My Fake Plastic Earth

Monday, January 12, 2009

CRAZY BUSY!!!

Just a Short Posting

We are now well in to 2009, and I couldn't be busier. I was planning on doing more of a retrospective, but so far there is no time. I do still plan on the "A Look at '08" blog, which will include "movie", "music", and "the books I read" lists.

For now, I will leave you by saying that this is shaping up to be an exciting year career wise, and I can not get enough of Guitar Hero: World Tour!

Until next week...

# posted by shawnfrair @ 8:00 AM 0 comments

Thursday, January 01, 2009

2009 - The Return of the Blog!!!

Retrospective - New York State of Blog

Okay, I'll start by admitting that my blog updates have been about as reliable as the stock market recently. One of my resolutions this year is to start blogging on a more regular basis. I do miss it, and the comments. This time around I don't want to rely on cheap YouTube videos just to make a post. If I see something that I like, I will pass it along. But I don't want to blog unless I actually have something to say. Whether it is an opinion on something in the world (controversial or not), or just a quick "what's new" or "state of the union" type of posting.

So I guess the best way to start this year's blogging is to look back on some highlights of 2008. Here we go...

NYC

Last May Andrea and I went back to New York for our yearly vacation. This trip had us taking a TV bus tour, eating at the elegant Tavern on the Green, touring NBC, wandering around the financial district (before all hell broke loose!), Battery Park, and much more! Here are some pics of fun.

This was the sculpture in the World Trade Center. Now it sits in Battery Park.

The Friends building!

Serpico's apartment! The only honest cop in New York. Awesome!

The New York Public Library

The Fat Black Pussycat. This is where Bob Dylan used to try out new stuff in the early years. Now it's a Mexican restaurant which serves some of the best Margaritas!

F.A.O. Schwarz was the toy store made popular by the movie Big. Off topic - I was offered a Rolex out of a guy's coat pocket in front of this store. Awesome!

Fantastic Lego sculptures! I'm so nerdy!

I'll be honest here. I felt a little like Waylen Smithers when I took this one!

This week on Law & Order!

Well it looks like I was the only one who knew where the markets were going! Everyone else was posing at the unfunny end of the bull.

It was like Grand Central Station in there!

The Drake Hotel and Strawberry Fields. That Imagine photo is probably the best photo I will ever take!

Break dancers in Central Park.

Eating at Tavern on the Green. I think I was sitting beside the window Rick Moranis was banging on in Ghostbusters! Luckily no demonic dogs ate me during my visit.

The show that night was Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan, & Gladys Knight (no Pips though), and was being hosted by Bill Clinton. Suffice it to say, I couldn't get tickets!

The bathroom in Tiffany's. Probably wouldn't want to eat breakfast in there! The stalls had dead bolt locks and real doors! Not just the run of the mill steel doors in this place. Also look at all the marble! This place was so high end, they have a guy to spin the revolving door for you! Now that's customer service.

9/11 is a lie!!! I found this just 10 minutes away from Ground Zero.

This is what's left of CBGB's. Once the punk mecca of the world, now just another medium for a snooty designer to pimp his wears. At least John Varvatos left all the graffiti, and still sold albums (and I'm talkin' real vinyl here), but his clothes were quite unreasonably prices. For shame...

At least Joey Ramone Place still stands.

Story Corps is a company that allows everyday people to tell there stories and then streams them online. It's actuall quite remarkable. Click here to visit the web site.

Well, that about wrapps up my New York adventure. I will be posting a few more retrospectives, and then start reporting on the coming year.

I hope everybody had a great holiday season, and all the best in 2009.

# posted by shawnfrair @ 9:50 PM 1 comments

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Not Good in the Dark

Well back to back weeks of new posts. I must be motivated or something!

Not too much new this week. Scott and I went to see Hayden on Tuesday. As usual he was awesome! I'm not too fond of some of his fans though. Just because he kept some of the audience banter in on his live album doesn't give every jack-ass the right to start making off-the-cuff remarks in between (and sometimes during) songs. Especially at a Hayden show! I quote the band Sloan: "It's not the band I hate, it's their fans..." For those that don't know who Hayden is I found a couple of videos on Youtube that I am going to post below.

The Daily Pics

I did start doing my little photography project this week. I didn't take a photo everyday, but I came close! I have realized that my camera is terrible in the dark. Oh well. Until I get a new one I'll just have to stick to daytime shots.

HAYDEN

This photo is from the Hayden show. Now I didn't take a picture of Hayden (because that would just make sense!), but this is the opening act. She calls herself Jaymay and she was pretty good. Kind of like a female version of Hayden! Scott summed her up pretty well with "She's not offensive..." Anyway, because of the camera's poor quality in dark places and loud beeping when a picture is taken (it was a quiet show), I decided not to take any pics while Hayden played.

