Its That Time of Year Again . . .

Its the time of year where various people gather at Sarah's mother's house in an attempt to create the ultimate gingerbread construction. the hours are long, the constructions difficult, and the voting harsh. this is a contest after all. what better way to entice people to push themselves to their creative construction limits than with the promise of voting by their peers with prizes to be awarded for First and Second place house (or, Best House and First Loser).

the trash talking was thick this year, as various teams, remembering their defeats of the past were rallying themselves for the ultimate battle. Chris and I had won the contest twice before with our superior constructions, but we had been defeated last year, as skewed and questionable voting rewarded simple cuteness over technical supremacy and conceptual awesomeness.
i was looking forward to this year. Chris and I were destined to regain the title - we are a superior team of creativeness and construction knowledge, after all. but Sarah and Amy had pulled off a coup last year, and Sarah was counting on Britney, her partner this year, to help her do it again.
Megan Showed up with Joseph, a first time team with a self proclaimed killer idea up their sleeves. And Dan and Ashley, a wild card team, having just returned to the bluster of UT from the fun and sun of Florida were any ones guess.
Jacob was meant to team with Sharon, but ended up flying solo, as she wandered throughout the house supervising the replacement of light bulbs and talking on the phone under the auspice of providing snacks. He was able to recruit the occasional help of Lauren and Ian, who sadly dropped out of the race due to a broken nose. (no, the nose was previously broken, but the pain relieving drugs were heavy). This turned out to be to Jacob's favor, as he constructed his most well designed, well made and complete house to date.
We started around noon, making the plans, baking, building, embellishing. Tensions were occasionally high, as people tried to scope out the plans of other teams, or steal their dough or building supplies. But by 6pm all of the houses were completed and the teams cast their votes.

The voting rules seemed fair enough: vote for the best house. You cant vote for your own.

and here is the field, team members followed by entry:

1.) sarah and britney
2.) mike and chris
3.) dan and ashley4.) megan and joseph
5.) jacob

well, how did you vote, dear reader?

and the winner was . . . team Sarah and Britney, with their Whoville inspired creation.

second place went to . . . Jacob's log cabin.

and we (mike and chris) came in third . . .

Chris and i felt confident that our house stood superior (our windmill vanes actually spun for crying out loud!), but the voting told us otherwise. now, not to discredit the creativity of the Who-house. it was excellent. a fantastic idea, and well executed. everyone did a fantastic job on their houses, in their own right. but still we placed 3rd. that's right, second loser. Once again, the spurious voting of the "judges" proved that our skills were far inferior to those of, say, the creator of the log cabin.

i couldn't help think of the sentiments echoed to me by others about the state of our nations voting lately, where those voting feel more inclined to vote against someone than for the "best" choice. indeed, after our loss, we received many consolations. "it's OK, you know your house is the best", "i couldn't vote for you, because your house was too awesome", "i felt bad for *name omitted* because i thought they wouldn't receive any votes . . .*

well, if they didn't receive the votes, you can tell the loser that they won all you want, but they still don't walk home with the prize.

i fear that this is the obvious result of the over liberalization of our public schools by those who want everyone to feel better except those who truly excel. like, letting kids spell things phonetically in elementary school, so that they don't have to feel bad that they can't live up to the exacting standards so harshly imposed upon them by the constructs of their native language. or letting everyone win, so that no one feels like a loser.

well, i'll tell you who loses in that case - the American people, that's who. if we crush the spirits of those who excel, but punishing them for their brilliance, we will eventually wallow in an eventual state of idiocy. Much like Southern California, or the film Idiocracy.

till next year. . .

Think You Know the World?

this little game kept me occupied for longer than i'd like to admit. but i think i did pretty good, considering.

"Here he comes . . . "

GO!

there has been a lot of buzz in the last couple of days about Speed Racer. i guess the Warner Bro's marketing machine is gearing up for the big race!

