USA Today hosts a pretty good Lost discussion thread after each new episode and your truly received the highly coveted "comedy highlight" award from Whitney Matheson, head scribe of the Pop Culture blog. Scroll to the bottom of this page and you can see my old school beer inspired Barneyesc comment [Handle: ELTrain]. BDW was also recently featured on Scrubs and you can watch his scenes online until they get pulled by corporate america. I hope everyone enjoyed my 2 cents and I will try to bring more humor next week after we see Kate & Juliet throw down in a mano-a-mano, no-holds-bared cat fight [while being handcuffed together] - Should be awesome. Just remember Colt 45, unlike sex panther’s 60% rating, works every time.
Comcast has the posted the final Spiderman 3 trailer on their newly launched Spiderman 3 Comcast website. The new site has a very slick design and looks like a good deal of time and energy when into it. In the last trailer we get most of the same stuff shown in the other 2 trailers but we do get our first glimpse at Venom. It is well worth the view. I had some trouble downloading the QuickTime file via their web only interface so I tracked down a regular url to the movie file and you can download the entire movie file using this link [right click -> save as]. May 4th just can't come fast enough.
As reported yesterday by the Milford Daily News, Landlord Gail Mazzarelli objected to the $50-per-unit fee for occupancy inspections. Mazzarelli publicly stated that "If I was the only one benefiting from this service, I can justify the fee for the landlords, but the whole community will benefit from it." While in principle I agree, first we should outline why this is necessary.
Milford has seen an increase of overpopulation with regards to in-town apartments. Since apartments are regulated by the Board of Health, it has been tapped to find a way to resolve the issue. Since the apartment owners themselves are unable to self regulate themselves, the town must intervene. The outcome will positively affect the town however I do not agree that the average single family homeowner should pay for it.
Should we institute some profit sharing from the landlords in town to share with the town for park beautification? I'm sure most landlords wouldn't want additional real estate taxes for general town betterment.
Should the landlords band together, create their own advisory board, pay dues [say $50 per unit] and self regulate? Since they are unable to regulate their own properties properly, maybe they need to hire a firm to do that [oh wait that's the town is doing].
Should lawn cutting companies give unit owners a discount because this could be seen as making the community a better place? Or is it a cost of doing business for landlords? I find it disturbing that an owner would not see this just as a cost of doing business and incorporate that into their expenses and handle it like every other expense.
Is this a case of a few bad apples for owners? If so, maybe those righteous and vocal owners should help the town discover the cause of the issue and maybe all of this could have been avoided.
What about creating a fund from fines issued during this year's inspection to pay for next year's inspections? Think of it as a 1-time fee to have your house inspected - like when you purchase a new home. No-one seems to complain about paying for that inspection. It would be this kind of out-of-the-box thinking that would be better severed than taking the easy route of asking the town [i.e. the taxpayers] to cover the costs.
Like most home owners, I like that my street is plowed, my garbage is picked up, the school is open for business, that the police and fire departments will respond if I am in need and countless other services provided by the town funded by my excise taxes and if landowners are going to allow over-capacity renters - which puts a strain our town's departments - then you bet they are going to have to pay for it. If the $50 per unit is too much for them maybe they will rethink the way they rent and it is this new mentality - not yearly inspections - that will permanently correct this problem and actually benefit the community.
