Category: Places

Posts that are about a special place

Modern Times are Here. Dylan's Back!

Posted on

Modern TimesI’ve been a Bob Dylan fan for years. I love his old folksy tunes (Blonde on Blonde) and his mid career epic tracks (Hurricane, Tangled Up in Blue) and have overplayed most of the 3 disc Biograph for years. I’ve always been skeptical when legends come out with new albums way past their prime. Too many times i’ve gotten excited and been burned. For example, last year’s Rolling Stone’s album Bigger Bang was a huge disappointment. So when i heard there was a new Dylan album out, i was excited by skeptical. But, let me tell you – it’s great. I think it’s as good as his old stuff and possibly even better. Three tracks in particular stand out. “Workingman Blues #2” is an old school Dylan folk song with captivating lyrics a thumping backbone, “Thunder on the Mountain” is both bluesy and rockin’, and the beautiful meandering stroll of a song “Spirit on the Water” is just outstanding. I’ve attached the three here for a listen. Check ’em out.

MySpace Rolls Out "The Black Carpet"

Posted on

Apparently Black is the new Red. MySpace continues to crush the online world. In addition to being the #1 most visited site on the entire internet, they now are going after movie screens. Today, they launched a service called “The Black Carpet,” which allows MySpacers to see advanced screenings of movies in Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, and 20 U.S. cities (including DC!).

The Black Carpet

All you need to do is add the Black Carpet profile to your friends list and you’ll receive notices on how to get access to movies previews at local theaters. The first movie being promoted is (the hysterical looking) Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. If you haven’t seen the trailer, here it is: (and here’s the Borat MySpace page).

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fq_fzdEk0r8]

This is, of course, permission based marketing and social networks are the perfect place to accomplish it. Bands connecting with their fans on MySpace and Bebo was just the beginning, now MySpace allows you to add brands to your friends list such as Adidas Soccer or Nike Women. Meanwhile, Facebook is creating corporate groups, like the Apple Students group which gives away free iTunes tracks. It will only get worse as more corporation get wise to this whole “internet” and “social networking” thing.

I actually love the idea of allowing interested fans to preview a film prior to its release as these viewers are the ones who will evangelize and spread positive buzz both locally and within the blogosphere. Personally, i think the studios and MySpace could go even farther by using the online audience to provide user reviews and comments at various stages and improve the test screening process. Until then, i’ll be happy with my advanced screen tickets courtesy of The Black Carpet. Rock.

If you are totally clueless about MySpace, go check it out and feel free to add me as a friend. I’m at myspace.com/pescatello/

Badass Cops

Posted on

I’ve travelled around quite a bit over the past few months and come across various policemen in different places. I have to say that some of their equipment is pretty funny. Check these two out:

New York’s Version of the Batmobile

In the US’s Gotham City, there’s now a sweet new vehicle roaming the streets. It’s sleek, it can get through traffic jams, and its miles per gallon is phenomenal!

scooter.jpg

Italy’s New Speedster

What else can you expect from the home of the incredibly engineered cars like Ferrari, Bugatti, and Maserati – how about the new Italian Police Segway! I can just see a platoon of Segways cruising the streets trying to corner a criminal who’s cruising away in a regular car.

Italian Segway

Minnesota Timberwolves' Draft Story

Posted on

It is largely thought that my Minnesota Timberwolves got one of the best players in this week’s draft, selecting Randy Foye in the seventh pick.
The Sports Guy column recounted the way that Minnesota came across that 7th pick.

It’s April 19, 2006, the final day of the season. The Celts have the sixth-worst record and plays host to Miami; Minnesota is at No. 7 and plays host to Memphis. The C’s do the honorable thing, play hard at12wolf050104l.jpg home and whup Miami’s third-string with their kids. Going against Memphis’ third string, Minnesota does the dishonorable thing and completely tanks the tail end of the game. I mean, COMPLETELY. To the point that Mark Madsen plays 30 minutes, goes 1 for 15 from the field, misses seven 3-pointers (yes, you read that correctly), conveniently “forgets” to guard Brian Cardinal on the game-tying 3 in the final 20 seconds of regulation, then misses three straight 3s to kick off the second OT (check out the play-by-play if you don’t believe me). Mark Madsen basically shaved points in this game.

