to be, forno has apparently been there since august 2005 ! jesus. i guess that i haven't been keeping a watchful eye on the neighborhood since chuck moved out of wicker park in 2004 . we used to have sunday brunches at soul kitchen, with the miscellaneous hangover ...

guest blog :: by mark pm (pictured, center) the gas-guzzlin' 1989 Toyota Camry is dead... (This scene should be in a movie) Dudes...what a morning. Got off of work at 7am. Got in the car, and started driving. I noticed something was definitely wrong with the engine. I decide to take it local. I drive through the city. IT shuts down at Jefferson and Washington, where this four lane street becomes one lane due to street construction. Luckily, the car failed just as I was about to merge into the one lane. Had I finished the merge and then the car crapped out, I would've single handedly fucked up traffic downtown for most of the morning, if not, the afternoon. If something like this ever happened and I was in the "other" cars, I would be pissed. But would I get out and help??? Probably not. I'm an ass just like any other American. No one stops in America. We are our center of our own universes. The world revolves around ourselves. A Dead Jap car blocking the one l...

it's so easy to write about gambling ... when you're winning. and i am winning. and so is danny . in 4 sessions i've accumulated a couple bills, while danny... well, let's just say that danny has enough to buy that mac mini he keeps bantering about. he won't be buying it soon though, because we're trying to get a roll together, to take to vegas in late september, for leggerro's wedding. the thing of note is that we're winning from the darkside , the don't pass line. for those not in the know, we're essentially betting against everyone else on the table. so whenever we win, others lose and vice-versa. so when they cheer, we curse. but when they curse, we just pull our money in and shut the hell up. the way it's been going, we've been awfully quiet... last night, danny doubled his stack in 2 hours and changed out. it took me about 3.5 hours, but i doubled up too. why does the boat have to be so damn close.

once in a great while, you get the opportunity to experience something that is normally reserved for special people. in this case it was something known as date night . date night happens on wednesdays, every couple of weeks. it entails dinner, drinks, and sometimes a stop at barnes and noble to peruse male pornography, specifically play girl magazine . thankfully, this particular date night, last night in fact, did not include the usual stop to the b and n. what it did include, were me and danny , two surprise guests who were invited to join this secret society for one night. along with the founding members liz, mel, katie, al, and danielle , danny and i were able to catch a glimpse of what it is really like to be 'on the inside'. we ate at kona grill , a pacific-rim kind of fusion place, coupled with its own sushi bar. we all ate sushi and had a pretty good fill. in my opinion, the sushi was sub-par, but i guess acceptable for non-habitual sushi eaters. the salmon special r...

evidence suggests that chris farley has been reincarnated as a 3-year old girl. the evidence follows... click image to view full size. forwarded by katie g.

every couple weeks during the summer, there's a free movie playing in grant park . yesterday it was the 1944 film-noir classic, double indemnity , starring fred macmurray and barbara stanwyck . upon further research, i found out that this film was nominated for 7 academy awards, including best picture, director, actress, cinematography, and screenplay. after watching the film, screenplay stands out the most. the dialogue is written like poetry, with a wit that is incomparable to the writing of today. it also has an above average plot-line, that keeps the audience anticipating every subsequent scene. danny and i brought some cider beers to drink on ice. roy, al, jim, and phuc brought a shit-load of snacks, including brie, bread, honey-roasted peanuts, and some sort of lunch-meat wraps. we sectioned off a little nook by the path, and while we didn't have the most unobstructed view, it didn't take away from our enjoyment of the atmosphere. the crowd was great with no distra...

here's my simpsons avatar, hanging out with homer and the gang, at moe's . and no, i'm not good enough to concoct this myself... i had a little help. it's not exactly me, but i couldn't find the hairstyle that resembled a faux-mo, but i did get some rectangular glasses and red pumas (sort of).

this blog is for bean . hey bean, please do not read this unless you are high. so robyn sends me this link, and i think it's absolutely bizarre . it's a video clip of this prison in my homeland, the philippines . she titled the email something like " what inmates do in filipino jails... this is for real ", and i'm thinking that i'm about to watch some brutal massacre of violence and torture... but this is what it was instead... as seen on youtube . holy shit. i want to know how they picked the inmate to play the girl . and like with all youtube viewings, i scanned the "related videos" to see what other sorts of nonsense they had done, and lo and behold... they've done the algorithm march ! algorithm march i came across this clip about six months ago, but i never got the chance to forward it on. i'm not gonna explain shit, because when i first watched it, it was just out of sheer curiosity of the title. before i toss you the link, here are te...