And then there were 10 - and then there was Gwen [could almost be a lyric to a new No Doubt song]. This week we have the top 10 performing "pop-themed" music after being coached by Gwen Stefani. Gwen and Akon will perform on the results show tomorrow, no doubt it will be her hit song The Sweet Escape which is currently #5 on the billboard hot 100. I'm really looking forward to this week especially what tracks the contestants pick out. Here are my suggestions for each person using the hot 100:
Blake: Akon's Don't Matter - Blake maybe the only guy in the competition that can properly cover an R&B/Hip Hop track [which makes up the majority of the hot 100]. Chris R: Justine Timberlake's What Goes Around...Comes Around - Since he has the look and everyone is already calling him a JT knock off, why not just cover his latest hit then. Chris S: The Fray's How To Save A Life - Strip it down to just a piano and let it rip. Gina: Pink's U + Ur Hand - Let the inner Pink/Rocker Chick/What-ever-you-want-to-call-it out and have some fun with this nice up tempo song. Hayley: Christina Aguilera's Candyman - Sickly sweet track that would give her another opportunity to show some skin and maybe even get a little Dirrty. Jordin: Beyonce's Irreplaceable - This song would be more youthful, which I think is important when the singer is 17 and she might have the skills to cover a Beyonce track. LaKisha: Fergie's Glamorous - It's a bit more up-tempo than she has done in the past few weeks and might give her a little more like-ability to go with the obvious sing-ability. Melinda: Nelly Furtado's Set It Right - This would give her a chance to sound a like more contemporary and feel more relevant than just sounding great on an old Motown classics Phil: Augustana's Boston - This could be a nice rebound from last weeks total bar band style song on Tobacco Road and if arranged properly would show off his vocal skill. Sanjaya: John Mayer's Waiting On The World To Change - Sure he sang this before but it might have been the only song he has done so far that is near listenable.
Question: Do you think anyone will cover Gwen or former idols Daughtry or Carrie Underwood?
On a side note [and from the separated at birth or more appropriately son a father never had category]: the Mutant Biker from Weird Science and Phil Stacey???
UPDATE: The oh-so wise folks at American Idol have allowed the contestants to choice from No Doubt, The Police, The Cure, The Pretenders or Donna Summer. Do you think Idol is trying to make sure a few of the Idols make it a little further in the competition? Conspiracy Theorist want to know!
Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards lost to the Portland Trailblazers last Tuesday night 100-98. The pre-game story line was that Arenas, third in the NBA averaging 28.8 points entering the game, vowed to score 50 against both the Blazers and Phoenix Suns when he was cut from the U.S. national team last summer [Suns coach Mike D'Antoni and Blazers coach Nate McMillan were assistants on the U.S. team - he went on to drop 54 on the Suns back on December 22nd]. Providing more fuel to the fire, during a shoot around interview he stated that his presence gave fans a reason to come to the game since Portland was out of the playoffs and struggling. All night fans boo him every time he touches the ball and Arenas is enjoying every minute of it. He does not deliver on his 50 point promise but is rather held to 19 points and 10 assists and as the game winds down [and the game is very close] he makes $10 bet with two fans that if he had the chance, he would make the game-winning basket. He missed the final shot in the loss and walked away with their e-mail addresses so that he could pay them off.
All of this seemed to be fine until Arenas posted details of the bet on his NBA blog [which has since been taken down by the league]. This seems hypocritical to me. It's ok that a player states he going to go wild and score 50 on an opponent, it's ok for him to disparage another team prior to the game to get the home crowd fired up, it's ok to trash talk with the spectators in the front row all game and it's even ok to ask them to put their money where their mouth is at the end of the game with a friendly wager but it's not ok to write about it after the fact. So it seems that the NBA is fine with what these guys do as long as it is not gambling - even if you are gambling on yourself to win.
Ironically the NBA has given a forum for the players to blog about themselves on NBA.com to try and enrich their site and give the fans a new way to interact with the star players. Maybe the NBA's PR department should blog for the players that way the corporate message could be sent out for each post.
I'm sure this post removal and admonishment by the league will not stop Arenas from playing him game and putting on a good show but I bet he just won't blog about every detail.
Blood Diamond is set in the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1999, the film portrays a country torn apart by the struggle between government soldier and brutal rebel forces. Nominated for 5 Academy Awards [unfortunately it did not win a single award], this film is brutal, honest and thought provoking. Centered around the illegal trade of diamonds from Sierra Leone Africa, it paints a very disturbing view of how conflict diamonds, or blood diamonds, are "produced" and brought into the mainstream diamond market. The film quite is controversial taking the position that the large diamond houses, like De Beers, knowingly trade in conflict diamonds and partial were funding the rebel forces and the countries civil war. Since the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was enacted in 2003, it has been reported that the trade of conflict diamonds has been reduced from 4% to 1% in world-wide sales. The dialog is hard to follow at times, Afrikaans spoken in several scenes and the thick accents when English is used, however I feel this is Leonardo DiCaprio's best work and Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly are excellent as well. This is a film that should not be missed and you may never look at a diamond the same way again.
