Oh snap...

I am outta here! Onwards and upwards to Seattle for Bumbershoot (to watch the Shins, the Apples in Stereo, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Wu Tang Clan, Head Automatica, Smoosh, Panic! at the Disco, Tokyo Police Club, comedians, film, etc.) and then down to Portland for hanging with good friends and Musicfest NW (Starring Spoon, Rilo Kiley, Girl Talk, and Cat Power...meow). Plus, a trip to Astoria, OR to visit my Mecca, aka the location where the Goonies was filmed. All in 10 days! How will I fit all the goodness in? Energy drinks. Many of them. I can hardly wait! No less, still a bad blog owner, but hey, when I get back I will supply the most ridiculous post ever. Maybe even multiple posts! Full of pictures and large adjectives and analogies galore. Do not miss that. I dare you to, and this is a dare that you dare not win on. I shall return the 11th of September!

Additionally, my boy BKV (Brian K. Vaughan for the uninitiated) had a nice special on MTV News. Feel free to check it out here. BKV is pretty much the man, and it's great to see him getting such huge press. New Y next week, 3 more issues. What a tragedy. Both Y and Preacher ending on sixty issues. And they were so young...

Through Being Cool

This past summer has been a ton of fun. I've had probably about as much straight up fun as any summer of my life. I've partied very hard. Did a ton outside. Played a ridiculous amount of Frisbee Golf. Met a lot of great people. Had a good time at work even, while even making a nice sum of money. However, I've kind of felt like a phony the whole time. Not to mention it just has started to not feel right. Doesn't make sense? Let me explain.

• I rarely spend time by myself anymore. I absolutely treasure time by myself and I'm starting to miss it.
• I've become some smooth guy at talking to girls out at bars. Could there be something further from the truth? I just finished eating a PB&J Sandwich on a Harry Potter plate and then contemplated between watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for the 200th time or reading comics. I took the plate as an omen. Smooth I am not usually.
• Lately, I've been tossing money out as if I was the guys from Stella (Tried to find the image to back it up, but essentially it is a picture of the three guys from Stella riding in a convertible just tossing cash...it's great because it is an ani-gif, but it is lame in this case because it is a no-gif)
• I worked long and very hard to lose weight, yet here I am gaining weight. Sure everyone says I look exactly the same, but I know better! There is weight for me to lose as my torso and certain other areas have become...well I will call them pudgy.
• I love my place, yet it is in a constant state of disarray because of constant visitors and "tenants," and by that I mean people who stay overnight and leave stuff everywhere.

The point is, I'm frustrated with the lifestyle, I'm frustrated with the people involved to a degree (especially when it involves eating my food with no permission or response and breaking very clearly set rules of my house), and I'm frustrated with myself for going so far in this direction. I've had a lot of fun through a lot of bad decisions more than likely.

When I started thinking of these feelings, I thought of an album by the band Saves the Day called Through Being Cool. It's weird to think of making a conscientious choice, making an absolute choice to no longer be "cool" and go back to my comic book reading, home on Saturday night, Harry Potter loving self. Don't get me wrong, I will still go out from time to time, I just will embrace things that I prefer to do. Today, I had a great day, having breakfast with my family, then going to Barnes and Noble and treating them like a library for a few hours, going to the gym and playing basketball/lifting for a few more, and then taking a well deserved nap. I know that doesn't seem like a great day to many, but that seems like the best to me.

I was told this summer that I am an all or nothing guy. When I do something, it's essentially all in or not at all. I'm going to learn a new mode this fall/winter. Moderation. I have no idea how well it will work. I'm going to refocus on work and health, focus on some new goals that I really want to work on, and back burner my wild and crazy side for a little while. I think this is the perfect time to do it, as I have a ton of concerts to go to over the next month, and an awesome vacation to look forward to as well coming up here at the end of the week. It's all happening. Now I just have to embrace the David and not worry about what others may think.

That's My Boy!

Reggie Miller: The Man

Reggie Miller will not be returning to the NBA on another team.

This year. Next year. Any year.

He will remain what he always has been.

An Indiana Pacer, and the greatest of those of all time.

Long live the king.

