Brian the Suburban Cowboy

This is NOT as easy as it looks, and it's a whole lot more painful.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

A day early, but I'll be busy celebrating tomorrow. Happy Birthday Sweets. I love you!

A-Clutch!

Take THAT Haters!

They Say Nothing is More Beautiful than a Pregnant Woman

Well scratch THAT theory.
I don't know anything about this so-called "glow" that pregnant woman get, but if by "glow" they mean "ability to make me throw up in my mouth," than Britney is glowing like a MoFo.

The Break-Up: Scariest Movie of the Year

So this commentary is a little late, but it has to be posted, if only to save a few relationships. My wife and I saw this movie, in most part, because we both love Vince Vaughn. I figured I could handle a little romantic comedy cheesiness for the comedic gold that VV brings to the screen. Well watch out fellas, cause Wedding Crashers this aint.
While Vince does have a few worthwhile moments, this movie is NOT a comedy. It's not even a romantic comedy. It was a depressing look at the collapse of a relationship that was depicted as almost entirely the man's fault. That's fine. Oftentimes one person holds the lion's share of the blame for a relationship's demise. In this movie, Vince Vaughn's character caused the relationship to fail because he didn't make a big enough effort. Also fine. The problem, and potential killer for all men out there, is that his lack of effort was presented to the audience basically by having him come home and open a beer and watch the game or play Playstation.
As soon as I thought this I thought "Oh shit." That's basically every day of my life. I do tons of other things around the house, but those few acts are brought into focus in the move, and I spent the rest of the time in the theater trying to figure out how to defend myself when the credits rolled. All I could come up with was "Please don't divorce me."
So be warned men...this is not a raucous Vince Vaughn comedy, and you will be grilled on the car ride home.
Avoid this film if at all possible, your relationship may depend on it.

Correction: My New NEW Hero

Jon Stewart is my real hero.
Well said sir.

My New Hero

The headline could use a little work though.


Update:
Here's video of the catch. GO YANKS!!!

I Heart William Shatner

This speaks for itself.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Sunday night saw the series finale of one of my favorite shows, West Wing, and although the show suffered a bit when creator Aaron Sorkin left, this season really rebounded for a satisfying conclusion to the show. I was sad to see it go.

Being the pop culture fanatic that I am, I've been reading about the new shows that are coming out next year, and tops on everyone's list is Sorkin's television encore, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which is a behind the scenes look at an SNL type show. Almost everything I've read about it has been overly positive, with some people already pronouncing it their favorite new show. During the West Wing finale they had a quick preview of it (check it out here). There was way much too little content to make any judgment about it, but it got me even more excited. (Great cast shaping up by the way...Bradley Whitford, Amanda Peet, Timothy Busfield, D.L. Hughley, Nate Corddry, and the return of Matthew Perry to NBC. And for those of you afraid of Matthew Perry in a more dramatic role, don't be. He was a guest on a bunch of West Wing episodes, and he was really good. Not a trace of Chandler Bing.)

Then yesterday, NBC announced it's fall lineup, and it's placed the show on Thursdays after My Name is Earl and the Office, two of my three favorite shows on TV right now (the other being Scrubs), pretty much guaranteeing I would be watching it every week. I read yet another review about the pilot script and decided to hunt it down myself, which was actually easy thanks to google. (You can read the script here.) It's really freaking good. Really smart and funny. Classic Sorkin, and if you liked West Wing, you'll like this. I'm even more excited now. It's around 60 pages or so, but it's a quick read. I highly recommend it.

Looks like I'll be spending my Thursdays at home this fall.

EDIT 6/2/06
NBC recently announced that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip will be airing on Monday's at 10:00, following ABC's announcement that they were moving Grey's Anatomy to the 9:00 Thursday slot. Smart move. No matter how good this show will be, it would more than likely be killed in that slot against Grey's and CSI. Guess I'll be watching this on Mondays now, instead of TV's funniest show, CSI: Miami.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Brian and Nicole in Puerto Rico
As seen through the eyes of a man with only one contact lens.

Because of this freaky eye condition I have, I need to wear hard contact lenses to correct my vision. Unfortunately, hard contacts are not only expensive, but fragile. I've had them about a year, and frankly, I've been lucky they've lasted this long. If I had to, I would have bet that I'd have lost one down the drain or have one pop out on the subway a long time ago. Well today my luck ran out. The contact for my left eye slid off my finger while I was putting it in this morning, and in an attempt to find it, I stepped on it and crushed it. I'm forced now to walk around with one contact in. It's tons of fun...let me tell you. I hope my Doctor can get a replacement before I get so dizzy I start throwing up.

