there's always an excuse

As an updated, those two books sold for over $200 today on eBay.

That's a cost of $8 to a sale of $200 ... in one day. Mighty fine return, folks!

Oh, and did you pick up some MVL stock? It hit $26.44 on Monday.

We'll see how my prediction does.

Remember what I was saying about making some easy cash with comics? Well, these two comics came out today and are selling for $75 (at latest bid)

Captain America #25

Cost in stores for both books? $8

Total profit per set? $67

Not bad!

Hope your knee surgery goes well.

... freakin' crazians

your buddy (not to be mistaken for "dear buddy")

Steve!

Hello folks! Investment banker Steve here.

MVL is now trading at $27.79 and potentially dropping

I say that it will be a sound stock to buy soon and sell off somewhere between May and mid-June.

In three months, I'll check back to see how well I did in my prediction.

End Transmission

Saw the Number 23 on kind of a whim but, I'm glad I did. It was a wonderful romp through paranoia. High on suspense, low on gore and profanity. Good twist ending (that I 16% suspected).

The only drawback is that I don't think it'll be as good the second time around. Kind of like the Sixth Sense dragged on the second time I saw it.

Joe sent this to me. If you've ever played DDR, then you will understand how incredible this little kid is. If you haven't, trust me ... to get all perfects is quite the impressive feat. Especially for a 5 year old!

DDR Champ

Ghost Rider was truly a comic book movie.

Not a bad movie at all; fun for what it was. The story took a little while to get going but, once in motion, the battles and awesome special effects were in full force.

It had some humorous parts in it to break up the serious tones of the movie. My favorite was the end of the goth chick's interview.

They incorporated the original western hero, Ghost Rider, into the current "Spirit of Vengeance" Ghost Rider mythos pretty well (even though, there's no basis for it in the comics) and was a nice nod to all things Ghost Rider. Although, I would have liked a reference to Dan Ketch (the dude with the GR curse in the 90s)

Seeing these characters in action on film is always a treat for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing the inevitable director's cut DVD.

It's really frustrating when I get a Paypal payment from someone outside the United States who automatically assumes that the posted domestic shipping applies to them.

As if $3 will get your package anywhere near the Netherlands, Mr. Willemsen.

"... a student at Desert Arroyo Middle School reported seeing a person dressed as Batman run across campus, jump a fence and disappear into the desert ..."

Read the full article here

Ever wonder how people would react to super-heroes in the real world? Yep ... we'd freak out and lockdown schools! C'mon folks ... he was probably just on the trail of a homicidal maniac made up as a clown.

Man, I wish I had seen it.

Now, I'm not one to go crazy about Valentine's Day (and, thankfully, neither is my girlfriend)

BUT

I'm not going around shouting "Death To Valentine's Day!"

If things like Valentine's Day are against "Islamic teachings, ... ethos and culture", then why are there Hindus living in the U.S.? They must live such terrible lives living here in America where they have to deal with awful indignities like Valentine's Day celebrations.

the last day of my ebay auctions is always so eventful. my total sales more than tripled in the last 24 hours. yippee!

now, i just need to pack up hundreds of auctions. work work work work work work work

<RANT TARGET="stupid eBay users">

last Tuesday, i listed 540 auctions on eBay. since then, i've been inundated with emails from other countries asking about shipping quotes. totally understandable.

what frustrates me are the people from the U.S. who ask for shipping quotes when the shipping quote (and the shipping quotes for combined auctions) are clearly stated in the auction description. if they would simply take half the time it took to type me the email via eBay, they could have read it for themselves on the auction page.

grrrrrrrr

</RANT>

and My Geekiest Year, 2007, officially begins this week.

This weekend, I'll be heading to AMC Loews to see Ghost Rider (which should have been out months ago ... but that's neither here nor there).

Next weekend, I'll be digging through cheap bins of comics at the NY ComicCon.

Two weekends after that, 300 hits theatres AND two weekends after that, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comes to town.

