The Man Crush

I was talking to someone the other day, and I used the term "Man Crush," when he suddenly became completely confused. He had no idea what the concept of a man crush was, and it left me shocked. I have been using this term for a few years, and it amazed me that it was still somewhat foreign. In order to fix this I plan to do two things: 1) Explain the concept of a man crush. 2) Give a history and explanation of my man crushes.

First, the concept of a man crush.

Now the first basic thing to know about a man crush is that it is not a sexual attraction. I mean that can be an element of it, but that is not the basis of a man crush. A man crush is a guy that you look up to and idolize. It's like, "wow this guy has won 85 superbowls and has stared in 30 movies. I want to be him." A man crush is kind of like that guy who has done what you want to do with your life. Also, he can be a good looking guy. As a straight man I have no problem saying a guy is decent looking. Girls do it all the time. However, the basis of a man crush is to have that guy that is just so awesome that his awesomeness just kind of ends world hunger and stops global warming. Well maybe not that great. But something along those lines. It's not so much a Bromance, but more of a father figure that you can look up to.

Anyways, that is the concept of Man Crush. Now, here is my list of man Crushes over the years.

Zach Braff: My original Man Crush. It came about in early 2005 when I saw Garden State for the first time. Then I found out Zbraff had written and directed the movie, and it was just about the time when I had gotten into writing. He became an instant role model for me. Not only that, but Scrubs was an incredible show.

George Clooney: The only reason I think I had a short lived Man Crush on Clooney is because he stared in the Ocean's movies, and I was obsessed with those movies for a good amount of time. Then he decided to direct Leatherheads and that was that.

John Krasinski: In March of 2005 "The Office" premiered on NBC. I was immediately hooked to the show, and was a huge fan of Jim. In all honesty, I feel like I don't know John Krasinski enough to have a Man Crush on him, it may just be his character Jim. But I like to think they're one in the same.

Michael Cera: This is a strange Man Crush since Michael Cera is basically my age, but this crush blossomed during the time of "Arrested Development." Although I didn't know too much about Michael Cera at that time and only really knew George Michael, I quickly found out Michael Cera was just as socially awkward as his character counterpart. I'm a pretty socially awkward guy a lot of the time, and it was good to know that someone as awkward as I could figure out a way to be successful in the Hollywood sense. Even if he does play the same role and personality every movie (Here are my suggestions for Michael Cera's next movies)

Robert Downey Jr.: RDJ has done a lot with his acting career as well as going to hell and back with all his crazy stuff. Then he emerged from hell to star in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and a Man Crush-spark was ignited. Since then, he has done some awesome movies that have yet to disappoint me, and seems to be really down to Earth and a lover of life.

Jason Segel: One of my favorite TV shows that I always try to get people to start watching is "How I Met Your Mother." In this show, Jason Segel stars as Marshall, the best friend of the main character that is married to Alyson Hannigan. Also, he is the man on this show. If there was ever a sitcom character that I would like to be friends with in real life it would be Marshall. Then, Segel decided to write and star in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and it made me realize that he is as awesome in real life as he is on HIMYM. My favorite part about him writing Forgetting Sarah Marshall is that he also composed the songs for the Vampire Musical. Pure Genius.

As for a new man crush, my top prospect is Paul Feig. He created and wrote "Freaks and Geeks," and he also has a hilarious childhood and dating life as I've read in his two memoirs, Kick Me and Superstud. Many of the stories in these books have incredible similarities to my life and my misadventures with women and dating, and it gives me hope that I can be a successful writer/anything else in Hollywood.

So who are your Man Crushes (or Female Crushes for the ladies)?

Tweeting Too Hard

I am all for Twitter. I kind of dislike Facebook because it's just become a little too much, like an uncle who would drink and become a huge comedian, but then he just kept drinking and became a raging alcoholic that no one really liked or wanted to be around anymore. I'm not sure if that metaphor makes sense, but if it does then awesome. Anyways, Twitter is a great way to update and keep track of not only friends but celebrities, bands, etc. I have found few flaws in it until I came across tweeting too hard. Basically, the site allows users to submit tweets from people that are just completely self-centered and over the top. To this point, I have never seen anyone I've been following tweet anything near what these tweets are before, but the fact that these people exist make it hilarious. Anyways, check it out, and if you have Twitter you should follow these 3 celebs I recommend:
@robhuebel
@rainnwilson
@paulfeig

And feel free to follow me.