The trailer is out with Golden Compass now, and i assume will be online soon.

for the interested, here are links to the various articles of the day.

AICN
USA Today
FirstShowing.net
*Gizmodo

Speed Racer - the official website. not much to it, yet.

more to come, i'm sure. but also, this photo of the Mach 5 is actually a digital rendering done at DD. nobody seems to know that. funny, huh.
i got these photos from the interweb, where they are now ubiquitous.

Seriously?

i suddenly and strangely feel the need to dance.

Space is Cool

ok, who wanted to go to space camp? c'mon, dont be shy.
well, i did, so i love seeing sweet images of space. like this one: from the personal website of some guy named "Texasjim." and, yes, according to his bio, he IS from Texas, believe it or not.

i went to Texas once. it wasn't so bad. in fact, it was kind of nice. and so were all of the people. and they have lax gun laws. that sounds great. but i digress.

Texasjim got these pics from "A friend's granddaughter who works for NASA." (?) well, thats nice Jim. and thanks for sharing.

and thanks NASA . . . . for being awesome.

p.s. i also love sweet movies of space. . . like this one

what kind of gun IS that?

the question was posed relative to the previous post. well, THAT is a Sig p229. a German made .40 caliber pistol with 4" barrel and American made stainless steel slide.

aannnndd. . . it rules. Sig Sauer makes fantastic firearms.

next, i need a 1911 of some sort. old Brother Brownings masterpiece. i also think i'd like eventually collect one from each of the war era's in which its been pivotal.
i also would like to get a .22, for plinking around, and having recently shot a Beretta 9mm, and finding it to be quite enjoyable, maybe i should get one of those too. you know, to round out the collection.

speaking of collections. i guess i should also get a Sig 210. and a Mauser "Red 9." Maybe a Luger. Should i get a M1 Garand?

dont worry, i can own all of those legally in the state of California. despite what the liberal wack jobs would like.

my new toy

well, Peter is all full of himself, now that he started a new blog. great. way to go guy. glad you could make it to the party. but, sorry, we're out of guacamole, and the stripper already went home.

anyways, reading peters self absorbed ramblings, i realized that it has been a while since i posted myself. i did have great, introspective post that i started two weeks ago, complete with relevant cell phone pictures, but now it just seems silly and self aggrandizing to post it. but maybe i will later anyways.

for now, please enjoy this photo of my new toy, taken by my super hot girlfriend. its awesome. i love shooting guns. and britney even pretends to have a good time when i make her come with me.

DHL

i'm trying it. maybe it will work better than UPS has, lately. anybody?

camera 2.0

my monitor finally arrived! HOORAY! its an 8" HD monitor from Ikan. hopefully, today the final pieces of my little rig will show up, then i'll really be in business.

guns and pumkins

had a great weekend . . . more evidence here and here.

I Was an Art Major . . .

BECAUSE: i like art more that science, and this might as well have been in Greek . . . it makes no sense to me. And its not just because of the narrators science-y sounding accent.


apparently, Discover Magazine had an online video contest to see who could best explain String Theory in 2 minutes. and that was the winner.

well, i liked the ducky, anyways.

for Eastern European sounding accents, however, i prefer the more political science explanation of the end of the world seen here:



". . . here is ze Earth . . . chilling. Damn! That is a sweet Earth, you might say. . . "

Ah, online merchants, i love thee, i hate thee

soo, i'm sure we have all experienced the joy and wonderment which is online shopping. i know Andy has. he used to buy so many things online, that if a box showed up at the house, he would just open it, assuming it was his. he was often confused, not remembering having ordered The Art of Incredibles or Disney Treasures DVD's . . . (i dont know WHO ordered those. probably an artist . . .)

