This game of Scrabble is for adults only.

The title for this post is the text of a sign that should have been posted after a move I made in a game of Scrabble I was playing a few months ago. Here's the situation. This is what the board looked like when it came to my turn.

U

B

B

A

R

N

S

P

A

G

E

M

S

M

E

E

T

F

A

R

T

N

A

H

A

T

J

O

G

S

D

U

V

E

T

W

I

N

E

O

O

P

E

A

U

I

I

R

N

E

R

D

L

I

E

W

R

I

T

E

C

O

D

E

A

L

O

R

Y

O

K

E

It should also be noted that there were no tiles remaining to draw, and my rack had these seven tiles.

Z10

X8

C3

S1

D2

N1

N1

It kinda resembled the bottom row of a QWERTY keyboard (except for the D, the S, and the extra N of course). I pondered over it for a while, and then, I found a word I could use. I put it on the board.

U

B

B

A

R

N

S

P

A

G

E

M

S

M

E

E

T

F

A

R

T

N

A

H

A

T

J

O

G

S

D

U

V

E

T

W

I

N

E

O

O

P

E

A

U

I

I

S

R

N

E

R

D

L

I

E

W

R

I

T

E

X

C

O

D

E

A

L

O

R

Y

O

K

E

I explained that I put it there just to get rid of the X, and play continued from there. Of course, the mention of sex in the church in the context of being used in a game was so funny (especially with words like nun and amen already on the board), that the four of us playing (all but myself being adults who had children) couldn't help but laugh. A lot. One of the other players even suggested using the word, "HEYSEXY" to get rid of his tiles, which resulted in even more laughter. What's worse was that their kids were in the room, hence the desire for the sign with the post's title. One boy asked his father, "What's so funny?" I replied, "We'll tell you when you're older." Play continued, each of us putting down words where we could, sometimes without regard to what other non-words were being formed, and here's the board at the finish.

U

B

B

A

R

N

S

P

A

G

E

M

S

H

M

E

E

T

F

A

R

T

I

F

A

N

A

H

A

T

U

L

J

O

G

S

D

G

R

I

T

U

V

E

T

O

W

I

N

E

O

O

P

E

A

U

I

I

S

R

N

E

R

D

L

I

E

W

R

I

T

E

E

Z

X

C

O

E

N

D

D

E

A

L

Y

O

R

L

N

Y

O

K

E

So there you have it. You just saw "sex" in church. Now get your mind out of the gutter before I march in there and kick it out!

Ketchup Bombed!

I went over to the neighborhood McDonald's this morning, in an attempt to "Eat & Go"™ to arrive on campus early for my first day of classes. After placing my order, I felt as if something had splattered all over me. I looked down, and there it was. Ketchup was all over my shirt and my face. After getting my food, I spent about 20 minutes cleaning that ketchup off my shirt, and using the air dryer to dry it.

So much for being on time!

My Cat is Going!

For those of you who know me, please note that no, I did not suddenly go out and get a cat. Besides, where would it be going if I had said this about my hypothetical cat?

The name of this post is what it is for a simple reason.

Listen to the video below which appears further down this post.

Today, Elvis Duran and the Z Morning Zoo played a very old "Phone Tap." Actually, it wasn't originally called a Phone Tap when it first aired back in 1999. It was called a Nutcracker.

They played it today, and as with other Phone Taps which debuted in the Z100 era, they removed any and all references to anything that pre-syndication. They even deleted Christine Nagy (who was with the Zoo at the time).

The transcript:
Elvis: …Obviously,
Danielle: Oh, boy.
Elvis: the mother Anita, loves Twinkie the cat.
Christine: Oh, absolutely!
Elvis: We had Dave Brody call her…

Yeah. They eliminated that part as well.


Now, thanks to the good folks on YouTube, you can hear this Nutcracker in close to its original form.

I'll post what I commented on the YouTube page.

This Nutcracker is almost 10 years old! I know. I don't believe it either.

They played it (rebranded as a "Morning Show Phone Tap") this morning (30th July 2008). You cannot believe how much mutilation they have done to this. Of course, everything Anita Townsend says is exactly as it was originally, but all references to "Z100," "Z Morning Zoo," and "Nutcracker" have been eliminated. They even mix the "Spybreak!" Phone Tap intro (which sounds worse than before) as Elvis is reading the e-mail.

Instead of downloading the mutilated version of "My Cat is Going" from the Morning Show Phone Tap podcast, listen to the video below.

 

If you want to torture someone…

Just give them a link to http://tinyurl.com/3yy54t and force them to keep their eyes and ears open all the way through.

Especially with that TinyURL bit, they won't know what they're clicking on until the page loads.

What is the page? The page is on YouTube, and it contains the most annoying 60-second commercial in television history. You guessed it. It's the Optimum Triple Play commercial in reggaeton.

It's back. When I say "it's back," I mean that it's back on TV. The most annoying commercial on TV is making a comeback.

I always thought this one was a much better, and less annoying, commercial.


However, to bring back the reggaeton version is too much.

While I, being Hispanic, am technically a part of "tu gente," I do not subscribe to the various stereotypes portrayed in this turd of a commercial. I do not spend my summer days sitting in a seaside house on a tropical island, watching some brand of cable TV, while surrounded by scantily-clad women (or mermaids, for that matter).

All in all, the reggaeton version should be canned and buried in a hole a mile deep.

Here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again.

So recently, I've been into a song called "Here It Goes Again" by a band called OK Go.

Here's the video for the song. You can buy it at the iTunes Store.



Of course, the popularity of this video has sparked some imitators.

First, some high school students in American Fork, Utah.


Here's another rendition.


And yet another.


They even had to do it on Big Brother in the UK.


But the best rendition other than that performed by the band OK Go has to be from Granbury High School in Texas. The reaction of the crowd says it all.


OK Go vs. Granbury HS.


♪ It could be ten, but then again I can't remember half an hour since a quarter to four… ♪

EDIT: The next video I post to this blog will be one I made which uses the song, but mine won't involve treadmills.

Post #74, Video #36, and Some Box Talk

I am using Post #74 to post Video #36.



It pays tribute to a TV channel I used to watch back in my high school days, The Box. It worked like a jukebox, but you used a 1-900 number to request a video. Of course, I had to use fake phone numbers for the whole thing, but you kinda get the idea of it. I used to get The Box on 3 channels. Channel 17 (only between midnight and 7 AM. Outside of that, the channel had Korean programming), channel 39, and channel 23. The latter was a bit fuzzy at times, since it was based in Cranford. One of my main reasons for getting a VCR was to do what I basically did with my tape recorder. Record videos off the TV.