Lunar Eclipse

Alright, I thought that when I pointed the lens at the only source of light in the sky it would capture something! Well I stand corrected! This is a picture of last Wednesday's lunar eclipse. The moon is actually a beautiful red, but my camera just wouldn't pick that up. You are able to see a small spec of red just off-center in the picture. It's kind of like a "Where's Waldo" game you can play with this one.

Miso

I'll be honest, this looked cuter in real life!

I Am 'Effing Tired of Winter!!!

Sure it looks nice, but give me a break! I am so sick of shoveling. I remember when I was happy to have a two car driveway, now I just want to shoot myself!

One Order of Sick Day, Coming Up!

How cheap (and brave) does one have to be to catch the end of day sale at a Sushi place?!! In fact, I'm not too sure if I would trust a Sushi kiosk at the Oshawa Centre when it was fresh!

Closing

Before I go I just want to say kudos to Dalton McGuinty. I usually wouldn't, but I am happy to hear that he is planning to do the very controversial act of removing the Lord's Prayer from the Ontario Parliament. I know many people disagree with this action, but I think it is time we all look beyond ourselves and realize that we are living in a very diverse society. Many people with many beliefs live in our communities, and it is wrong for the government to choose only one belief system. I fully support the separation of church and state, and I think that this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Enjoy your week everybody!

# posted by shawnfrair @ 9:34 AM 0 comments

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Happy New Year!?!

*** Warning - The spell check wasn't working so please disregard any spelling errors ***

So we are all "balls deep" into 2008 by now I'm sure. So maybe the Happy New Years is a little out of place at this point, but none the less, this is my first post in '08 so I think it fits. Deal with it!

To recap 2007:
- I flew a plane
-I went to New York and rode the Subway
- I pretended to make a jumping catch against the left-field wall at Yankee Stadium!
- I saw a the Leafs kill Ottawa in Ottawa!
- I flew in a F-18 flight simulator
- Andrea and I bought new wedding rings (Awwwwe)
- I fell in love with musicals (especially good tap sequences!) when I saw the Drowsy Chaparone
- I won a weight loss competition at work by losing 18lbs in a month!
- I witnesses my beloved Jays get slaugtered by the Bosox twice!
- I saw Roger Waters perform Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety
and much, much more!!!

I did all of those things and sitll couldn't find anything interesting enough to write about every week! Perhaps it's more of a question of motivation. Either way, I think I have come up with a great solution!

The other day my Mother-in-law told me about a friend of her's that takes at least 1 photgraph every day and saves them in a box. I thought that would be perfect for my blog. I see many interesting things each day that I can take a picture of! So that's what I am starting right now. No longer should you be stuck with some mildly amusing video from youtube (although I will still be putting some of them on). This is going to be kind of like a pictorial diary! I'm very excited.

So here it goes...

The Daily Pics!

I tried this pic with the flash on and off. The one with the flash off is a little shaky, and looking at them now, I really should have taken this one in the day time. We just recieved about 3 feet of snow and this sign is showing +130. I thought it was funny.

This is the neigbourhood outside of Andrea's branch. It looks great in the winter. I would love to live down in the Beaches someday.

I didn't actually take this picture. I only started the project a couple of days ago, sso I added this one in because I really like abacusses.

I took the concept of this photo from my friend Doug's Facebook picture. I held the camera to my chest and this is what I got. I'm happy that I can still see my feet, but the disappearance of my legs is a little startling. I think the screaming face on my shirt really says it all!

This video was made completely from the last State of the Union. Fantastic!

Andrea and I have bcome big fans of The Moldy Peaches as of late. After seeing the movie Juno we haven't really been listening to anything else. Enjoy!

So until next time...

# posted by shawnfrair @ 11:12 AM 0 comments

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Has it really been this long?!

I guess it has been this long! I'm sure many of you are now tires of that irritating guy crying over Britney Spears. Well here is another video that my friend Doug sent to me:

I guess I really haven't been in much of a writing mood lately. To be honest, I still don't feel like writing. Hence all the videos!

I did recently go to a F18-Hornet simulator though. It was pretty good too! The graphics weren't as good as I had hoped, and the unit didn't move, but it was still a lot of fun. The controls were set up like the actual fighter jets and my friends and I spent an hour dogfighting with each other. I love those heat seeking missiles! They just make life easier than having to actually aim!

I'm going to wrap things up here. I'm hoping to update before the new year for a recap of 2007. Until then, I hope everybody has a safe and Merry Christmas.

Here's another video. Sure at parts it looks like a low budget high school drama project, but the point being made is awesome! It really make me question the evolution of the "American Dream." Especially from the point of view of young women!