its just like Christmas, or your birthday, when the box shows up. being that, by time it arrives, you have been either eagerly anticipating its imminence, or you had forgotten that you ordered it in the first place (unless your roomate opens it first, in which case, its like getting a pair of hand me down socks. . ..) you rush to open it, wondering if this particular cardboard treasure chest contains that camera gear you've been lusting after, or that guide to little known hot spots around town, which will undoubtedly make you the coolest guy in your particular circle, famous in your own lunch line for your knowledge of the underground (i suppose, that is, until you realize that by time the guide was written, published and ordered on Amazon, the particularly unknown nature of that "hot spot" is not so clandestine after all . . . )

however, i'm sure that we, at least a few of us, have also experienced the furor generated by inept sales departments, broken promises and slow shipping.

both of these experiences have been my lot, of late. and i cant help but analyze my dependence on online shopping. is it really worth the wait time for shipping, the hassle of researching and ordering, entering your personal information time and again, hoping that the site is actually secure enough to protect your precious financial information from the prying eyes of the internet savvy, and the extra chore of returning an incorrect or unwanted item. is it really worth the cost savings?

i suppose i have to say yes/no. or . . no/yes. for example, i was recently in the market for a tripod. but all of the information i could find was subjective, and i couldnt find pictures of products big enough to make me even want to spend the small money on their lower internet prices. i lucked out and stumbled on a sale at one of my local emporiums of camera merchandise, and got a great deal. but that deal was definitely enhanced by my ability to be able to touch and use the item. so, in that case, the internet purchasing option was not optimal.

of course, many of my recently ordered items could not even have been purchased at a local shop, and are only available through an online resource, as it has allowed me to purchase from far off states like Texas and Georgia. and there is a big YES for the convenience of being able to buy at and have my items shipped to work, where i basically live, depending on the project.

i find that i would often prefer to buy my items at a local retailer, if only for the convenience of possible return and instant gratification, but i suppose, and fear, that in the end, internet commerce will continue to thrive, and local shops will continue to struggle to match the needs and demands of inventory and customer consumption. i know i am a prime example of going to a shop to research an item in person, then buying it online, for a cheaper price.

but there must be a way for local retailers to compete. perhaps with the model of Circuit City, where you can shop online, and then have the option to pick up your item in a local store, or have it shipped. this is great, because once i am in the store, i am obviously more likely to buy something that i had forgotten i needed, or at least on impulse. perhaps local stores will become small store fronts, where you can see an item in real life, and then order it on the internet, either there, or from home, thus allowing them to keep their inventory and, therefore cost, to a minimum.

it will be interesting to continue to observe the future of commerce in our digital age. what do i think? i dont know, i'm not a business man, i'm just an artist.

New Toys

so. . . i've been in the market lately for a camera. you know, for the production on independent video content. so, after a mind numbing amount of internet research, here's the beginnings of my rig.

i have decided to go with a Canon HV20 camera, with a Red Rock M2 cinema lens adapter. "but, mike," you may be inclined to ask, "why did you decide to go with THAT camera? cant you pick that up in the kiddie aisle at Toys R Us?"

"heh heh, funny you should ask. . . " would be the beginnings of my response to you, while shaking my head. . .

well, suffice it to say that, despite its limited manual control, it was its price tag that was the deciding factor. a camera that can shoot 24p, HDV for under $1000?! and, being that i could get this cam, and spend the bulk of my funds on a lens adapter kid, and still come in under the cost of a Panasonic HVX200, this seemed like the ultimate way to share ideas. and i can always get an HVX later. . . if i need it.

so, i'll be posting test footage, methodology, and anything else that comes to mind about my little cam, as we get to know each other. i still need to get a real tripod, a follow focus, and i need my monitor to come, and a few more peripherals, and i'll really be in business, but this is a pretty good start. . .

now i just have to figure out how to capture the test footage. . . :)

Reading is A Very Fresh Way to Learn

"King of Kong . . .

a Fist Full of Quarters"

i just got out of this film, and i must add my voice to the undoubtedly numerous that say: this is one of the best things i have ever seen. ever.



you need to go see this film immediately. i don't have words to describe it. it is beyond words. i posted about it when i first saw the trailer. i couldn't have known that i would post about it again.

i think Matty put it best when he said: "You cant write dialogue like that. . . "

go see it.