Speaking of TV, and The Box, I just got myself a Box of a different type: one of those digital TV converter boxes. I like the fact that I can watch shows like The Price is Right and The Big Bang Theory without all the distortion on Channel 2 like I did with the analog receiver. I also like some of the extra channels on digital. For example Channel 4.2 is an NBC-based weather channel, and Channel 25.2 is one that shows you live traffic cameras across the city. (Although every time I've tuned into it recently, it shows the camera at Columbus Circle.)

Then there are the weird things. For example, Channel 5 and Channel 9 are practically sister stations. But Channel 5.2 is basically a simulcast of Channel 9.1, and 9.2 is a simulcast of 5.1. Weird! I guess it's useful if you live outside the range of either one, but since I'm in the range of both, it's kinda redundant.

Anyway, happy channel surfing!

The Chicago post

Well, since I'm starting this post in Chicago, I might as well use the font named for it.

Anyway. Where do I begin? I suppose that I should begin at the beginning.

Mom and I flew into Chicago Monday morning. Rode the "L" to the hotel. The Blue line has some slow spots, but some quick spots as well. There was a bit around the Chicago Avenue stop that was LOUD!

After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we went over to the Navy Pier to kill some time, as check-in time wasn't until 15:00, and it was only 10:00. After walking to the end of the pier, and eating a "Cheeseborger" with chips at Billy Goat Tavern, and then a Dazzler at Häagen-Dazs. By this time, it was just after 12:00. We then went to see Speed Racer at the IMAX theater. Now that it was 15:00, we went to the hotel and checked in. We then walked up Michigan Avenue (and the "Magnificent Mile" and went up to the observation deck of the John Hancock Center and looked around there. After dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, we went back to the hotel to conclude the day.

Day 2 was a bit stressful in terms of getting to the places we wanted to go. We started out by going to the Museum of Science and Industry. We started by waiting for the #10 bus…and waiting… and waiting… After a long time of it not showing up, we gave in and took the 146 bus, and then took the 6 bus to the Museum. Afterward, we went to the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. It was a windy day! Afterward, we went to dinner at Pizzeria Uno. Interesting thing about Pizzeria Uno. The guy who founded the place, Ike Sewell, also founded Pizzeria Due and a Mexican restaurant in the same area.

The next day, we went to the Field Museum, and then went up to Millennium Park. From there, we took a ride around the Loop. Then after a bit of shopping on Michigan Avenue, we went back to the hotel for a couple of hours. Then, back to Navy Pier for dinner, and then a fireworks display.

On Thursday, we flew back home.

This post contains various links to Wikipedia for places we went to. Check 'em out!

Musical Confusions

If you have a sizable music library like I do, you may notice that certain songs sound like each other. Such that when you hear them on your iPod, you hear the start of the song, think it's a certain song, and then realize a few seconds later that it's not the song you thought it was, but something completely different.

Take this example: "Stop and Stare" by OneRepublic sounds almost exactly identical to "Speed of Sound" by Coldplay. Weird, right? Get this, now. I have four songs which open with sound effects that make it feel like you're listening to a record. I keep them all in a playlist called "Record Open." They are: "Where It's At" by Beck, "Say You'll Be There" by the Spice Girls, "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" by “Weird Al” Yankovic, and "I Don't Wanna Wait" by the Veronicas. However, each record open has a distinctive sound to it. The Spice Girls song has a distinct pop in it which none of the others has. The other three sond more similar. It gets somewhat confusing if all four of these are in the same general playlist.

Then there are songs that sound like each other. A recent example involves The Veronicas and P!nk. The song from the Veronicas is "4ever," and P!nk's song is "U + Ur Hand" I'm not sure if it's the chord progression, the general meter of the song, or what, but those two songs sound very similar to be a coincidence. Just do a YouTube search with the names of those two songs, and you'll see what I mean. Whenever I hear one, I kinda sing along to the other, especially during the last chorus. Like I said, I don't know what it is about these two songs.

The obligatory Earth Day post

Go hug the earth today.

Don't waste paper.

On that particular track, why do some stores give you a receipt that's a mile long when you buy just ONE item?

The Colour and the Shape

Well, actually more about the colour (or "color" in the standard American spelling) than the shape. I just wanted to use the title of a Foo Fighters album in the post title.

Anyway, here's a list of random thoughts.

A. I added a link to my Links section. It's actually a pretty cool link. Have you ever looked up at the Empire State Building and wondered why it was showing a certain color combination? Sometimes, it's obvious (like red and green around Christmas, all red for Valentine's Day, or red, white, and blue for Independence Day), but other times, it isn't. That's how What Color is the Empire State Building came to be. It takes the information from the ESB's official site and presents it in a graphical form.

B. I had a similar idea, but I probably would have used only a graphic of the top of the ESB instead of the whole thing, and made it a Konfabulator Yahoo! Widget Engine widget instead of a Dashboard widget, which is only available on the Mac. However, I googled a bit and found another blog with a link to the site, so there it is. They stole my idea before I even thought of it. But they did a good job.

C. One of the biggest things that irks me is when people refer to lines in the New York City Subway by color. What's worse is when the colors are used in giving directions. If someone were to walk up to me and ask, "Could you tell me how to get to the Red line?" I'd direct them to go to Penn Station and get on the next Amtrak train to Washington, DC or Boston. That's because to me, there is no Red line in New York. In fact, a lot of long-time New Yorkers would agree with that statement. Colors on subway maps first appeared with Hagstrom's 1936 map, which showed lines in each division (at this point seperate operating companies) as a distinct color. The lines of the IRT were in blue, those of the BMT were yellow, and those of the IND were red. Subway maps of the 1950's followed this scheme, but used black and green in place of blue and yellow respectively. Individual routes were well established, and had letter or number identifiers, but each line was under one of three color groups. It wasn't until 1967 when each line was represented by its own color. In that map, each line, including shuttles, was one of eight colors: Red, Orange, Light Blue, Magenta, Green, Black, Blue, and Yellow. In 1979, the color scheme changed yet again to the familiar color scheme that's still in use today, according to the trunk route it used in Manhattan. For the IRT lines, the colors ran as follows: 7th Avenue: Red, Lexington Avenue: Green, Flushing: Purple. For the IND lines, 8th Avenue: Blue, 6th Avenue: Orange, Crosstown: Lime, JFK Express (Discontinued in 1990): Light Blue. For the BMT lines, Broadway subway: Yellow, Nassau Street: Brown, Canarsie: Gray. All shuttles are represented by black on the maps, and dark gray on station and car signs. Many subway lines had letters and numbers before they had colors. Even in Brooklyn, the four BMT lines to Coney Island are still referred to on signs on even the newest of equipment. Example: the new R160 cars on the N say, "SEA BEACH EXP" to refer to the portion of the line in Brooklyn, though technically, "Sea Beach Express" would not match the service provided, since it makes all stops on the Sea Beach line, but it does run express along 4th Avenue in Brooklyn.

