It's the Final Countdown

Still not ready to leave, but I guess more than anything I want it to be Thursday so all the hard stuff can be over with...packing, tests, packing, saying goodbye, packing. Then onto, of course, finding a job. Got some promising leads...and by promising I mean they sound kinda horrible, but it's all money in the bank.

And I absolutely cannot wait for Portland weather. The day I get back it's supposed to be 84 degrees, and I get back at around 3. What now. Oh, then for outdoor Coffee House (Housestock? Anyone?), it's gonna be 80. 80. I can't even remember what 80 feels like, and it'll be that nice for Coffee House (then again, aren't we all used to it being like 100 degrees in the Black Box?). Overnight low of 51, which is our daytime highs here in Boston.

Hey, seriously...any music suggestions you have, I have a precious four days left on this iTunes network, and after about two pretty much everyone'll be gone. There's 20 gigs left on the iPod, it doesn't matter if you really truly think I'll like it. I can always ditch it later. I even grabbed 50 RUSH songs, in case I suddenly decide they're genius. And I still have two or three Ben Folds albums I haven't listened to. I'm just saying. Tell me what's good.

Creepy thing about the iPod...apparently, in press conferences and stuff, the Apple guys just refer to it as "iPod," as in "the sales of iPod have been good this quarter." Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like Steve Jobs has built some giant AI thing he calls "iPod" that he speaks to late at night and it tells him everything to do? That's completely what that is. Obey iPod. iPod is good. Yeah, that's creepy.

Packages, Chicken Wings, and BBQ

That gets the people's attention.

If you are planning to send me a letter to my school address, please don't. I sincerely doubt it'll get here by Wednesday, my last full day in Boston 'til September. If you've already sent something, we can only pray.

So my parents sent me this massive package in an effort to have something for me on the day of my birth. The contents were as follows - one pair of pants...one loaf of cinnamon bread...one 12-pack of RC. The problem here is...well, I only have a week left here. I think I can get through the RC if I up the caffeine intake, which isn't a big problem 'cause I may be staying up all night tonight, and I'm DEFINITELY staying up all night on the 3rd before my 9 AM flight on the 4th as my sheets will be packed away. But the bread...see, I have a toaster here, but it's kind of ass. And I have no butter. So I guess I can eat it plain, which is fine and all, I just don't see it happening rapidly.

Anyway, it was a very strange thing to receive. Oh, and my brother sent me, as he so rightfully proclaimed, the worst card ever. It's fantastically bad, I'll see if I can get it posted.

As for the BBQ section of the title, the RD at the building hosted a BBQ today for all the residents. See, how cool is this place? Gonna miss it big time.

As for the chicken wings...so the dining hall folk hosted an end-of-the-semester buffet that, among other things (including a kiddy pool full of ice cream), featured chicken wings. So my buddy Mike just kept eating them, and finally someone asks "Mike, how many did you eat?" He counted 37, and then immediately said "GOTTA GO FOR 50!" Which he did and then somehow RAN back to the dorms. Props to him. Anyway, we got the entire rear of the dining hall applauding his accomplishment.

Schedule for the weekend...tonight, United 93 (probably a review as well, as my ass'll be sexiled); tomorrow, dinner with the crew and then party at Adam's (which, including myself, could be attended by as many as three non-drinkers, which is something); Sunday, Dad's here, we're packing EVERYTHING. Gonna be intense.

You Say It's Your Birthday?

Soooo I'm 20 now. No, it feels no different, save for the innumerable number of people who, upon learning my age, replied only with "you're old!" So yeah...that's for that guys. Love!

Not a bad day though, gotta say. The 19th birthday last year just kicked ass (with the pizza at lunch and RC abound...so much RC), but this was damn good. Love the Facebook wall posts...my roomies, Ashton and Ross, easily won though. First Ross posted "Happy Birthday Scott...LET'S GET CRUNKED!!!" followed shortly by Ashton with "shut up, ross, happy birthday...LET'S GET HIGH!" They put up all year with my lucid lifestyle, which I love the boys for.