Vegas is Hot

its 104 degrees here . . . annnnd. . . thats kind of . . . not so awesome.

britney gets irritable in the heat, which seems funny for a mesa girl.

jordan and meg still insist on living in the city of sin, with noah, their little booger.

and i love it.

aannnndddd. . . . back

so, i'm back in LA now. i celebrated by falling off of my beach cruiser on my Sunday ride with Andy. i felt it would be a fitting way to reintroduce myself to the mean streets of Santa Monica, after 4 months of safe riding in Berlin.

on the way back to LA, i stopped in UT to visit family and see about a girl. and, i dont mind telling you, it was a fantastic two weeks. . . we spend a weekend in the Tetons, and hung out around the great state of UT.
before leaving Europe, i was able to spend a weekend in Barcelona, and that was fun. even more fun that i had expected, really.

but, now i'm back. i was supposed to ride my motorcycle around the great state of CA with Andy and Dan, but i dont know if thats going to happen now. i might have to go solo . . . we'll see about that.

It's Official

i guess Speed Racer production has finally had enough of me, i got my marching orders, and i will officially be returning to the US and A on the 1 of August. WHAT!? yes, that is just 7 days away. and, though i'm sad to leave Berlin, i'm . . . uh . . . looking forward to a more normal existence . . .? ah, who'm i kidding, LA blows/is awesome.

well, don't get too excited, Los Angeles, cause here's my plan: i will go to UT immediately, and stay there for a couple of weeks (since my apartment is still sublet for the rest of the month), then i'll be hopping on the ol' bad motor scooter, and heading up to Yosemite with Andy and Dan and maybe Morgan (c'mon Morgie, your job is gay . . . come hang out with a bunch of dudes instead).

and, after that, i'll be back in the city of angels, and back to work. my life is dedicated to the Speed Racer for the next couple of months.

and there you go.

Last night . . .

i fell asleep at 9pm . . .

and woke up at ll:30 am this morning . . .

MELT! and the Reformation

so, near the end of the day on friday, Andy came by and put forth this proposition: want to go to MELT! tomorrow? ummm . . . . YES! well, truth be told, i was exhausted, and dont really like festival type concerts, but the interesting lineup, combined with my over whelming desire to NOT stay in the city again this weekend, and the proposed laid back nature of our journey won out.

so i saw Harry Potter 5 with a bunch of the work peeps (loved it) on friday night, and woke up late on sat. (around noon) because of my week long exhaustion. andy and i had planned to figure out MELT! around 1, so, about then we started making plans.

we figured out how to take the train, and then thought: maybe we should just rent a car and drive? so, we attempted that option. however, due to the sunnyness of the weekend (finally), all of the rental cars in the entire city of Berlin were rented. seriously, all of them. we talked to 5 different rental car places. how, you may wonder, could EVERY car in a city be rented? well, no idea. but, thats the way it was. so, we took the train.
the train was cool. we met some guys on the platform that were trying to get a group together for a cheaper ticket. apparently, a ticket for one person on a regional train costs about 20 bucks. a ticket for 5 people costs 33. . . soooo . . . . hooking up with random tain buddies it is!

we took the train to Dessau, the bus to Ferropolis, and our feet through the door to one of the most excelent venues i have ever witnessed.
the place used to be a mine of some sort, but now they have made a lake out of the quarry and built concert stages around the big leftover equipment. seriously, it's one of the coolest places i have ever been. i love big machinery, i love lakes, and i love music, so, put that altogether and what could go wrong? apparently nothing.

we had perfect 85ish degree concert weather, and we arrived just in time to catch the Shout Out Louds finnishing up, and from then on it was killer bands all night long (litterally)

we saw:

Shout Out Louds
The Rifles
Hot Chip

Werle & Stankowski
Goose
Mouse On Mars

Polarkreis 18
The Horrors
Shitdisco
The Presets

Tocotronic
Kelis

plus some others that i cant remeber. everybody was excellent at what they were doing. The Horrors were dumb, to my disappointment, but the music sounded great. they just acted dumb. too much of an "act" , felt forced. and Tocotronic was totally lame, and Kelis was just out of place.

