fripodding and partying: “yeah man” sam cooke

Posted on June 19, 2009 by t. sterling — Leave a comment

I lied once again. Not that anyone would know what I was lying about, but I already had a predetermined friPod pick for today, and I’m changing my mind again. I just want the record to show, that if I had money to burn, not only would I raid a grocery store and probably Best Buy, but I’d be a total iTunes junkie.

With that said, let me introduce, for probably the first time, a Sam Cooke song. Amazingly, I don’t really speak of him that often or choose many of his songs to my pick for the week, but this particular song struck me in such a way that I had to share it! And I can be the first to tell you, even though I’m one of his biggest fans, I know I haven’t heard every song he’s ever done. I personally think that’s what makes being a fan of a late legend pretty cool because there are strong possibilities you find a lost treasure like that.

Today’s iPick would sorta be considered two songs, and I’ll explain why. The song is called “Yeah Man.” Simple enough, right? So are the lyrics to the chorus. It’s just that, “yeah man.” Don’t be fooled by the ballads and love songs Mr. Cooke has provided in his career. He definitely loves to party. If you are Cooke fan, you already know because his list of love songs probably matches the list of party songs. And all the live performances I’ve heard sound like a good time indeed. (Incidentally, “Good Times” and “We’re Having a Party” are a few favorites of mine.) And it certainly sounds like a party is going on while “Yeah Man” was recorded. I wouldn’t be surprised. He talks to “the party-goers” like they are there, or he is with them… so you know it’s meant to be performed live, or at least played at dance parties. Unfortunately, I can’t find a recording online, but here is a really good live cover performing the song the way it’s meant to. Almost modernized too. And with the actual dance moves of the 60’s with moves from today. Trust me, I was skeptical when it first started playing, but I’m impressed. I don’t think I could do better as much as I love to sing this song in my car.

Awesome? I think so. I would definitely say he did the song justice. He had the passion, the dance moves, and importantly- the soul. And his dancing buddy certainly helped a lot too. I wasn’t really sure how the Watusi was done even though I’ve heard it in so many songs. The same goes for the Mashed Potato, which is another song I like.

But if the song sounds familiar, you probably heard what was a big hit in the later 60’s by Arthur Conley, Jr, “Sweet Soul Music.” A very soulful updated version of “Yeah Man” that pays homage to soul music and many soul artists at the time. My only disagreement with the song is that Sam Cooke doesn’t get a shout out, but I’m willing to let it go since Otis Redding (Cooke’s protege, if you will) was involved in the rewriting of this song with Conley. I actually heard this song before “Yeah Man” so I’m really used to hearing this version with the louder instruments. I probably like “Yeah Man” an ounce more though. I’ll let you judge for yourself. I found this recording, apparently he’s performing, but I think he’s just lip-synching. It doesn’t matter, it’s still a great song and there are a few live versions of him performing the song.

I have plans of my own with this song. My original plan was to rewrite it so I could include Sam Cooke as well as other great soulful talents like Al Green, Areatha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Luther VanDross, just to name a few. Then after I heard “Yeah Man”, I considered a gospel version of this song, meant to be performed during a church service to get people moving and out of their seats. I don’t know about you, but my church loves to party, and this would be the perfect song for that. As I told my mother, whom agrees with me, the only bad thing about these songs is that they are too short. Thank God for the repeat button, and I apologize to anyone who’s within earshot that hears the same song for an hour.

Tagged with: classics, friday, fripod, gospel, heavy rotation, ipod, music, sam cooke, soul, t. sterling
Posted in ipod, music, sam cooke

water to wine and other miracles

Posted on June 18, 2009 by t. sterling — 2 Comments

I’ve had such a day today that I consider a couple miracles had happened.

My work week started out like any other, except for an email from my boss telling me to get rid of close to 90 aging files. As a reminder, my job is to analyze and verify applications for an insurance company. Specific details of my job aren’t necessary, all you need to know is that I work on production which means I have a quota to fill.

55 files a week is what they ask of us. I don’t consider myself an overachiever, but if I can do more, I will. And most of the time I do. I like to earn my right to slack off at the end of the week. Work hard now, play harder later.

The majority of the files I work on, I complete within 24-48 hours. Sometimes I need some info faxed into me, and that might take a week or two. I’m supposed to follow up on these faxes or phone calls every few days so I can get the file done ASAP… but as I just said, I’m a bit of a slacker, I admit it, I have no shame.