This is a very clever remix of the Apple "1984" commercial, which was first shown during super bowl XVIII and introduced the Macintosh. Question, if the democrats are already poking at each other this early, does that mean the republicans have no chance in 2008?
It's actually his neighbor's and it was listed on ebay but unfortunately it looks like it is no longer availalbe. I think it was taken down because the the last bid [210th] was set at $99,999,999.00, which of course was a joke [maybe by a Red Sox teammate? or even better a Yankee player, wouldn't that be funny]. If you really want the grill, I guess you could just offer Manny $100 Million and it's yours.
Don't forget to stop by Dunkin' Donuts and pick up your free iced coffee today. We stopped in on the way to work and I was glad to see the employees telling each customer about the free coffee offer. We got ours plus a donut treat for the day. Not sure where the closest location is? Find it online. Also spread the word to your friends, they will thank you for it. Thanks to DD and I guess it is true, America does run on Dunkin - at least this guys does.
Connecticut State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation into Best Buy's practices based on an article written by George Gombossy in the Febuary 9th edition of the Hartford Courant. According the Gombossy's research, BestBuy has been using an internal website that looks exactly like their public website however the intranet site has different, as in higher, prices. BestBuy spokesman Justin Barber, who in early February denied the existence of the internal website that could be accessed only by employees, says his company is "cooperating fully" with the state attorney general's investigation. Based on what his office has learned, Blumenthal said, it appears the consumer has the burden of informing Best Buy sales people of the cheaper price listed on its Internet site, which he said "is troubling."
This investigation could not happen to a, in my opinion, better company. In my experiences with BestBuy I have found that they are unfriendly and difficult to their customers. We bought a laptop there last fall and we may have actually seen their intranet in action. I know it was very, very difficult for us to purchase the new laptop with the free printer and software incentive and it took us a good hour to convince the customer service folks that the deal was legitimate.
If the AG of Connecticut find them to be at fault for a high-tech bait-and-switch, I would recommend they are charged with larceny in the sixth degree [Class C misdemeanor - which carries up to 3 months of imprisonment and up to $500 fine] for each transaction made by all 11 stores in the state. Let's just say that each store does 1 million annual transactions [which I think is low], then they would be fined $5.5 billion dollars and that should about take care of it. Of course if this logic was applied to the entire corporation across the country then they would be out of business - but it would put an end to these kind of shady practices.
Even if the state doesn't get BestBuy, I'm sure their stockholders will since their stock prices has been steadily declining since Gombossy's February 9th article. The close price on February 8th was $51.12 and they closed yesterday at $47.61 which is a loss of almost 7% in 5 weeks. We might also hear of some sudden retirements from the upper management in the BestBuy organization if this issue doesn't get resolved quickly and the stocks continue to slide.
On December 8th, 2006 I started my quest for a year long streak of running at least 1 mile everyday. Since then I have run 100 days in a row covering a total of 150 miles - which is not much compared to last year's marathon training but it's still pretty good. I expect the daily average to go up significantly once the warmer weather gets here. In the same time I have also gotten some bike work in and covered over 200 miles in the guy in my building. Not bad but if I'm going to do a triathlon this summer, I will need more miles on the bike [and some time in the pool]. For all of those who are interested, here are the links to the 6th Annual Harpoon 5-Miler to Benefit the Angel Fund [June 2] and the 8th Annual Worcester Firefighters Memorial 6k [June 10]. These are my summer running standards and truly fun for the whole family.
323 Posts 367 Comments 1,718 Unique Visitors [since 6/20/06] Way too many hours of writing Thousands of laughs
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by, read my sometimes crazy thoughts, left their own comments, gave me ideas for posts and have encouraged me to continue to write. I hope each of you have taken just a little something away from The Bottom Of The Barrel.
Also I want to give a shout out to my man Chuck since today is also his birthday. Happy B-Day Chuckster.
