I have received a couple requests to make the comic in my previous blog larger so I'm posting it in an easier to read format. As well I should mention that I have decided to make more of these comics which will chronicle various trips we have taken while living in DC. They should be short, a little weird and overtly quirky. I'm not sure how often I'll feel like making them but my hope is to have a nice number to actually print out a comic book of our adventures in DC by the time we leave. Enjoy!(click to see the image to see in a readable size)

What was it exactly that pushed me over the edge? Maybe it was the sleek and seamless look of the operating system and incredibly cool icon and window animations. Maybe it was the incredible bundled software. Maybe it was those new commercials with Warren P. Cheswick (of Ed fame) and a guy from The Daily Show. Or maybe it was I the fact that XP has REALLY been getting on my nerves lately. Whatever the case, I am now a proud Mac owner! I say proud because it has been a little over 24 hours since I’ve had it and I’m totally in love with it. Keep in mind that I used to endlessly mock my mother for being a Mac loyalist for the last 15 years (she is a graphic designer). I would hope that she would accept my humble apology.

I got the new Macbook with Intel duel core processor. When I say this thing is amazing, I mean not just, “ok, its cool for a computer geek”, I mean its really amazing. For instance, it can sense motion so if you drop it, it automatically shuts off the hard drive to prevent it from damaging. Then someone invented a little 3^rd party app called “Macsaber”. (I’ve installed it and it does what it says, loads of geek fun)
Then there is the eyesight camera built into the top of the screen and the remote with a fun Media program called Front Row. And blogging from it? Fo-getta-boud-it! It's so simple.
I’ll go ahead and stop there because I could go on about the features but I will post something I made with one of the programs the comes with it called Comic Life. I made a fun little ditty about our recent trip to Williamsburg.

If you have been thinking about making the switch for your next purchase I HIGHLY recommend it. You really don’t know what your missing until you switch over.

Am I the only Mac fanboy out there in blogdom? Is there anyone else out there who is a mac enthusiast?

PS With the program “Garage Band 3” I’m thinking of starting my own little video podcast. I don’t know what the content will be but it should be a kick in the pants even to make.

Back in high school I absolutely adored and recorded every week an indie rock/college rock music video show Sunday nights on MTV called “120 minutes”. This was my only source to see and hear about new music that they didn’t play on the radio. These were the days of the mid nineties when the only “alternative” music station in Portland was 970am, before the alt. scene blew up. I remember buying albums in the rock section just because I liked their cover. (No lie, I did that with the blue album by Weezer)

Well, now thanks to the internet, discovering a new band is as far away as a few clicks to the Itunes music store. But I still find myself wanting more and hungering for new music that doesn’t fit the current conventional popular music genre. Enter: Paste Magazine. They were giving these out at a Ben Folds concert I went to about a year ago and I was blown away at how great and comprehensive their musical tastes, reviews, and interviews were. Every issue comes with a DVD and CD full of great videos, music, and short films. I LOVE IT! Perhaps one of the best parts is that it doesn’t shove its ideology down your throat so far that it makes you want to throw up.

Their podcasts are also great and I find myself listening to each of them multiple times. If I could create the perfect magazine this would be it. Paste is an essential read for the hipster in all of us.

So now I turn to you. Where do you go to hear about and discover new music and/or are any of you as passionate about Paste as I am?

So we went and saw Mission:Impossible 3 at the largest theater I’ve EVER seen in my life at Fairfax Corner. (stadium seating for 500+ people) And while I really enjoyed the movie and was thoroughly entertained, I left the theater thinking: humm, isn’t this the same plot for the TV show “24” this season. I won’t go into the details because I don’t want to ruin it for those of you that haven’t seen either but they are eerily similar even down to the use of technology and government corruption. I suppose that one could say that 24 is based on the original Mission: Impossible but still I thought it was a little odd how similar they are with 24 being FAR superior. (Don’t even get me started on how great that show is and how the writers keep things going so fast and build so much suspense.)

Which brings me to my next point. I will continue to stick up for Tom Cruise unless he starts sacrificing small children and here is why:

1. The guy has an odd religion. So what? Sometimes my religion is accused of similar things. Who are we to judge him on some beliefs that we see as “weird”? If it makes him happy and he isn’t doing anyone harm then who cares?

2. I have been madly in love with someone that I got really excited about and, given the opportunity, I may have gone on national TV and told everyone.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the guy but feel motivated to stand up for him because of the bad rap he has been getting in popular media. Tiff hasn’t been able to stand him since she saw Magnolia and his character in that movie but I still think he's a great actor.

So am I alone in thinking that it’s unfair what is happening to him and what did you think of M:I3 or the whole Tomcat controversy?

PS Mr. Pulsipher will have to forgive my use of his most popular blog phrase. Hopefully he finds my use of it satisfactory. Also Jack Bauer could kick Ethan Hunts A**, just for the record.

When it rains it pours with my blogs but this one is short. I am not ashamed by the fact that I still enjoy video games even at the age of 28. One of my favorite game genres is World War II, first person shooters (or FPS if you’re a geek like me). They have made many, many, many of them and there is nothing like fighting in actual battles that happened. But I wonder...do Germans get a little peeved when a new one comes out? Do they say: “For crying out loud! Let the Nazis die already. How many times do you have to rub that all in our faces? WE ARE SORRY!”

Also something I wonder about. In the Call of Duty series you also play as the Soviets. As if the Soviets were any better than the Nazis. Waaaaaay more innocent people died in soviet gulags of the time than died in concentration camps.

Just something to think about.
Carry on.

Why cannot get enough of this guy and his movies?