Anyway, my point is this: If you continue to refer to New York subway lines by color, you should be shipped to a city where it's acceptible to call that city's subway lines by color, because New York is certainly not such a city. The acceptible substitutes have existed long before colors were put to lines on a subway map. Another acceptible substitute is stating each line of the trunk route you wish to travel to. A word of caution with this one. Each line should be stated as an individual, not as a group (CORRECT: "Four, Five, and Six"; "B, D, F, and V" WRONG: "Four Five Six"; "BDFV"). In other words, the proper conjunction ("and" or "or") must be used when specifying the group.

Further examples:

WRONG: "I was riding on the R/W train last night…"
CORRECT: "I was riding the R train last night…
OR: "I was riding the W train last night…"
You were riding on either the R or the W train, not on both the R and the W simultaneously.

WRONG: "Take the BDFV to 34th Street…"
CORRECT: "Take the B, D, F, or V train to 34th Street…"
You have a choice of trains to take, any one of those will stop at 34th Street, and all of them will be (or are supposed to be) carrying EXACTLY ONE of those letters. Usually the first train to arrive will be the first train to arrive at 34th Street.

WRONG: "Take the One-Nine train…"
CORRECT: "Take the 1 train…"
The 9 train was eliminated over 2 years ago, and some people STILL refer to it, despite the fact that waiting for the 9 train now will result in an eternal wait… until you give up and take the 1.

D. While referring to lines by color in New York is frowned upon, apparently in Philadelphia, it's becoming accepted. The Broad Street subway (Orange), the Market-Frankford line (Blue), and the Subway-Surface trolley lines (Green) all have their respective colors.

Well, that's about it.

Tuesday's Gone: The A210 Video

My latest video, #35.



It's been a year since my A210 crapped out on me for the last time, which resulted in me getting a μ750 to replace it.

Interesting bit about the song. With the exception of "Take the A Train" and "Crazy Train," I haven't used songs from before the 1990's. "Crazy Train" was used twice (#5, MoD Trip 6/17-19/2004; and #10, the Museum Train Video). "Take the A Train" was used once (#29, 75th Anniversary of the A Line). Interestingly, I made another video about museum trains running on the A line, but I elected to use a different song, and got razzed by it (as I didn't have a version of "Take the A Train" at the time), so I decided to make up for it that time.

Anyway, about the song in Video #35. The song is "Tuesday's Gone" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, from the album (pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd). It's quite interesting how I came across it. Last year, I was flipping channels on the FM dial, and I paused at the classic rock station, Q104.3 (while I was about a block away from the nearest Q104 bus stop). I heard the "train" lyric, and thought, "Wow! This would be good for a video!" So, here it is. A year later (I started work on it as soon as I could), a few days late (but not as many as I would have had I worked continuously on it through the original goal of one month after the A210 crapped out on me).

Anyway, enjoy the video.

Who Am I?

I received an e-mail about if you Google your name, you can see information about yourself.

Here's what I discovered by doing this.

According to Google, I am:

• An attorney in New Orleans
• An actor who played a part in an episode of Miami Vice
• A Telecom Engineer at Accenture, who attended DeVry between 1992 and 1995
• Author of Dracula: The Vampire Legend on Film, and other books about horror movies that involve monsters and vampires.
• A sexual predator living in Florida (By far, this is the most disturbing one for me)
• A plaintiff who, in 1974, sued Victory Carriers for damages sustained when I was burned by scalding water from a hose I was operating on board one of defendant's vessels.
• A dentist in Chicago

Well, I can say that I am NONE of those things (I wasn't even born in 1974, and DeVry wasn't the school I was going to between 1992 and 1995, unless at that time it was located in Glendale, NY), but one thing I found as I perused through Google's results IS something I am:

• Some guy whose photos are posted on nycsubway.org, and uploaded some videos to archive.org.

That's why I think it's important to identify myself with the middle initial. Just like how Mark L. Walberg (whose most recent gig is hosting Fox's The Moment of Truth) uses the L. to distinguish him from the similarly pronounced Mark Wahlberg, of Marky Mark fame.

So, that's that. That's me. Do a Google search with your own name, while you're at it. See what it says about yourself.

So I listened to “Last Night” last night…

The new album from Moby, Last Night, was released yesterday. Since the album is supposed to be a condensed version of a night out in New York City, I listened to it, most appropriately, during a night out in Manhattan.

I started at the beginning, which is a fine place to start, [Ooh Yeah] and I just couldn't help but move to the beat as I was walking down 14th Street to the Union Square subway station. [I Love to Move In Here] As I passed the Virgin Megastore, I looked through the windows to see if I could see if the place was still a madhouse (Moby was to make an appearance there). It was well past 21:00, so I figured that he must have moved on, so I moved on, [257.zero] and went into the subway. My intent was to take a Broadway Line train to 34th Street and then a 6th Avenue train to Rockefeller Center. [Everyday It's 1989] However, a northbound Q was in the station, with another Q stopped just outside the north end of the station, [Live for Tomorrow] and another train just outside of the south end of the station. [Alice] So I switched to the Lexington Line [Hyenas] and got to Rockefeller Center [I'm In Love] via Grand Central. [Disco Lies] Once in Rockefeller Center [The Stars], I took a few pictures of the electric fountain. [Degenerates] It was raining lightly, light enough that I didn't need an umbrella… or so I thought. The sky soon opened up, so I took shelter in the entrance to 30 Rock [Sweet Apocalypse] along with a few other people. Once the rain slowed up enough, [Mothers of the Night] I made my way back to the subway, taking the V to the 7, [Last Night] which I took home. [Sweetest] [Land Of]

As you probably guessed, I listed the names of the tracks among the events that took place last night. Also, you could deduce that not only did I download this album from iTunes, but also I pre-ordered it (the obvious giveaway is the presence of "Land Of," which was only available via pre-order). There was a bit of a hiccup when I downloaded it yesterday. The tracks downloaded, but it was in what I call iTunes Minus (the DRM'd tracks of an album that's available in iTunes Plus, which is DRM-free). After an unnecessary upgrade (and $3 later), I had the iTunes Plus versions of the tracks. After listening to the album though, I'd say it was worth it.