Andy and i sat and listened to Tocotronic for a few minutes between other band sets, and we came to the conlusion that they were A. lame and B. would have been relevant 12 years ago . . .maybe. an anecdote: when i told Mohen, Berlin native, about the fest, he was interested in the fact that we has seen Tocotronic making the comment : "yeah, the were big here, like, 12 years ago . . ." when talking to Keith, he was stoked on Tocotronic, saying that he loved them, like, 12 years ago . . . apparently they've come out for some sort of nostalgia tour . . .about about that . . .context. . . ha. funny. funny cause its bigger than a normal size hat . . .
there were a couple of cool things about things about this particular fest. for one, it seems like at any fest type scenario or flea market or whatever, you can always find some thai curry. i had a delicious bowl of chicken and eggplant in milk curry. yes, delicious at a concert is relative, but it was actually pretty tasty. and the fact that i could get it, and for less than 5 bucks, seemed crazy.

also, all of the soft drinks came in bottles. this may seem strange, but its pretty cool for a couple of reasons. they say, or, imply that its for the environment. recycling at all, but here's how they do it. you buy a 2.50 soda in a bottle for 3.50. they give you a little "deposit" chip (this also happens at a lot of concerts and bars), and you get a buck back when you bring back the bottle and the chip. well, you gotta take the bottle back, cause if you want, say, 5 drinks through the day, you dont want to blow 5 extra bucks on 'em. so, if you are always bringing your bottle back, there is alot less trash lying around. also, this is good for the retailer, cause if you dont bring it back, they make a lot of cash.

now, the only reason this really works, i think, is because of the other reason that i dug this fest - it was really small. the main stage maybe had the capacity for a crowd about the size of the GA floor at the Wiltern in LA. now, there were some concrete "bleachers" around, but this made the main stage still not quite the capacity of the Wiltern, so even for the "big" acts, you were still really close to the action. the whole fest was really small. you could walk to each of the three stages and back before the band even finnished their song. so, that was pretty awesome.
well, around 4 am i was partied out, so i found a nice place on the side of the lake, put on my sweat shirt and rain coat . . . and went to sleep. i crashed out for a couple hours while Andy partied all night. that guy is a machine. i was only disturbed one time by some guy who i think had mistaken me for someone he knew. he woke me up and wanted to talk about something. i tried to explain that i dont speak German, but after he got over the initial surprise of not recognizing my face, he carried on with his story or whatever it was. i just went back to sleep. maybe i was in his spot. (thats a little joke, see, cause i was in the middle of a big open area with no one around. . .)

andy came back around 8 am, and we had a swim in a lake colder than the pacific ocean - i guess we hadn't had enough sun in the last couple weeks to warm it up - and then made our way through the tent city to the bus stop.
we caught the bus to the train stop, where we struggled to understand the German train system. Luckily, we met Chris, an freelance software designer specializing in voice recognition software, who walked us through buying a ticket, and explained that the German train system is rediculously hard to understand, even for the Germans who use it on a daily basis. well, it was nice to know that we weren't completely retarded, and then we got to split the ticket with Chris. not bad.

