This past 4th of July festivities brought the much anticipated (and much needed) 3-day weekend. It almost made watching the boring fireworks spectacle bearable. Ok, I’m kidding. I only had to watch 5 minutes of it on my roof and then moseyed back down to my apartment. Definitely the way to go.

Anyway, I was really looking forward to the three day weekend because I had a shit of work to do. You know, video games, NBA Sim, music, Netflix: important stuff. Unfortunately, I had a mini scare! I had just settled down Saturday afternoon to put in a little time with my new copy of Ninja Gaiden Sigma (infamous for being one of the hardest games programmed in the past decade) when my PS3 just shut off! Instead of watching my ninja character stealthily decapitate foes, I was suddenly staring at a “cable disconnected” error on my tv.

After some research online I discovered it was, indeed, the dreaded YLoD (yellow light of death) ! I’m guessing that it was an overheating problem as the last couple months the machine was running really loudly … good thing I didn’t think to do anything about that! Plus, it was on the ground and Tito’s fur was probably clogging up vents. I was beside myself – what would I now do with multiple days free and no video games to play?!

My options seemed terrible. Basically, I would have to pay $150 if I was going to attempt to get my broken console fixed by Sony and it would take about a month to get it back. There was no way I was going to wait that long! I could try getting it fixed at a third party location, but that would require a ton of research plus a wait and cost that were comparable to getting it fixed by Sony. Then, I figured, if I could find an awesome deal on a new PS3 … one at a hair more money than the $150 fix fee, than it seemed like a good buy.

So I started scrambling. Within hours of the dead machine I had e-commerce sites up, eBay and Amazon a-runnin’, and began to scour craigslist for a replacement. An hour later I had my man: a guy right on the Upper East Side was selling off his brand new PS3 and 2 games (Resident Evil 5 and Army of Two) for $300. I told him I’d pay for the PS3 but wasn’t interested the game and offered $275 to take everything off his hands. The fool fell for it!

We made the exchange at a Starbucks in-between us and now I’m the proud papa of a spankin’ new PS3 120GB slim! This baby runs cooler, is smaller in size and larger in capacity than my old beast. Plus, I’m going to sell one of the games that I have no intention of playing for 100% pure profit! And the other game, which is on my vast list of games to play, I essentially bought for $12.50! The guy obviously didn’t care about his PS3 as he left all the online games, music, and movies that he purchased with his online account still on the machine so I am also the proud owner of a lot of bad rap and action movies!

Huzzah!

Current Mood: Awesome

About to watch Interview with the Vampire via streaming Netflix on my PS3

Yep … this site is going to start being a lot more reviewy. I’m falling into a period of my life where I do the same things over and over again (work, play guitar, play basketball, watch basketball, talk about basketball, dream about Dirk Nowitzki) so I’m going to pepper this thing (extremely liberally) with what I think of all the entertainment I experience.

At least that’s the plan for now until my band starts gigging and then things will get cool.

Maybe.

Anyway, the way I rate TV shows and movies is pretty similar to how I rate albums. Ok, actually they just use a similar scale and have none of the OCD-like 2-part system. Since I’m a card-carrying member (and lover) of Netflix, I use their system for movies:

• 1 – Hated It
• 2 – Didn’t Like It
• 3 – Liked It
• 4 – Really Liked It
• 5 – Loved It

Whew … now that we’re done with that uber-important information, just know that I do the same thing for TV shows … except I rate each episode and take the average!!!! What the hell is wrong with me?

I picked up my amp a little over two years ago: the Vetta II essentially simulates something like 40 other, famous amps and allows you to tweak these sounds to your specification. Want to run your guitar through both a Marshall JCM 900 and a 5-watt amp that fits on your belt? The Vetta II can make that dream a reality! And, after many a tweak, I found a guitar tone I really liked.

However, the Vetta II weighs 100 pounds or so and just doesn’t make sense to roll into our weekly rehearsals at UltraSound Studios. And, since I have only invested maybe $25 total into pedals (the crappy, orange Boss Distortion from a decade ago) this means I’ve had to rely on the amps (good) in these rooms as well as their distortion (god awful). So, while I enjoy the power and loudness I receive, the actual tone of my guitar during rehearsals leaves much to be desired. This, in turn, limits my inspiration – I just don’t feel like me as I’m playing – and as a result my playing suffers. This predicament really shouldn’t be a surprise, however, since the distortion on these amps have become so muddy after being in constant use 24-hours a day, 7-days a week by random people at different levels. Ugh.