Link: Tweeting Too Hard

The Black Cab Sessions

I am a big fan of music. I'm an even bigger fan of musicians doing really cool stuff while playing songs. Like when Arcade Fire played Neon Bible in an elevator. That's why I've become obsessed with The Black Cab Sessions. The Black Cab Sessions takes artists, throws them in the back seat of a cab, and has them play beautiful music. They get one shot to play a song all the way through and then its posted on their website. It's pretty sweet seeing bands play as double decker buses and cars are riding right on by, and there all some really solid bands on there. These bands include Death Cab For Cutie, Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket, Cold War Kids, Spoon, Peter Bjorn and John, Bon Iver, The Kooks, The New Pornographers, and many many more. There's really no point in me still talking to you about this anymore.

You just need to check it out: The Black Cab Sessions

Pick The Perp

I came across a hilarious site today called Pick the Perp. Basically, the website gives you 5 mug shots and a crime, and you decide which person committed that crime. Not only is it fun, but it also shows how much you profile people:
Like how I was very wrong thinking the skinny white guy would commit domestic battery when it was really the blond haired girls. Anyways, it's a good way to waste some time. Get on with it: Pick the Perp

Cafe Disco

So I really enjoyed "The Office" last night. Cafe Disco was a huge success. One of the songs was this kind of indie type song that I very much enjoyed so I tracked it down and got it on here for your listening pleasure. Listen to The Blam - Various Disgraces.

Texts From Last Night.

One of the big trends of late as been the website FML. I'm a pretty big fan of the website, and I think in general I just enjoy personal humor, which is why I've become a huge fan of this site my friend Spencer turned me on to. Texts from last night is basically exactly what it sounds like: actual texts from actual people that have been submitted to the site. Basically all of them were originally sent by people who were intoxicated or on some other sort of drugs, which makes them all the better. Here are some examples of texts submitted to this site that I really enjoy:

(678): did not feel like going to store to get condoms last night so went to her pantry and got a sandwich bag and a rubberband
(404): did it work?
(678): nope

(954): the guy I was hooking up with asked me if he could wear a guerilla suit during sex.

(410): You are still hot in my book. I wanna dry hump u like a 9th grader then hump for real when the herpes is gone.

(832): I have the sudden urge to buy a Snuggie and wear it to the grocery store.

(804): So how Liz Lemon is this? I bring a boy home, we get in bed, and I realize there's a lean pocket wrapper in the sheets.

(205): Dude, she had a vegina. I felt like Indiana Jones cutting a path through the jungle.

(973): Do you remember getting into a Delorean last night?

Those are just some of the gems on that site. Go check it out: Texts from last night

Review: State of Play

Going into State of Play, I was not exactly sure what I would think of it. I knew it had a great cast and one of those trailers that makes a movie look very intense, but I did not know much more than that. Basically, Russell Crowe is the old timer journalist for the Washington Post who is college pals with a Congressman (Ben Affleck). Affleck is looking to take down PointCorp, a mercenary program profiting off war when his lead researcher ends up dead and it is leaked that he had an affair with her. Now, a young blogger at the paper (Rachel McAdams) goes to Crowe to try to get answers. Crowe is reluctant on first, but the two start to unravel a story that begins to interweave with and impact personal lives. Crowe and McAdams try to break the story without breaking the law (too much) and keeping their lives.

This is one of those movies where you start watching, and then suddenly you realize youre basically sitting in the next row you're so far on the edge of your seat. The story is so well mapped out and its the perfect amount of mystery where you as a viewer can put the pieces together, but you still get a few big curveballs thrown at you. It also has one of those early twists where Crowe and McAdams are working on two stories that suddenly become the same story (or a Johnny Gossamer novel for those Kiss Kiss Bang Bang fans). The story comes together really nicely, and they are not afraid to throw in one last twist.

Not only did this movie have great performances by the main cast (Affleck, Crowe, McAdams and Helen Mirren), but it also had some very strong supporting roles. Jeff Daniels played a great congressman with his own secrets. Jason Bateman played a dopey PR guy who becomes a big piece of the puzzel. It also features Michael Weston (Kenny the cop from Garden State) as another journalist). Overall, the cast puts on a great performance. There is a line in the movie that says "those are the kind of cases you only find in movies." Once they said that I realized how real this whole movie felt, which was pretty sweet.