YANKEES HOME OPENER!!

I love this time of year. Nothing like opening day in the Bronx...too bad I'll be in an office in Manhattan instead of at the Stadium, or at least on my couch watching the game. For now, I'll have to try to stretch a late lunch so I can catch some of the game, and then rely on web updates until I get home and watch it on Tivo. Going to be weird seeing Johnny in pinstripes, but I think it will end up being a good thing. Lets hope this brief homestand goes better than the West Coast road trip.

Speaking of the Yankees, there's a really great way to show your Yankee love and support a great cause at the same time. Check it out here and support Yankee Universe and Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Cancer Center.

Proof that Boston really IS the home of all that is evil

Boston: The Evil-est Place on Earth
Home of the Red Sox and Boba Fett

This picture was taken while visiting my brother-in-law this past weekend. Boba Fett tried to shoot me right afterwards, in a case of mistaken identity. Apparently I look a lot like Han Solo. Who knew? I say tried to shoot me. I ended up kicking his ass.

Watch out Kanye

Devastatin' Dave is in tha HOUSE!

ZIP ZAP RAP!

Back from Puerto Rico and Opening Day

I toyed with the idea of posting an image of A-Rod's Grand Slam, but figured we'd see that more often than we'd see Nic and I at the beach, so decided to post a picture from our Puerto Rican vacation instead.
We're back after a quick trip to the Caribbean. The trip was way too short, but we had a blast. Caught some rays, saw some sights, drank some rum—a great trip all around. The only thing that made our return bearable was opening day, which went off with a bang. Nothing like a 15-2 shellacking to start the season. I'm very excited about the Yanks' offense. Now if they can just keep Randy and Moose healthy, I'll be feeling good through October.

Oh yeah...here's a picture of me after one too many rum punches.





And screw it, here's A-Rod. GO YANKS!!

The Day Ben Harper Broke My Heart

Ben Harper's newest album, Both Sides of the Gun, hit stores on Tuesday, and I finally got around to picking it up today. I'm a huge Ben Harper fan. My first dance with my beautiful bride on our wedding day was to Beloved One. I was very excited about the new album. So excited that I started listening to it at work today. I was really enjoying it too until I got to track 7 on Disc 2, a song called Get it Like You Like It. One verse. Five simple lines. 28 words, and the entire album is ruined for me.

In 1918 the great bambino
Kicked a piano into Willis pond
But Johnny Damon swung a bat
Grand slam that was that
An 86 year curse is gone

Say it aint so Ben...

The Must See Film of 2006!

The teaser trailer is finally here!!!!!
This could very well be the funniest film of 2006.

"Yes, I'm glad those snakes died and I hope they burn in HELL!"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day means different things to a lot of people. Some people view it as a religous holiday. You non-Irish folks can finally admit what you've all been thinking all year long...that you wish you were Irish. People can wear the tackiest green clothing in the world and not look out of place and you can drink to excess and have some fun, regardless of your heritage.

While I love all those aspects of the holiday, those have always been secondary since St. Patrick's day is also my little brother's birthday. He's coincidentally named Patrick. Too bad he wasn't born in December. Kwanzaa Riley would have been a cool name.

So Happy Birthday Pat. I love you Bro!

The Bri-Pod

Some inspiring songs, chosen at random by my I-Pod, while I was on the way to work this morning.

Worldwide Suicide - Pearl Jam (The first single from their self-titled album that comes out in May)
Angry and Political and surprisingly catchy. If the rest of the album is as good as this song, I'm going to be quite pleased.

E-Pro - Beck (Guero)
Whenever I hear this song, I wish I was in the middle of a car chase.

Big Balls - AC/DC (Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap)
Wait a minute...this song isn't really about banquets, is it?

Such a Night - Elvis Presley (Elvis is Back!)
Elvis may very well be the Baddest M.F. ever.

Moby Dick - Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin II)
Drums are so cool.

One Mint Julep - Ray Charles (Anthology)
Just a little bit of soul now.

Sorry Yankees but I now have a new favorite baseball team

This may be the world's greatest invention.

The Donut Burger, which is a hamburger topped with sharp cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon, all between a "bun" made of a sliced Krispy Kreme Original Glazed donut, is being offered exclusively by The Gateway Grizzlies a minor league team from Illinois. It is being billed as "Baseball's Best Burger." I'd have a hard time arguing with that. ESPN.com has some details here.

My Hero

Wrestling + Jack Black = Absolute Bliss