I’m telling you. I have never seen a professional team throw a game this blatantly, in any sport, at any level. Even the 1919 Black Sox would have been mortified.
So what was the end result? They moved into the No. 6 spot, Boston slid to No. 7.

Look at the box score. Seriously, take a look. Before this game, Madsen shot nine 3s TOTAL during the first six years of his career. Did he get suspended after this tank job? No. Did anyone get suspended or fined? No. Does anyone remember this other than me and my dad? Apparently, no. And then the T-Wolves get rewarded with a better pick? What a joke. I don’t know where the WWE ends and the NBA begins anymore. And yes, I’ve been waiting to rant about that for two months. So there you go.

I’m not sure how i feel about this.  On one hand, it would have been pointless to win the game.  On the other, every game should be a competitive.  Similar to the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors regarding the ethics of medicine, i believe there should be a similar oath taken by athletes that they will compete at the best of their abilities and attempt to win each game at all times.  What this article doesn’t mention is that KG refuses to lose any game. Because of this, he was basically benched for the last 2 weeks of the season.  Sure, they called it “resting” but there’s no way the coaches were going to let him go out there and win game.  Interesting indeed.

The Big Green Bus

Posted on

12 Dartmouth students are driving their “Big Green Bus” from California to Hanoverthebus2.JPG (NH) and back on nothing by Vegetable Oil and solar power. Awesome.

This story will tell you more about how these guys will grab vegetable oil from restaurants along the way to power “the bus” and the solar power is keeping the oil from thickening while also powering their laptops and cameras.
Hell ya – go Dartmouth! Check out their site at http://www.thebiggreenbus.org

If you want to show your support, here’s their route

route.jpg

Klosterman's Thoughts on NY

Posted on

Just finished Chuck Klosterman's "Fargo Rock City" which was great. I love it anytime someone deconstructs or discusses GNR. I found an interview Chuck gave to Spin magazine where he discusses NY city. 

Living in New York makes you younger and older at the same time. It makes you younger because everyone who lives here is a drunk, and everyone stays out late, and everybody goes to shows, and everybody cares about rock bands, and movies, and generally things in America that only young people are interested in. It makes you a little bit older in the sense that everyone is jaded and has a cynical view of the world and is very distrustful.

Chuck Klosterman Interview, Spin Magazine 7/21/2005

Great Movie Characters & Prarie Home

Posted on

I'd like to talk about a great movie i saw this weekend. But before i do, i want to look back and mention some of the great movie characters i've seen on the big silver screen…

characters.jpg

  • Lloyd Dobler (Say Anything). The ideal man for women is also a pretty cool guy that guys can admire. He's a free spirit who has the balls to take out the hot smart chick in the class. He's wears a trench coat like he doesn't care, is 18 and isn't intimidated by criminal fathers, and spends his free time kickboxing.
  • Officer Bud White (LA Confidential). A man of action with a straight-as-an-arrow moral compass. Oh, and he kicks everyone's ass. He lands the hot chick, solves the most complex crime scandal I've ever seen, and does it all while taking out every abusive character in LA. He's also a great throwback to all the great old-school characters b/c he's a loner and an island all day but is completely vulerable in the precense of a woman, just like Rick in Casablanca. He's programmed to live and protect the female.
  • Ray, the kid (Jerry McGuire). Never before have i loved such a nerdy kid. He's just a stud. However, i found out later that the human head actually weighs 12 pounds (not eight).
  • Marty (Beautiful Girls). I can only say so much because it just feels weird to love Marty. But she's smart, sassy and just seems like a gal who cuts through all the bs to get to the core. And she's only 14 – which would be a great thing if it wasn't so wrong. As Tim Hutton says in teh movie, "It's not a sexual thing…she's smart, she's funny…this girl is going to be amazing." She definitely was.
  • Stanley Goodspeed (The Rock). Stanley is a kickass bio-chemist FBI agent who rocks at disarming bio-chemical weapons but completely sucks at being an in-the-field agent. He's great at trying and failing to be a badass while exchanging great dialogue with Sean Conner (Mason). A quick view of him.

The latest addition to the great list of characters is one that i witnessed this weekend….garrisonkeillor.jpg

Garrison Keillor (Prarie Home Companion). A great movie with a great cast. Meryl is fantastic as is Kevin Kline and they all provide the many layers of a complex story about a very folksy show in a town "that time forgot and decades could not improve." At the center of everything is Garrison. And he's funny. He was once quoted saying, ""God writes a lot of comedy… the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny." Fortunately, this movie has good actors to deliver his script.