Well, some of these files had gone un-followed-up for not just a few weeks, but a few months. This is not good. So this week I devoted time to these old files to get rid of them. I figured some non-stop calls to all the places I needed to talk to would fix the problem. Well, it didn’t. It took me 2 1/2 days to get through about 75% of the list, and by Wednesday morning, the time when I usually have 30 or more, I had a mere 11. I also had a few frustrating phone calls that dampered my morale so I wasn’t feeling too chipper.

Fortunately, God has blessed me with awesome friends. Sometimes all it takes is a someone being silly or a warm genuine smile to flip the world back on the right side. And that’s what happened. I went back to work with a new attitude and new plan of attack. To wrap up this story, when I left, I had my 55 files done completely, plus a little extra (we get time off for meetings or files we had to cancel, so consider my actual number to be 58 or 59).

Happy as a kid on the last day of school, I rushed off to choir rehearsal. I didn’t really want to go to rehearsal, but I did want to get out of the house. And I’m glad I went, as I usually am. I think it’s just me being lazy and not wanting to drive.

Afterwards, I was just ready to call it a day and get home. I tried enjoying the ride by cranking the volume to enjoy some newer music. I stopped at a light behind about two to three cars. The light turned green, we all started to move and then the car in front of me stopped short. I also tried to break as quickly as I could, but it wasn’t quick enough. I was too close. BUMP. Facepalm. I can’t say crash, and tap is too light. But still, I felt it. The lady I hit felt it. I waited to see what she was going to do first. Then I knew I had to get out of the car once I saw her hazard lights go on. After another facepalm, I followed suit and then got out of the car.

Oh yeah, it was raining too.

So we made sure no one was hurt. She suggested we exchange information: name, number, license, insurance, blah blah blah. Honestly, I wasn’t really sure if that’s what was supposed to happen when she asked me if that’s what we were supposed to do. I just agreed.

The whole transaction took about 20 minutes. Did I mention it was raining?

The lady I hit was a Christian. I consider this a miracle in a way because I could have hit someone who was crazy. And you know what I mean. Some people reading this might be one of those crazy people. And if the truth is told, there are some Christians that aren’t the nicest people either. Hypocrites. Anyway, this was a kind gentle lady. A bit shaken, understandably so, and I kept apologizing since technically I’d be considered the one at fault. She told me the car in front of her had some issues that made her stop short. As interested as I was, I just wanted to get out of the rain, So I really don’t remember what she said. I was getting wetter and colder the longer we stood out there. And I’m not one for making a scene out on a busy street like we were on, parked in the middle of the road like we were.

It turned friendliest by the end. I invited her to my church and explained that’s where I had been coming from. She even shook my hand after I told her I was the pastor’s son. This bit of information seems to benefit me when I was wee and just a preacher’s kid. Well, benefits at church functions. It got me better seats, better snacks, like a pseudo-V.I.P. It’s pretty good. I wasn’t and still don’t expect special treatment this time. I’m human like everyone else. The miracle is that no one got hurt and this little incident was a lot more peaceful than any alternative.

And another miracle within itself is my parents celebrating their 26th anniversary. Yes, some people still believe in staying with the same person for more than two years (ahem, Usher…)

So this was a longer post than usual, I’m just making up for not blogging all week. At least now you know why: hard at work getting the job done… and crashing into other people’s cars.

Tagged with: car accident, driving, fender bender, job, life, miracle, storytelling, t. sterling, work
Posted in anniversary, car, church, driving, life update, office

fripodding and financing: mo money mo problems – notorious b.i.g.

Posted on June 12, 2009 by t. sterling — Leave a comment

I lied a little bit. This wasn’t going to be today’s friDay friPod pick. I think I’ll save it for next week so I can analyze it a little more and give you a real breakdown of what I think about that pick.

Anyway, today’s pick is what we can consider a throwback track. At the time, it was fresh, it was hot, and all about the money. It was Bad Boy. And they don’t stop. And the music video was nothing to sneeze at either. It’s still one of my favorite videos and songs of all time. I can’t help that I’m a sucker for colorful entertainment with a catchy party song. I would embed the video here, but I don’t want to get in trouble so just follow the link to YouTube before/after/while you read this.

But let’s talk about the song first. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure a good majority of the kids I grew up with could probably sing the entire song today as soon as they heard the very first second of the intro. I know this because back when it was new and it played in class, everyone sang/rapped along. Especially when it came to Biggie’s verse. For the record, just to get it out there, the song sampled is Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out” which is a very hot song on it’s own right. Here, it is covered by Kelly Price.