Other Music Stuff

The Veronicas finally put a new single out, after releasing their sophomore album Hook Me Up in Australia this past November. The song is called Untouched. After having listened to it numerous times (140 as of this post), I'd recommend it.

That got me to thinking that if I owned a record label, I would implement a “One Planet, One Album” policy. The policy would mean that any recording to be released would automatically be released worldwide within one week of the target release date. None of this garbage about an album being available in certain countries or similar junk. At least YouTube is international enough to not restrict viewers in another country from viewing content.

In fact, here's a rundown of music videos from their 2007 release, Hook Me Up

First is the song of the same name.


Next is the previously mentioned, Untouched


And finally, their latest video, This Love

NOTE: Once YouTube user ThEvErOnIcAs (The official YouTube account for The Veronicas) has this video posted under their account, I'll replace the above video with that one. The other two videos have been posted under that account.

Anyway, that's enough of my rant. I'll get back to listening to Moby… or The Veronicas… or somebody. Just watch the Last.FM ticker on the right.

Some Thoughts on the Fare Increase

With the fare hike coming up on Sunday, I thought I would share some thoughts about it.

First, for Unlimited ride MetroCards. Nowhere on the MTA web site did it say anything about cards purchased before the fare increase. I sent off an e-mail the other day to the MTA to ask about MetroCards purchased before March 2, and I finally got a response this morning.

Thank you for your email concerning information on how the MetroCard fare increase will impact you.

Unlimited Ride MetroCards currently being used for travel purchased prior to March 2nd will be valid for the full 7 or 30 days, even if some of those days are after the fare change. In addition, customers who purchase an Unlimited Ride MetroCard prior to the fare change can take advantage of a “grace period”, allowing these cards to be used after March 2nd.

MTA New York City Transit will monitor the number of cards in circulation and will announce at a later date the exact duration of the grace period. The MTA and MTA New York City Transit assures its customers that, at a minimum, cards bought for normal, personal use will be valid for their full duration (1, 7 or 30days) as long as the first day of travel is March 10 or earlier.

Sincerely,

Douglas R. Sussman
Director
Community Affairs

That means I can buy next month's MetroCard tomorrow and not have to worry about losing anything extra.

Now, for the pay-per-ride MetroCards. A 15% bonus kicks in starting at $7, which means that if you buy a $7 MetroCard, you get one with $8.05. That's good for four rides, but what about that extra nickel? Don't worry. I know just the place that can help you. The MetroCard Bonus Calculator can help. Just enter the current balance on your card, and the maximum amount you want to add. It spits out every possible combination between zero and your maximum, which results in a whole number of exact fares.

If you want to spare the trip, remember the following amounts:

$15.65 (9 rides)
$24.35 (14 rides)
$31.30 (18 rides)
$40.00 (23 rides)
$55.65 (32 rides)
$64.35 (37 rides)
$71.30 (41 rides)
$80.00 (46 rides)

These amounts will yield a total balance that's a multiple of $2, for the number of rides indicated, given that the card you're adding value to already has a balance that's evenly divisible by $2.

Here's how you do it.

1. Follow the normal steps to add value to a MetroCard or get a new Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard.
2. When you reach the screen where it asks how much you want (to add), touch the Other Amounts button.
3. You are then presented with a keypad where you may enter the desired amount.
4. Proceed as usual.

They will also be selling cards for $17.39 and $52.17 at merchants, which yield $20 and $60, respectively.

It'll be fine as long as you remember the above list and the MetroCard Bonus Calculator link. I suggest you bookmark it for future reference.

Then again, If your MetroCard's balance has $1.75 after using all the rides, you could take a ride on PATH.

Two New iPod Games… It's Strange…

The other day, I was playing chess on my Palm Pilot, and I think to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if they make a chess game for the iPod?"

A moment later, I think, "You know what, I haven't played Backgammon in a while."

Tuesday morning, I check out the iTunes Store, where lo and behold, there's a new iPod game: Chess & Backgammon Classics. This was like wishful thinking realized. I instantly bought and downloaded it. The controls are a bit weird on the iPod, but given the limitations of the iPod's click wheel, they try to make moving the chess and backgammon pieces as simple as possible by limiting your actions to legal moves. That can be said for both games.

The other game that was released is called Naval Battle: Mission Commander. It's like Milton Bradley's Battleship, but different.

Chess and Backgammon for iPod. They must have been reading my mind.

Speaking of which, sometimes, it seems like you can influence your iPod to play a certain song while shuffling so that it plays sooner than it would otherwise play. Here's what I did.

1. Began playing a song from a playlist, making sure that under Settings, Shuffle Songs was selected.
2. Go back to the playlist that's playing and highlight another song in the playlist.
3. Set the hold switch.

After one other song, the iPod played the highlighted song.

Then again, I tried this again with no success.

Either it only works some of the time, or I have such an intimate knowledge of my iPod that I know what it will play before it plays it.

Winter Break 2008: A Video

Enjoy.

Philly Week Wrap-Up

Well, with the close of Philly Week here on the B24 Blog, I've decided to post some videos of my past experiences.

This first video is a montage featuring my first where I took advantage of NJT to go to Philly.

Click the link to see it!


Next, the winter break video of 2007 has a few.


Finally, one that was posted to the blog a while back, from September 2007.

A Railfan's List of Points of Interest: New Jersey North of Trenton

In this post, I will list various points of interest for railfans in the portion of New Jersey north of Trenton. Like in my previous post, I've been to (or through) many of these places, so I know a little bit about them.

Princeton Junction & the "Dinky"

Princeton Junction at West Windsor is an interesting station. Aside from the two platforms on the main line, there's another platform adjacent which is served by the "Dinky," a one-car (and on occasion, two-car) shuttle to Princeton station, located on the campus of Princeton University.