gamblers anonymous uses the following questionnaire to determine the likelihood of a gambling problem: 1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling? no... i'm self-employed and out of school. 2. Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy? no. 3. Did gambling affect your reputation? yes... not sure if in a bad way or good way. 4. Have you ever felt remorse after gambling? yes, when i lose. 5. Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties? isn't that the point? 6. Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency? why work when i can just win money playing craps? 7. After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses? yes, but after i've been comped for a free buffet. 8. After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more? why stop when you're on a roll? 9. Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone? define ...

katie m. likes to title her myspace bulletins with lyrics from songs by the counting crows . i don't know if she reads this, but she would like the title. it's almost 5:00am again. there's something about this time that won't let me experience it while sleeping. i'm convinced that i've completely destroyed my internal clock and now night time for me is 6:00am to 12:00pm . argh. update we were up so late because danny and i were glued to the craps table. i won, finally. 1 up . still need to make up another 2.6.

uni ( pronounced ooo-nee ) or sea urchin, is one of the most delicious pieces of sushi available, but i doubt that you would agree. it looks like an orange-tan tongue, it's cold and slimy, and it tastes like the ocean. sounds wonderful, eh? i'm not sure why i like it actually. i didn't grow up eating it, but the first time i had a taste... it was amazing. i don't know if you'd like it. i've had some friends try it, but it's not their cup of tea. this is much like drum & bass , except that with dnb , you could probably eventually grow to like it. like an acquired taste. but right now, i know very, very few people who listen to dnb. and it's not like i'm some music elitist . i would love it if i knew more people who listened, because then i wouldn't have to go to shows alone ... like i did last night. planet of the drums this is the 8th year for the potd tour, featuring dieselboy, ak1200, dara , and mc messinian . ever hear of it? me neither...

i was gonna write about the intense night i just had. but i have a sausage mcmuffin with egg , with my name written all over it. i'm completely drained, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and any other 'ally that you can think of. there are two bloody nodules where my ear drums used to be.

Thought i'd text a blog to the late night subscribers... The bass is heavy, and the beats are sick! Junglefly is off the chain!

yesterday, al and i went to millennium park to watch the free show featuring the decemberists . we met up with roy, mark, and irene , on the great lawn, just three and a half cross beams away from the stage... we couldn't see shit , as it was a densely packed crowd. it was my first time attending a show at the pritzker pavilion and i'll have to say, it was absolutely amazing sound. if you haven't been there, there are speakers hanging from the cross bars above the great lawn, and it's great because there's just enough of them that the sound is not overwhelming. in fact, the sound was at the perfect volume and you don't get that horrible echo effect that you normally get at outdoor venues. even from outside the lawn, standing at the bean , the sound (although softer) was clean. no distortion, no echoes. the decemberists themselves were great live. not having been that familiar with the band, i know now that i will be. roy and mark seem to think that this was ...

roy sent this to me. i don't know how in the hell he found it, but it's a good read. it's a long article, but it's worth it, especially if you've seen the fifth element . it's entitled, " real men love the fifth element ". if you haven't seen the film, this article will surely make you want to... especially high . and since i've talked to more people who've enjoyed the "people who give me the creeps (extreme joy & great discomfort at the same time)" blog, i thought i'd drop another one... jaleel white . do i even need to explain this one? holy hell! i actually had to go to a german website to find this pic. as steve urkel , jaleel was ridiculous, but he made us laugh (don't lie) and we always rooted for him. but fuck, as stefan urquelle , i was actually embarrassed for jaleel (as an actor, and a person), and he was just annoying as shit. jeezus. i wanted to kick him in the chest . just watched an episode of family m...