Wittenberg

well, on the way back to Berlin, i noticed a cool church tower, it turns out that it was the place where we had to change trains: Wittenberg.
you may think that sounds vaguely familiar, and if so, you're doing better than me, because i had no idea that it was where Martin Luther lived, taught, and wrote his 95 thesis' and hung them on the church door. Luckily, Chris, our new German train buddy pointed this out for us.

having an hour or so till our next train, and noticing that the trains were running on 2 hour increments, i, having the history bug, may have talked Andy into going into town to check it out. now, Andy, though raised Catholic, is fairly areligious, and keeping in mind that he had just partied at a festival all night, i was a little surprised that he agreed to go. but he did, and we were off!

we checked out all of the major historical landmarks (of which there are approximately 3) and all of the minorly relevant land marks (of which there are . . . approx 3 or 4 - luckily most of them are on the same road. hey, the town is small) ate lunch, and made it back to the train in 3 hours (though we did cut it a bit close there).
for me, the highlights included Luthers house, including some of his actual furniture and a table where his "table talks" took place - informal theological discussions recorded by some of his students. yeah, i touched it while no one was looking. it was pretty cool. and seeing only surviving copy of the second edition Luther's hymnal (no first editions are know to exist) which was the first time his hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God appeared.

a funny story about that room - it has basically been preserved since his death in the same state is was when he was living. i guess its sort of a big deal. when Peter the Great came through the house on a tour, he totally signed his name on the south door of the room. they didn't offer any explanation for this, but the signature is protected under glass. its a short mark (not many characters) made with chalk, i guess. it looked more like a tag. Peter the Great totally tagged Martin Luther's house. hahahah. "Peter was here." you know he totally went home and told all his buddies and they all had a laugh . . . i wonder what else old Pete tagged.
saw the church where Luther used to preach as well as the one where he hung his Theses. unfortunately the original doors and much of the original building were destroyed at some point or another, but some new bronze doors were given, by the Elector or something, that had the theses engraved on them.

it was very cool to see the birthplace of the Reformation. it was a beautiful day to walk around a quaint town, and explore what may constitute the most significant religious rift in the Christian world.

slept on the train all the way back to Berlin and called it a day. er, weekend.

what did YOU do?

me on thursday

this is how i felt at work . . .

Beef Patties

well, after 3 months and some change, i finally did it . . . i ate at Burger King. i've been threatening to do it ever since i got here. but some co-worker inevitably talks me out of it. or, its just not convenient. the reality of it is, why would i eat there when there are so many tasty Doener's, Schwarma's and Curry Worst's around?

well my friend, curiosity is the answer. and tonight, as i walked into the grocery store at the Freidrichstrasse station, i saw the big BK sign and suddenly wanted a cheezeburger, but i though: "no, no, why would i do that? i'm going to the grocery store to get some real food. and as i walked out of the grocery store, with a back pack full of fuits, lunch meats, cheezes and health tasty bread. . . curiosity won, and i gave in to the need for some flame broiled goodness. and i have to tell you . . . it was . . . THE SAME! and by the same, i mean, the same as in America. yeah, you probably already knew that. i mean, thats the point, isnt it . . . but still, dont you just have to KNOW some times? of course you do. admit it. stop fooling yourself.

no, i haven't eaten at McDonald's yet. i've only stopped there for cold tasty bevereges on occasion. but, lets be honest, it's only a matter of time . . . and i've still got two months. after all, i have been to Dunkin Donuts several times. (mmmm . . . donuts . . . )

however, tonights burger experience brings me to another point i've been trying to get to: the Best Burgers in Berlin.

and the Best Burgers in Berlin can be found at . . . . BURGER KING!

HAHAHAHAHA! just kidding, Morgan (i know you choked on your own spit just then. i hope you didnt have to call the nurse.)

in reality, the best burgers in Berlin can be found at: The Bird.
started a year ago by two American guys that, for some reason, found themselves in Berlin and in need of a good burger, the Bird has, possibly, one of the best beef patties i have ever had anywhere. i know you Americans at home can't possibly believe that this could be true, but it is. these burgers are better than 5 Guys, and even better than Brians Grill . . . (i miss you, Brians Grill). and the fries are fantabulous, and they even have malt vinegar, and roll's of paper towels on the tables.