Jersey Avenue (New Brunswick)

Jersey Avenue has got to be the strangest station on the whole Northeast Corridor line. Trains to Trenton can stop there, but trains from Trenton can't. That's because only the southbound platform is on the main line. It's also a low platform station, the only such station until you get into SEPTA territory. The northbound platform is on the other side of a parking lot. Northbound trains leave from this platform and cross THREE tracks to get to the northbound track which platforms at New Brunswick station.

Elizabeth (Broad Street)

While this station is officially called Elizabeth on platform signage and published timetables, it is quite common for conductors to announce this station as "Broad Street, Elizabeth." This so that it's abundantly clear that the station is not North (Avenue) Elizabeth, the next station to the north and rather close to the Broad Street, Elizabeth station. There are two interesting features to this station. First, at the south end of the station, there's a walkway on each side of the tracks, which follow the curve of the right of way. This is actually the old low-level platform which existed before the current high-level platform was built. And, for the interest of railfans, the walkway adjacent to the southbound platform is a great spot for taking photos! From what I understand, so is the adjacent parking lot. The second interesting feature of this station is that there appears to be another railroad station and line which crosses beneath it. This is the former Central Railroad of New Jersey line. The tracks have been abandoned for a while, but it may be just enough to spark a railfan's interest.

Newark's Railroad Stations

Newark Broad Street, while going under extensive renevations, is a good spot to catch a train. Then again, so is Newark's Pennsylvania Station. Lots to see and do, and the PATH train's here, too.

SPOTLIGHT: Newark City Subway and Light Rail

While the PCC's have been withdrawn from service, Newark's subway is still going on strong. The station at Newark Penn is as loop track. If wish to transfer from Subway to Light Rail and vice versa, you're allowed to ride the train around the loop. Newark Light Rail is an extension of the Newark City Subway and connects Newark's two rail stations. While the service is nice, the route is walkable if you have the time and energy to do so. Just follow McCarter Highway until the tracks come out of the tunnel, and then follow the tracks. The Subway has been extended northward recently, and a new maintenance facility is near the northern terminal (with a few PCC cars sitting around, too). If you want to see what the line was like in the time when PCC's ran on the line, check out this YouTube video.

Secaucus Transfer Junction

Secaucus Junction (though the latter word should be "Transfer" because "Junction" implies that trains can change lines here, but actually, only people can. The only problem is that you need a ticket to actually make the transfer, but otherwise, it's pretty good.

Hoboken Terminal

Whenever I get around Hoboken, I think about Bugs Bunny's line in 8 Ball Bunny, when after the penguin revealed that he's not from the South Pole, Bugs replies, "HOBOKEN?!? Ooh, I'm Dyin' again!" Anyway, this is a major hub. You have buses, trains, the PATH system, and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail.

SPOTLIGHT: Hudson-Bergen Light Rail

New Jersey Transit's other light rail system runs through the waterfront area of Jersey City and down to Bayonne. It also runs up to the northern terminal of Tonnelle Avenue. Starting from the north, here are some points of interest. Tonnelle Avenue has an interesting loop terminal. Bergenline Avenue is the only underground station on the line. Lincoln Harbor is near the Loncoln Tunnel helix. Hoboken Terminal, previously mentioned, is in dire need of some new ticket vending machines, but has a nice view of Lower Manhattan. The line from Pavonia-Newport to Luis Muñoz Marín Boulevard is walkable, and has pedestrian walkways that follow the line. Exchange Place has two platforms on either side of the northbound track, and also offers a nice view of Lower Manhattan. Essex Street features an interesting street-running portion. South of Liberty State Park, the line divides. A branch to West Side Avenue seperates from the line to Bayonne. From a Bayonne line train, you can see other PCC's being stored in the HBLR maintenance facility. Between Liberty State Park and 34th Street is the fastest running portion of the system. The station at 34th Street offers a connection to the S89, which runs to Staten Island. 22nd Street is the current end of the line.

Well, that's about it. Enjoy.

A Railfan's List of Points of Interest: Southwest New Jersey and Philadelphia

In this post, I will list various points of interest for railfans in the southwest New Jersey/Philadelphia area. I've been to (or through) many of these places, so I know a little bit about them.

Trenton Rail Station

At the top of the list is the NJT/SEPTA/Amtrak station in Trenton. This serves as the dividing line between New Jersey Transit and SEPTA on the Northeast Corridor. Many trains pass through here, and if you're lucky, you might even see a Norfolk Southern freight move as well. Good luck trying to catch an Acela Express here in anything but a movie or a photograph. They don't stop here, but they do make for a good photo op if your camera is equipped with some kind of burst mode.

Burlington Town Centre

Further down the RiverLINE is a station called Burlington Town Centre. It's a single track station in the middle of Broad Street in the town of Burlington (hence the name). Burlington has the appearance of a quaint little town, and the RiverLINE cars make for an interesting juxtaposition.

36th Street

In the area of this station, there is a large freight yard, with numerous freight cars and locomotives on the sidings. A good place for your freight shots. Just north of the station is the main RiverLINE maintenance facility (where southbound trains change drivers). Further north is the point where New Jersey Transit Atlantic City Line trains cross the RiverLINE. If you look at the RiverLINE's schedule, you'll notice that there's generally no RiverLINE service between Midnight and 5:30 AM. That's when the freight trains shine the rails. For some reason, you can't have freight trains running on the same tracks as light rail trains. Heads are scratching on that one…

SEPTA Headquarters

The address is 1234 Market Street in Center City Philadelphia. The street level and the lower level are of particular interest because part of that area serves as a transit museum of sorts, including a vintage PCC trolley car. There is also a transit museum gift shop, and a SEPTA sales office, where you can buy all sorts of maps and passes. They don't sell train tickets, but Market East station is nearby, and you can get them there. The SEPTA sales office is a good place to plunk down six bucks for your Inconvenience Pass. It's also a good place to pick up schedules for your SEPTA trips. Schedules for every bus and rail line are available here, but you have to buy the maps.

Girard Avenue

The trolley line that runs down Girard Avenue is different from the others in one particular way. It uses rebuilt and modernized PCC trolley cars in its service. At least, they are when the line is not being attacked by oversized trucks that inadvertently rip down the overhead wire the trolleys use to collect power. If that does happen, say it with me. BUSTITUTION!