...because of the comment you posted on " draft mode "... david. my buddy david is in the process of becoming a self-guided, self-taught motivational speaker . in my opinion, he already is one. but in my opinion, i'm a genius, so what the fuck do i know? anyways, he left a comment on my blog draft mode , in which he said was rhetorical, but was intended as a reverse psychology ploy , to get me to respond. so fine, you win. at the risk of sounding like one of those email forwards that no one responds to, or a myspace bulletin that everyone pretends to ignore, i submit the following responses... what are your greatest fears? my greatest fear is not having the chance to travel and see the world with my own eyes. i still have asia, south america, africa, and australia to go. also, to not be remembered. what are you most passionate about? traveling. creating anything... laughter, music, film, writing, painting, digital, photography. what brings you the most joy? being with fr...

so just so everyone knows, my obsessive compulsive disorder (undiagnosed) forbids me to let a day pass without blogging . but for those of you who don't have blog accounts, i wanted to fill you in on what it means when you don't see a post for a couple of days... what happens, is that i can begin to write a blog and safe it in draft mode , until i'm ready to publish it for viewing. i can also change the time and date of the post, to make it look like i wrote it three days ago, when i really wrote it today. so that being said, there are events from this weekend that are still laying dormant ... in draft mode. they will be released shortly, as soon as i catch up on my work. until then, i leave you with this... very few things in this world give me both extreme joy and great discomfort at the same time. one of those things is the burger king man , whose freakish expression leaves me bewildered and uneasy, yet makes me laugh hysterically every time. the other is rachel ray ,...

yesterday's blog was written at 5:30am . today's (first) blog is being written at roughly the same time. what is it that inspires me to write, however insignificant, on a daily basis, when i should be in bed, like the rest of the central time zone ? am i channeling the spirit of doogie howser, m.d. back in 1989, who at the end of every day, wrote a life lesson learned, on his computer screen? well, i'm sure i learned something today, but i'm not gonna write about it now, especially if it was a life lesson, because i should be sleeping. if and when i wake up, in twelve hours (plus or minus 3 hours), i will have something better to report, but until then, good morning !

there's a line that goes, " you can't win, what you don't put in ." and it's true... if i don't try, then how can i succeed? if i don't ask, then how will i know? and if i don't tell her what time to meet up, then how the hell can we meet up? i keep writing these bullshit little commentaries to motivate myself. and at some point, it should work. i think.

there's a saying at the casinos... " if you go in with the mindset that you're gonna lose... you're gonna lose. " on the other hand, you can't go in expecting to come out a big winner either, because you're just setting yourself up for a letdown. now if you go in looking to have a good time, win or lose, whatever happens, happens... well, if you can do that, then you've realized the secret. problem is, it's so hard to stay in the middle. overly pessimistic and you end up sabotaging the whole thing. expect too much, and you'll panic at every little glitch. so what the hell am i talking about? i'm talking about the fact that i have over-analyzed the whole situation that i'm both sabotaging and panicking at the same time. my pessimism led me to neglect it too much, and my optimism may have scared her away. really, only one girl makes me nervous... and i think i may have blown it. guest blog the following is a GUEST BLOG, by dk... one thi...

last night was a reunion dinner of sorts. i hadn't seen danielle s. (not express danielle from yesterday, who will henceforth be known as the notorious dani g. ) or mel since the wedding of jim and phuc . and since danny has been seeing danielle, it has truly been a long time. to complete the circle was al and you know that with this group, things are liable to get a little out of control... and they did. because with this group, despite low levels of alcoholic consumption, the conversation will inevitably lead to sex . and i don't mean interesting, funny, anecdotes about sex... i mean absolutely raunchy, graphic, illegal, "i'm going to hell" sex talk. and again, this is with like 2 drinks each. no shots of patr&#243n tonight. just a bunch of explicit conversation that has, in the past, caused eavesdroppers in the vicinity to leave the immediate area, out of distaste. we may have talked about movies for a little while, but i don't remember it much....

i hate meeting at houlihan's so much, but it's the only place that's open late and serves liquor. but last night i met up with danielle so that i could give her some souvenirs from the eu . i told some stories and drank some brew. shortly thereafter, her bff ali showed up with boyfriend matt . ali tried the old " i don't have my id " trick, but it didn't work out too well. some small talk followed. then cj showed up with kelly , and pretty much everyone worked at chili's at some point, so everyone knew each other. ali and matt left, but cagney showed up, another ex-chili's server. conversation moved from europe to chili's to music to hippie weddings (kelly's siter) to veganism (of which cagney practices) to cj's new place in chicago (and new gigs) to paradise pie and back to music, where the night ended... approximately 1:00am . and while houli's can sometimes become redundant, it was an excellent convo night, and i wish you ...

