May 27, 2004

Fireworks

is it normal to want to kill yourself after watching Takeshi Kitano's 'Fireworks?'

now reading: Last Stand on Jabiim (Star Wars: Clone Wars, Vol. 3)- Haden Blackman, Brian Ching, John Ostrander, Jan Duursema

thecomicman spoke @ 05:50 PM |

May 16, 2004

Family: Days Six and Seven

me, Omar (my cousin), and Diego (my brother) got up at 6:30 in the morning to get in line for Conan stand-by tickets. this means if anybody who actually bought one doesn't show up, we get to go in. we stood in line for two hours and then got our number (we were 29, 30, and 31). then we met up with the rest of my family and went on the Liberty/Ellis Islands ferry. while in line, we saw this dude perform acrobatic stuff. it culminated in him doing a flip over seven people. it was pretty cool. we went to the islands and saw what was there, then i took Omar and Diego to some stores that Omar was interested in. there was a Barnes and Noble nearby so i used the gift card that Nina got me (thanks bunches!) to buy prose translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey, as well as the collected prose works of Jorge Luis Borges, all Penguin Classics versions.

we went back to NBC Studios at the appointed time, but unfortunately did not get in because everybody who bought a ticket showed up. oh well. my other family was taking another bus tour while we were shopping, and we all got back together at Rockefeller. even Sam joined us. we then went to the hotel and napped, before going down to the Village for dinner. we ate at Mexican Village which was super awesome. i love this place so damn much.

the next day i took my mom and my brother to the airport and bid the rest of my family farewell. then Sam and i went to Columbus Circle so that Sam could shop for food. i bought more books: Umberto Eco's Travels in Hyperreality and Harold Bloom's The Western Canon and The Anxiety of Influence. i got a lot of heady reading to do.

now reading: Supreme: The Return- Alan Moore, Chris Sprouse

thecomicman spoke @ 11:41 PM |

May 13, 2004

Family: Day Five

we went to the store early in the day because Angelo supposedly wanted to meet my mom, but the bum was on vacation. so he missed out. we then went to the Angels/Yankees game and i got to see Matsui hit a homerun. there were three other homeruns, two by the Yanks and one by the Angels, and the Yankees won 7-4. after the game we took one of those double decker bus tours and went around downtown, across the Manhattan Bridge, and into Brooklyn. then, apparently, my mom went clubbin' with Suzie and Shannon. i'm not sure how kosher this is.

now reading: Supreme: The Story of the Year- Alan Moore

thecomicman spoke @ 01:51 AM |

May 12, 2004

Family: Day Four

on this day, we split up in the morning. my aunt, my cousins, and Shannon went to see 'Movin' Out,' the Billy "I can't drive" Joel musical while my mom, my brother and me went to Union Square to the farmer's market, Disc-o-Rama, and the Virgin Megastore. my brother found some stuff at Disc-o-Rama and i got 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' and 'The Machurian Candidate' on DVD for ten bucks at Virgin 'cause they were having a sale. we went back up to Times Square and hung out at Toys R Us while the rain pounded outside. when it let up a little, we ran back to the hotel and snoozed for a bit. then we went back down to Little Italy for dinner. not being able to resist the siren call of Chinatown's DVD stores when they're so near, i bought 'In the Mood for Love.'

now reading: Circles (Usagi Yojimbo, Book 6)- Stan Sakai

thecomicman spoke @ 08:38 PM |

May 11, 2004

Graduation and Family: Day Three

ha ha ha!
i am truly and totally free! whee!

i have graduated and am merely waiting for formalities. the only things of note that occured at the CAS ceremony were a graduating streaker that i didn't even see because everybody around me stood really quickly and i found out that Prfessor Patel received the equivalent of the Best Professor Award for the Year this year, and he totally deserves it because he is the most awesome professor i know, unlike that stupid Communist.

