so you want to buy a tv

for geoff.

why hello there

dead center, six or seven rows from the stage.

ovarian cancer race results

46  10/47    24:01  7:44

this race was advertised as flat and fast... totally not true. it was curvy and hilly. i did pretty well until mile 2; i crossed mile 2 at 15:30 but i completely fell apart like a chinese bicycle not too long into it. overall, i still finished at 24 minutes which i'm pretty happy about. i think i could've definitely taken it down to 23:30 if i had more steam going into the last half mile.

<3 herbert kornfeld

not work safe language

i don't like the look of that elevation profile...

title link goes to a map i made of the university city 5k run

4.88k

some drama in the philly runners message board that i didn't really run a 24:21 5k this past weekend:

Using Sheila's assumed course length of 390 feet short, the course was 16014.1944 feet instead of 16404.1944 feet (5280 feet per mile, 5K=3.106855 miles). Therefore, racers ran 97.6225593% of a 5K (short course divided by 5K), a 4.881127965 K.

To extrapolate your time for a 5K, multiply your time by 1.024353395 (5K / short course). First, convert your time into seconds, multiply by above, then convert back.

24:56 would be my extrapolated time.

incoming paradox

Emilio's mother, Catarina Gonzales, on the other hand, is fighting to keep her son on the ventilator, allowing him to die "naturally, the way God intended."

i also found this quite ironic:

The law, signed in 1999 by then-Gov. George W. Bush, gives Texas hospitals the authority to stop treatment if doctors say the treatment is "inappropriate" -- even if the family wants the medical care to continue.

and then we have the bush of today, "The children here today are reminders that every human life is a precious gift of matchless value." delicious.

listening to

menomena's "friend and foe" (title link goes to their myspace)

co-op anti-zombie play

title link goes to zomg

still waiting for the official chip time

but my guntime was a little bit over 25 minutes! mile splits were something like 9-8-8.

UPDATE:

352   1198   24:21  7:52   25:06  56/105  M25-29  278/632  M 

zomg.

waiting for the starting gun

the spring 5k season starts bright and early tomorrow morning at 9am with the clean air run. there will be tons of hippies. i could care less about the clean air, i just want to run. i'm not as hill-climbing strong as i was last year but i'm probably consistently faster over 2-3 miles this year.

i had to dump the broad street run 10 miler for this year. instead i will try my hand at avenging my getting destroyed last year with 31:02. i had targeted the bsr at the end of last year but it didn't come together health-wise for me until two months ago. and it was much safer to focus on the spring 5k season than to push myself and potentially over-train for the bsr. i am still targeting a half-marathon in the fall though.

here's to trying to best my personal 5k record of 26:48 tomorrow!

grindhouse-esque movie posters

title link goes to sa thread. probably not work safe.

arcade fire in a freight elevator and in-audience performance

i love how the crowd explodes at that part of wake up.

#41 - Arcade Fire - Neon Bible & Wake Up
Uploaded by lablogotheque

bulboff covers the decemberists

not voting for fattah

His comments were an oblique response to U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, who stunned a mayoral forum devoted to urban design last week by saying planning projects would take a backseat to antipoverty programs if he were elected mayor.

Fattah suggested planning was a niche issue of interest mainly to affluent Center City residents, and said he preferred to focus on education and housing for the poor. "I'm interested in rebuilding the lives of people and not just the skyline," Fattah told the forum audience.

...

In yesterday's remarks, Levy observed that it had been easy for politicians to overlook Center City's needs because only 5 percent of the electorate lives there. But he argued that downtown is the beating heart that keeps the rest of the city alive. Despite its small geographic size, Levy said, the business district generates 47 percent of the wages Philadelphians earn.

he forgets that we can also vote with our feet.

making jfk a two way street is a decent idea

Among the cooler ideas:

A light-rail transit line, à la Dublin, Ireland, running down Market Street, connecting 30th Street Station and burgeoning University City with all of Center City. The line would then branch out north and south along the Delaware.