See if you like:
The Departed

Rating:
8/10

Fan Facebook Pages

So I mean Facebook is pretty cool most of the time. Like it has its ups and like ways of communicating with people and stuff, but it has its stuff that's kind of weird too. I think I've generally been a fan of this new Facebook that most other people hate (any time Facebook ever changes anything it always becomes of topic of hatred conversation for everyone, and I always find it amusing), but there is one aspect that I just don't understand: fan pages.

It's not so much as I don't understand them, I do get the concept, it just amazes me some of the things you can be a fan of. I mean I would love to make a joke list of things you can be a fan of on Facebook, but I feel as if I would actually pick real fan pages. Well let's see. I will pick 10 things right now Facebook should have a fan page for and then see if they have it:

Sex - Yes, over 500 results, even though a good amount of them were Sex and the City. There was a group that was just SEX!!! (It was under Sports/Athletics)

Murder - Yes, the REDRUM picture from The Shining was the group picture. There are currently 71 fans of murder. I did not see the Craigslist killer on there though

Porn - The first result was Overcoming Porn Addiction. It had 1,453 fans. Hardcore Porn only had 244 fans. I wonder how many people are fans of both those.

Gravity - There are 569 fans of Gravity. I feel like this is a small number considering its a pretty important part of life.

Oxygen - there are 18,443 fans of Oxygen. This number is still kind of small. I mean there are people out there right now who when asked if they like oxygen respond, "eh, I can take it or leave it. I'm not really a fan."

Tailbones - This was byfar the most hilarious thing. I only found the Tailbone and Sciatica Pain Help Seating System. Even better there was only 2 fans. I think we should push to put this past Oxygen.

"The Wave" - There was actually not anything specifically for "The Wave," which is interesting since every fan page could do the wave as fans for their particular thing. There were 999 fans of French New Wave though.

Earthworms - Nothing, closest match: Aesop Rocks: Music for Earthworms (2,047 fans)

Cotton - While 8,503 fans for Cotton may be impressive, it is not nearly as impressive as the 52,735 for Cotton Candy

5 Dollar Footlongs - while there are 510,827 fans of Subway. There are 0 fans of the 5 dollar footlong. That is just depressing.

There was pretty much no rhyme or reason to those, just whatever obscure thing came to my mind that Facebook may or may not have a page for. It's incredibly ridiculous that most of those actually had fans. I mean I was suggested to be a fan of sleeping the other day by Facebook. I was wondering if Facebook was suggesting I wouldn't be a fan of sleep or if they somehow knew about my insomniatic tendencies and were mocking me.

I also think that with this become a fan deal there should be become a hater or something along those lines deal. Cause if you think about it, there are things you hate and you should be able to express that via Facebook. Like my little thing said that 6 of my friends were a fan of New Jersey. I hate New Jersey. It's where I live when I'm not in Boston so I put up with it, but New Jersey is like that relative that you really don't like but have to suck it up to see every once in a while. I would love to be a hater of New Jersey on Facebook. Similarly, I think you should be able to dislike things. Like when that girl you have been eyeing in French class becomes in a relationship, you should have the right to dislike it. Or I guess you can just become a fan of Ice Cream and drown your sorrows. Whatever works.

Review: Adventureland

Greg Mottola's first film after 'Superbad' does not disappoint. If you were to make this movie into an equation from 'Superbad,' it would look something like this: The Same Amount Bill Hader + Heart - Laughs + Vampire Lovers + Substituting a new awkward lead = Adventureland. Mottola really steps it up with this movie, and there was really so many enjoyable parts to this movie. Yes, it may not have as many laughs as Superbad, but it is close; Where it completely beats Superbad is story.

'Adventureland' has such a solid story that is funny, heart-warming, and mostly realistic. It's got the twists and turns, problems, and dialogue that a good script needs. Jesse Eisenberg shines as the awkward, post-college grad kid who needs a summer job to pay for graduate school. He really is like a less known Michael Cera with curlier hair. Kristen Stewart also shows she has really grown as an actress and puts a lot of emotion into her character. Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig provide great comedic releif during the dramatic parts of the story, and hold the movie together.

The movie is also great at creating a product of its time, the 80s. The songs, clothing, and attitudes are all extremely accurate to its time period (not that I would know, but I feel like this would be the 80s). 'Adventureland' makes me wish I had a one of these summers in my town where you had a great time with the people you worked with an romance thrived. While the story seems like a high school tale, it does take place four years later, which means I still have hope.

