Monday, April 30, 2007

Duke Sucks

Several weeks ago I intended to post about all the tourists visiting Buffalo during the NCAA Tournament. It was eerie to see so many ill-dressed people downtown, apparently thinking college sweatshirts substituted for coats during a lake effect storm. Even stranger was the helpless horde looking for something to do and no natives with any helpful info. But truthfully, I really just wanted to post this video taken at the HSBC Arena:



Yesterday I surfed around for some Virginia Tech news and discovered that this Greg Paulus guy has been shown up more than once on national TV. VT, here's one happy thought for you:



Finally, local law requires a Sabres mention.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Three Cubed


Some jerk had a birthday recently and I had to go to the party. Lucky it involved copious amounts of chocolate, a three-course meal at Pearl Street where everything was cooked in beer (including the ice cream), and a Sabres victory. Some other stuff happened but I'll post about later.




Ye Olde M&T Plaza lit up for the game


Even the Unabomber has playoff fever

4-25-80
Late that afternoon, (I think it was Friday), your mom and I needed gas in our cars. She had a 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger, I had a 1970 Chevrolet Impala. We went Akron Oil behind us where the road was all full of pot holes and very rough. I told your mom that she needed a rough ride for you to be born. We also needed to get groceries......So after the cars were filled, we went to PIXLEYS. We had just began shopping when your mom's water broke......there in the middle of the store. So we knew that this was the beginning of things to happen. We quickly left for home to get the things we needed...and for me to take a bath because I was still grubby from work. We left approx. 5:30 for the hospital.
We headed out down County Road to Transit. You guessed it.....Transit was only two lanes then up to Maple...Traffic was slow and congested. Well your mom was having major contractions at this point. With wanting to have you right there in the car. We speeded down Maple to the hospital arriving aprox 6:00 PM. They quickly took your mom to the delivery room where you were born a little past 6:30 PM.....

Happy Birthday Fred!!
Dad


In summary:

Mom: "Why are you going down this bumpy road?! Don't you know I'm nine months pregnant?!"
Dad: "It'll be good for you! What harm could come from shaking a baby?"

Mom: "My water broke."
Dad: "Whatever. I'm taking a bath."
Mom: "But I'm giving birth NOW!"
Dad: "Well I had a rough day at work! Not everything's about YOU, you know."

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Nerdfest '07

News Flash: I have a fan club. (You'll need a Facebook account to view.)

Meanwhile, the Sabres have led me to drink. There's a film of this somewhere but you can't see a bloody thing and it's sideways. (Nice camera work there, Dave.) So what did I think of my first beer? Personally I liked its toffeeish accent, with a raisiny, plumy fruity note. Remember: had I not drank Lord Stanley's Scotch Ale that night, the Sabres would have never won the President's Cup. It was my civic duty.


This can be found at the CEPA Gallery downtown. Art Art Bo Bart, or Banana Fanna Fo Fart? You make the call.

Also at the Gallery is this:

You might want to check it out.

Did you know there's a Maritime Museum in Buffalo? More importantly, that it's free? I ducked inside during a rainstorm and spent an hour looking around.








Ha ha! Discharged seaman!


The Dun Building next door

Other pictures to catch up on. . . . Some architecture enthusiasts and I went to Boston Valley Terra Cotta, one of only two producers of the stuff in the country. Their first project was redoing the outside of this thing. Some of their newer commissions include buildings in New York damaged by 9/11.


This clay is still drying


A scale model


The real thing


Part of some state capitol. Utah, I think.


Neuman's Own Red Clay Dye


The Burger King

One more picture before I go. Here's the view from the 11th floor of ECMC. For a guy who won't move to downtown for another month, I sure spend a lot of time there.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Ben Folds at Canisius College, 16 April 2007

My dying camera and I checked out Ben Folds at the Canisius College Koessler Center. Here's some shaky video. YouTube probably messed up the A/V sync on my clips again, so it's best to view the video with your eyes closed.

"Happy Birthday Julia" (improv for a fan)



"Bitches Ain't Shit" (the studio version is here)



The end of the encore:



The first concert I ever saw was Beck/Ben Folds Five/Elliot Smith way back in '98, but I don't think Folds has lost his chops since then. It was a solid two hours of rockin' that got the audience to forget about the Sabres, for once. Also, if that was the piano they keep in the Grupp Lounge, I think Ben Folds and I have used the same instrument.







Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Let's Go Exploring

Calvin and Hobbes Snowmen in Real Life

Wouldn't ya know: just when I thought a YouTube of my dog trying to escape a singing puppy toy would catapult me into fame, fortune, and the ubiquitous Today Show appearance, along comes a video SO cute, SO hideously darling, SO disembowelingly precious that poor Misty had no chance of making me rich. What I'm talking about is this:



Otters holding hands. Two and a half million hits. Jerks.

Anyway, a couple of weekends ago I made a quick run to the Darwin Martin house for their Open House. As I had visited several months before I really wanted to check out the (almost) completed structure. Here are some comparisons.

Outside before:


Outside now:


Molly, Jake, and the Greenhouse then:


Random old people and the Greenhouse now:


Gift Shop then:


Gift shop now:


So that was neat. Then, last weekend, I dragged two buddies to the Decemberists concert at the UB Center for the Arts. The nosebleed section was not conducive of photography so just pretend that I took this:



The performance was complete when two guys in a whale costume came out during "The Mariner's Tale" and ate the band. My Brightest Diamond was a sweet opener to boot.

THIS weekend I will "give" my final exam for the Buffalo Tours group. This involves giving a two-hour tour of downtown Buffalo's architecture and history. If you would like a free tour of Buffalo (a $10 value!), come to the Market Arcade building on Saturday at 10 AM and I'll be your docent for the day.

NEXT weekend I will run the Shoes for Shelter 5K in Forest Lawn Cemetery. My new year's resolution (of several) was to finally take to the treadmill. There were a couple of setbacks early on, like all those times I just about died, but now I run about four miles in thirty minutes. How I'll take to the hilly terrain of Forest Lawn I'm not yet sure but I think all the tombstones will help remind me to hurry the hell up.

Oh, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will be playing that night. Good times.

THE WEEKEND AFTER NEXT is the big Montreal trip. As the elected Planning Coordinator I promise that I will eventually get around to planning and coordinating this event. Mon francais est tres mal!

Finally, I leave you with two really disturbing videos. One is Kermit the Frog singing Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" while the second is Richard Simmons throwing temper tantrums. Which is more messed up? Shudder to think.