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.

peanut butter analogy disproves modern science

homer evolution

peyton manning throws a deep lol

washington was awesome

geoff, where has zombie friday been?

where else am i supposed to hear about the latest unliving adventures?

it's on now, eddie

they've developed a robot to battle eddie in guitar hero. they even gave it five fingers to better match up against eddie.

your sentences are songs sung in the key of lie

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

i do declare

Friday, April 06
10:00 PM The Bothersome Man The Bridge

Saturday, April 07
2:45 PM Paprika The Bridge
7:30 PM Exiled The Bridge

Sunday, April 08
4:30 PM Cruel Winter Blues The Bridge
7:15 PM The Boss of It All Ritz Five

Monday, April 09
7:30 PM The King of Kong The Bridge

Tuesday, April 10
7:00 PM The Cats of Mirikitani International House

Wednesday, April 11
9:30 PM Triad Election Prince Music Theater

Sunday, April 15
7:00 PM Fracture Ritz East Theater 1

Monday, April 16
7:15 PM Fair Play Prince Music Theater

and people say we aren't related to monkeys?

i just realized my blog is practically a youtube blog now. :(

whistle goes woo wooo

play this video here:

then, go to this ytmnd. solid woo wooo gold baby.

this is quite lols

itsa me

really digging the new mario.

super nintendo, sega genesis...

when i was dead broke, man, i couldn't picture this.

larry west for mayor!!

guys, he's got a mohawk. title link goes to his website.

will arnett cracks me up

lol

v is for virtualization, sucka

i pity the fool who doesn't use hitachi system virtualization!

metroid art

One Girl in All the World by =transfuse on deviantART

others: 1, 2, 3, 4

michael cera is snarky

just when you think the borat fun has ended

click the title link to check out the dvd packaging.

mcdonald's: i'd hit it

it's like a message board for unlisted phone numbers

i don't pick up phone calls from numbers i don't recognize (leave a voicemail!) and i like to google the phone number to see who or what it might've been. i've found this whocalled.us website that apparently does this sorta thing. (p.s. i'm totally onto you, drexel university!)

i own a blackberry now

living the digital lifestyle... or something.

new portishead?

"After a couple of hours [spinning] eclectic sadcore classics from the likes of Tom Waits and Joy Division," wrote the reader, "Geoff and...Adrian Utley began to play 'Wandering Star'-- Geoff playing bass. A few bars in Geoff picked up the mike and asked 'Anyone here know how to sing?' At this point Beth walked on stage and started singing."

...

"The second song was brand new," the reader continued, "presumably from the forthcoming (if you believe the rumours, sometime this year) album. Rarely have I seen a room full of people all wear exactly the same facial expression, but when I looked at the crowd everyone had their mouths gaping and eyes wide open as if they were witnessing an alien landing. It was wonderful. The new song was completely gorgeous, carried by Beth's vocals and with very low-key instrumentation."

bread experts are weird

derek's birthday party

title link goes to flickr pix. click here to see eddie and derek's pictures.

i don't know. have you checked the Conservapedia?

A conservative encyclopedia you can trust.

Conservapedia has over 3,400 educational, clean and concise entries on historical, scientific, legal, and economic topics, as well as more than 350 lectures and term lists. There have been over 190,000 page views and over 14,500 page edits. Already Conservapedia has become one of the largest user-controlled free encyclopedias on the internet. This site is growing rapidly.

Conservapedia is a much-needed alternative to Wikipedia, which is increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American. On Wikipedia, many of the dates are provided in the anti-Christian "C.E." instead of "A.D.", which Conservapedia uses. Christianity receives no credit for the great advances and discoveries it inspired, such as those of the Renaissance. Read a list of many Examples of Bias in Wikipedia.

Conservapedia is an online resource and meeting place where we favor Christianity and America. Conservapedia has easy-to-use indexes to facilitate review of topics. You will much prefer using Conservapedia compared to Wikipedia if you want concise answers free of "political correctness".

fyi: "CE is usually used in academic circles to avoid the confusion inherent in AD since there's no real way Jesus could have been born in 0AD."

IT HAS BEGUN

Chimpanzees 'hunt using spears'

Chimpanzees in Senegal have been observed making and using wooden spears to hunt other primates, according to a study in the journal Current Biology.