This film also features the great Martin Starr from the extraordinary "Freaks and Geeks," which alone is worth watching it for. Him and Eisenberg turn into best friends and they are both incredibly geeky, and they play those roles well. The story of course has the question of friendship after betrayal, as well as the theme of will the geeky guy get the girl? While I don't want to answer those questions, I will say that Mottola finds a way to make the answers extremely realistic and that's what really hits home.

Rating: 8/10

Top 250 Movies

I decided on a new goal the other day: that I would see all of IMDBs top 250 movies. This is going to take a long time, but I figured I should do it at one point in my life. Anyways, I also wanted to post a bit more, so I will most likely post after I watch each movie just to give a quick review of what I thought. Some will be quick, some will be lengthy, lots may just be haikus like this one for The Usual Suspects, number 81 finished for me and #22 on IMDBs list:

Spacey pulls a con,
They're convinced he's not the guy
Shoot, turns out he is.

Clem Snide CD Out Tomorrow

For the past three years singer/songwriter Eef Barzelay has been on his own. He released two albums in addition to creating the soundtrack for the indie movie Rocket Science. And last year, he came to Northeastern, opening for Ben Folds. You may remember him; he was that awkward guy singing about pretending to be drunk in order to get with a girl he liked. But before Barzelay was a solo act, he was a member of the band Clem Snide. Clem Snide released their first album in the late 90s and had plans to release their sixth full-length album in 2006. However, before it was released, the band broke up, and Barzelay was left alone with an unreleased album.
While the reuniting of bands seems like all the rage these days, Clem Snide wants more than just money or fame. They are not a huge, mega-band that is reuniting in order to have a reunion tour and generate a lot of money. They are not looking for a grand resurgence. Their reunion is about setting aside whatever differences existed in the past to release new material. Their album, which should have released three years ago, is titled Hungry Bird.
In addition to their release on February 24th, Clem Snide is also going on tour to let people know that they are back in the music world. It may not be as big as the Blink 182 reunion tour, but for them and for their fans it will be a great experience.

See Clem Snide in Boston on March 19th at The Middle East and buy their album Hungry Bird, which releases on Tuesday, February 24th.

Valentine Cards

Here are some Valentine Cards that did not quite make it to Hallmark. They may or may not be offensive:

The Ultimate V-Day Song

Now I have a lot of music I would consider nice and romantic: the perfect music for a lovely date on Valentine's Day. However, if I were to go through all my music and find one song which would epitomize Valentine's Day and romance in all its beauty (which is really freaking hard), I would have to go with You Belong To Me by The 88. The reason is as simple as the song: It's about love and being with someone. There is not a lot more to it than that, and that's what makes it so lovely sounding. Also, it is used in the show "How I Met Your Mother," which gives it some big bonus points. Anyways, give it a listen, maybe send it to your lover, and if you hear it on the streets this weekend its probably cause i'll be walking my single self around playing it until I impress a girl enough to be my Valentine. It works 2 out of 3 times. Listen

Odds on Things You Will Hear During Brett Favre's Press Conference

What's Heard

"This really will be the last time." 4:1
"The only reason I do this every year is because I like the attention" 6:1
"Coming back and playing for the Jets was a bad idea" 3:1
Thanking God for what he has done for him 2:1
Brett Favre crying EVEN
"The only reason I'm retiring is in hopes the Packers will take me back" 5:1
"Life is not all about Football. Actually, yes it is" 10:1
"You guys are all suckers. I'm not retiring" 3:2
"If I could do this all again, I probably would have found a better team" 20:1

25 Things That May or May Not Interest You

It seems that everyone is doing this next big thing on Facebook that happens in the Note section. It's that great game called 25 things about me. I would explain how it works but I mean it is in the title and if you don't get it you can read the instructions that everyone has on Facebook. The best thing about these lists is that 90% of the people making them have a disclaimer or their first fact that goes something like this: I hate these things and normally never do this, but i have nothing better to do/i'm bored/i'd rather do this than homework/any other excuse to keep people from thinking I actually enjoy these things. If you need something fun to do and waste some time, there are plenty of other things to do. I promise you. Talk to me I'll give you some great ideas. But like I will admit I do kind of like these things from time to time, but I'm not that intriguing of a person. Instead I though I would give you 25 random facts that may come in handy some day, instead of 25 pieces of useless information about my life:

1. Cable television was first introduced in Pennslyvania in 1948

2. India produces more movies a year than the US

3. Angora wool comes from rabbits

4. Mikhail Gorbachev was the last president of the Soviet Union

5. Wind Speed is measure in knots

6. The leading ballerina of a dance company is called the prima ballerina

7. Halley's Comet returns to earth every 76 years

8. There are about one billion illeterate adults in the world

9. Bananas are comprised of 75% water

10. The Lincoln Tunnel is the only three tube underwater vehicular tunnel in the world

11. West Virginia was the first state to have sales tax

12. The cable cars of San Fransisco are the only moving nation landmarks

13. The first People's Magazine Sexiest Man Alive was Mel Gibson in 1985

14. The most common birthday in the US is October 5th

15. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator

16. Richmond, Virginia was the captiol of the Confederacy

17. Charlemange was the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

18. There are more tennis courts per capita in Vermont than anywhere else in the U.S.

19. Northwestern is the only school in the Big 10 that's not a state school

20. It is illegal to kiss for more than 5 minutes in Iowa

21. The average American works 9 more weeks a year than the average European

22. The big toe is called the hallux

23. The 1939 novel Gadsby by Ernest Vincent Wright does not contain the letter "e"

24. Sting was born Gordon Matthew Sumner

25. People who collect teddy bears are called archtophilists

Get Paid To Watch Porn

So you know all those Comcast subscribers in Tuscon, AZ that were subjected to about 30 seconds of porn during the Super Bowl Sunday? Comcast decided that the best way to get people past all that scarring was to give them a $10 certificate towards Comcast's service. Not only is it only $10, but you only get it if you call Comcast's number. Best way for Comcast to get out of taking responsibility for its mistakes or the best way to make money watching porn?

They Only Fire The Winning Coaches Now

In a girl's high school basketball game the other day, The Covenant School beat Dallas Academy 100-0. As amazing of a feat as that is, the more amazing part is that the winning coach was fired for not taking it easy on Dallas Academy. I mean yes, the margin of victory was pretty large, but this is high school sports. Growing up in the competitive town I lived in, this kind of stuff would happen in Recreational League sports more than it would happen in the High School leagues. There is a difference between playing to win and playing without class.

There have been many times where I was reffing a middle school rec soccer game and a team was up 4 or 5-0, and the winning coach would be getting all his players excited by putting down the other team. I would hear the remarks, and I would not even know how to react. Out on the field is a bunch of 12 year olds learning the game of soccer and trying to have a good time, and the winning coach is openly mocking the team. In my town though, this was far from a rare occasion. There was an article from Rick Reilly a year or two ago that told a story of a little game in which the team that was winning had a choice to make. They could either pitch to the losing teams best player in the bottom of the last inning with two outs, or they could walk this batter to get to the worst hitter on the team, a 9 year old, scrawny, cancer survivor. They chose to walk the best hitter, the scrawny kid struck out, and the coach with absolutely no morals won.

With High School sports though, it's different. When you enter the realm of High School Teams, or even travel teams, there is a commitment that is made by the player. That player knows what they are getting into, and they plan on working their hardest to win. High school sports make cuts, take the best, and do whatever they need to do to win. It's not like Covenant as been a powerhouse for the past few years and has always dominated basketball, just four years earlier they lost a game 82-6. When you're coaching High School sports or above, you have your team playing their hardest to win. In this situation, the coach is working hard to win, and getting his girls a chance to play.

However, Dallas Academy did have its disadvantages. The school only has 20 girls to begin with, and 8 of them are on the basketball team. It's hard to say that those girls are the real deal, especially since they have not won a game in four years, but they are on the team to play hard and it takes a lot to play on that team every day when you know you have not won a game in four years. Also, the school focuses on helping students with short attention spans and dyslexia, but more and more teens have those same problems no matter what high school you go to.

While it may be a little classless to score 100 points in a game on one team, what is really impressive is that the Convent School held Dallas Academy to 0 point: not one basket. That is an incredibly defeat that I have only seen a few times before reffing 4th grade girls games, but the opposing team usually scores around 4 points. For any high school sports basketball team to hold a team to 0 points is an extreme feat that deserves recognition. Should the coach be fired? No. He was playing to win, as were his girls, and they were victorious.