Woo! And we haven't even gotten to Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four 2, or 30 Days of Night yet!

days like today serve as a wonderful reminder of the support that a small community can offer. i'm so thankful for being surrounded by so many friends and family.

for those of you looking to make a quick buck in your spare time, perhaps "comics" is the answer. nearly every week, there's a new "hot" book out that sells for more on eBay than it does in stores.

midnight release of Dark Tower #1 cost $3.99 ebay $10.50.

Ghost Rider Finale cost $3.99 eBay $8.00

but, move quick! 'cause the demand is satisfied within a few days, making room for the next "hot" book.

after nearly a two year hiatus, Amie and I began writing music together again. it was such a fulfilling experience.

i know, i know, i already have a band ... but, this was original material. that i wrote. (that we wrote, actually). and it doesn't really fit in with my band's style. so, i suppose you can draw this up as another musical venture. hopefully one that lasts beyond just this one week. we managed to write two originals and get a cover done. not bad for a couple hours' worth of creative brainstorming.

my goal for this project is to have 5-6 songs to play at open mic night on the 16th. i don't know if amie has any goals for it ... but, it doesn't really matter anyway (this is my journal, after all) :-p

potential band names: Abandoned Amie, Left Brain Right Brain, or Tits McGee & Steve

"A study by the University of Rochester showed that people who played action video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month improved their vision by about 20 percent."

Read More

And here I thought my 20/20 vision was due to clean living, lots of carrots, and genetics. Turns out it's all thanks to my good pal, Mario.


Woo! Hee! HA! Wahooooooooooooo!

there's always an excuse

y'know, i really enjoy live music. but, oddly enough, i don't really like concerts. i like going some place where i can sit down (standing or leaning are also acceptable) and just take in the experience. i don't necessarily want to participate by singing along, dancing, clapping my hands, etc (although, occasionally you might catch me slipping up)

about a month ago, Amie and I went to the Water Wheel to see the Scott Weiss Band. Awesome blues stuff with cool guest stars on sax, guitar, etc. We even ran into Savage, Carlucci, and Seth

last week, Amie suckered me into a last minute trip to Kenny's Castaways to see our friend Matt's band The Five Percent. After turning a 1.75 hour trip into a 3 hour one, we caught the last song and a half of their set. We ran into Ms. Pomes, JP, Ryan, and some other folks there, too. After Matt's band, I got to experience a 5 person band (with three backup singers on top of that): 534. They were an awesome mix of funk, blues, and soul. All of them were awesome musicians ... the keyboardist especially jumped out as extremely talented.

allow me to become a music snob for a moment. it seems like a lot of kids these days are leaning towards writing hardcore music. and, while some of it may be good, it seems like the easy way out, to me. throw some distorted power chords over some yelling lyrics and voila! another hardcore song. i suppose i can liken it to punk music in the 90s. it'd be a better example, because i dig punk bands (Minor Threat, Mr. T Experience, MxPx, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, etc). but, compare the creative input on a Blink song to a Red Hot Chili Peppers Song. there really is no comparison. the talent needed to create a RHCP song is exponentially higher. (i used those two bands, because i'm not overly fond of either of 'em) i guess the real proof is when you look at bands that have been around forever. look at the progression through Green Day albums.

and, finally, this saturday my friends and i journeyed to the Greenville Tavern to see Emish play. the band consists of 3 people i went to high school with. one of them is Joe's brother, Mike and their drummer is also my drummer. they drew a huge crowd and they played Devil Went Down to Georgia. the best cover of that song that i've ever heard (not that i've heard any others ... but they still an awesome job of it).

i've come to realize that i am not a social person when there is live music in front of me. i don't want to talk to anyone, i just want to analyze the musical fusion going on. i watch the guitarist form chords and meander through transitions. i pick out the vocal melodies and take note of drum fills that fit perfectly. i even notice when the bass player is playing the wrong thing and then, later on, send him the real tabs. it's an awesome process, and i'm enthralled.