What i love about Garrison is that he represents everything that's right about the Midwest – he's smart, genuine, talented, non-pretentious, and sincere – while at the same time he represents everything that East/West coasters disrespect about the Midwest – he's simple, non-ambitious, non-trendy, and completely content. Watching him on screen mades the film feel incredibly comfortable and made me very nostalgic for MN.

Milan to Minsk? How about DC to NY

Posted on

Sure it’s not an erotic journey (a la Seinfeld), but it is still quite an adventure. Asny3.jpg someone who has lived and worked in both DC and NY and gone back and forth regularly, i’m very familiar with the various travelling options. But this weekend was something special. As usual i explored my options:

  • The train is usually the best as it takes you right into the city (no cabs) and isn’t delayed as much as a plane.
  • Driving can be convenient if you need to be flexible, but you can’t do anything on the trip, so it’s just wasted time. If i have some good tunes or a podcast, it’s fine, but i rarely have enough material for the 4 hour trip. Plus there’s alwaysny4.jpg some parking hassle.
  • My latest love is the Chinatown Bus, or what i like to use is the Eastern Shuttle. This amazingly cheap and takes you right from Chinatown to Chinatown (or Midtown). We’re talking $30 round trip and you can just relax, get work done, watch a movie, whatever. For the money, my favorite.

This past weekend i took the bus and had a pretty good trip. However, what i wasn’t counting on was 26 inches of snow!

ny1.jpg

I woke up Sunday morning to quite a scene. What i love about NY snowstorms is that the cars disappear and the streets become filled with walkers. I reminds me of movies after the apocalype occurs or zombies take over and everybody’s just on foot fending for themselves. Think of the movies 28 Days Later or The Stand except with a crapload of snow and without the mass destruction. That’s what NY is like today. Pretty great actually – just a serene scene of beautiful NY in the snow.

Ideas, Observations & Questions

Posted on

I hate streetlightsPointed ShoesLocke's Cave - on at 11!Where are you Axl
Just some things i’ve noticed over the past few months:

  1. Why is NY the only city that’s implemented the cascading street lights? One light turns green, then when you get to the next – guess what? It turns green. Genius. I can’t stand waiting at a stoplight for 5 minutes, only to go 20 years to the next light which has just turned red. Mass Ave is killing me!
  2. What is the deal with women’s pointed shoes. People’s feet aren’t shaped that way, why do they make shoes that way. Is it supposed to be sexier? I always find myself looking at them and thinking – “man, shoe designers are dumb.”
  3. On ABC’s show Lost, John Locke is clearly the most interesting and coolest character. Wouldn’t a spin-off called “Locke’s Cave” be the best spin-off show you can think of. Each week, they could have an episode run parrallel to the regular episode but just follow what John’s doing the entire time. Sometimes i’m watching that show and thinking, “I would rather just watch John have awckward conversations with Charlie or Echo.”  I mean they did a Joey spin-off, it couldn’t be worse than that.
  4. A Reality TV Show idea that P-Walk talked about a few months ago goes like this….You gather some very attractive women from very poor areas of the country. Each episode you offer them large amounts of money to disfigure themselves. For instance, first episode you offer $30 grand for them to get a horrible nose job. Maybe for the season finale you offer $10 million for a full sex change. The winner gets something like $200k a year for as long as she remains a man.  It’d be a battle to see if the women are willing to live a completely new life, filled with riches and luxury, but they have to live a lie, live as a man.  It’s such a horrible idea, a total trainwreck. I just might watch it.
  5. Often, when i’m driving around town -maybe stuck in traffic- think to myself, “I wonder what is Axl Rose doing right now?” I’m just curious. What could he be doing? He is one of the biggest rock stars in the past 20 years – came out with 4 amazing albums – and now i wonder, is he now just playing pool and boozing it up with his buddies in LA? Seriously, i couldn’t see him doing anything but partying. It’d be kind of cool if he, Vince Neil (Montly Crue), Bret Michaels (Poison) and Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) formed a bowling team and just bowled like 4 days a week.  I did hear that he just turned 44 this past Monday.