Well, the solution to the problem is to bring in your own effects pedals, plug your guitar to them, and have the output go to a clean (non-distortion) amp. Therefore, you retain the great, loud presence these superior amps are still capable of producing while not being tethered to their dilapidated (and extremely limited) distortion effect. Now, as I mentioned before, I’m not much of an effects man (remember, I only paid $25 for a crappy pedal in my guitar playing career) so I didn’t know where to really start with taking this route. I really like the tone I get from my amp, so I decided to surf around and see if its producer (Line 6) created any effects pedals. And voila! I hit the mother load!!!

I came across the Pod X3 Live … essentially a simulation effects pedal (much like my simulation amp). It basically condenses the majority of what my amp can do into something the size of a large computer keyboard (well, minus any amplification). This means I can recreate the exact sound I like on my Vetta II amp into this pedal and play with “my sound” anywhere! I’ll be testing it out at tonight’s rehearsal for the first time. We also are auditioning another singer tonight, so I’ll be back with how everything went.

Long live the stanus.butt follies!

In the past 48 hours I’ve slept 28 hours! Yes, that is more than half of two days. I was sick as shit and immobile … just lying on my bed watching Judge Judy’s online, Netflix movies, and passing out. The one time I got up was to get food and that was a mistake. But, I woke up today feeling a lot better …

Photo © 2009 Stan Syckes

Ugh … I know. I’ve been lax in my stanus.nut duties. But I just have so many other responsibilities that I must attend to each day, as well. I have been doing a shit load of work on my basketball blog, NBA Sim, and while I’m sure no one is really all that interested in basketball you might get a kick out of checking it out from time to time.

Anyway, after working for 13 straight days I was rewarded with Friday the 13th off (whoa … didn’t notice that until now), resulting in a 4-day weekend! ‘Twas very hot. I played a lot of video games, did well in my weekly basketball game, watched a lot of Netflix, played some guitar, and pretty much just came back to reality. This weekend was also Valentine’s Day weekend so I surprised Cassie with tickets to Mamma Mia! (which, completely made up of ABBA songs, was one of the only shows this non-Broadway fan would’ve lived through). Again, I’m not the biggest Broadway enthusiast but I did enjoy myself. And my gift was a 22 oz. Heinekin beer and a box of Wheat Thins (!!!) during a basketball game on TV. What can I say … Cassie and I are excellent gifters.

No, I don’t know why I felt compelled to put so many links in there.

This weekend also welcomed the newest member of the apartment: my customized Dallas Mavericks jersey. Emblazoned with the number 3 and “SYCKES” on the back I truly have fallen into insanity about this whole basketball business. I really don’t know what I was thinking. You know how there are always those annoying ads on the sides and tops of websites? Well, they are getting smarter as all of the ones I come across point me to the NBA store! One time on there I found the customized jersies were on sale for like $40 so I plunked down the green and am now an official member of the Mavericks roster!

That’s really about it. Things are quieting down on other fronts so I anticipate being able to put more effort into stanus.butt soon. Till then: to the DohDrop!!!

Current Mood: Rested

Photo © 2006 Cassie Melnikow

Just like my Thanksgiving wrapup a few weeks ago, I find myself in the terrible position of having a lot to say but not wanting to write any of it down here. The inspiration well is just totally dry at the moment. But, I’ve been blogging for so long that I know it will be back sooner or later … I just have to force myself to continue onward instead!