no, Morgan, i have never been to Fathers office. my one attempt was thwarted by its penchant for only being open after 5pm. but i dare say that these burgers may be better than The Counter. . . . i'm not sure, i'm just saying . . . .

as a side note, after work, a bunch of the peeps and i frequented the Bird for a low key fourth, with some quality American fare and some pool on one of the crappiest tables ever. its part of the ambiance.



so, for Morgan: in my limited experience, having only had burgers from 5 places in Berlin, they rank like this. included is a scale of 1 - 10, for relative comprehension. 1=barf, 10=beefy heaven

The Bird (10)- see above. a little pricey for Berlin, but you get what you pay for.

The White Trash (5.5) - dont be confused by it's catchy name, this punk rock location done up in Chinese decor offers quite a menu of "American" food. the burgers and fries are pretty good, for "not America" , except they put some kind of sauce on the buns, resembling mayo (that travesty of a spread), and the couple time's i've been there, they seem to refuse to take it off. . .

Burgermeister (4) - located under the U-band in Kreuzberg, this place was recommended by a local friend. though the burgers are cheap, again, you get what you pay for.

Burger King (3.5) - flame broiled goodness. as a "fast food chain" it can't really be in the running, but it sets up the worst burger ever . . .

The Oscar Wilde (0) - yeah, the place is named for an English guy (or was he Irish), so could i expect a good burger? probably not. but it was by far one of the worst burgers i've ever eaten in my life, only to be surpassed by the absolute worst burger experience of my entire life, and maybe the only time i could not bring myself to finish my food when i was starving - the fast food burgers in the airport in Manaus. not even the suplemental bacon and cheeze could save this poor excuse for a burger. i guess i should have gotten the fish and chips. and the soccer game that Steve and i went there to watch was boring too. oh well . . .

My Computer is Killing Me

i dont know if its actually my computer, or if its Maya. . . but either way, i feel like i'm hurting to get things done today. and even though i've gotten a few shots "squared away," i should be well into the completion of a certain sequence . . . . son of a B*#$% !! (note my excessive use of the exclamation point!)

and, nearly all of my friends have been slacking on blog updates, i have turned to a few of my favorite web comics to help pass the time. like this one, from The Perry Bible Fellowship.

do you need help passing the time? here you go.

The Perry Bible Fellowship
XKCD

29

i hit it this weekend, and it was great. my sister would be proud that i didn't keep it secret like i often do. one year i hiked a whole mountain with my uncle on my birthday, and i never got around to telling him. hey, i just wanted to hike a mountain for my birthday, big deal, right?
the celebration started on friday nigt, with Karaoke Friday. a whole lot of the work peeps and i met at Knaack, where we proudly and energetically sang the limited catolgue untill 4 am. it was great. i offered up an excellent version of You Give Love a Bad Name, in the style of Bon Jovi; Whip It, in the style of Devo; a duet of Space Oddity, with Gian, in the style of David Bowie; Baby One More Time, in the style of Britney Spears; and Wind of Change, with Thomas and Kyle, in the style of Scorpions.
Some of the highlights included Gian's rendition of LA woman, in the style of The Doors; Andy's rendition of a song who's name i forget in the style of Editors; Thomas' rendition of Minnie the Moocher in the style of Cab Calaway; and Scott's rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody in the style of Queen.

Other hightlights included the two hot german chicks, and every song they sang with their 8 years of classical training. The mutant tall guy and his short budy, in matching dress doing something indescribable, and John Goodman doing a fantastic version of Ring of Fire.

all in all it was an excellent night.

Sat included waking up late, watching Die Hard 4 at the theater, and a killer show by Daft Punk in the evening.
Daft Punk was great, as i suppose they usualy are. Their light show is fantastic, and the music is just so dancable. one of my European adventure goals was to catch them, if possible, and how excellent that they played ON MY BIRTHDAY! the show was not long, maybe an hour and a half, max, but every minute was rocking.