More Fun Than You Know What To Do With

There is this great website on the interweb called Zoomdoggle. Zoomdoggle is a blog that is filled with fun ideas and fun things to buy, and its really like the perfect website. One of the really great features of Zoomdoggle is its mobile service. At any time during the day, you can text NEED FUN to 30644 and Zoomdoggle will give you a fun idea or fun fact. I was in class earlier today when I decided I was in need of some fun, so I sent a text and got this:

"Bored in class? Put your hand up, and when the teacher acknowledges you, just say 'I'm pointing at the ceiling.'"

I'm not sure how Zoomdoggle knew I was in class at the time, but it was a pretty awkward moment when I put my hand up and replied with that when the teacher called on me. It was pretty fun though. Not only can you get a great idea at anytime, but if you have some fun idea that you would like people to get at anytime, you can text you fun ideas to 917.406.0165 and they will be added to the Zoomdoggle database of fun. Try it out. It's fun. I'll leave you with a fun idea that I just asked for:

"Tag someone. Right now. Go for it. Remember, no tag backs. They're it now! That's old-school fun."

I better follow orders.

The Truth.

I Can't Make This Stuff Up

I'm not really sure why I am writing this here, but I just feel like this story has to be told. The following story is 100% true and happened to me last night:

I was walking back to my apartment after playing basketball at the gym with some friends. it was Friday night around midnight, and I had just turned onto my street. I was walking down, minding my own business, when four girls emerged from a party at an apartment. It did not really phase me, but then one of the girls shouted out, "hey there sexy" in my direction. I turned around and when I did I saw that she was right behind me, and she grabbed my ass. Flustered at first, I realized she was probably pretty drunk, and laughed and smiled. I continued walking. She then shouted out, "yeah keep walking. Let me see that ass move." I laughed some more and continued along. She then told me she wanted to suck a certain part of my body, which was followed by her friend quickly apologizing to me. I turned back, still laughing, telling the girl that I was flattered, and continued walking. Before I could even full turn around, she quickly replied, "well if you're flattered come back here and lick my tit." At this point I was laughing pretty hard, and arrived at my door. I went to open it, and she called out "now I know where you live and I can stalk you whenever you want." I told her that she was welcome to come by anytime. As I was unlocking my door, she came up to me and pulled down my pants. Luckily, I was wearing shorts underneath, and I wardrobe malfunction was avoided. I'm not really sure why I found all of this so amusing, but I continued to laugh as I walked into my building. One of her friends then told her to make out with me. As she was attempting to do that, I apologized, saying that I could not do that to her in this situation. I closed the door and that was that.

The Glory That Is Trivia Night

Here is a fact for everyone: I have a very big obsession with all things trivia. Not only do I own both of Ken Jennings book, one of which has 8,888 trivia questions, but I also attend Stump Trivia on a weekly basis. Stump Trivia is a great chain trivia game that they have in a few different states around the New England area. The way Stump works is pretty simple: there are 4 quarters. Each quarter has 4 questions, with 4 point values (1,3,5,7 in the 1st and 2nd quarter; 2,4,6,8 in the 3rd and 4th). Each time you answer a question, you have to pick a point value you want to put on that question, and once you use a point value for that round you cannot use it again. There are also bonus rounds between the quarters that usually have a theme and allow you to get more points. At the end there are two final questions that you can wager anywhere from 2-10 points on, but if you get them wrong you lose half of what you wager.

Since last semester, I have made every Thursday night trivia at our normal place, Coogan's. However, this week I found out that I had a meeting Thursday night and I would not be able to make trivia. This news was pretty devastating, and I needed to find another place to do trivia on a night other than Thursday. Luckily, Boston is full of Stump Trivia locations, and there were two good options that I found on Wednesday night: Fire + Ice and The Tavern and Porter Square. My friend Spencer was visiting so we decided we were going to tackle both locations in one night. Here is the great story that follows that could be possibly be one of the greatest nights of my life.