Lesse...I DID have a test today in History of Media Arts II: Electric Boogaloo, but Hannah Johnston (the prof) is the coolest lady ever (and she's British!) so it really didn't bother me. The test was easy anyway.

Then my mom called me...she actually called me during the test, but caught me again walking home. Followed by the crew (me, Emerson Ben, new additions Mike and Gray) hitting up Newbury Comics and finding out a $10 copy of Mission: Impossible includes a free ticket to Mission: Impossible III, which is what, a $7 value back in Portland? Steal!

Then dinner. Which was fantastic. Emerson Ben and Vanessa, best of my friends on this side of the country, bought me a steak and a Coke, and really there are few shorter paths to my heart (the shortest path involves RC, we all know that). The rest of the night was a lotta rock music and Halo 2, so I cannot complain.

I think my history with blogging will show I have no problem bragging over gifts. Though they have yet to really roll in (considering the family's just waiting 'til I get home), Emerson Ben got me an XBox controller (thank God...one of mine broke, and I only had two as it was), Julie got me a book of film noir quotes (I love the book already...it's gonna be feeding my away messages for months), and Vanessa and Julie made me cards. Yay.

Most random thing happened today, too...Emerson Ben and I were heading to the subway station to get to our buddy Adam's apartment, and who's walking in at the same time? The guy who works the grill during the breakfast hours. Unbelievable. He can be a little like the Soup Nazi, but the man handles that grill unlike any other on the planet. He may be a god, but we're still working that one out.

Alex Ward has proposed we plan a huge Snakes on a Plane party. The only thing I would add to that is it must be THE GREATEST of all Snakes on a Plane parties. Bigger than Episode III. I'm talking at least filling one theater, if not two.

Thanks to everyone who Facebooked/IMed/called/texted/commented-on-my-previous-post (Maggie, I get back on the night of the 4th; when do you get back?) me today. Totally made my day. Those who didn't, I still love you...we just might have to dock some points.

The Day After Tomorrow

I turn twenty in two (TWO!) days. Nice. Have a pretty sweet day lined up for it. After classes (read: a final) I mean. Dinner at a burger/steak joint at 6, then my buddy Nick's in a play at 8. And no school Thursday and (as always) Friday, so that's pretty cool. So if you want to call me that day (and I'll love you if you do), best time is between 4 and 6, or after 11 (all EST of course).

So I recently heard Ben Affleck said that President Bush should be hung...turns out he just said he COULD be hung if he did in fact leak classified information. It all happened on Real Time with Bill Maher, and in my continuing effort to prove that Ben Affleck is a smart, funny guy who doesn't get enough credit because he largely picks bad movies and can't act (but he kicks ass in Chasing Amy and Good Will Hunting, I don't care what anyone says), I sought out the video for it. It's not the whole program, but it's mostly HERE.

Democratic Senator Joe Biden was on the show, too, who is apparently running for President in '08. Knowing very little about him and basing it solely on what I saw here, I'm a fan already, especially because he was willing to a) point out some of the problems in his own party, and b) get to the heart of the issue of the role faith has come to play in the political world the last three years, and why it is an issue. Also some great insight about the President, which I feel he's qualified to make having had meetings with him. It's really good stuff, take some time to watch it.

Bought Network on DVD, which is the smartest damn purchase in awhile. Movie kicks ass, and the special features are fantastic. Highly recommend you catch it sometime, at the very least force me to show it to you. It's for your own good.

P.S. Has nothing to do with the above, but there's a girl in my class who, swear to God, looks exactly like Gwen Stacy (Spider-Man's ill-fated girlfriend from the 60s). It's spooky. And hot.

So I Was At the Movies Last Night...

