Author: kevincrossman

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13 Blog Post Weekend

A busy weekend, though in many respects quite productive.

On Friday night, Julie and I took Riley to see Horrible Bosses. Not the most-appropriate movie for a 13 year old, but a kid has to learn about these things someday…

On Saturday, the three of us attended the Japan Bazaar at the Southern Alameda County Buddhist Church in Union City. They had carnival games and some merchandise, along with plenty of food and drinks and entertainment. I had a very tasty teriyaki burger and a beer (this, clearly, is a different kind of church than the one I’m used to). We were there since the family of one of Riley’s buddies goes to the church and was working one of the booths.

riley

Quinn spent Friday night at a sleepover, then on Saturday at a birthday party where they saw Transformers (and Julie gives me a hard time for taking Riley to see Horrible Bosses!). On Sunday, I took Quinn out to hit some tennis balls. He has great fashion sense!

quinn

I also spent some time catching up on some blogging. I posted a ton of blog posts this weekend. Here are all the links!

The Frat Pack Tribute:

Lip Balm Anonymous:

Rock Around the Year:

Kevdo.com

  • If you don’t know which post is, then you’re not trying very hard

So there you go… 13 blog posts in a weekend.

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I Miss Bookstores

julie-bordersAs a former Librarian, I’ve always loved bookstores. Not to a fault, mind you  – I’m not paying twice as much for a book at retail if I can get it online instead. Starting in the mid-1990s, I’ve very much enjoyed the big bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, and especially Borders. Yes, those chains have hurt small bookstores, but in general I’ve chalked that up to changing times. For about 15 years, those chains have had a really good run, but now Borders is closing many of it’s stores.

I’ve gone out of my way to support physical bookstores. We enjoyed visiting the stores after going to the movies or after dinner at places like the Fremont Hub or McCarthy Ranch. In recent years, I’ve been given the opportunity to choose gift cards from several vendors while participating in a rewards program at work. In those cases, I’ve often chosen Borders cards and used them to purchase books, movies, and CDs at their stores. As the kids have grown up, we have regularly taken trips to these stores to browse or more regularly purchase books for them to read.

But, as we know, Borders is closing many of it’s stores. And this has made me really sad. Some of it is nostalgia – the Borders shown in the photo is at McCarthy Ranch and Julie and I went here a lot when we were dating or after we married without kids. And on a recent date night we made one final trip to the location. Inside, it was a bloodbath as people were seemingly picking over the bones of a dead carcass.

So, so sad.

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Fearless Baseball Predictions

mlbHere are my predictions for the this year’s Major League season, with my forecast for the playoff teams and the eventual World Series winner.

National League

  • East: Phillies
  • Central: Reds
  • West: Giants
  • Wild Card: Braves

American League

  • East: Yankees
  • Central: Twins
  • West: Athletics
  • Wild Card: White Sox

World Series Winner: Twins over Phillies

Risky prediction: I truly believe that with added batting that the Giants will actually offer a bit of run support for Barry Zito this year, leading to 15 wins.

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Fearless Oscar Picks

Winners indicated in bold

Best Picture – The King’s Speech

Best Actor – Colin Firth

Best Actress – Natalie Portman

Best Supporting Actor – Christian Bale

Best Supporting Actress – Melissa Leo

Best Director – David Fincher

Best Original Screenplay – The King’s Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay – The Social Network

Best Foreign Film – In a Better World (Denmark)

Best Animated Feature – Toy Story 3

Best Song – We Belong Together (Toy Story 3)

Best Art Direction – The King’s Speech

Best Cinematography – True Grit

Best Costume Design – The King’s Speech

Best Documentary Feature – Inside Job

Best Documentary Short – Killing in the Name

Best Editing – The Social Network

Best Make-Up – The Wolfman

Best Musical Score – The Social Network

Best Animated Short – The Gruffalo

Best Live-Action Short – Wish 143

Best Sound Editing – Inception

Best Sound Mixing – Inception

Best Visual Effects – Inception

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“Torture”

A little composition piece today…  That’s Matilda eating, and Owen and Maya watching from behind glass.

5374173821_16705ed48f

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Top Songs of 2010

greek-soundtrackHere are my most-listened to songs of 2010, based on playcounts from iTunes and iPods. My favorite song of the year also tops the list, “I am Jesus” by Infant Sorrow from the Get Him to the Greek soundtrack. Also high on the list was Metric, Editors (a holdover from last year’s list), and We Are the Fallen.

I had several mashups on the list, including the KISS/Beyonce “I was made for Dreaming ’bout” and “Love Exploder” featuring Jefferson Airplane and Tenacious D.

One thing to note is that my playcounts for 2010 are a lot less than the top totals for 2009 or 2008. Not sure exactly what that means, as I didn’t view my music listening to be particularly different this past year. Overall, I listened to 1539 songs at least once in 2010, a number higher than 2009 and 2008.