Game 1: Fire + Ice
Team Name: The Gaza Strippers
We arrived at Fire + Ice at 6:15 to find my 4 friends squished around a small table in the bar area; the only open table available. We were also expecting two of our other friends to show up, and we planned on having two teams of 4 (Stump only allows a max of 6 people per team). However, we only had one small table to split between the 8 of us, which was not that ideal. I told the 4 girls that were there about our idea of going to two trivias in one night, and they decided they would go and eat during this trivia, and then head over to the other trivia with us to play. Now we had a team of 4 playing among 10 other teams that were all mid to late 20s working professionals. We were clearly the youngest people there, but that has never been discouraging. We got every question right in the first quarter, and the halftime bonus was a bunch of TV/Movie duos (Sanford and Son, Bill and Ted). We nailed every question in the second quarter too, and were well on our way to victory. We nearly sweeped the whole second half, and came in first with a score of 114. The amazing part about all of this was that while our prize was a $25 gift card to Fire + Ice, the 4th place team received 3 free lift tickets to Sunday River. Spencer and I were pretty pissed, but we gave our gift card to the two girls we were playing with who were about to go eat at Fire + Ice, and made our way to The Tavern, completely pumped up on trivia.

Game 2: The Tavern
Team Name: Dr. Funke's 100% All Natural Good Time Family Band Solution
We arrived at The Tavern at about 8:45, ready for trivia round 2. The 4 girls who had went to eat at Fire + Ice while we were playing teamed up with us, and we had a solid team of 6. The Tavern was the major leagues compared to Fire + Ice; not only the Tavern have about 25 teams, but the teams seemed a lot smarter and into trivia. We would have to bring our all out A game. The first round was a very easy start and we swept (What is a dried up plum called? How many degrees are in a circle?). We did alright on the first quarter bonus, and swept the second round as well. Going into the second half, we had 48 points, 2 away from first, but there were many other teams right with us. We kind of blew it in the 3rd quarter, missing our 2 and 4 point questions. The 3rd quarter bonus asked us to name the 7 countries in Central America below Mexico, and we managed to get 6. We did ok on the 4th quarter, and going into the final two questions we had 103, with the top team at 120. While first seemed a little out of reach and there were about 6 or 7 teams in between us and first, we knew if we could get these last two questions that we could possibly crack the top 3. The first question asked us the type of dog that commonly is used in hunting and is named after the French word for very low. We luckily had a few people who took French and went with Basset Hound, which was correct. We also were able to get the final question for 10 points, giving us 123 for the game. We also got third place; a huge accomplishment considering the number and calliber of the teams playing. Two Trivias in one night: two top 3 finishes. A truly great night.

The ShamWOW

Has anyone ever noticed that if you took the WOW away from the ShamWOW, it would just be a Sham?

No Pants Boston

Yesterday was a spectacular day in Boston. It was No Pants Subway day. The original idea of No Pants started in New York City 8 years ago, and the phenomenon has since spread to 24 cities around the world. I first learned about the greatness that is Improv Everywhere in 2005, and I've wanted to participate in no pants since then. Last year, Boston had its first No Pants, and I sadly could not participate. This year was my year. I was going no matter what.


I was not alone. There were a little 300 people that congregated at 3pm at the Alewife T stop at the end of the red line. Here were the terms of No Pants from BostonSOS:
- You must be willing to participate (as in take your pants off in public)
- You must be able to keep a straight face about it and act perfectly normal. Save the partying for after... (more on this later)
- You don't know any of these other people and you don't know why they also aren't wearing pants. Don't talk to them! Don't even look at them! Not looking at the other participants will greatly help in keeping a straight face.
- Wear relatively modest underwear (no thongs!) and preferably an extra pair of underwear underneath! IT IS COLD and an extra pair will not only help keep you warm but diminish the risk of "wardrobe malfunctions" (and the subsequent trip to the police station).

The instructions were simple, we were going to split up into groups. Each group was assigned a train car. That group was then broken up into smaller groups of about 4 people, and each of those people we given a train stop that they were going to get off at. The stop before their assigned stop, each person would calmly take their pants off, and get off the train at their stop. Now, they would wait at the stop until the next train and get on. They would then ride this to Park St., and then follow the same pattern back to Alewife, with their pants off the whole time.

The rest of the post is my personal experience with no pants. I could barely contain my excitement on the way to Alewife. I dragged along my friends Dave and Andre, and they brought their friends Anita and Carl. The 5 of us grouped up and arrived at Alewife, eager to go. There were a bunch of people kind of hanging around the station, everyone waiting to take part in the festivities, unsure of where exactly to go. That's until everyone began to notice the subtle sign that was posted on one of the station signs:

Yes, we made it. Next, James Cobalt, the brains of the operation, took the five of us and placed us into a train car group with about 30 people. We were led by Eddric, a great guy who gave us our next instructions. First, we needed to be split into our smaller groups for the individual cars. Luckily for us, the five of us were placed in a group together. Unluckily for us, our stop was Charles MGH, the only stop that was outdoors. Not only would we have to be waiting outside for the next train, but we would be pantless. Eddric asked if we were up for the challenge, and before I really thought about it I yes no problem. We waited around a little longer, and then we finally got the signal to board the train. We all spread out on our car, I pulled out a crossword puzzle and waited for the show to begin.