Watching American Dreamz (review at The Gravy, but essentially a completely mediocre movie), and they started to show a trailer for that upcoming 9/11 movie United 93, about the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers stopped terrorists from crashing it into the White House. Anyway, I was all bracing myself for the audience response, which has been a whole range of things from uncomfortable to mesmorized to downright angry. But then they started going into this whole thing with interviews with director Paul Greengrass and some of the family members of the people on that flight, basically saying why they don't think it's too soon for the movie at all.

I haven't seen the movie, I really don't know if it is too soon. I think it looks fantastic, and I can't wait to see it, but I guess more than anything I don't feel I'm in any capacity to say whether or not a movie like that should exist right now. I was, after all, on the other side of the country when it happened, and knew no one at the time who was directly affected by it. In a lotta ways, being at college and meeting people from New York has brought the whole thing closer to home than before.

But largely, I think it's really interesting the way they're promoting the movie. The best way would probably be to not show trailers for it at all; word-of-mouth is what'll get people behind the movie the most if it's as good as it's supposed to be. But now that audiences in New York have been screaming "too soon!" as soon as the trailer starts playing, they've released a trailer that ends with Greengrass saying something along the lines of "before we say it's too soon, maybe we should listen to what the families have to say."

I've been behind this movie from the start, largely because a) it looks really good, b) Paul Greengrass is a really interesting guy, and c) although yes movies are a commercial venture and yes the film will make or lose money, so did countless songs, flag companies, and books based on the tragedy...money may not have been the objective, but in the end someone does get paid. But honestly, I think this trailer is kinda a cheap way to publicize the film. Intentional or not, the message that is sent is "shame on you for thinking it's too soon! Here are the families! What do you know?!" It's telling people how to think about a film they have yet to see, which especially for a film like this is incredibly dangerous.

So I'll be surprised if this gets a positive reaction during the next week or so before the movie comes out next Friday (which I'll completely be there for). But I hope people'll be able to go into it with an open mind, if indeed they choose to go into it at all.

Good Sweet Jesus

I was up until 4:00 AM last night recording a Superman radio show for, of all things, RESEARCH WRITING. It was pretty fun to put together actually (thank you GarageBand), but the fact that my voice in no way resembles anything anyone would imagine to be Superman's didn't do a lot for me. But Julie did a great Lois Lane and Emerson Ben came outta nowhere and kicked ass as Lex Luthor.

This theater called Coolidge Corner has something called the "Buffy the Vampire Sing-a-Long" next Thursday. That is all.

My birthday's in less than a week! That's six (SIX!) days left as a teenager, before I'm firmly cemented in adulthood and various levels of responsibility. Yes, this does somewhat frighten me, but oh well. I'll still geek out over comics, listen to rock in all its various forms and incarnations, and demand we have all-night XBox sessions (which, for the non-Dude-Night readers here, I'm always happy to do).

Speaking of ridiculous teenage things, whoever'll be in Portland on May 5th or 6th (depending on Coffee House related activities), Mission: Impossible III! Yeah!

Well, I kinda got bored of writing this...so until next time.

EDIT: Katie Bieze will be in Portland for Coffee House! YES!

Spamusement!

Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines! (click the link above...I thought about posting highlights, but honestly they're all fantastic)

Been a bizarre sort of weekend...

Without going into details, this weekend has included...

-Alan Toffler calling me from what I gathered to be the Queen concert.

-All day dining hall day, noon to eight.

-Guys from the Naval Academy who told stories that made us all feel like wimps.

-One hobo fight on the street and one near-fight at the South Street Diner.

-A woman on the street giving me the scariest "I could knife you any second" glare I've ever seen.

-Leading a group of five drunk women to Cheers who, midway through the walk, yelled at us "You don't mind if we're gay, right?!"

-Rats.

And it's only halfway through the weekend, since we have tomorrow off for "Patriot's Day," but it's really for the Boston Marathon, which I'm sure will be all kinds of...fun. I always had a problem with that Portland Bike Day when they close down all the bridges so people can ride across them (giving Portland bicycle riders any power is never a good thing), and now that foot traffic will be greatly impeded...yeah, can't wait.