The title pretty much states what the song is about, or supposedly what it’s about. “The more money you make, the more problems you get.” To be honest, I never looked too deep into the lyrics because I was just enjoying the music and the beats. However I almost want to agree with Puff, er, um, Diddy that “ten years from now [they’ll] still be on top” is kinda true. The song came out in ’97 and here it is ’09. Diddy and Biggie are certainly not forgotten. Notorious is now on DVD and Puff is still a big player in music and TV. But you’d think a song that is 12 years old might be $0.99 on iTunes but NO! That’s okay, I found one anyway.

But back to the video… I didn’t buy it for iSaac to play… yet. But it’s certainly one I’d collect. The song is definitely one to blast at a party (like one I recently attended, and it brought back so many memories that we played it twice). But the video… I never really understood the sets… with the dancers in white… and all the explosions behind them (and Puff and Mase). And the shiny suits. But do you really need a reason for the sake of art? I much prefer videos of this nature than the rump-shaking, look-at-my-rented-car and flashy jewelry videos that followed. And yeah, a few of those are classics too.

But there’s one dude in this video that always stands out to me. He can be spotted at 4:14 and 4:42 with the corn rows. It’s just something about the look on his face and the way he is dancing. I won’t lie, I’m sure I’d be doing something just as foolish if not worse… but not in front of recording cameras. I’m still stuck on the now infamous “dance” moves from both Puff and Mase, way before the Harlem Shake days. Regardless, it’s still a classic and I love every minute of it including the little golf part in the beginning.

Tagged with: bad boy, friday, fripod, music, music video, notorious big, t. sterling
Posted in friday, fripodding, ipod, memories, music, music video

“up” film review

Posted on June 11, 2009 by t. sterling — 1 Comment

If you haven’t heard, the creatively awesome storytelling geniuses over at Pixar have done it again! This would make their winning track sheet 10-0; meaning Pixar has yet to make a movie that flopped. Critics and regular moviegoers alike have spoken, and I must agree, this was another job well done.

I’d like to take an aside by saying what I like about the Pixar movies. Do you need a refresher of the 10 winning movies I’m speaking of? Sure, I’ll tell you. Count with me now and reminisce the good times you had the first and/or second time you watched these amazing, imaginative films. Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and finally, Up. Might I add that the animation seems to get better with each movie? I felt like I was watching stop-motion photography like the good-old-days with miniature dolls and houses. What I also like about these movies is how they appeal to kids, but appeal even stronger to adults. That’s mostly my opinion, but it’s no secret that many parents take delight in watching many of these films even without their children. I believe Pixar breaks the stereotype that animated movies are for kids only. Everyone enjoys their movies no matter how old they are. And, might I add, they are timeless.

Up is the same way. Indeed, ’tis very child friendly, but it has some grown-up themes. I think they handled the serious stuff very well, like a character dying and memories of absent family members. These back stories were told so well, I think I felt my eyes getting a little more moist than usual at certain dramatic parts. It could’ve been my allergies though. I did forget my medication that day, and there are always specks of dust wherever you go. So who knows?

The funny thing about this movie (one of them anyway) is the title. I’ll tell people “I’m going to go see Up.” “Up?” “You know… the movie… Up?” [Blank expression.] “The movie with the old guy in the house with balloons…” “Oh! Up!” Yeah, I had this conversation almost word for word at least four times. You can have a lot of fun with it though. (“What’s Up?”)

If you are still a little unsure of the plot, it’s about an elderly widower who is forced to leave his home. He and his wife have strong connections to the house they grew old together in, and can’t bare to leave it behind after she passes. [Tear.] So to fulfill a life long promise to her, he decides to uproot the entire house to carry out a marvelous adventure. Unfortunately, this grumpy old man unknowingly brings a scouting companion whose goal is to earn his “Assisting the Elderly” badge so he can graduate to a senior scout. He’s a cute kid. I don’t blame the old man for finding him to be irritable, but he’s cute and it’s definitely entertaining to watch these two interact.

Another source of entertainment comes from the animals these two encounter. I don’t want to say much about the animals, because I went into this movie not knowing and I think that made it more fun for me. I will say that when my friend and I left the theater that night, we had a new favorite joke about squirrels that’s only funny after watching this movie. Or perhaps we just find random things funny and we were the only ones laughing the hardest at the little things we noticed. (There were 10 people total for this showing. My friend and some lady behind us were the loudest.)

Overall, I’ve got to say this was a great film. This movie does have the 3D viewing, but I wasn’t at a participating theater. [Tear.] Like all Pixar movies, make sure you are on time to watch a Pixar short before the feature presentation, which is worth watching for a good laugh. Special thanks to such wonderful coworkers who supplied my free screening of this movie. My next step is free tickets to the big premieres in Hollywood.