after the ceremony, we went down to the Village and walked around Washington Square Park and the campus. my mom bought an NYU Mom hoodie. i think most everybody else got a t-shirt. we also went to St. Mark's, then they all came to my house and met most of my friends. Shannon, my cousin Suzie's friend, could not stop talking to J-Pop once she found out that he worked with dead people. and J-Pop was more than happy to talk about his work, especially since we have forbidden it.

now reading:

thecomicman spoke @ 08:26 PM |

May 10, 2004

8 down, 0 to go, and Family: Day Two

i took my World War II final this morning and then finished my Literature and Visual Culture paper. woohoo! i am done! after scaring the beejeezus out of me by giving us eighteen pages worth of "stuff that every student of World War II should know," the final turned out to be four short essays detailing what i thought were the most important strategic events of the war, two from each theater, discounting the invasion of Russia, Pearl Harbor, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki (for those scoring at home, i chose Chamberlain's appeasement strategy and the Nazi-Soviet Pact for the European theater, and the firebombing of Tokyo and the assault on Okinawa for the Pacific theater). it was pretty simple and i think i did well.

an excerpt from this final paper:

The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan's actions in Vietnam made the dreams of the politicians of the time come true.

after my test, we went around Rockefeller Center and took the NBC Studio Tour, where i saw Conan O'Brian's studio. we then went to St. Patrick's Cathedral where my aunt heard mass for a little while. then we went to Grand Central where they decided to eat at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse. i had purchased samosas at the Cafe Spice downstairs so i did not force anybody to pay for the ridiculously expensive prices charged at this place. then everybody went home.

now reading: Lone Goat and Kid (Usagi Yojimbo, Book 5)- Stan Sakai

thecomicman spoke @ 08:03 PM |

May 09, 2004

Family: Day One

so, they all seem to want to do touristy stuff, which means i get to see a bunch of stuff that i have never seen before. they got in late last night and today was the first time we went out. we went to Central Park and walked through Strawberry Fields, across Sheep's Meadow, saw the Bethesda Fountain, and walked around Belvedere Castle. then we went down to Chinatown and Little Italy where i bought 'Ping Pong,' the new 'Zatoichi,' and this cool looking Korean animation called 'My Beautiful Girl, Mari.' we ate dinner at the Malaysian place where my mom and brother learned to use chopsticks correctly. i was very impressed.

now reading: A Short History of World War II- James L. Stokesbury

thecomicman spoke @ 07:33 PM |

May 06, 2004

cleaning

i am cleaning my house and it is hard. i feel dirty.

Countdown: T-minus 5 Days until Operation: tcm Freedom. freedom water will still be available, unless someone hits the water main.

now reading:

thecomicman spoke @ 01:11 PM |

May 05, 2004

6 down, 2 to go, and a few spiritual victories

i finished my Communist's paper at about 7:00 this morning and then took two finals (Writing New York and American Fiction after World War II) which began at 10:00. personally, i think i kicked ass on the WNY final, but did only moderately on the AmFic final. however, both of my final papers in those classes received an A-. sweet! i wrote a paper about Batman and i got an A- on it! the third spiritual victory is the fact that i will never, ever, ever, ever see that Communist again! woohoo! i know you'll all miss the entertaining stories that were told on Thursdays, but you'll just have to make do without.

an excerpt from the Communist paper:

So how did the United States go from “we shall never understand the Japanese mind” (Know Your Enemy: Japan) to attempting to rebuild the Japanese country?

now reading: Mona in the Promised Land: A Novel- Gish Jen

thecomicman spoke @ 10:01 PM |

May 04, 2004

how much sleep does one really need?

after getting fourteen hours of sleep last night (after getting none on Sunday night because of my own stupidity), it turns out i'll probably have to pull an all-nighter to finish my Communist's paper. this would normally be a-ok, except that i have finals tomorrow. oh well. serves me right. it's shaping up to be an awesome paper, however, about Occupied Japan. i even get to cite a porn movie made by Japan about the whores in Tokyo (thank Halifax for that one).

Countdown: T-minus 7 Days until Operation: tcm Freedom. freedom water will be available.

now reading: Dreaming in Cuban- Cristina Garcia

thecomicman spoke @ 01:38 PM |