Rockin' the Dining Hall

Lesse...it's a little after 5 now, I got to the dining hall with my buddy Adam at around 12:20, Emerson Ben joined us at 2-ish...we've had a few guests and gone through many, many dishes.

"This coffee's making my head hurt. My body's telling me to go to sleep but the caffeine won't let me."
-Adam

We're looking to carry this trip to the DH until 9:00, when the DH closes after dinner and late service. All-day dining hall day. Hardcore.

Right now, because the Emerson wireless sucks ass, I'm paying $10 for the day to use the Starbucks signal from across the street. Good times. But I was planning to spend that much last night on late-night dinner, but we ended up at a Chinese restaurant, which if you know me well enough you'll know that just doesn't jive with me.

Classes for Fall

My schedule for next year officially kicks ass...

MONDAYS and WEDNESDAYS
2-3:45 Discovering Journalism
4-5:45 Intro to Media Production

TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS
12-1:45 Speech
4-5:45 Natural Disasters and Earth Science

Now, let's count the ways that this kicks ass...

1) No Friday classes. Again.

2) I'm getting my science credit by taking a class on natural disasters...volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes...any way that nature can screw you over, THAT'S what I'm learning about.

3) My earliest class is noon, and twice a week I don't start 'til 2.

4) Journalism class...it worked out for me.

5) Intro to Media Production is the first class they give you a camera in.

I can't justify speech class...that will blow.

So yeah...should be a good Fall. Or Autumn, as the Turks say. I don't know what the Turks say. But speaking of Turkey, 70% of their country suffers from the most fantastic (and by fantastic I mean something you would never want in your entire life) eating disorder. I'll talk about that soon. It's worth the wait.

Class Registration Day!

I'm not terribly nervous, just anxious. Twenty minutes 'til my assigned time, and I've worked out a schedule I can dig. Two of the classes I had planned on taking are full, but I got others baby. And if it all works out, no Friday classes, AGAIN. I'm gonna minor in Journalism, which means I have to take a thing called "Discovering Journalism," which I think is a Frosh course so I doubt anyone will block me there (as I am not a Journalism major, I can't register for that 'til Wednesday).

So yeah.

I was listening to Rick this morning (go figure mere days after I pimp the podcasting, the site goes down...luckily, I still had some of last week's stuff), and as is their Monday routine, they're talking about The Sopranos. I'm only halfway through season 4, and the show's on season 6, so I just fast-forward through it. But on the iPod, when you hold down that skip button, it just plays like a half-second clip every five seconds or so, and while nothing substantial was spoiled for me, I did hear the words "hanged himself." So that's good.

Adding to the list of things that can go horribly wrong today, I also have housing selection. We already didn't get the suite we applied for, so we're gonna try to live down the hall from our would-be suitemate. But then again, Vanessa's on another floor entirely, and it'd be cool to live down the hall from her. Decisions!

Swingtown

Came back from breakfast this morning and found this on the AIM (screen names have been changed in the interest of common sense, as this is a public blog)...

Vanessa: because they didn't play it last night
Vanessa: COME SAIL AWAY
Vanessa: COME SAIL AWAY
Vanessa: COME SAIL AWAY WITH MEEEE

So yeah...that should tell you how that little mission went. Also, the actual shade of blue from AIM doesn't exist on blogspot. Weird.

Hey, remember that time at Senior Year Winter Formal whent the sound system broke and we all just sang "Come Sail Away"? Good times.

Before the dance, Vanessa and I hit up this little (well, it was a lot bigger than it looked on the outside, I'll tell ya that) Italian restaurant in the North End (which I know means nothing to the vast majority of you, who are reading this from a non-Boston locale), which I gotta say was quite tasty. I almost got lost looking for it, but as usual, pulled through in the end.

The dance itself was pretty fun once we all got into the groove of it. Even if they did play almost all hip-hop. Oh Beacon, I expected more from you. But by the end of it when they were blasting REM's "It's the End of the World As We Know It" (this year's theme song, it being the last Beacon Street Prom as the buildings are being ruthlessly sold next year) at midnight, the Beacon Street pride came through and we all went nuts. Represent.