Tonight NBC is cleverly trying to improve ratings for reruns by rolling out a “newpeat” of The Office this week. What's a newpeat you ask? It is a previously aired episode that has be re-edited so producers can weave in unaired footage that introduces a new storyline into the older episodes. They are also trying to merge two newpeats into an hour-long story. Tonight they will air newpeats of Traveling Salesman and The Return and it will be interesting if the new footage adds to the overall The Office world or it creates confusion. I think this is a very ingenious idea to reuse film that they already have on hand and give us, the viewing public, something to look forward to when it is rerun season. I wonder if they use this model to give some added life to the series over the summer break? We'll see shortly if it works or not.
Yesterday's upper 60 degree day got everyone thinking spring and what's better to do in the spring than play some golf. Since it is going to snow tonight/tomorrow you can't pull the clubs out just yet but in the mean time check out this very slick online game where you can choose your opponent and tee up for 9 holes of challenging golf. Can't wait to hit the country club this spring and get back into the swing of things.
Home Depot stock has been completely flat, hovering around the $35 to $40 range, since it posted a high of $51 back in 2002. They recently removed their Chairman and CEO Bob Nardelli, Executive Vice President and General Counsel Frank Fernandez and Executive Vice President, Human Resources Dennis Donovan in a management shake up. Nardelli had held that position for the past 6 years and probably was shown the door because of the flat stock, which any stock owner will tell you is not good business. That all sounds bad but here's my recent experience:
When into my local Home Depot, which I used to go to all the time until a Lowes was built 2 miles from my house, recently to look for some bathroom accessories because I hadn’t been able to find exactly what I was looking for at other stores. As soon as I entered I remembered why I liked Lowes so much better, Depot's in general are uninviting and have that warehouse look and feel. Very cold and honestly they feel almost dirty. I walked around and actually found a faw things I liked but did notice that most of the boxes I pulled of the shelves where very dusty. Does their merchandise actually sit on the shelf that long or is it just that dirty in the store? not sure. Anyway, I go to the self-check out because I like this innovation and I don't mind scanning and bagging my own purchase. That went well and I grabbed my two bags of goodies and I started to head out of the store. Just as I hit the doorway, the alarms go off meaning I had a purchase with a sensor and it had to be deactivated. I actually kept walking because the girl working there saw me checkout and pay and even said goodbye to me on the way by. Well she ran after me and asked me to return to the store so she could fix the issue. At this point I was getting annoyed because, for me the paying customer, there is no issue. I paid for the items I left with, what's the issue? Anyway, when we returned to the regular checkout, she and another associate took my bags and first looked at them and didn't know which item was the culprit so they just scanned all the items in both bags until the $22 towel bar made the register beep indicating it was de-activated. This didn't take very long but I found it to be so unnecessary and this is the reason their stock is flat. The store's are gloomy, the service is sub-par and clearly their IT infrastructure is poor at best since their self check-out isn't clever enough to inform the consumer they have a security tag on a product they are purchasing. The Depot thinks it's a better business model to wait till the customer sets off the alarm so that they can be made to feel like common criminals while shopping at their stores.
Well, needless to say, I avoid the Depot [have been for years] and will continue to as much as humanly possible and say thank you a thousand times over for Lowes picking my home town to build one of their stores in. You have made my life easier and taken just a little stress away all at the same time.
March 14th, or 3.14 of course, is Pi Day. Pi is the relationship between a circle's circumference and diameter. The ratio has been calcuated past a trillion decimal places and has yet to form a pattern or repeat in anyway. Also today marks the 128 annaversary of the borth of Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate. Finally, Massachusetts Institute of Technology often mails out its acceptance letters to be delivered to prospective students today - oh those techie's and their sense of humor. Anyway, today at 1:59 grab a peice of your pie of choice and celebrate!