Dr. SARSlove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

These are my blood cells

These are my blood cells on SARS

So I have SARS again. I haven't posted in a while, but the last couple days I have been massively infected with my death disease, something I am convinced is only infectious to me and may or may not have the same effects as SARS. Colver thinks I should submit myself to the CDC so they can study me and save many folks over in Asia from death, as I have had it eight times and yet to die from it. I choose to lay around and read comics and complain often. I may even call in sick tomorrow if I feel sick again. I have abused my blog and will henceforth promise to post at least every other day for the rest of the month. Then take a likely 10 day break because I will be in Seattle/Portland having an awesome time. More to come from your friendly neighborhood infectious disease patient. If I survive that is. Cross your fingers!

Be Kind Rewind

Oh wow. Three posts in one day, two of which will be mostly useless to you the reader. Yay me!

I just wanted to post this, because I've been excited about this since it's announcement because I thought conceptually it was genius, and then when they signed the cast I figured it would be even better. Now that I've seen the trailer, I have to say, Michel Gondry's (of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind fame) Be Kind Rewind looks to be brilliant. It stars Jack Black and Mos Def as two video store employees who inadvertently destroy all of their tapes, and instead of buying new ones to replace them, they refilm all of the movies themselves and inspire a phenomenon in their city over what they did.

Part of what makes the movie so exciting is the wide variety of movies that they reshoot, which I guarantee will be entertaining. In the trailer alone, it shows their versions of Ghostbusters, Robocop, Boyz in the Hood, Rush Hour 2, Driving Miss Daisy, and even 2001: A Space Oddysey, and all look hilarious. Not to mention that it looks heartwarming, which I will go ahead and admit, is a huge, huge plus for me. I'm a sucker for cheese, and this looks like it could bring it gouda. See what I did there? No less, enough rambling by me, watch the trailer here, and let me know what you think. Some will not like it I'm sure, but I love movies like this. It speaks to me as a mega dork, and I in turn share it with you.

Say it ain't so

Reggie Miler: The Man, the Myth, the Legend

There are very few people I find to be absolutely infallible. Sadly enough, they are no one I actually know, but people I just trust entirely with what they do and what they say. It's nice to have those people, because it gives you someone to believe in and something to always look forward to. For example, I always know I will love whatever Bill Simmons writes. As my friend Ryan said, I have a man crush on Bill Simmons. Another one I never believe will mess up or let me down is Tom Brady, the New England Patriots QB. He always comes through for me in the end, and generally never makes the wrong play at the very least. Even when he ends up losing, I never really blame him.

With those two said, neither really compare to my favorite athlete ever. Reggie Miller. A lot of people do not like Reggie, as he does "dirty" things such as kicking his leg out on a three pointer to draw a foul, he flops to a degree, and he always gets into it with other players. But I love him, I love everything about his game. Regardless of anything he does, he always does the best thing for his team and will never let a Pacers fan down. There is the key, Pacers fan. Reggie Miller was an Indiana Pacer for 18 years before retiring 2 years ago, and now he is contemplating a comeback. Amazing right? I should be extremely excited.

But I'm not.

Because he's thinking of coming back as a Boston Celtic.

Part of what makes Reggie so special is that he stayed on one team for his entire career while everyone else was switching team to team, essentially being hired guns for their entire career. He was Mr. Consistent. He was Mr. Pacer. He was the face, heart, and big ol' Ferengi ears of the Indiana Pacers for 18 years, and he should keep his legacy intact in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong. I would LOVE to see Reggie play again. I would watch every single Boston Celtics game next season if he played. I would root for the Celtics. I would be a Celtics fan (Another thing to bond with Bill Simmons over at least), because while Reggie has been away, the Pacers have turned into a mediocre non-contender with thugs leading their squad into the fray. More than any team that I like, the Pacers are my favorite team because of one player.

From the early days of me liking them with Dale Davis and Rik Smits, to the middle years where they were mediocre and that other team was being dismantled, to the return to glory with young bucks like Jermaine O'Neal and Ron Artest joining the squad, to the devestation of the Malice at the Palace where the Pacers fought with fans at a Pacers/Pistons game, there was only one constant. Reggie Miller (well and Donnie Walsh, but who likes a team for a President of Operations anyways?).

The point is, I'm terribly conflicted. I want to see Reggie play again badly. But do I want to see him in Celtics green? I don't even know. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, but all I can say right now is what I said in the beginning.

Say it ain't so Reggie. Say it ain't so.