Today's big mission is the nail down what classes I wanna take for next year. Mostly gen eds, 'cause by the time I reach Senior year I wanna do what I wanna do. You feel me.

I Will Say This for Having a Load of Essays

At a certain point, you hit nirvana. The other night (Thursday), I sat down at around 7, watched Jaws (fantastic film), and got to work on my blockbuster essay. I was completely comfortable with the fact that I would probably be up all night as I had only completed 775 of the 2000 necessary words, and had done almost no research except for the two-hour documentary in the Star Wars DVD set. Given this, why not just make a trip to the South Street Diner (probably the only 24-hour place for the under-21 crowd in Boston) at around 11 when only half the essay is done? Sounds good! Stay there 'til 12:30, get back at 1? Totally! Hang out with folk 'til 2? Party on! "Hey Scott, wanna look over my essay in exchange for sexual favors?"* Do I ever!

So the whole thing took 'til 6 AM, at which point I laid down in bed and noticed the sun was rising. Good times. Seriously though, ammending my previous post, college is also about blowing off work to go hang with some folk. Just get the work done eventually and be comfortable with the fact that your ass ain't sleeping, even if your weekend has technically begun.

Tonight's the legendary(?) Beacon Street Prom, which they told us about at the beginning of the year and is one of many signposts that makes me think "shit, this year went by fast." But between the desert bar and a 90s-music-lovin-man spinning the discs, should be a good time. And we're hitting a small Italian restaurant beforehand, so more on that later.

Of course, the goal from high school has carried over and I will use any power I can muster to get "Come Sail Away" played (I have allies). Wish me luck.

*No sexual favors were ever performed in exchange for essay help

I'm Not the Smartest Man You'll Ever Meet

But I do know this...some food combinations just don't agree with you. This is tonight's...

Two slices of pizza that I wouldn't describe so much as greasy, but the words "moist" and "oozing" come to mind.
Numerous slices of deli turkey that had a thin, watery layer on top.
Four glasses of milk, the last of which was drank sheerly because it was there.

So yeah...tonight's trip to the South Street Diner will likely not include food, unless my...see, now I can't even think of the system that heals your ills.

But more on this as it develops. And as I pound away at this 2000-word essay for which I also have to watch Jaws (a two-hour film I have never seen).

This is What College is About

Warm soda, cold pizza that may or may not adversely affect your digestive system, and a paper at 1 in the morning, preferably a time when your loves have escaped and your friends are in bed. But the music coming out of your computer is smooth and fine and tomorrow's another day, the last day of the week were it not for the 2000-word paper due at noon on Friday, a time your ass isn't used to be up for but you'll make the journey to the other side of campus to drop it off anyway. You could e-mail it the night before, but who in their right mind would sacrifice the hours the early morning offers?

You've got plans for the weekend, but nothing too extravagant--who knows what could come up? Tomorrow you'll hit the dining hall at the same time you always do, lest you upset the delicate order than guarantees you people to sit with. Then you know a guy who knows a guy riding the midnight train into town, which instantly means a trip to the 24-hour diner because it's a school night for some; if it weren't, they'd just get drunk. After the diner, you'll go back to the dorms--a term that's slowly becoming interchanged with the word "home" without you noticing--and work your ass off on the 2000-word essay because you've barely written a word of it and your research is sorely lacking. You might be up all night, but that's okay because aside from turning in the paper, the next day's wide open and you can sleep through half of it if you have to.

Then the clock hits 1:15 and you realize there's less than a month left before you go back to the real home, away from the setting that's slowly but surely replacing it. And that same feeling hits that came when August of the summer before dawned.

That's college. If it sounded like Hell, it's far more wonderful than that, and if it sounded like Heaven don't worry--it's only a notch below. I'll take another bite of the cold pizza and another swig of the warm soda, go back to the paper and know that I wouldn't have it any other way.