Tagged with: disney, movies, pixar, review, storytelling, t. sterling, up
Posted in movie, review

showdown: man vs. bird

Posted on June 10, 2009 by t. sterling — Leave a comment

Last week I started a little controversial debate about animals in the wild having emotional feelings. Surely my argument didn’t have a scientific leg to stand on, but so what, call it fictional creative writing expression. I was just masking some grievances I had been feeling that day and was inspired by watching some squirrels and birds doing their squirrelly and birdie things. So I took it out on nature. Plus, my imagination was triggered by a caffeine surge.

Apparently, the neighborhood wildlife has computers and protested what I had to say. Or maybe they can pick up on Wi-Fi signals and managed to read this very blog. At least the birds knew about it. Not only that, but they were aware of an incident that happened with my sister last week and an unfortunate bird.

I never thought it was possible, but apparently if a bird can get hit by an airplane, what’s to stop the same thing from happening to someone’s car? My sister, driving to work one morning, managed to strike a bird! Due to the graphic nature of the incident, I’m choosing not to post the picture of what’s left of the bird. That’s right… what’s left. What was left was a wing, as far as I could tell. The bird got lodged into the grill of the vehicle, so a stick was needed to remove it. It wasn’t a pretty picture, and it made for a humorous story in a weird morbid way (depends how strongly you feel about animals).

Anyway, between that incident and my remarks about emotionless critters, the birds might have it out for me. I park in an area where I haven’t been attacked “fecally” due to the lack of trees. My usual space has been something short of target practice that only car wash owners appreciate. But just recently, they dropped a bomb, maybe as a warning to me? An ultimatum? Revenge? Or maybe just to say “We’re watching you.”

But if they weren’t saying it then, they definitely said it yesterday. Every so often I like to open the door to my office (the front door to my house) and just look out at the neighborhood. Sometimes I get the mail, which is a short walk from the door to the curb, or go to my car which is about just as short of a distance. But this particular time was just for observational purposes.

Standing there in the middle of this triangle of my car, the mailbox and the front door, was a robin. A robin that had seemed to have his chest poked out at me, and looking me square in the face. (I don’t know the gender of this bird, but he seemed masculine, so I’ll say it was a dude-robin.) I saw his little beady eyes. Or at least I think I did, they have small eyes. But I know he saw me. He didn’t move. Standing there as if to say, “Yeah buddy, I’m lookin’ at you. I know what you said. And I know what you did.”

At this very same time, I’m looking at this bird thinking, “Is this bird sizing me up? Is he trying to give me the third degree?” More than likely, he was. Whether or not it was working is another question.

You know how birds have this twitching way about them when they turn there heads or look at something? This robin wasn’t doing that. Actually, I was the one doing it. Not in the timid bird fashion, more like a confused dog. I stepped out a bit further. The beady bird eyes followed my step. Then he took a step. Again, most birds I notice have a hop of some kind. This one lifted one tiny foot, placed it in front of the other, and then brought the other foot to meet the other. I heard the blade of grass flap as he made his stance.

Is this bird challenging me? Are we playing chess? I hoped not… I hoped it was checkers. Chess is a game I still haven’t really learned yet. And I didn’t know what piece I or he was playing. But I’m technically on his territory, or I would be if I stepped off the porch, which I’m sure is what he was waiting for. Just to show me that animals, or at least birds, do have feelings and the bird community’s feelings had been hurt. Not just because of what I said, but also because of actions of my relatives. They decided to send a hitbird to let me know how they felt about it. Was this bird sent to actually carry out a hit or a warning is anyone’s guess. Maybe to send a message to humanity, or maybe have an example made out of me?

I have respect for the animal kingdom and all, but I’m not about to get showed out by some random robin. Not in my own yard. So to the bird, in facial expression and posture, I told him I was ready. “Bring it.” We stared at each other for what felt like a good 15 minutes. It was already past noon and I’m sure the cowboys out in the old West would’ve already drawn, fired, and killed each other by now and just waiting for the sunset to go riding off into. I highly doubt a lawman or outlaw ever had to open fire on a feathered being. Well, maybe for food…

But I’m nobody’s punk. It was either me or this bird. The only reason why I ran in the house so quickly when he started flying towards me was because my phone was ringing and I was waiting for an important call.