Almost immediately after the train started, the people getting off at the first stop began removing their pants. Even though all the people on this train were all involved in the hoax at this point, it was still pretty funny to see. The train stopped at its first stop, and a few passengers boarded the train. One guy in his older 20s sat right next to Anita, who was still fully clothed at this point. Immediately after the train started, a few more people took off the pants, two of whom were right in front of this guy. I looked up at the right moment to see this guy have a look of shock and fear at the same time. He quickly turned to Anita and asked what was going on, and she replied that she did not know, with a little bit of shock and confusion. The man had no idea what to do.

A few more stops went by, and it was now our moment. We were the only people left on the train that were going to be taking our pants off, and there were now a good amount of people who had come on the train that had no idea what was going on. An older couple in our section was particularly confused, asking everyone around them if they knew what was going on. At one point, the woman made eye contact with me as she was asking, to which I gave her a shrug and went back to my crossword. About a minute later, I was now taking off my pants, and the woman had no idea to react. She began to ask her husband what she should do. She even asked him if she should take a picture. At this point, her husband really didnt want anything to do with what was going on, and turned away from the spectacle. The train stopped and we got off at our stop.

At first, it was not cold at all. I think it was the adrenaline. About 30 pantless riders were lined down the stop, and the people waiting across the tracks just kind of stared. Others completely ignored us. There was a hotel near the platform, and a few people were looking down at us from the windows, utterly confused. The next train arrived, and we boarded to find a new group of riders, as well as our pantless friends. We rode this train one more stop until Park Street, where every pantless rider exited the train. Park Street was pretty packed and I don't think a lot of people knew what to make of the situation. One guy who was playing guitar began singing about "people riding the red line in their underwear, what the heck is going on here." The next train then arrived back to Alewife, and the pantless posse got on. My small group got back off at Charles MGH, where this time I felt the cold a little bit more.

Our final train of the day arrived, and we got on. I made sure to find a seat right in between two people fully pants and squished my way between them. Right when we got on, one girl realized that the pantless T ride was happening today, and she got mad at herself for not going. It's never too late to get pantless on No Pants day, however, she went back to talking to her friend as I continued to chip away at my crossword. This was about the time when one guy in his mid 40s began to get pretty frustrated. He saw all these people on the T with no pants, but he had no idea what was going on. He turned to my friend Dave to ask him why everyone was not wearing pants, and the conversation went like this:

Aggrevated Man with Beard: "So you guys are pledging for a frat right?"

Dave: "I'm sorry, I don't have any frats at my University"

Beard man: "Well then why is everyone not wearing pants?"

Dave: "I have no idea why no one is wearing pants, I just left mine at my apartment"

Beard man: *turns away in utter frustration*


It was a great moment, and it was hard for me not to laugh. We got to our final destination at Alewife, we we had started about an hour and a half ago, and the celebration began. Although most of us had come into this event not knowing each other, we all bunched together for a group photo:







Success. The ride back to Northeastern was mostly pantless, and when we put our pants back on, everything felt a little different. I felt like I could take on the world, or at least be pantless in public without embarassment.

Overheard at Northeastern

There is this wonderful site called Overheard in New York that is incredibly entertaining if you are looking to kill some time. Basically, the site is pretty much explained by its title, but people submit the humorous conversations they have overheard in the city. I may start a little segment with some of mine own overheard conversations from the Northeastern/Boston area, only because the one I heard today was worth recording:

Hipster: Yo dude, this line for the za is so long.
Friend: Yeah...what?
Hipster: The za man, there are so many people here, I'm never gonna get any.
Friend: What the hell is za?
Hipster: Pizza. It's like the shortened version for it.
Friend (under his breath): I've never heard anyone call it that before.

The Worst That's What She Said I've Ever Heard

Guy in Line at Dinning Hall (to girl): Hey can you get me a big plate of French Fries? (pause) That's what she said.

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