# posted by shawnfrair @ 9:43 AM 1 comments

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Leave Britney Alone!!!!

Nothing new to report, but I have been laughing about this video for the last couple of days. There is swearing so no kids please. Enjoy!

(BTW: If you are reading this through FaceBook, you will have to go to my blog (the link is under "Information") to see the video.)

# posted by shawnfrair @ 2:15 PM 0 comments

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Dark Side, Fad Web-Site, Wings, and A Pound of Flesh!

Finally an update! It seems that I am starting most of my blog postings with that sentence. I guess I am not as dedicated a blogger as I had hoped to be. Oh well. I'm going to stop feeling pressure to update. The blog is kind of like a journal to me. I'll get to it when I can and set no more limits.

ROGER WATERS

I was luck enough to catch the last Roger Waters show of his North American tour here in Toronto. It was really cool. He played the Dark Side of the Moon album in its entirety! He also played other great Pink Floyd songs that I never thought that I would hear live. Song like Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, and Sheep. The performance was phenomenal and the stage show was fantastic. It was the first time I had ever seen anti-Bush graffiti spray painted on the ass of a giant remote controlled inflatable pig! Good stuff!

My friend Scott, who accompanied me to the concert (Andrea was teasing me about it being a date!) brought along his new iPhone. That thing is so cool! It is definitely living up to all the hype. If you have the means, I recommend you picking one up.

Facebook

As of late I have been on Facebook more and more. This may be part of the reason that I haven't been updating the blog as much. If you aren't already a member I recommend joining. It's a relatively easy way to stay in touch and share photos with friends and family.

Flying

Since starting the blog I had realized what a boring life I actually lead. I keep busy, but truly with things that are not worth writing about. I know the people really don't care that I have learned about how the Canadian tax code treats losses to a capital gains account! So I am trying to be more proactive with actually living life. One of my dreams has been to go up in one of those little Cessna planes that we see flying around. I don't know why, but I had always wondered what it would be like. Well on August 20th I realized that dream in a big way! Not only did I go up in one, but the pilot let me fly the thing for 5 to 10 minutes! It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. It also terrified me to my very soul! It was a windy day and those small planes feel every little bump there is. The controls were very sensitive and I had to keep compensating for the wind blowing us around.

The plane had been built in 1967 and inside it had the same smell as the inside of an old car on a hot day. The seats were really close together, and it was almost impossible to get in or out of it easily. I got to wear one of the headsets and heard the pilot speaking to the tower. We started down the runway and the speed seemed a little slow. It was a lot like when you are speeding up on an on-ramp for a highway. I guess I am used to the high speeds of large jets on take-off.

Well next thing I know we are off the ground. The plane starts rocking back and forth in the winds, and I start thinking about the barf-bag in the glove box. We reach about 2500 ft when he gives me the controls. I am instructed to climb to 3000 ft and then level off. He tells me to keep the horizon level with the dashboard for the climb. When we reach 3000 ft he tells me to lower the nose until I get "4-fingers" of horizon above the dashboard. 4 fingers! Was he ordering a Scotch?! Isn't there a more technical way to do this?!

Once we were leveled I was free to turn left or right and go where I wanted. We are now over Port Perry and lake Scugog. The winds are flowing under the plane giving it a floating feeling, a lot like a boat on water. Up and down, up and down. It took me a while to not overcompensate for it. The controls are very sensitive. I give the controls back to the professional and he now wants to know if I want to see him do some maneuvers! We have been in the air now for about 20 minutes and I am starting feels a little uneasy about things, so I decline. We head back to Oshawa Airport and it seems like we are coming in on an angle. The pilot is speaking to the tower so I can not ask any questions. I have to have faith that this guy knows what he is doing, a and is happy enough with his life that he doesn't want to kill himself and take me with him. We land safely.

We pull back to the hanger, and I take a few minutes struggling to get out of the tight seat. Once I am out the pilot grabs the plane by the propeller and pushes into a parking spot like ti only weighed 10 lbs. I guess there really isn't much to them.

Stratford

Last weekend we made our annual trip to Startford, Ontario. This year we saw Merchant of Venice. It was an unusual performance that seemed to be both modern and traditional translations of the play. There was fast beat dance music and a combinations of old and new style costumes. The strangest part was the casting of Graham Greene as Shylock! He did a great job, and in the end I understood why he was cast for the role. The story has Christians thinking of Jews as a lower form of life and trying to convert them to Christianity much like the pilgrims did with the native Canadians and Americans many years ago.

Well that's about all that is new. Andrea and I are both doing well. We are trying to plan another trip to New York. We want to drive down this time. Probably in early October. Central Park in the fall will be nice. Until next time!

# posted by shawnfrair @ 11:03 AM 1 comments