The Killiam Update
Richard – of Hibernation Sickness infamy – graced the United States with his presence this Christmas holiday and I was lucky enough to host the French gentleman for a couple of nights. Although he touched down on Monday the 15th he was super busy running around and meeting up with family that I didn’t see his beautiful face until Friday the 19th. UPDATE: We tore it up at a few places in Yorkshire including a comedy club (where we saw a comedian throw a guy out during his act), a bar where the cops came in demanding to know where a patron’s jacket was, and another bar where we saw a huge fight that consisted of basically everyone in the bar except us three. It was actually nice for once to not be involved in any of the Yorkshire bar scuffles! Though I did end up puking that night

Doing My Best Impression Of The 2004-Post College Me
We all took buses down to Virginia and even though I had to wait 45 minutes in the freezing wind to board it the Boltbus was worth every penny of it’s $25 cost! I got the absolute furthest seat back and slept for the entire 4-hour trip. When I had finally unpacked and settled into my mom’s home again I suddenly became the laziest motherfucker of all time. Basically, I reverted back to the 2004 version of me. Though I had packed my PS3, a whole list of creative pursuits a week off would do wonders for, and a phonebook full of old friends in the area, all I had the energy to do was go through my Netflix instant queue and my mom’s DVD collection and watch movie after movie. I guess I was a little more burned out from work than I had thought and needed to just veg. Anyway, for you stanus.nut completists, here’s the movie schedule:

• Born on the Fourth of July – meh. Way too long and there are better epics out there on the topics this movie discusses.
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – meh. Good but way too hokie and simple to be taken seriously anymore.
• Fargo – good! I laughed and was disgusted at every scene. Pretty good combination.
• Meet Joe Black – meh. Death comes back and gets romantic? A cool premise, but flawed execution and way too happy an ending.
• Driving Miss Daisy – good! I hadn’t seen this since it first came out on VHS and wanted to remember what was so good about it.
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) – ok. Hard to see (too grainy) and weird pacing but it was only 66 minutes long.
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) – ok. Great concert scene but I never liked the story and the “Que Sera, Sera” ending was a turd.

X-Mas Results (Subtitle: I Hate Brandon Jones’ Blind Batshit Luck)
In between all of this movie watching I slipped in some Xmas time with the ‘rents. Steve and I woke up Christmas day and opened gifts at my mom’s place first. The big gift was my college diploma frame … which I had unknowingly discovered a month previous! I’m not sure why my mom felt the need to still wrap it but it will look great on my wall besides my somewhat less classy giant Mavericks flag.

Then it was off to the Z-News headquarters for Xmas Round 2! There we exchanged gifts and met the new member of the clan: a huge, mean-looking but super-friendly pit bull named Amos who my stepbrother and his wife adopted recently. I was advised not to attempt to pet him or even look him in the eye until he got used to my presence! After we all became friends, we passed around gifts and found out that between three of us we had received four copies of the new John Lennon biography. Herr Z-News had the whole day off (he’s been quite busy recently) and after gift-giving we witnessed his emotional return to the virtual links of Tiger Woods: Ass-Play for the Wii. We laughed at this sad hobby of his and then headed back for Xmas dinner at mom’s.

… where I discovered that Brandon had won both of the fantasy football leagues we were in together Sure, I came in last place in one of the leagues. Sure, I was in first place for the vast majority of the season in the other. Yes, Brandon missed one of the drafts completely and had to rely on Yahoo’s autodraft feature. But none of these were what stung the most. Nay, the shame was heaped upon me as I realized I made a fucking [stanus.net] banner about my previous fantasy football wins in the last two years. Ah, stats curse!

A Jan-Yell Afternoon
I had been such a bum all week that my body became accustomed to my behavior in just a few short days. In fact, Cassie had to convince me to go out and meet up with several of our high school friends in Arlington for lunch and drinks. Even though it was Janelle’s birthday celebration and would mean I know everyone there, I grumbled and had to force myself out of bed to show up on time (fun, not-so-surprising note: I was half an hour late). However, as soon as I arrived I wondered what made me think this wouldn’t be a fun time in the first place. It was cool to see old friends who now all lived multiple states away from me and exercise slightly more control over drinking with them! After a quick lunch, we all decided to stay and drink a couple of rounds and shoot the shit for a couple of hours.

A Quiet Evening Out With Jeff C[removed] and Kachold
… but the drinking didn’t stop there! And the Jeff C[removed] was just starting! I had stopped by Jeff’s new Arlington pad for a total of five minutes at one point during Janelle’s lunch. Thinking I had to drive back to return a rental car I hurried out of there, but when I decided upon an alternate plan Cassie and I stopped back at Chez Jeff C[removed] after Janelle’s party moved to the hotel lobby.