A concerted effort to soften and animate the dead, concrete civic spaces left by another era. Imagine, next to City Hall, a green Dilworth Plaza, home to movie nights in the summer and a skating rink in winter. Imagine the City Hall courtyard as a city crossroads full of things to do. Similarly, visualize a Benjamin Franklin Parkway liberated from the tyranny of the car, some of its grand sweep reclaimed for pedestrians and pastimes, with smoother connections among its cultural treasures.

A saving injection of green and color for the seedy dead zone of West Market Street and JFK Boulevard between the office towers and the Schuylkill: linear green parks, flowered medians, a Brooklyn Heights-style promenade along the Schuylkill from JFK to Chestnut Street.

Development of an academic district on North Broad Street, akin to the cultural district of the Avenue of the Arts, linking the learning institutions lining that raggedy stretch of the city's spine.

An East Market Street with attractive retail, and a streetscape that soothes pedestrians and links them smoothly to Chinatown to the north, and the residential blocks to the south. Some smart public investments might unlock the long rumored, never realized private investments in East Market's underused tracts.

These ideas would cost money, but not fortunes. They mesh well with the separate Delaware riverfront planning process being led by Penn Praxis (which is exploring an ambitious, project-of-a-generation idea - sinking Interstate 95).

Paintball welt

Paintball welt
Originally uploaded by mechakoopa.

at least nobody lost an eye.

mario game from hell

click on the title link

film festival update

Friday, April 06
10:00 PM The Bothersome Man The Bridge: good premise. good, could've been better. thinly veiled jab at consumer culture. 8.3/10

Saturday, April 07
2:45 PM Paprika The Bridge: over-napped, did not see.
7:30 PM Exiled The Bridge: decent and entertaining, full of cliches. gun fights could've been shot better (did you see the pun there?). 7.72/10

Sunday, April 08
4:30 PM Cruel Winter Blues The Bridge: pretty good character-driven story. not your typical revenge movie. 8.74/10
7:15 PM The Boss of It All Ritz Five: hilarious comedy for those that like office space and the office. 9.22/10

Monday, April 09
7:30 PM The King of Kong The Bridge: hilarious. "the rocky of gaming movies." 9.06/10

i love art

stolen from joystiq

this season of 24 has been disappointing

after the awesomeness that was season 5 and the first four episodes of this season, this abrupt drop in awesomeness is baffling. wtf!?

david cross and gavin something goes to china

found in the forums. not work safe for language. also for the squeamish, dog meat is eaten.

Part 1: http://www.vbs.tv/player.php?bctid=626899396

Part 2: http://www.vbs.tv/player.php?bctid=662859626

Part 3: http://www.vbs.tv/player.php?bctid=663334066

"So you push Mao out of the way and the fires of capitalism ignite."

i win the pool!

i called west philadelphia, for the win!

Temple doctors had cut open the chest of George's 21-year-old companion, whom police have not identified, and were massaging his heart when his younger brother began to tell police what happened.

The boy's mother cut him off and loudly warned her son " 'not to say a f-ing word,' " according to an officer who was at the scene.

" 'Don't talk to the f-ing cops,' " the officer quoted the woman as saying. " 'We handle this our own way.' "

"I couldn't believe it," said the officer, who asked not to be identified.

Moments later, four young men ran up to the victim's brother and told him to "say nothing to the cops."

The scene quickly grew even more surreal.

The mother of a third shooting victim arrived and told police: "I know who did it, and he's in this crowd."

As the woman looked around for the gunman, the crowd berated her and told her to keep silent, the officer said. "People were telling her to be quiet and saying, 'We'll get you, bitch.' "

Police called for reinforcements.

"How are we supposed to end this when we're up against these kinds of societal values?" asked the officer.

"It's discouraging and an absolute disgrace," said Homicide Sgt. Anthony McFadden.

the pool is starting for the neighborhood of #150.