Tagged with: birds, emotions, feelings, nature, storytelling, t. sterling, writing
Posted in nature, story, storytelling, writing

fripodding and purpling continues: mplsound – prince

Posted on June 5, 2009 by t. sterling — Leave a comment

My apologies again for not having this post last friDay while it was still relevant. But here it is! This is actually like Part II to a couple weeks ago when iPicked Prince’s LOtUSFLOW3R. And let me put it this way… if that album represented Prince’s day, MPLSoUND represents his night.

And I mean that in a good way. I will also explain how I came to this conclusion. A good number of the songs on this album seem to be about dancing at night, or just going out in general. Especially in the first song. I won’t go into detail, you just have to hear it. And I recommend it, it’s a good one. “(There’ll Never B) Another Like Me.” But I’m saving the songs I really like for last to talk about.

This sound, which apparently is the Minneapolis sound (hence the name of the album, if you didn’t catch it) is a funky R&B style. It gives me flashbacks of, I don’t know, the Purple Rain soundtrack or just some other run-of-the-mill 90’s R&B music… BUT it’s got a certain flair that sets it apart. Mostly that flair is Prince doing his musical genius thing that I respect so much. I can’t help but excuse him for being as strange as people make him out to be. Anyway, the sound definitely differs from LOtUSFLOW3R, and that’s not a bad thing. However, it took me a little while to start listening to it, and then to start liking it.

I can wait no longer. There are some good songs on here but I have a favorite that I know iSaac has played over 50 times by now. Although for the past week we took a break to make room for a new artist… (new to me and iSaac, but more on that next week.)

I have a love/hate relationship with the song “Chocolate Box” which is odd, a little catchy, but I’ll admit I do skip it 50% of the time. The first few songs are “rump shakers” designed to make you dance and have a good time. He slows it down, which again, Prince is very good at doing love songs. These aren’t necessarily sexual either, just romantic. I believe Prince is still doing his clean image, so it’s safe for the kiddies… which I imagine would groan regardless. Then there’s “Valentina” which I hear is dedicated to Salma Hayek’s daughter… yet he seems to talk about Hayek a lot. I don’t blame him. She’s hot. He goes back into a slow song before bringing the uptempo back to talk to the people about music and the music industry.

I loved the song “No More Candy 4 U” because of the title, then the chorus, then the message, then just the song itself. I also like it because my best friend loves candy, and I’m hoping the message gets through… I jest. Another song I love is called “Here.” A great slow jam that too me a little while to figure out, but I couldn’t stop playing it once it got it’s hooks in me. What confused me about this song is he is telling this girl that he doesn’t want her “here” and the reason why is because he loves her so much that he’ll cry. Eventually, by the end of the song, he pleads that he wants her “here” and I dunno, the song is just awesome. The man is a great poet, and I’ve said this before with “4ever.” he even does a little “breakdown” moment where he speaks, like the old school love songs used to. Last and probably the most favorite is a song called “Dance 4 Me.” I’ll admit, this is another weird one that I didn’t like at first, but now I can’t stop listening to it. In fact, I want to write a song like it. I can see where Andre 3000 gets his inspiration from. Anyway, this song deserves it’s own friPod. Simple yet cool lyrics, great beat, I love the instruments… I can see Morris Day and The Time dancing in the background to this song. Unfortunately, I can’t locate this song online, so you’ll have to take my word for it. (Or just buy it.)

Tagged with: friday, fripod, ipod, mplsound, music, prince, t. sterling
Posted in friday, fripodding, ipod, music, prince

adventures in the big city

Posted on June 4, 2009 by t. sterling — 3 Comments

I spent a vast majority of last Thursday in the Big City, aka Manhattan. I must say that it was indoob a delight. We had a great time. We, being myself, my best friend Kitten and my New Yorker cousin Kim, whom I’ve last seen the last time I got myself lost in the city back in my Purchase days.

Kitten and I took the train from New Haven, which required us to park miles away from the station and walk there. Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but we weren’t looking forward to the return hike. Especially since the weather wasn’t looking too promising. Our entire day was covered in clouds, and on occasion we were welcomed with a mist to a light drizzle. If there was any real rain going on, we were fortunate and blessed enough to be sheltered in a dry warm place.

So the train ride was fun. I don’t get to ride the train very much and it was surprisingly cheaper than I expected it to be. $28 round trip! Off-peak times of course. But it was all good. We spent a good hour, hour and a half looking out the window or watching other boarding passengers that looked weird or amusing to us. For example, a group of kids not too much younger than us that had the same NY destination caught our attention. One girl brought an entire salon kit: she first did her make-up, then her nails. I mean really did them. Filed, buffed, and applied special creams and everything. There was also a man who we thought was talking to us or the passenger in front of us, but we were mistaken and also relieved when he got off at the next stop.