  1. I Am Jesus, Infant Sorrow, 37
  2. Last Day, Editors, 35
  3. Bury Me Alive, We Are the Fallen, 35
  4. Like Treasure, Editors, 32
  5. The Clap, Infant Sorrow, 30
  6. Help I’m Alive, Metric, 30
  7. Black Sheep, Metric, 29
  8. Furry Walls, Infant Sorrow, 28
  9. African Child (Trapped In Me), Infant Sorrow, 27
  10. F.O.H., Infant Sorrow, 26
  11. Barricade, Interpol, 26
  12. Crossfire, Brandon Flowers, 25
  13. You Don’t Know Love, Editors, 24
  14. The Boxer, Editors, 23
  15. Satellite Mind, Metric, 23
  16. Animal, Neon Trees, 23
  17. Gang Of Lust, Infant Sorrow, 22
  18. Sick Muse, Metric, 22
  19. I Was Made For Dreaming ’bout, [MMM] MadMixMustang, 22
  20. Papillon, Editors, 21
  21. Going Up, Infant Sorrow, 20
  22. R.O.C.K. in the USA, Adam Curry vs. John Mellencamp, 19
  23. In This Light and On This Evening, Editors, 19
  24. Together Again, Evanescence, 19
  25. Love Gun, KISS, 19
  26. Gold Guns Girls, Metric, 19
  27. Adored, The Bravery, 18
  28. Just Say Yes, Infant Sorrow, 18
  29. Sweet Dreams, Beyoncé, 17
  30. Try It Again, The Hives, 17
  31. Sure Know Something, KISS, 17
  32. Twilight Galaxy, Metric, 17
  33. The Kitchen / The Orgy, Basil Poledouris (Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack), 16
  34. Ours, The Bravery, 16
  35. Bricks and Mortar, Editors, 16
  36. Heard It On The Radio, The Bird And The Bee, 15
  37. Song for Jacob, The Bravery, 15
  38. The Spectator, The Bravery, 15
  39. I Was Made for Lovin’ You, KISS, 15
  40. Collect Call, Metric, 15
  41. If I Were a Boy, Beyoncé, 14
  42. Love Exploder [Jefferson Airplane vs. Tenacious D], G3RSt, 14
  43. Bangers, Beans and Mash, Infant Sorrow, 14
  44. Shock Me, KISS, 14
  45. Gimme Sympathy, Metric, 14
  46. Uprising, Muse, 14
  47. Paradigm, We Are the Fallen, 14
  48. Burn, We Are the Fallen & Bethanie, 14

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Petco’s “Pride?”

Sometimes the joke just writes itself… From the Union City, CA Petco location comes this gem.

petco
We pride ourselves in providing you with clean restroom facilities. If our restroom is not neat, clean, and well supplied, please notify the General Manager.

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“Suitable for All Ages?”

suitable

Are parents stupid enough to fall for labels such as this one? Especially when they’re on an arcade game where the object is to shoot and kill as if you were a member of the military?

army

I have no problem with these sort of game, even for kids such as my son Riley (12, pictured). But all ages? I don’t think so.

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This was ALMOST “my last day alive”

This is one of those ironic tales that might not have been particularly funny or entertaining.

I left my office today a little after 11:45 to head over to another building for my weekly Toastmasters meeting. The drive in the car is pretty short – three or four minutes including stop lights but is takes too long to walk with my busy schedule. I’m a native Californian, so shoot me for liking to to drive, okay?

Most of the time I listen to podcasts in the car but today wanted to hear a long that was in my head. The song was “Last Day” by English band Editors. So, I hit play on the iPod and drove off for my meeting.

I was waiting for the stoplight at Mathilda Ave and Moffett Park Drive. I was heading all the way across the intersection, but many of the people turning left from westbound Moffett onto Mathilda got backed up a bit and so were a bit in the intersection. But, it wasn’t a big deal so I just inched a bit outside my normal lane and then finished heading across.

Next thing I knew I saw a car (a Prius no less) speeding through the intersection, heading northbound on Mathilda. I was using safe driving skills and was actually looking in that direction as I started across the intersection, so I saw the car and was able to easily brake and let the car pass. As it did, I looked to my left to confirm that yes indeed the Prius has completely ran a red light. And unlike most Priuses it wasn’t going very slow either (sorry, Prius owners, but gotta call it like I see it).

If I had entered that lane two seconds earlier – if I hadn’t been “slow off the gate” due to the backed up traffic – then I very likely would have hit by this very fast moving car. And who knows if I’d be in any condition to be writing this blog.

The ironic part? Remember… I specifically picked that Editors song to listen to. Not a podcast. Not a random song from Shuffle mode. But this very specific song: “Last Day.”

“This is my last day alive
Well, it’s one hell of a day to die”

Thankfully, I only had to listen to the the lyrics. Not live them.

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One of these Songs is Song of the Year

At least it’ll the song of the year for me. This is based on the number of listens and this year I’m going to factor in other criteria such as gut instinct and do I still love listening to it after dozens of plays.

Metric – Black Sheep
I think this is an older song but it was used in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (but sung by actress Brie Larson) and definitely sounds great to my ears that love new wave and new wave-influenced bands.

Neon Trees – Animal
I’m really hoping these guys are not “one hit wonders” though I can’t say I am enamored with anything else on their album. This sounds like the kind of song that you’d use a decade from to say “what did things sound like in 2010.”

Infant Sorrow – I am Jesus
From Get Him to the Greek. This song wasn’t really used in the movie much but I really dig it and the sort-of send-up of U2.

So, which song is your favorite?