After catching up with each other’s adventures who but old college pal (It’s) Rich (Bitch) showed up. He and Jeff were heading out to DC to see some rockabilly/burlesque show and I got talked into checking it out as well. UPDATE: Rich knew one of the dancers and demanded we go there to check her out. To tell you the truth, it was a hilarious night. For example, Rich got so trashed he was thrown out of the bar before he even walked into it. UPDATE: The rockabilly band was forgettable, but it was a strange site seeing 3 guys who looked like the Stray Cats in the middle of ghetto DC. The burlesque dancers were slightly better: Rich’s friend was attractive but the other dancer was HUGE! Unfortunately, their strip teases just seemed so out of place. I dunno. I really was more interested in discussing Jeff C[removed]‘s mole’s return than watching them strip. Unfortunately, I’m just not up to telling anymore of the night’s story right now. I do have a whole bunch of pictures from the night, however. Maybe I can put together a quick photo essay or something. Or not. Actually, bet on the “or not.”

All right, I hope everyone else had a great vacation, too. L8r!

Current Mood: Drained

Photo © 2008 NBC

The magic of Netflix introduced me to one of my new girlfriends this year in the awesome sci-fi/Gilligan’s Island remake, Lost. In fact, I managed to put aside enough time to watch all four season in a span of five months! Unfortunately, once I caught up to the current season (which happened to be the final episode of said season) I was left in the cold for months: Lost wasn’t returning until mid-January! I had built up my show-watching muscles and now they would wither and atrophy without sustenance … something needed to be done.

Enter Heroes. In so many ways it’s painfully obvious that Heroes is NBC’s answer to ABC’s Lost: both shows feature an international cast suddenly finding themselves in different environments amidst supernatural circumstances. Clandestine relationships between characters are revealed as viewer’s delve into the backstories via flashbacks. Both series are such sweeping epics that they necessitate long-winded narratives reminding you of what happened in previous episodes so you don’t get too lost. Anyway, I finally got through the first season of Heroes and I’m here to say …

… it stunk! Yes, me, a comic-obsessed kid (and still a comic-reading “adult”) couldn’t stand this show about a group of super-powered individuals attempting to save the world. Nay! Whereas Lost’s most stunning acheivement is solid, dependable consistency (ok, so there were a handful of cheesy elements early on like the polar bear), Heroes is nothing but hit-or-miss (and mainly staying in the miss category). And this has to be the result of poor planning. Every single element of the show is dictated by what needs to happen to clear up what went wrong in the previous episode. There were countless times when a character’s fundamental directive is changed between successive episodes. I get so tired of the lame “well, I was secretely waiting to do this the whole time! Earlier, when I was against it … I was lying!”

Absolutely no sense of time is adhered to. My favorite example: in a late episode a character stops at a Chinatown store with a friend to get something fixed. There, he stumbles upon a person from his past who proceeds to train him in martial arts. After this training session (which is long enough to necessitate a costume change into a dogi and learning a killer move to take out the badguy), the character leaves and wonders where his friend whom he arrived with went. Do the writers really expect us to believe his friend waited in this repair store for the hours? days? weeks? it took for all the martial arts lessons? Don’t even get me started on the fact that the martial arts trainer was someone who, again, completely flipped motivations within the span of episodes.

This isn’t a spoiler: the bad guy can “steal” people’s powers by cutting their heads open and figuring out how their power works. He explains this by saying he was a watchmaker and loves to see how things work. Ok … as I mentioned in my previous post, I’m perfectly fine with suspending my logic when watching entertainment. I assume his power is stealing people’s powers just like his good guy nemesis. But in an earlier episode a scientist looking for superheroes reveals that this bad guy is actually a regular human being. Now, I’m either forced to believe just by looking at a brain this regular guy can learn a superpower or that, somehow, someone was, again, lying. Ugh … such tired, lazy writing.

Sorry, Heroes, I will not be devoting any more time for other seasons with you. Besides, come mid-January I’m going to have an hour less of free time, anyway.