We arrived at Grand Central and exited onto 42nd St. I couldn’t tell you the actual way we were going, but it was the wrong way from where I wanted to go. What was my goal this trip? 30 Rockefeller Center, home of one of my favorite TV shows: 30 Rock. We were also super hungry, so we figured we’d get food first.

We jokingly kept a running tally of how many Starbucks compared to Dunkin Donuts we found. I think from the streets we were on, we had Starbucks as the winner 2:1. We are D&D people by the way. We headed towards Times Square in search of a favorite pizza place we ate at a couple years before. But alas! ‘Twas gone! And it looked like it was turning into some makeup store or something. I don’t know, but it didn’t feel right. An awesome pizza place in the heart of Times Square now vanished! Evil villains! So we went to a Sbarro instead. We followed up with a trip to Hershey’s store before continuing on to our destination.

After a few wrong turns (again, it was my fault), we finally found the GE building I was searching for. By the way, my handy-dandy state of the art nifty phone was nigh-battery death. So using my GPS navigator was out of the question and was primarily used to keep in contact with Kim, whom I kept telling our current location to meet us, which didn’t help her because we kept walking. After reaching 30 Rock, we went into the NBC gift store and admired TV shows past and present and their memorabilia. I didn’t buy anything. I really wanted to take the tour, but the next tour wasn’t for another hour and a half. Surely we could come back later. And we planned too. We never did.

Salvador Dali & t. sterling: Artists de la Surreal

We headed off towards the public library where we decided to wait for Kim to catch up. Once she joined the party, we were off to Madame Tussauds. This is where I can stop talking and let the pictures speak for themselves. This was a fun experience and I recommend people visit this place if they never have. (The captions on my Facebook album are better, by the way.)

After the wax museum, we got ice cream at Cold Stones, which was across the street. This is another hot spot for the Kitten and I. Next stop, the Empire State Building.

Like I mentioned before, the weather hadn’t really been on our side. Due to the cloud cover over the city, and much of New England that day, visiting the observation deck of a skyscraper wasn’t in our best interests since there was 0% visibility. However, due to events beyond the Empire’s control, the tour gave us a 1/2 price for another attraction called the NY Skyride which was a helicopter simulation of a tour through NYC. I might want to add here that this ride isn’t for the weak stomach. I was expecting a nice relaxing tour, with some gentle man or woman showing you the best places to visit. No, this is more like a ride found at Disney World where your seat moves along with the giant screen in front of you, rocking back and forth, jolting here and there… Kitten and I admitted to closing our eyes a couple times just to help settle our nerves. Overall, it was mildly fun if you leave out the sick-inducing part. By the way, it’s hosted by an amusing Kevin Bacon (in which he constant refers to previous movies he’s been in while play six degrees of separation) and annoying song called “I am New York” which we told Kim she must learn and sing for us later.

By this time, it was almost time to go. We hit up a couple stores on 34th since Kitten and I made a pact to buy ourselves something. What did we buy? Belts. That’s right, belts. And wouldn’t you know it; the belt I bought was too big? I have to put a hole in it later. An ongoing dispute had been going on about what the name of a certain movie was called that involved a miracle on a numbered street in Manhattan. Miracle on 42nd St? Miracle of 54th St? But we figured it out once we saw Macy’s on 34th.

We walked back to Grand Central, killed some more time in the shops there before it was time to board our train. We said our goodbyes and hopped on a car that looked like it had some good seats. I was mistaken; it was right next to the bathroom. We endured a stench for a good (or bad) 90 minutes. The last 10 minutes I avoided the mysterious blue liquid coming from the bathroom. We aren’t sure why it started leaking from the bathroom, but we didn’t hang around long enough to find out.

After we arrived back in New Haven, we had to trek back to the car that was parked what felt like 34 football fields away. My feet were screaming and continued screaming after I got home when Kitten dropped me off. My phone hadn’t been screaming because it died probably hours before I got home. I charged it enough to order some food and then called it a night.

Despite the gloomy weather, sleep inducing train ride, cab drivers who ignored walk signals and red lights, brazen pigeons, tiredly sore feet, and being poked/stabbed/attacked by unnecessarily opened umbrellas, I had a really fun day as I usually do. I heart NY.