Last week on American Idol, Simon said [which I think was taken from a show last year] Carrie Underwood would outsell all of the previous Idols which was a bold statement given how well Kelly Clarkson has been doing with the multi-platinum records and Grammys and all. So let's see how each of the winners and notable runner-ups music has done to date:
Kelly Clarkson: 8 Million - Thankful (Platinum x 2) + Breakaway (Platinum x 6) Ruben Studdard: 2 Million - Soulful (Platinum) + I Need An Angel (Gold) + The Return Clay Aiken: 4.5 Million - Measure Of A Man (Platinum x 3) + Merry Christmas With Love (Platinum) + A Thousand Different Ways (Gold) Fantasia Barrino: 2 Million - Free Yourself (Platinum) + Fantasia Carrie Underwood: 5 Million - Some Hearts (Platinum x 5) Bo Bice: 0.65 Million - The Real Thing (Gold) Taylor Hicks: 0.63 Million - Taylor Hicks (Gold) Katharine McPhee: 0.24 Million - Katharine McPhee Chris Daughtry: 2 Million - Daughtry (Platinum x 2) Kellie Pickler: 0.46 Million - Small Town Girl [Elliott Yamin drops his debut album on March 20th]
Notes on Underwood: Some Hearts has spent a total of 24 out of 68 weeks on the top ten of the U.S. Billboard 200, meaning she holds the record for Idol winner's debut albums in the Billboard top 10. Some Hearts has also spent 68 out of 68 weeks in the top six of Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, in which 23 of those weeks at number one. Some Hearts was the most sold album of the 2006 Billboard Chart Year which is a first for any Idol winner. Some Hearts has become one of the best-selling debut albums in the U.S. since Evanescence's 2003 debut Fallen. Currently at number 15 on Billboard Album chart.
Simon might be right, Underwood may just be the best selling Idol in the end but so far Clarkson is the queen of the Idols but that maybe because she had a 3 year head start.
Brad Delp, longtime and usually reserved lead signer for the band Boston, passed away this past weekend at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire and he will sure to me missed around New England. His band has the amazing honor of being the group with the best selling debut album, self titled Boston, which has sold more than 17 million copies since it's release in 1976. I am lucky enough to have a vinyl hanging on my office wall to look at now and again and of course the CD for listening pleasure. It is really amazing to think how big this record is when you think back to a very young Tom Shultz, who had recently graduated from MIT, recording 7 of the 8 tracks in his own studio - he designed and built in his basement. Go ahead, listen to the album again and we blown away at how good it sounds for a home studio.
Brad will be remembered as a man who not only could sing nearly any song or in any musical style but also as an artist who always had time to give his autograph to his fans no matter when or where he was. The band's website has been replaced with a single page with the simple yet powerful message:
We've just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll.
To Brad, if you can read this from where you are, thank you for the great legacy of music you left us that always gives us More Than A Feeling, Don't Look Back, Don't Be Afraid, and tell them when you get there that you used to play in a Rock And Roll Band or as you would say, just another band out of Boston, well not just another band - The band out of Boston.
Last night, Harpoon Brewery invited a few of their closest friends to stop by the brewery and enjoy a pint of their newest creation - Harpoon Brown Session Ale - and what a great night it was. About 300 Friends Of Harpoon came to the Boston Brewery to lift a pint with co-founders Dan Kenary and Rich Doyle to toast to their first new year round beer in over 9 years. As a FOH, we were able to attend and were given a Harpoon Brown pint glass and 3 tickets for "sample" pints. They also were serving some really delicious pulled-pork and coleslaw sandwiches to enjoy with your Brown. It was a little cold out in the tent last night but that didn't damped our spirits as we just were enjoying the beer and the togetherness atmosphere of the room. The beer was really good and maybe a permanent replacement for one of my trusty brews, Newcastle Brown Ale. I will need to perform a proper taste test before I can make a final decision and this will be on the top of my list of things to do [after work, school and house projects]. Now we have an additional reason to finish the Harpoon 5 Miler this summer and a new choice in the beer tent. Cheers Harpoon!
This is my first attempt at a mash-up made from my trusty Dell pc using Adobe Audition software. The track combines the lyrics Beastie Boys' Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun with the music and lyrics of Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak. This may not be your type of music but give it a listen anyway and let me know if it sounds good and is in time. Peace out.