Current Mood: Excited (about another show involving hoops and a ball)

I’ve done a lot in the past couple of weeks. And I don’t want to write about any of it! For some reason I have no trouble contributing to The Doh Drop or Project NBA Sim – my two other blogs I manage – but [stanus.net] is hurting for inspiration. But I’ll grip the bathroom walls tightly and try to force one out here.

Quantum of Solace
My dad came to visit New York City two weeks ago and (as Schumie would say) we had a ball! The first highlight of the weekend was seeing Quantum of Solace. We checked it out in the huge Lincoln Square theater (we were in the pyramid-themed room). I’ll try not to spoil the movie for you but … it sucked. The Bond girls were absolutely unnecessary (really … another female spy? This is getting old) and the villains were turds. It seemed like all of a sudden the director realized they were at the end of the movie so there had to be a fight and an explosion. How is it Bond was able to incapacitate three Mi6 agents … in an elevator … while handcuffed but had trouble defeating the lame, nerd villain at the end? I’ll suspend my logic for any movie but once the movie throws it’s own rules out the window so goes any respect I have for it as well.

The worst part was the comparison a week later. I watched Casino Royale for a second time a couple of days later and realized that Bond hardly says a word in the new movie. Sure, Daniel Craig’s Bond isn’t a dandy at all (which sucks … come on, let’s have a character flaw somewhere in this superman) but at least he had a style in Royale. In Solace all he does is say a quip and then shoots people. Ugh … every bad action movie from the 90s rears it’s ugly head again. That being said, I can’t hate any Bond movie because I’m FOND OF BOND so I give it 6 out of 10 sucked-in Daniel Craig cheeks.

I would like to note that I went to the theater two days before seeing Solace there to make sure it was the right theater that I thought it was. As soon as I got to the entrance I was surprised to see that … Daniel Craig was standing right outside the entrance! It was some film festival and 30 photographers along with a fence separated the two of us but it was still a moment to remember

Knicks vs. Mavs
My dad must have done some massive planning as his visit coincided directly with the Mavericks coming into town to take on the Knicks. I knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away from Madison Square Garden with the threat of entertainment of that quality so I decided to get tickets. Oh, that and I had already committed myself to getting rediculous good seats for the game, anyway. So we showed up for the slumping Mavs who had lost 5 straight. The game, unfortunately, was more of the same as the boys from Dallas never led at any moment in any of the four quarters.

… But they did tie at the last second and dominated in overtime! Huzzah! It was actually a great game though games where the correct team wins always seem to be better than those other unmentionable matches. And since Dirk and I were in the same building the Mavs have only lost 1 game. He just needed his inspiration back, I guess Alright, although there were several stories from the game, I’ll let the matter go since no one else likes the perfect sport of basketball

Thanksgiving
I had Thanksgiving and the day after off from work so I took an Amtrak train down to the Commonwealth of Virginia for the annual Mills Thanksgiving festivus. It was fun to see all the cousins show up (even with a new cousin-in-law!) and was just long enough where I didn’t go crazy. Seriously, when I am finally in charge of Thanksgivings they will be something very, very different (is it sad that I am a 27-year old man who still receives orders to do certain things on Thanksgiving?). The feature presentation form the night was when Stever went up against cousin Zack’s wife, Alexandra, in a heated Saved by the Bell trivia contest. It was kind of like the NBA All-Star game where both sides were just silly and goofing off at first but then the competition started getting serious. I don’t know if I could declare a winnner between them but I definitely declared a loser.

Before getting to my grandparents house in Harrisonburg, VA Stever and I stopped by the old stomping grounds at JMU where we walked, photographed, and (in my case) swiped memories. I grabbed a broken-off brick from my freshman dorm, Ikenberry. Maybe I’ll copy Stever and paint something on it, who knows. It’s interesting to note that – should I keep the memento – I will continue to bring a broken, dirty brick with me in each of my future moves.