Tagged with: adventure, day trips, empire state building, Friends, madame tussauds, manhattan, new york, nyc, pictures, t. sterling, vacation, wax museum
Posted in family, Friends, memories, new york, pictures, road trip, storytelling, vacation

drama with squirrels? i think not

Posted on June 3, 2009 by t. sterling — 7 Comments

I make it a point not to divulge too much into my personal life here, and I will continue to do so unless there is some event that is just so necessary, that it must be shared.

So with that, I’m able to begin by saying that we humans have something other animals do not: emotions. Okay, okay… maybe it’s not scientifically proven one way or the other, but I’m just diving into my imagination and considering that a typical woodland creature isn’t like us when it comes to encountering other members of our species and expressing any sort of “emotion” or opinion towards them or about them.

For example, I have strong doubts that a furry little squirrel is concerned how other squirrels might look at him if his tail isn’t as bushy or furry. And yes, there is actually a squirrel that lives in a tree by my house with such a tail.

I don’t think any chipmunks will be going out of their way to start some beef with another chipmunk for going in on the same nuts or berries. Sure, they might fight a little bit or chase each other around. Maybe we humans perceive it as “playing.” But after the tussle is done, do they think about what just happened? Are they celebrating in victory or weeping in defeat? Or do they go on to the next piece of food like its no big deal and avoid crossing paths again? Do they become friends? Are their animals that do hang out as friends? Do they sometimes annoy each other with stupid things they do and then stop being friends? Do they talk about each other to their other friends (if its established that they have friends)?

Am I the only one who thinks about these things? Or the only one who sat down to write about it?

All I’m saying is that I doubt there is much drama in the animal kingdom other than “oh dear, that giant beast is trying to eat me.” And there are some days in life, I wish I felt like that too. Not to be chased by giant beasts trying to eat me, but just not being caught up being human and having these human-only problems. Guilt, lust, confusion, responsibility, indifference, depression… The list goes on and can be in quite lengthy in detail. And I’m sure there are a few that could actually apply to animals. I know dogs show guilt once they know you are angry about chewing up an electrical wire (unplugged, of course).

But hey, it’s not so bad having opposable thumbs. But if I were a squirrel, how would I know what those were or even care? Just some thoughts for your mind-grapes. And if you haven’t guessed, if I could be an animal, it’d probably be a squirrel. Or maybe an animal that doesn’t move around much or know what it means to be bored. Turtles come to mind for that.

I don’t really want to be an animal and give up this lovely human life I have. I don’t know any creatures that can read, laugh, and blog. I’m taking the monkey category out of the picture and I’m sticking to land based animals, so dolphins are out. Life as a dog or cat might not be too bad either. So maybe I’ll stick with humanity and ride out the bad emotions as they come and go. Because that would mean I’d miss out on the good ones like euphoria when that comes back around.

(For the record, I’m not depressed. When I’m depressed, I write very little. And if I do, it’s sad poetry that sucks. Trust me…)

So if you ask a squirrel how it’s feeling today, it’ll probably say (if it could speak) “I feel like a squirrel.” I think I’d give you a similar answer today if asked, “I wish I were a squirrel… so if I were asked, I’d just say ‘I feel like a squirrel’ then run away and scurry up a tree” because I’d probably be a bit fearful of the giant human beast and not want to deal with their terrifyingly finicky mood swings. I do love my computer, TV, cell phone, cinemas and I don’t want to be eaten by a giant beast so GO HUMANITY!

Tagged with: animals, dogs, drama, random, squirrels, t. sterling
Posted in babbling, euphoria, random, rant, writing

vacation is over

Posted on June 2, 2009 by t. sterling — Leave a comment

1000 apologies to all the Indoobians that once again missed out on my last friPod post. It’s not like you don’t know what it’s going to be about, but that’s not the point. The point is that I strive for consistency and… well… life happened, more or less. So did work. Now that my little getaway vacation has come to an end, I just wasn’t ready to let go.

But no worries. When I wasn’t working as hard as I probably should have been, I had been documenting my experiences in both New York and Foxwoods Casino. I also have several pictures online from a run in with several celebrities! (They were all made out of wax, but let’s pretend they were real.)

I’m really just trying to get used to being back at my desk and working hard like I’m known to do (wink wink). “How’s that going so far?”, you ask. Yesterday I rather not talk about, but I did return all of the voicemail messages I had (a total of about 10… 5 of which were the same person, 2 didn’t leave a message and I think one of those was actually a fax machine, and one that I called back went to a fax amchine… go figure). So I was definitely busy, I just didn’t feel busy or productive. Then I got distracted by making dinner, which seems to be my thing now on Monday nights. Last night’s meal was baked chicken brought to you by the shaking and baking seasoning method (but not the brand name) with a few added seasonings of my own. I also made ziti with homemade alfredo sauce. I made a side of broccoli that lacked some seasoning of some kind. All in all, my parents enjoyed it. I ate it because I was hungry. I really wanted to make myself some bacon and eggs. Ironically, I don’t feel like making them today.

