"I trust you, but I'm not IN trust with you."

I was helping someone with the free online credit report (annualcreditreport.com), and they'd ask me a question every now and then, "I don't understand what it's asking me. Can you help me?"

But everytime I went to look at what the problem was, they'd scroll the page up so I couldn't see their personal information. So, I'd say "Where's the error message?" and they'd say "It said something about a password.", and I'd reply "I need to see the error message." Then they'd scroll down, hesitantly. I'd help them out, and the next problem... the same thing.

I understand that this is private, personal, sensitive information, but damn! I can't help you if you don't trust me at least a little.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"

Here's one of the current debates going on in "teh Intarweb"

iPod's current ad (Fall 2005, featuring Eminem) is WAY too similar to Lugz' Fall 2002 ad to just be coincidence. Check them out, and tell me what you think:

Ding! Ding! It's on!

- iPod's "Eminem" ad vs. Lugz' 2002 ad

Shhhh... I think he's sleeping. 

TEP... I love it!

WHAT KID, WHAT!

A Taste of Chinatown

OH, MAN! Am I glad I heard about this and decided to go. I wish I had posted about it so more people could have enjoyed it.

It's called "A Taste of Chinatown", and what it is is basically a street fair through most of the restaurant streets of Chinatown (Mott, Pell, Baxter, Mulberry Streets to name a few) and the restaurants sell samples of their cooking for $1 or $2 a plate, it's not a lot, but you can get to taste lots of different food, or the same food from different restaurants.

Between Vilz and I, we spent about $12 and stuffed ourselves there, AND had plenty for dinner. Mark this one in your calendars for next time. I know I'll be there next year.

Here are some pics:



As you can see, it was really crowded, but not enough to stop me from getting to the food.



Like I said $1 or $2 a sample plate.



These fried dumplings were AMAZING.



Unfortunately, I didn't get any bubble tea.



I don't think we really stopped eating for more than 10 minutes at any point.



This was the only INSANELY long line in the whole fair.



And, it was for the "Peking Duck House". There was even a second line next to the long one FOR THE BONES!! People waited in line to get the carcasses to make soup, because their duck.. is.. so.. good.

My Halloween Door

I decorated my door for Halloween. The kids love it.

Choices

Sometimes we make good choices, sometimes we make bad choices. Whoever makes Marvel's licensed hero costumes made a bad choice. Just look at their choice of models for these two costumes.

For The Thing costume, they chose some slim kid, when The Thing is a large, bulky body type.



For Spiderman, they chose a chubby kid!



Why wouldn't they switch kids?

Movie review: "Code 46"

This movie is set in the "not too distant future", and is about a man (William) who meets a woman (Maria), falls in love, then finds out that their "encounter" (as in "sexual encounter") is a "code 46 violation". Basically, their DNA is too similar, and there would be too great a chance of problems, biological, ethical, etc..

Now, as this takes place in the future (play omnious music here), the government does really wild stuff, and the technology is way too cool, too scary, too invasive. Terms and words from many different languages are used on a regular basis. For example, instead of "thank you" everyone says "gracias" (actually they say "grathias" the way it's said in Spain), instead of saying "thing" they say "cosa", etc.. There are lots of terms from other languages used, French, Chinese, and Hindi (I think). It's a big mix.

Now, without trying to give away anything, there's a scene that's kinda wild when you think about it. The company Maria works for gives her a virus that basically makes her "allergic" to William. The virus throws her body into a "fight or flight" response, so while she's not sacred of him, her body's reaction to him is to run away, and even his touch hurts her.

But, she wants to have sex with him. So she says "Make my body make love to you." So he ties her up, and... it looks almost like a rape scene... her trying to get away, him calmly forcing her legs open... All the while she's on the verge of tears, but with a nervous smile.

I think the movie's true message isn't about love, I think it's about freedom, the choices you make, the risks you take, all despite how the government (or whatever "powers that be") try to control you. I wouldn't say the movie wasn't "great"... it was "good".