Broad Street Subway

No list of Philadelphia area railfan points of interest is complete without the Broad Street subway. The BSS runs from the sports complex at Pattison Avenue all the way up to Fern Rock, basically echoing a large part of bus route C. However, the BSS has something the C bus rarely has: speed. The BSS has an express service which features trains that could make New York City's subway cars eat their proverbial dust. I rode one train on the BSS Express between Girard Avenue and North Philadelphia (Cumberland/Lehigh), which topped out at 61 Miles per hour. While that doesn't beat the 62 mile per hour record of the 60th Street Tunnel, the BSS doesn't need a 4,000 foot long downgrade exceeding 4% to achieve 61 MPH. The northern terminal is also interesting. It's a cross between Coney Island Yard and South Ferry. As you approach the Fern Rock Terminal, you get to see the whole BSS yard. The station itself is built on a loop, but unlike South Ferry, the platform is straight. No gap fillers necessary.

The Darby CSX Crossing.

Take a Route 11 trolley out to Darby and get off near the intersection of 6th and Main Streets, or take an R2 Newark/Wilmington train to Darby station, and walk north for about 10 minutes. You will see something interesting. The two-track trolley line crosses an active CSX freight line at grade here. What makes this even more interesting is that the recent rehabilitation to the crossing (apparently performed by CSX) causes the wheels on the Route 11 cars to ride on their flanges as they cross over the CSX rails. Though it's been worked out so that only one flange is on a CSX rail at any given time. Recent photos of the crossing show the CSX rails marred with flange grooves from all the trolley cars that have crossed them. (About 770 trips per track each week!)

Route 100

The Norristown high speed line from the 69th Street terminal in Upper Darby to the Norristown Transit Center in Norristown is one that shold be done by any railfan at least once.

There you go. It's not an exhaustive list, but it'll do for now. More spots can be found at Railfans Welcome and clicking on the links for NJ and PA.

What's Wrong with the SEPTA Convenience Pass?

The SEPTA Convenience Pass is definitely not worthy of its name. It's a pass issued by SEPTA for rides on SEPTA services, but it is hardly convenient. Many in the transit circle call it, more appropriately, the Inconvenience Pass (I will refer to it by either term during the remainder of the post). Here's how it came to be.

Before last year, SEPTA had a nice little pass called the Day Pass. It cost $5.50, and was good for travel on any SEPTA rail, bus, or trolley service. It was also good for one ride on SEPTA's regional rail system (of which the R7 I mentioned previously is a part, though it could not be applied to trips to or from Trenton). The way it works is somewhat simple. You buy the pass, and it comes in a little folder, with a sticker inside it. When you present it to a bus/trolley operator or booth clerk, (s)he would place the sticker on a dated transfer ticket. You could then show the transfer ticket to subsequent booth clerks or bus/trolley operators, and get an unlimited number of rides for the rest of the day. If the pass was used on the regional rail system, the conductor would punch a hole in a designated section of the sticker. Because of the nature of the day pass, requiring a dated transfer ticket to show validity for a given day, you could use the regional rail portion on one day, and use the rest on another day. It was truly remarkable.

During the middle of last year, SEPTA implemented a fare hike, which not only eliminated the Day Pass, it introduced the (In)Convenience Pass, and eliminated transfers. A court order forced transfers to be reinstated, but it was too late to save the Day Pass. The Convenience Pass was already being sold, and Day Passes were officially discontinued.

Why is the Convenience Pass so inconvenient? First, what it offers is somewhat less than the Day Pass that preceeded it. It is only valid for eight rides in a single day. It is not valid for travel on regional rail. At $6, it costs 50¢ more than the Day Pass. In the restrictive nature of the Convenience Pass compared to the Day Pass, there are already three negative points, which can be summed up by saying that you're paying more to recieve less.

The next thing that's wrong with the Inconvenience Pass is the size of the thing. At 4⅛ × 2⅞", it's larger than a credit card, so it won't fit in most wallets. That means you would have to carry it loose in your pocket while not in use, making it a bit easier to lose.

Next item on the Convenience Pass's naughty list, the way transactions involving the pass are carried out. It requires every bus/trolley operator and booth clerk to have a hole puncher readily available. And Heaven forbid having the pass being first used on a bus in a crowded street, or worse, a group of people who have all bought Inconvenience Passes and have walked from 1234 Market Street to catch the C bus for a ride up Broad Street. On the first use, the operator has to punch out four holes: The current month, the current day of the month (tens digit and ones digit), and the "1" indicating that this is the first trip using the pass. It's very cumbersome. Sometimes, the operator you show it to will just give it a look and wave you through to take a seat. He must have left his hole puncher at home or something. And judging from the size of the holes in each of the subsequent trips I've made with an Inconvenience Pass dated September 18, 2007, it doesn't appear to be a SEPTA-issued hole puncher, either. Apparently, any operator could simply walk into any office supply store and pick up a hole puncher for use on the job. (I took 6 SEPTA trips that day, but only had holes 1 through 5 punched out, because apparently, the trolley operator on an inbound trip from 40th Street didn't have his puncher. He just gave it a look and let me take a seat.) In an experiment, I simulated punching holes into an Inconvenience Pass. It took me about 40 seconds to look at the pass, reach for the puncher, and punch holes in the designated spots. Though with the right sized hole puncher, it could take about 20. But still, the whole ordeal of the first use takes longer than it should.

Finally, if you look at the back of the pass, there's a magnetic strip. What's the big idea of even having a magnetic strip if it's never used? Ideally, it could be used to keep track of the day in which it was used, and the number of trips taken so far, but since it's never swiped through a magnetic card reader, what's the point of having it?

That's what I don't like about the Inconvenience Pass. Other than that, it's a decent thing, but New York's $7 1-day unlimited pwns it.

Intro to Philly Week

It's that time of year again. New Jersey Transit is offering free rides to university students next week (Feb 4 - Feb 10). In preparation for this, I will make a series of blog posts about many things to see and do, from a railfan's perspective, taking advantage of New Jersey Transit's offer. I have entitled this week "Philly Week" after one of the many things that some up here in New York do to take advantage: Ride from New York to Philadelphia for free. Sure, the days are not as long as they are in September, which is the other time of year that NJT does this, but that doesn't mean you still can't take advantage of free rides into and through the Garden State.