South Park Tackles Family Guy

My continued efforts to pimp the hell out of this show. Comedy Central, tonight at 10.

Speaking of pimping shows, you should all be listening to the Rick Emerson Show, podcast...HERE

It's not always...shall we say frequently updated, but it's like a week at most (so far) between, so it's not terribly out of date. And it's a damn good listen. For those who don't remember, Rick Emerson is the guy who wrote and starred in the fantastic and surely to be shown many times this summer one-man show Bigger Than Jesus. So y'know...quality.

Fart Humor!

Probably one of the better things you can hear when you walk into your room is your roommate saying "We looped my farts and made a beat!" This can only be improved when he mentions they will go on to make a fart symphony.

It's Been a Day

Running off very little sleep right now after Ashton--my roommate's--snoring kept me up 'til a good 4:30, 5 AM. Good times when you have to wake up at 8:30. It's not his fault...you can't really control snoring...just an unfortunate situation.

Then...Emerson's building this new dorm thing for next year, going along smoothly...and today they dropped a piece of scaffolding. Right now, looking like three dead, several injuries...landed right on top of a car it sounds like. Anyway, it's this whole scene on one of the main streets in the city, and it's kinda weird when something related to your school kills people. Also, just about anyone who did tech theater long enough knows that feeling when you drop something from a really high place on accident...I can only imagine what it'd be like on that scale.

So yeah, right now I'm just excessively tired and more than a little pissed because I have to do yet more essay revisions for the big research paper...which will finally be done...oh wait, I thought it was next week but it's in like over two weeks. Oh, and we don't even have to do another draft for tonight. Well that just about makes my day. I do have to figure out this creative project thing we're supposed to do along with it. Son of a bitch.

At the beginning of the semester, I had this whole plan in my head where I'd have to do almost nothing during April. As you can tell, that's working out well.

Well, I should probably at least get a start on this History of Media Arts paper...damn it all.

EDIT: I just had a pretty long convo with my brother, which really made my day...his play got into Playfest '06, which is infinitely awesome. Really can't wait to see that.

STAR WARS

Okay, so I have to write a paper on the cultural impact of 70s blockbuster cinema by Friday. My main focus of the paper is Star Wars, because I'm a geek and the movie's pretty much one of my favorites/one of the most important ones in my life. Anyway, I know there are a lot of you reading this who have a similar love and adoration for it, so if you want to contribute with insights or stories, I'd love it.

Sunday?

Click the title. If you're going to be in Portland on Saturday, April 8th, I can't recommend enough that you attend. Believe you me, if I was in town, I'd be there. Not fighting mind you...observing.

Anyway, how the hell is it Sunday? I swear to God, time is finicky bastard. I have this payment plan, 'cause all the money I spent this year I either earned or collected through graduation gifts last summer, so I have this plan where I can only take out so much so often, and I grabbed my bi-weekly load (which DOES mean every other week, not twice a week) a couple days early, and I swear like half of it is spent already. And it's like the second. Oh well. Another month and hopefully I'll be in some sort of earning capacity. But anyway, so that time's going insanely slow, but damn wasn't it spring break like eight hours ago? (for the record, it's been three weeks). And we get out in a month? What the hell?

Hey, the weather's holding out here. Sixty-two right now, and that was like a six-degree jump in just over an hour. Yeah!

Apparently Playfest plays are announced tomorrow. I can only pray someone'll be kind enough to fill me in when the time comes. Because much as I loved tech and Coffee House and whatever the hell else I did in high school, Playfest conquers all, and I'd like to hear who's getting the kickass experience of watching their plays put on. And then to hear who's directing who, 'cause I think we all know that every year there's that one combination of director and writer that you're just like "man...well, good luck i guess!" Not that they're bad people either one of them, just often that they're...clashing personalities shall we say.

It's official...DiGornio's Pizza is way better cooked on a cookie sheet. Filled me up but good last night.