Anyway, I just want you all to hold tight. I’ll probably post an entry once a day for the rest of the week (or make an attempt) discussing my recent trips, the last friPod iPick, and other stuff I normally like to write about… like what you won’t be watching this fall on TV. And if you are an entertainment junkie like me, chances are you already know what will and will not be on the air. What you don’t know is what I’ll be watching. This gets interesting when we discuss why Thursday nights is now a chaotic night and a good reason to have a DVR. All that and more starting tomorrow… as long as I get my real work done.

Tagged with: cooking, food, t. sterling, update, vacation, working
Posted in babbling, dinner, food, life update, office, WAH

“star trek” film review

Posted on May 28, 2009 by t. sterling — Leave a comment

DISCLAIMER: I am not a Trekkie/Trekker. There really isn’t a difference, but that also depends on who you ask. But I say that to those that are the die hard fans (whether they dress up or not), and to those who are clueless to what a Trekkie/Trekker even is, so both sides know that I watched this movie from the point of view of both fan and newbie. Of course, hardcore fanboys will find something wrong with this movie, but that’s not my problem. When I was a wee boy, I was forced to watch it by my father who is a fan. For all I know, he maybe hiding a Star Trek uniform in his closet to this day… but I’m not judging anyone. I’ve got respect for fans no matter how crazy they may allow themselves to appear in public. Fans are people too… just make sure you have a life.

I can gladly say that if you know absolutely nothing about Star Trek, you don’t need to in order to enjoy this film. You don’t need to watch any of the other previous movie or even the original TV show the movie is based on. If you are already a fan and have been for many years (or your entire life) then I may be preaching to the choir, because more than likely, you loved it and have already seen it seventeen times.

Star Trek, the 2009 movie, is about how Captain Kirk became Captain Kirk. It’s also about how he and Spock became good friends. Consider it the early days of the crew some of us know and love. Except, this is somewhat-sort-of-kinda considered a “reboot.” I’ve discussed reboots before: where it’s not a remake nor is it a sequel or a prequel, more like a reimagining with a bigger budget. Well, this is a blend of prequel and reboot, to keep it simple. Time travel is involved and as any time travelling movies will tell you, once you tweak something in the past, your future is forever ruined. I don’t need to draw you a picture, I’ll just say Back to the Future is one of my favorite examples of this.

Anyway, we do a little growing up with young Kirk and young Spock until they have their collision course at school and ultimately on the Enterprise. For the non-Trek fans, this has nothing to do with the rental car company; however I wouldn’t be surprised if Star Trek is why they named their company that. The Enterprise is a star ship. Like the Navy has battleships and such, they have a space fleet with the same thing.

So if you got some battleships flying around out there in space all willy-nilly, you expect to see some battles, right? Of course! And there are some battles that were battled, indoob. Some lost, some won. Some you weren’t sure of the results until it’s clarified later… but it’s all good fun entertainment. Explosions and flashes and laser beams and lens flares. And for once, some filmmaker got it right: there is no sound in space and when they showed something blowing up in one scene, they kept it silent. I liked it.

But let’s talk about the lens flares for a quick second. Those who have seen it know exactly what I’m talking about. Yeah, they were a bit distracting, but I am a fan of them. They are… fascinating! The director of this film, J.J. Abrams, has played with these flashes before in a hit TV show I’m really a fan of called Fringe. Maybe you’ve heard of it? They don’t show up as much in that show, but I personally feel it’s the director’s trademark. A signature, if you will. I just wanted to note the lens flares (and link it to the awesomeness that is Fringe).

Overall, the hype that you have heard surrounding this movie is indeed true and well deserved. I admit, I wasn’t going to see this movie in theaters, but it was specially requested and plus the fact I already had a genuine interest. Another $10 well spent. There are no special scenes at the end, but the first parts of the credits are worth watching for the visual fun and original theme song. Don’t expect a Shatner-esque Kirk and you’ll almost forget the young Spock is played by Heroes’ Sylar. The acting was that good. So enjoy. And to the Trekkers/Trekkies, enjoy it again. This is worth seeing in theaters. Engage.

Tagged with: movies, review, star trek, t. sterling
Posted in movie, review