Instant Heated/Iced Beverages

When I was in Florida about a month ago, I picked up one of Wolfgang Puck's Instant Hot Lattes at Target. It was ok, but what was interesting about it, was the fact that the can was "self-heating". You turned the can over, popped the bottom, pushed a button, and in about three minutes, you could open the top-side and drink a hot latte. And now I just saw this site about a new "instant cool can".

I had heard about this technology a LONG time ago (over 15 years ago). I'm wondering why I hadn't seen it yet. The problem was CFCs (chloroflor...... whatever... it's a "greenhouse gas"), that no one wants. Another type used a chemical, but if misused (ie. someone break it open to play with it), it caused damage to the environment. Well, they finally found a "somewhat" safe type to bring us into the future. Woo-Hoo!

Another Smash-up

There's a new smash-up album entitled, "Blue Eyes meets Bed Stuy", featuring Frank Sinatra and Biggie Smalls (aka Notorious B.I.G.), by DJ Cappel and Smitty.

Listen to part of "Juicy New York"

The song list is:

• Juicy - New York, New York


• Everyday Struggle - A Day In The Life of a Fool


• Nasty Boy - For Every Man There's A Woman


• Come On - My Way of Life


• Interlude - The World We Know (Over & Over)


• Dead Wrong - In My Room (Nancy Sinatra)


• Let's Get In On (feat. 2Pac) - Rain In My Heart


• Hypnotize - Little Green Apples


• Interlude


• 10 Crack Commandments - Fools Rush In


• Runnin/Victory 2004 - A Long Night


• Unfoolish (feat. Ashanti) - Out Beyond The Window

Jury Duty

So I had to report to jury duty on Thursday. (dammit!) And I got picked right at the end of the day! (DAMMIT!) The judge said the case would last 6-7 days. (DOUBLE DAMMIT!) Jury duty is SO boring. I love the idea of jury duty. I love to serve and do my part. But it's SOOO boring when you sit there and have to wait until they at least call you up to interview you.

The case involved a man who raped his wife (they were separated). Just from hearing what the Assistant District Attorney (ADA) said about the case made it seem like an open n' shut case. It seemed like the defense attorney's argument was going to be "She's lying. She cheated on him. There was no rape, it was consensual. This is all a set-up."

It's over now, so I can tell you what happened.

So Day 1...

10:00am: The case starts. The attorneys make their opening statements.

12:50pm: We break for lunch.

2:00pm: The complainant (the woman) takes the stand and we hear her side, and evidence is presented. The case seemed tight.

She was trying to let him be involved with their kids (ages 8 and 2), and see them under supervised visits. He kept harrassing her. He'd call her about 4 times a day. There were over 1,100 phone calls LOGGED from him to her. (that doesn't include the calls he made from payphones and other "ID blocked" locations). He'd try to get into the apartment at least 4-5 times a week, even though there were up to FIVE orders of protection issued. The police had been called numerous times, and he'd been arrested/escorted away more than a few times. The day of the attack, he showed up unshaven, dirty, leaning on the wall next to then door of her apartment... (get this)... WEARING THE TUXEDO THEY WERE MARRIED IN!! (coo-coo! coo-coo!) demanding that she explain each and every single phone calls she made, and explain all her bank withdrawls for the past 6-7 months! (he had records and statements with him). Oh, and he stabbed a knife into the coffee table saying that if she didn't explain, there'd be "some slicing and dicing!" After this, he demanded she put on her wedding rings, then he raped her. I'll leave out the details.

I'm wondering what his defense would be.

3:20pm: We break for a few minutes. A "few minutes" turns into about 30-40 minutes.

4:00pm: The judge comes into the jury room to tell us that the defendant changed his plea to guilty! It took a long time, because "it got too emotional in there" he said. He wanted to apologize to her "alone and in person" (which wasn't going to happen), and he admitted everything. So the case was over.

The sad/weird part is that this was a regular, working guy, who taught chess to NYC public school kids, and who never had any problems with the law (until this). And now, he going to jail for quite some time, and will probablyt not see his kids until well after that. And all because he basically couldn't let go, or realize things were getting out of hand.

Sad.. it's just sad for all of the people involved. The guy, the wife, the kids, their families, friends, students, etc...