Some of the things I have done in the past include complete exploration of the close-to-home light rail systems, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and the Newark City Subway. The more extravagant, of course, is traveling from the Big Apple to the City of Brotherly Love without spending a dime. Take that, Greyhound!

To travel to Philadelphia, you must travel to Trenton. There, you have two options, one of which costing significantly more. The costlier option is taking the SEPTA R7 line, which connects with New Jersey Transit trains in an across-the-platform transfer which makes that a bit more convenient, but like I said, it'll cost you. Buying your ticket on the train (the only sane way to do it if you ride free to Trenton) will set you back $9. If you're fortunate enough to buy a ticket in advance, you save *drumroll* one dollar. However, if you exit the station and go across the street, you'll find an option that'll make you spend those nine bucks on something you'll enjoy more…like a philly cheese steak.

The RiverLINE is South Jersey's light rail system, connecting Trenton with Camden, which is to Philadelphia like Jersey City is to New York…except there's bridges connecting the two cities down there, and tunnels up here. Take the RiverLINE to Walter Rand Transportation Center. (Yeah. I don't know who he is, either, but they named the place after him anyway.) Right across from the RiverLINE station is, shock, an entrance to another transit agency's rail station. This time, it's PATCO, a high speed rail line that runs from Lindenwold all the way to Philadelphia. Fortunately, the fare for the ride to Philly on PATCO is significantly less than that of the R7, so you can spend the $1.15 here, and save the rest for a slightly smaller Philly cheese steak.

Then again, if that $9 you have has to last you the whole day, Walk across the street into the Walter Rand Transportation Center, and proceed to Gate Eight. Enough with the Rhyme Time. Just take any bus that pulls up to Gate Eight, where there's a 99.9% chance that it'll pull in and say that it's headed to Philadelphia. Show your "credentials" to the bus driver, take a seat, sit back, and relax as the bus takes you across the Ben Franklin Bridge into Center City Philadelphia. Who knows? You might even see a PATCO train or two.

There you go. How to get to Philadelphia without spending a dime.
1. Be a college student with a valid student ID card.
2. Board a New Jersey Transit train on the Northeast Corridor Line. Take it to Trenton
3. Take RiverLINE to Walter Rand Transportation Center.
4. Board any bus that stops at Gate 8
5. Welcome to Philadelphia! What you do there is none of my business!

Enjoy!

Express Bus Services from The Bronx & Westchester

My latest creation is not a video, but rather, a diagrammatic map of express routes serving The Bronx and Westchester. It's a large PNG file, but if you know anyone who's been wondering about express routes in The Bronx (especially that elusive X32), check this out.

Original image: PNG, 637K, 5760×3600
Linked image: 1600×1000. I'll post the bigger one as soon as I find a way to do so.

EDIT
I've made a little something to fill the white space on the right side of the map.

To attest to the fact people actually read this blog…

Someone told me last night that they read something about my blog.

A real post coming soon.

Happy New Year!

I know it's 11 days late, but happy new year, anyway.

Here's my latest video, featuring the top 74 photos of the year.

Messiah Has Come

No, I don't mean that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ has taken place (though it wouldn't be that far in the future anyway), but the Church in Manhattan had its annual Messiah sing-along this past Sunday, and I have a few things to say about it.

First off, the soloists and musicians in the orchestra were great. The chorus parts (filled in by the "audience") were a bit lacking at times, but filled in at most places where it was needed.

For example, at the beginning of And He Shall Purify, the sopranos were supposed to come in right at the beginning. However, there was some dead air for a second (at least until they all thought, "Oh crap, we're supposed to be singing now?" and then started singing.

I also have the recurring gripe about how we don't sing the whole thing. Here's the listing of the pieces, striking out everything that wasn't on the program.

1. 1. Overture
   2. Comfort Ye
   3. Every Valley shall be exalted
   4. And the Glory of the Lord
   5. Thus saith the Lord
   6. But who may abide
   7. And He shall purify
   8. Behold A Virgin Shall Conceive
   9. O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion
   10. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth
   11. The people that walked in darkness
   12. For unto Us a Child is born
   13. Pastoral Symphony
   14. There were shepherds
   15. And the Angel said unto them
   16. And suddenly there was with the Angel
   17. Glory to God
   18. Rejoice greatly
   19. Then shall the eyes of the blind
   20. He shall feed
   21. His yoke is easy
2. 22. Behold the lamb of God
   23. He was despised
   24. Surely He hath borne our griefs
   25. And with His stripes
   26. All we like sheep have gone astray
   27. All they that see him laugh him to scorn
   28. He trusted in God
   29. Thy rebuke hath broken His heart
   30. Behold, and see
   31. He was cut off out of the land of the living
   32. But Thou didst not leave
   33. Lift up your heads
   34. Unto which of the angels
   35. Let all the angels
   36. Thou art gone up on high
   37. The Lord gave the word
   38. How beautiful are the feet
   39. Their sound is gone out
   40. Why do the nations rage?
   41. Let us break their bonds
   42. He that dwelleth
   43. Thou shalt break them
   44. Hallelujah
3. 45. I know that my redeemer liveth
   46. Since by man
   47. Behold I tell you
   48. The trumpet shall sound
   49. Then shall be brought to pass
   50. O death
   51. But thanks be to God
   52. If God be for us
   53. Worthy is the Lamb

As you can see by the strikethroughs, much of the second and third parts were omitted. The two arias in the third part (45 and 48) were cut short. Also, He was despised was also cut short. (I don't blame them for that though. The whole thing is 10 minutes long, anyway.) I was informed that we would be singing "the whole Messiah" by the one conducting a sacrament meeting for one of the singles wards. Obviously, this was not so. Fortunately, I have the whole "whole Messiah" on my iPod, so I listened to the omitted sections on my way home, and was completed before I walked in the door. And before that, they did an encore of the Hallelujah chorus. Personally, I think Worthy is the Lamb is the most powerful chorus of the whole thing.

Also included in the program was an intermission between His yoke is easy and Behold the Lamb of God. Hot chocolate was served, but it was the water-based kind. I prefer the milk-based kind. Anyway, it was a good time had by all.

Keyword: Video

A few things:

1. On that search box in the top-left of the page, if you type "video" and click "search blog," you'll get a list of posts with all the past videos I've posted to the blog.

2. If you have Firefox, you may notice an orange icon on the right side of the address bar. Click on it, and you'll be able to subscribe to this blog, so that you can keep track of my latest posts.