:O

chatty

hey geoff, how are you doing these days? how was the ice storm in soso?

download saturday night's npr arcade fire concert

click the title link to find the whole thing as a 71mb mp3.

speaking of will arnett

title link goes to "blades of glory" trailer.

what a lost episode!

the ending was quite delicious. i think lost got its groove back.

perfect for valentine's day

new pbf comic

arcade fire in philly on may 5th

05-05 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre

WHO IS GOING WITH ME?!!!

the office

fyi, i'm still on team karen. i wavered slightly but i'm still rolling with the tk.

jesus camp is up on google video

prepare to get freaked out.

Levi: At five I got saved...
Becky Fischer: Yeah?
Levi: ...because I just wanted more of life.

... holy shit. :o

imdb
link to movie

you know you're big when you've got your own ice cream flavor

title link goes to stephen colbert's americone dream.

mario gone mad!

title link goes to awful forums mspaint thread. not work safe. probably not mind safe either.

wincing the night away

(title link to youtube video for "phantom limb")

i gotta tell ya, the new shins album is fantastic.

arcade fire to play live show on npr

The Arcade Fire's 2004 debut Funeral, was one of the decade's most remarkable rock albums. Now on the eve of releasing Neon Bible, their highly anticipated follow-up, the band visits New York's Judson Memorial Church for a full concert, webcast live on NPR.org Feb. 17. Hear The Arcade Fire perform selections from Neon Bible online beginning at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET.

i need to hear about what happened when derek watched old boy

wow

that was one crazy awesome episode of 24. wow. and next week's episode is two hours long!!

hey scott

you left one of your scrabble player pieces here last night. for realz.

super bowl potluck pix

wii madden is a ton of fun

i find myself gestating like an idiot. fun for everybody.

superbowl preview in tecmo bowl

stolen from joystiq:

bonus bo jackson:

center city nomenclature and division instigation

i want to bring noma (north of market st) and soma (south of market st) to the center city lingo. i haven't figured out how to designate west and east of city hall yet. the barbarians in soma would probably want it that way.

geoff, it's been decided that you live in soso (south of south st).

splinter cell 3 for ps3 to have boobs

(see title link for pix) i still don't understand their futuristic armor. not that i'm complaining.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS THAT ARE COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH?!

i tell ya, rush hour movies are a guilty pleasure. chris tucker lives quite the life.

running update

i'm still fighting horrible knee pain and trying to train through it. somehow, i've been getting runner's world magazine for the past few months as some sort of introductory offer. well, they ended up hooking me into a subscription like a dumb fish. i like the magazine though. i've picked up a few exercises in the past few issues to strengthen my lower body so i'm hoping that'll help me with my knees.

believe it or not but i've been training in shorts at least once a week. outdoors. the coldest i've ran in was about 35 degrees wind chill. once you get warmed up after a mile, it's not too bad as long as you have the right layers going. i'll add some extra insulation in the form of running tights this week. unlike the infamous adam legend, i'll be wearing shorts on top.

these aren't normal tights though. the cw-x tights have 40 patents to them. i'm hoping the extra support will help with my knees and lower back. and they make me look like a superhero.

first race is coming up in a little over a month. considering where i am at today, it's going to be a stretch to be ready for 10k.

there will be no joy in the apartment this year

did my taxes. i owe the feds $12 and the state $1. i made out like a thief in the night last year when i was in a lower tax bracket and could claim higher educational tax credits. le sigh.

24 parody

what's up with those match.com webcam ads?

i noticed them at ytmnd. it's like you can't not look away.

i don't think ghostface killah is gay

see title link for list of gay bands.

future warfare doesn't make sense to me

why are her boobs not protected?

arcade fire plays live show in high school cafeteria

title link goes to pitchfork media article

well, i'm not buying another symantec product

my ghost 9.0 backups have been failing for the past week because it claims that the target disk is full. actually, windows says that my 200 gig drive has 113 gigs of free space. i'm backing up to a 150 gig disk. that should work. but apparently, symantec's code monkeys somehow fucked up the calculation of disk space in the lower-right corner (13.9GB!?!!). it's like they dropped a zero or something. so my backup won't go through because it thinks there's not enough disk space (150 gig disk is reading as 49.1GB!).

ok, maybe they have a patch or fix online.