Yesterday, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers with aid from local and state police rounded up 350 workers who could not prove they were in the country legally at the Michael Bianco, Inc. company which manufacturers leather and military goods. Additionally, the ICE took the factory owner and three of his managers into custody and they were charged with conspiring to encourage or induce illegal immigrants to live in the United States and conspiring to hire illegal immigrants. They face a maximum sentences of 6 months in prison and fines of $3,000 for each illegal immigrant they knowingly hired which could be as much as 175 years in prison and a fine 1 million dollars each. Also a New Bedford man who worked in a music store across the street from the factory, has been charged with providing fake identification documents to some of the factory workers. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
This raid raises the question, do you target the immigrants of their employers to get this issue under control. Some would argue that these workers come to this country looking for a better way of life and to provide for their families and that they perform jobs that the typical American would not, say hand sewing all day. Others would argue that it's the employers who are required by federal law to verify each employee and file the proper paperwork and pay the appropriate taxes with the government. No one would argue that even though the immigrants are getting work and it maybe a better life here, that the companies owners are the ones stuffing their pockets with the profits from these mostly underpaid and overworked workers.
It's ironic that this company would manufacture safety vests and backpacks for the US military, employ illegal immigrant workers and then be busted by a federal agency. This should be a wake up call for any business owner out there and since ICE agents arrested 716 company officials on charges of violating immigration laws in 2006, compared with 25 in 2002, if you employ them, the ICE might be stopping by soon for a visit. Don't be surprised when they take you and your management team off to a military base for a few days of questioning.
I have been a manager of a small department now for just over 8 months I this week marked my first hire. A young kid fresh out of college and I was able to give him his first job, which I think of a special as I reminisce about my first job out of college and the man who was my first boss. I am looking forward to mentoring my newest employee in the more important things as a company man like knowing who to suck up to, being fast friends with the person who really runs the office - our office administrative assistant, and where the good marking swag is kept. Seriously, I am enjoying mentoring him and hopefully giving him a nice jumping off point for his long career.
NBC has posted a 7 1/2 minute "First Look" of Spiderman 3 which will be available until 9 pm PST tonight. The download is fairly big [250 meg] so give it a fwe minutes to load because it is worth the wait. The flight scene between Spiderman and The New Goblin is outstanding. 59 days and counting to what is sure to be this summer's biggest blockbuster.
Here's on way to get that project you were planning on doing someday to the top of the list of things to do:
Came home on Friday night to my mailbox laying in the yard. Notice a review mirror and tire tracks in the snow. Replacing the really ugly mailbox was something I planned to do, just not this spring. I understand accidents and Friday was a snow/sleet/rain filled day and we do live on a hill but it does get my a little angry that someone slid off the road, into my front yard and destroyed by mailbox post without even leaving a simple note of apology. I hope this person never hits my car in a parking lot because I'm sure I wouldn't get a note on that one either.
The Urban Dictionary defines a mancrush as "the highest level of attraction a man can have towards another man without having any sexual want towards that man." I'm not sure if mancrush.com is really intended for guys to rate other dudes but if it is, it's interesting to see what other men guys "look up to". Since the list is currently 1310 dudes long, I thought it would focus on the top 10 fictional characters and they are:
10. Jason Bourne [# 68] 9. Ferris Bueller [# 66] 8. James Bond [# 61] 7. Dwight Scrute [# 58] 6. Aragon [# 39] 5. Jack Bauer [# 32] 4. Jack Sparrow [# 19] 3. Indiana Jones [# 8] 2. Han Solo [# 7] 1. Jim Halpert [# 5]
Other notables in the mancrush top 100 are Perry Cox # 70, Legolas # 78, Spiderman #87, Batman # 88, Jack Shephard # 90, and Gregory House # 95. [Note these values can and will be different when you get around to visiting the site]
So from the above list it seems that mancrush members like The Office, Harrison Ford movies, LOTR, superheroes and doctors.
Comcast has the posted the final Spiderman 3 trailer on their newly launched 
Don't forget to stop by 
Yesterday's upper 60 degree day got everyone thinking spring and what's better to do in the spring than play some golf. Since it is going to snow tonight/tomorrow you can't pull the clubs out just yet but in the mean time check out this very slick 
This is one of the best shcokwave games I have ever played and what the heck, it's Friday, go ahead and shred a 