on march 31st, 1999 a little movie called the matrix came out and wowed people worldwide. i still remember exiting the theater and wanting to go back in to see it again. everyone has a favorite part, a favorite line, a favorite effect, and i'm no different. the part that still sticks with me to this day, is when neo is waiting to see the oracle and he's watching this bald kid, bending spoons with his mind. i haven't watched the film in years, but i still remember the dialogue... kid : do not try and bend the spoon... that is impossible. instead, only try to realize the truth. neo : the truth? what truth? kid : there is no spoon . neo : there is no spoon? kid : only then will you realize that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself . later in the film, neo repeats the line " there is no spoon " right before he attempts to do some humanly impossible feat. he's standing on the roof of an elevator and trinity is holding on to him. with one hand, ...

sunday surpassed the required three day waiting period, for the state of illinois to allow me to pick up my browning buckmark .22 . unfortunately, it was already 4:00pm and the range was closing in thirty minutes, so instead danny and i went to eat a late lunch at chili's in barrington. we spent some time discussing the events of our respective weekends, and from what it sounds like, we both had joyous memories. until dan gets his own blog, or decides to guest blog here, you will have to ask him about his own festivities. david wanted to shoot today, but given the weekend's events, danny and i just weren't able to make it at a decent hour. so instead, we met up with david at the streets of woodfield amc , where we watched live free or die hard . during the previews, dan and i noticed that every trailer featured a gun. it was very amusing. live free or die hard : A . bruce willis is a fucking genius. nevermind that he plays the same role in almost every film. same wi...

no offense to the other couples out there, but on this day ( 07/07/07 ), at this moment, in this picture... i was with the most beautiful couple in the world on their wedding day. sara was absolutely beautiful, and brady could not stop smiling all day. god could not have put together a more perfect combination. i wish i could tell you that the ceremony was a beautiful one, however, aymeei was running late, so we missed it. we did get to the church, in just enough time to congratulate the bride and groom and the whole family. there we met up with the whole damn express algonquin team... sara bowen, adrian, kristin, sarah weber, uliya, and special guest victor from cherryvale. we all met up at the rockford country club for the reception and let me just tell you that the place was beautiful. the whole east side of the club was windows, overlooking the rock river. the chairs were covered in satin, with pale green ribbons and the tables were decorated with calla lilies in two foo...

brother charles vincent cabel , first lieutenant of the united states army , was born on july 7, 1977 ... 07/07/77 . thirty years later, surrounded by sand and radical muslims, he celebrates his birthday while serving his country, all the way in fucking baghdad ! i have a wedding today, but i will certainly be doing a shot to chuck! when he gets back (jan/feb '08), we'll have to celebrate again! but until then, keep your thoughts and prayers with him! happy 30th, chuck! i didn't do much last night, but pine over not having a date for sara's wedding . i really should've asked this one girl, but i was too scared. fucking typical. and no. it's not ariel . and by the way, my father finds it amusing to now refer to her as " the little mermaid ". so in passing i'm subjected to comments like, "what's up with the mermaid?" or "have you called the 'little' one yet?" jesus h. christ.

danny's shop was closed yesterday (and today) for the holiday weekend. so what better way to spend it than to meet aymeei for lunch at claire's ? so at about 12:20pm , we arrived at the front desk, where we signed in and got our little temporary name badges. aymeei met us there and we went straight to the cafeteria, where danny spent $1.25 for soup, salad, and a drink, and i spent $3.50 for chicken strips, fries, soup and a drink. i bring this up only because for these prices, i would probably eat lunch here every day. so we bring our trays up to aymeei's cube to eat, while she pretends to work. every now and then, some cutie pops her head into the cube to say hello, and every time danny and i give each other that look that says, "wow. who the hell is that, and how do i get her number?" eventually, ashley stops by too, and she touches my shoulder when she says hello (yes, i am fucking dorky, but she's cute). after she leaves, danny asks, " that's ...