The versions of Norton Ghost listed below have been discontinued. Phone, email and live chat support are no longer available.

fuck that, i'm not paying $49 to upgrade to ghost 10 because they don't know how to divide properly. i hope this post gets indexed by google.

ratm reuniting for one show

Rage Against the Machine, the seminal L.A. band that made heavy music into political manifesto, will reunite after a seven-year lull for one show as the headliners at the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Sources say Rage, which played the main stage at the first Coachella in 1999, will be joined by other familiar faces for the eighth edition of the festival, which covers three days this year and begins April 27: Red Hot Chili Peppers, which headlined in 2003, are back, as is Björk, who topped the bill in 2002. Organizers were mum this weekend and it was not clear which day Rage or the other acts were slotted to play; that announcement is expected in the next few days. Other acts expected in the eclectic lineup: Arcade Fire, Interpol, Willie Nelson, the Roots, Manu Chao, the Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Crowded House, Air, Tiësto and Kings of Leon.

that's quite the lineup. i used to like ratm when i was young and full of piss and vinegar. now, the 'machine' signs my paychecks and allows me to buy all sorts of cool stuff and live in a nice apartment in a nice part of town. i guess i am the machine now. :/

what a football game!

wow, the colts overcame a 18 point deficit to win. good for peyton manning. he's been due for a few years now. he played a great half of a game.

p.s. fuck the patriots

ninja restaurant in new york

more eight year old playing guitar hero on expert

title link goes to all of this kid's videos. below is freebird on expert:

career-summing movie posters

from sa forums. not work safe.

my blog is becoming a youtube proxy

colbert quits

after the democrats took control of congress last november. this is amazing.

Tommorrow you're all going to wake up in a brave new world. A world where the constitution gets trampled by an army of terrorist clones created in a stem cell research lab run by homosexual doctors who sterilize there instruments over burning american flags, where tax and spend democrats, take all your hard earned money and use it to buy electric cars for National Public Radio and teach evolution to illegal immigrants. Oh, and everybody's high.

why does derek have a phone anyway?

if he never picks it up. :<

those crazy japanese

passed along from geoff. tagged under japan.

well japan is the world leader in robotics

we figured they would overtake us in robotics and automobiles, but nobody suspected we'd lose break-dancing too.

updated: colbert on the bill o'reilly show and vice versa

i lolled. every single bill o'reilly attack on colbert was turned right back around on him like some sort of kung fu grip.

Colbert on The O'Reilly Factor
O'Reilly On The Colbert Report

there's a trekkie in congress

george takei is awesome.

arrested development's michael cera's youtube parody

original:

parody:

WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME! TELL ME WHERE BARBIE IS!!!

by way of geoff

eight year old kicks ass in guitar hero on expert

eat your heart out, eddie

last night's 24 upped the awesome

and then topped it five minutes later. :O

season six of 24 begins

it began without the rock & roll of season five's debut... with a much different jack bauer. this is going to be interesting. if kiefer keeps this up, he'll be up for an emmy.

got wood for sheep?

bulboff's roast

DSC01293
Originally uploaded by mechakoopa.

yeah he got pretty bad last night.

brian dawkins is fucking awesome

godfather on the wii

play the video. it looks... violent.

graw2

i dunno about you but this game is looking hot. i think it's supposed to be out in march.

i can't wait to play team coop elimination with scott.

i think i just read a huge spoiler for the beginning of season 6

if this spoiler is true...

oh. my. god.

our country

chevy's "our country" television ads that play every goddamn commercial break are the worst thing to happen to our nation since that anthrax scare a few years ago.

goddamn. at least it's easy to parody (onion, youtube).

yay eagles

man, they sure let it come down to the wire... probably to build suspense. they're going to get creamed by the saints though. :(

everything has been imported

it took a few attempts but all of the old posts with categories converted into labels have been imported into blogger. i hope google doesn't ban me for totally spamming their api this afternoon.

science!

added more sets

dave's 23rd birthday

my 22nd birthday

stupid hat night

the college years

uploaded a megaton of pictures from 2001-2003ish. the time frame for these pictures are from the first ever super-friends happy hour at mad4mex (september 2001) to graduation (june 2003).

there are pictures of the apartment i shared with dave in west philly. there are a lot of pictures of friends (eddie and derek are in there and so is crazy pete back when he was crazy). i think dave ended up borrowing my camera and taking some of these pictures.

there's a few more albums in this time frame that i'll get around to posting separately later.

will the programmer

it's like ye olden days where your name described your function in life.

like cedric the entertainer. who are you?

12 DAYS UNTIL 24 SEASON 6

johnny five not only alive but also fabulous

linked to clip 1. clips 2-8 should be easy to find.

apparently this was a pilot for comedy central that was passed on.

baked chicken

baking chicken has to be the best thing ever. not only is the chicken still tender and moist, cleanup is really quick and easy. just bake it on top of tin foil and throw it out afterwards.

arcade fire's intervention performance

why didn't i go looking on youtube earlier?

more videos from that session.

new years eve

geoff on the slide whistle

UNCLAIMED FREIGHT!!