After dinner I drove my mom’s car back home where I finally played a Wii for the first time. In a turn for the cooler, my dad has gotten back into video games. He’s obsessed with the Tiger Woods golf game for the console and I got to experience the gay-mote … I mean wii-mote action in person!!! Instead of a full, natural golf swing he does a whipping motion at the bottom of his swing where he would normally come into contact with the ball. It must be seen to truly be appreciated. Anyway, I still find the wii-mote wand – in its current form – to be a bit gimmicky. I mean, I enjoyed playing the sensor games in the arcades (I remember one where you were a cop and depending on where you’d move your character would duck or dodge bullets) but only for a gag. Then I’d immediately go back to the skill games of Street Fighter II or the like for hours. For casual gamers this is obviously a godsend but for me, I dunno. I’ll try to keep an open mind but my first impressions didn’t do much to convert me. We’ll see how the next gen goes.

Virginia Tech vs. UVA
Over the weekend I was also given the opportunity to witness the craziness of division 1 college football in person. Now, I had actually been to a Virginia Tech game back in 1999 but the experience was worlds different. My view was from the marching band stands and I was rooting for JMU who never had a chance (and who got their asses destroyed). This time I was with Cassie (a UVA alum) and her sister (a Tech alum) so I got to see the full spectrum of insanity. I can’t say I understand it (I have many reasons why my love for the Mavs is different but I won’t bore you here with those airtight reasons of pure fact) but it sure was an interesting study in human psychology.

We (along with father, “Papa Mel”) arrived at the campus at the downright batshit time of 7:45 AM to an empty parking lot outside a really nice “frat” house. It wasn’t the type of frat house I was used to – this one was more of a social club. Very nice and nothing like the beer-drenched debautery I was familiar with. Slowly, the place filled up with Virginia Tech alumni – all in their maroon and orange glory – and all way over the age of 50! One man even pulled out a hand-cranked calliope that played the Tech school song (complete with bell-ringing Hokie statue)! It was fun for a while but I probably didn’t drink as much as I should have for when we made the trek to the game at noon I was freezing (it was so cold it actually started snowing towards the end of the game).

Oh yeah, I was also dressed as a UVA fan since Cassie demanded I root for her team (so far this always happens at away games where every giant man thinks I’m some huge fan of the opposing team and messes with me). Actually this time it wasn’t so bad since we were in the alumni section of the stadium. The game was close and (dare I say it) entertaining with the Hokies winning 17-14. Luckily, I thanked my amazing decision to not drink at the game for when we all finally got back late that night I was the only one not experiencing some form of a hangover!

There you go … a busy couple of weeks condensed into a blob of a blog. It was messy but I managed to get it all out! And don’t worry, I feel another one coming on soon

Current Mood: Relieved

 

Over the weekend, I finally finished an old Groucho biography written in 1979 by Hector Arce. Now normally this wouldn’t have been such a huge victory, but I’d actually started reading it 14 years ago!

This was one of my dad’s books that I would always find in the “library” underneath the stairs back in our Texas home. I saw it enough times, and I was big enough of a Marx Brothers fan, that I started to read it for one of my 8th grade English assignments (I think we had to read a biography). However, I only got halfway through the beast since it was way too mature and thus boring for my 13-year old tastes. It’s amazing how much I would remember as I read … sometimes I even knew how the sentences would be finished!

Anyway, it’s obvious that Groucho was an amazing, once-in-a-generation talent whose stories and quips now approach legendary status. I’ve added all the Marx Brothers movies to my Netflix to give a more knowledgeable and older eye to his work, but the wildest part of the book was actually at the very end. I had no clue the last year or so of Groucho’s life involved a very nasty and very public battle between his live-in pseudo-girlfriend and his family over his assets. It was heartbreaking reading about the inevitable deterioration of a person so vibrant physically as well as mentally, but the pettiness of those who surrounded him made everything seem so much … lonlier.

Well, as the Schumie would say: “all in all” it was a good, if a bit dated, read. The writer of the book was actually working on this book with Groucho’s help so there are a few “real-time” Groucho-isms scattered throughout that were a nice touch. However, this posed a strange twist during the last few chapters. As Arce was involved in Grouhco’s life when the famous comedian died this means he was involved in the legal battles as well. Near the end I longed for an impartial voice as the author’s sudden use of “I” rather than “he” started to read like a Rolling Stone interview where the writer cares more about talking about himself than his subject.

Current Mood: Deadly (like Dirk’s shot)