why am i still up at 4:00am ? damn it. just like yesterday. so what did i do on the forth? easy. white castle and transformers . i haven't had a burger since before europe, and the sliders were delicious. so transformers ... this is easy too. A- . it was a great mix of action and plot and nostalgia. one of the things i liked is that, you didn't have to watch the cartoon or play with the toys to enjoy it. so the kids of the 90s will surely spread the word that this is the greatest summer movie this year. the effects were absolutely astounding, and although i hate michael bay , he was truly the only director who could have handled this project properly. he did not disappoint, using his trademark rotating camera shots to add to the flawless integration of real and digital action. don't wait to see this film! and lastly, while i am a shia labeouf fan, i'm in love with megan fox , the true star of the film. if you don't know who she is... you will. she's outstandi...

happy fourth of july! independence day! yay! bleh. it's almost 5:00pm and i have accomplished jack shit . but, yesterday ... i put a deposit on my first target pistol, a browning buckmark . let me emphasize again... target pistol. make no mistake, i'm not a cowboy, but i am excited to celebrate my second amendment rights, especially so close to today's holiday. ah... freedom. so after my purchase (i don't have it yet because of the 72 hour rule), dan, david , and i left the shop to go grab a nice dinner at china palace , home of chinese, japanese, and now thai cuisine. we all had japanese, and we spent much of dinner talking about david's conquest into the realm of alternative medicine . now, i am a natural born skeptic, but i am extremely open-minded and while i did question some of what david's "consultant" (i don't think you can be a doctor of alternative medicine, can you?) was shoveling, i think the general ideas and the overall perspectiv...

before heading to europe , beth asked me if i could pick up some books from her parent's house and bring them in my backpack. one of those books was a non-fiction, new york times bestseller called eat, pray, love . thinking it to be some post-modern feminist propaganda bullshit , i even didn't bother to read the back. silly me. i stand corrected. now i'm half-way through the damn thing and i can't put it down. chris is reading it too, and i think danny would like to borrow my copy when i'm finished. wtf? i'm not gonna tell you what it's about. not at all. other than this blog, some weird part of me says that as a male, i should not advertise that i like this book. the word sissy comes to mind. i digress. search for this book online and read what it's about and make your own opinion. here's a passage to whet your appetite... "... but i disappear into the person i love. i am the permeable membrane. if i love you, you can have everything. you...

the following blog was started on saturday, june 23 @ 6:30am , but i've had so many details to add, that it didn't get finished until now. Friday, June 22, 2007 nevermind that my flight from budapest to milan was delayed. nevermind that my flight from milan to london was delayed too. nevermind that somewhere in the chaos of the two delays, my baggage didn't make it to london with me. nevermind it all. nevermind that what i chose to wear on this journey was a pair of shorts and a plain white t-shirt. and nevermind that it was cold and rainy in london. nevermind that tesco metro doesn't sell jeans, and that all the clothing stores are closed by 8pm . nevermind it all. the reason to nevermind, is one word... fabric . let's start (unecessarily) at the beginning, to overemphasize the impact of this night in my life. if you don't know what drum and bass (dnb) is, click here . if you do know, or you don't really care, continue. all you need to know about it ...

there's this hauntingly beautiful song that i heard while in europe. it's so infectious that the melody keeps beating in my head. i urge you to give it a listen, or two, just in case it's not your style. it's electronic. it's soulful house. it feels like something you would listen to on the beach, at night. it's got a beat you can dance to, or sit and drink a beer over. it's my summertime jam. "the cure and the cause" - fish go deep feat. tracey k find it somewhere. you're resourceful.

i didn't do much saturday. should've joined the crew at the naperville ribfest . they were meeting up at 4:00pm , and by 3:00pm i hadn't even gotten out of bed. the batteries have been taking a little longer to recharge these days... either that, or the six shots of petron the night before, busted me up good. danny had a nice evening, but you'll have to read his blog to find out about that one... oops, he doesn't have a blog. oh well. we met up today to talk about his evening, and then watch some movies. sunday is family day, so we like to catch a good meal and relax. we try to get others out, but everyone is as lazy as we are, and they're having their family day as well. today i ended up eating with with the family, and joining danny for his homemade sloppy joes. i say homemade because danny didn't cook very often, until recently. and it seems like he's been doing a good job. so we saw 1408 , which i had no idea existed, because it was being advertis...