3. Wow! Three blog posts in one day! That must be a record or something!

DOUBLE FEATURE!!!

As promised, here is the so-called "Unseen Video," and how it came to gain Unseen status.

It started on Friday the 23rd of November, after finishing up my video, The Rest of NYC, I sent an e-mail to the guy who was the e-mail receiver for submissions. I also uploaded it to YouTube, as was directed. I traveled to the Apple store in SoHo to make the upload, as the relatively slow 160kbps upload speed of my DSL connection would not handle the 17MB file as an e-mail attachment. After doing that, I went to gather material for my next project.

Anyway, long story short, I received no e-mail notification as to do anything else, and I assumed that all was well. Not so. When Lingo day came, I was disappointed when my creation was not shown (I should have brought my flash drive ! I still had it on there!). I then advertised it at the conclusion of the event that it would be part of a double feature at 5:30 PM Monday, which is right about now. So, without further ado, here's the "Unseen Video" Transfer Point Video #31, The Rest of NYC



And here's some new stuff, Transfer Point Video #32, (B) Movie.



Feel free to comment and read my reviews of the other Lingo films further down the main page, and PLEASE let me know what you think!

Lingo Reviews

In this post, I play the role of film critic and will write my reviews of the several films that were shown at the Lingos. I'll rate each film using a Cow system. Eight Cows is an excellent movie, One Cow is a poor film. Ten Cows is the most a film could earn. A Moo is equivalent to half a cow. Moos will be issued only to ratings with fewer than Five Cows. With that, we begin.

Movement #153

One of the shortest of the short films is Movement #153. When a bunch of balloons falls from an apartment window, children in the courtyard below have fun. There's nothing more aesthetically pleasing than children playing with balloons. The music choice for this film is "Open up Your Heart (and Let the Sunshine in)," performed by Australian pop/rock group Frente!, which makes it even more adorable.

My Rating: 6 Cows.

Swiss Days

Let me start with the description that's on the YouTube page for this film.

Jason is photographing the annual Swiss Days Festival when his girlfriend, Sarah, surprises him by showing up. She asks him to spend the day with her. He turns her down. A man overhears their conversation and suggests she goes with him. Jane leaves with the man. by Mark Finch Hedengren

Apparently, the film is about a photographer shooting some scenes of a parade in Midway, Utah.

While there are some slightly amusing things (like the guy in a motorized wheelchair following a kiddie train down the street), Swiss Days spends too much time focusing on the fact that the lead character is a photographer, and little on the alleged relationship mentioned in the description. Most of it looks more like a home video of some festival, with the "lead character" looking more like an extra at some places. If there were more focus on the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship between the two, this would have been a better film. In the climax scene (where we first meet the girlfriend), the dialogue between the two is barely audible. Had they gone and re-done that part, it would have been more understandable. The barely audible dialogue, the setting in Utah, and the fact that it looks more like a home movie more than anything else are all setbacks which turned a movie with a lot of potential into a dull yawnfest.

My Rating: 3 Cows

Inwood Good Basketball

While I'm not a big fan of basketball, Inwood Good Basketball provides a soundtrack that's barely palatable (While one song does include the F bomb in its lyrics, it's barely audible unless you're listening for it). Filmed mostly on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, this film does some good moves, and a Jamba Juice run.

Overall, this film is a basketball movie that's more basketball than anything else.

My Rating: 4 Cows and a Moo

Primary Progress

Take the TV show Kids Say the Darnedest Things and LDS gospel topics, mix them together, and you have Primary Progress. Adorable kids giving "cute" answers to basic gospel topics, like who Jesus Christ is, about His birth, the Holy Ghost, Joseph Smith, tithing, and the Book of Mormon, among others. The sad part was that the Lingo people, when they were playing this at the festival, cut off the ending, which told you who these kids were, but it's on YouTube, and you can see the whole thing there.

Seriously, this is a funny film, but that's what kids are sometimes.

My Rating: 7 Cows

Smackdown

Women and arm wrestling. Two worlds which some believe don't go together. However, the lovely ladies in this film, destroy that stereotypical mindset, which is the only high attribute of this film. The music sometimes overtakes the dialogue in this film, and that's the only big downside. The background music is supposed to be in the background! That's why it's called background music! If there is no dialogue, go ahead and put it at full volume. Otherwise, let the foreground sounds take their proper place in the foreground!

My Rating: 6 Cows for the film, 9 Cows for each of the ladies in the film. Good going, girls!

The Adventures of Mr. Salad-Tong Arm Man

The genre of the silent film may be long dead in today's cinema scene, but the Bontorno Brothers make an attempt to revive it with Salad-Tong Arm Man. While it has a storyline as awkward and inconsistent as the titles of this film are, Salad-Tong more than makes up for it in the comedy department, despite the fact that the intertitles had as much action as the actors did (which gets quite annoying if someone's actually trying to read them). Even the blatant misspellings of words like e-mail and en garde were minor points. The combining of the Western genre with modern-day technology makes it a bit more humorous.

This film was a great mix of Western, Silent, and Modern in what can only be described as a great mix of Western, Silent, and Modern.

My Rating: 7 Cows

Love to Read Part Ⅱ

While literacy awareness is not one of my favorite genres of film, Love to Read Ⅱ provides a glimpse into a few people's favorite books. Dr. Seuss makes a surprising appearance in this film, which is the only real funny point, especially when he's referred to as a "prophet of another faith." The film is basically a book review of four different books, with the Dr. Seuss book thrown in there for a laugh.

My Rating: 5 Cows

HireASaint.org

This movie starts off as a film trailer for movie you'll never see, then confuses us as it turns out to be an advert for a web site. The hopping scenes were remotely funny, but turning a web site into a movie is more difficult than the reverse.

My Rating: 5 Cows

NY NY Underground

One of the three transit-related films submitted for the Lingos, NY NY Underground is the story of a sister missionary who serves in the fictitious New York New York Underground mission, based in the subway. Despite the fact that the film allegedly takes place in the subway, there are some obviously non-underground scenes here. However, this heart-warming tale about people who are not mole-people is a touching tale, and is well-deserving of my rating.

My Rating: 7 Cows

The Rest of NYC

Internally known as Transfer Point Video #31, The Rest of NYC is my video. I don't want to sound biased or anything, but this is a great film, with a masterminds of Daft Punk providing the soundtrack. A rather funny "faux commercial" is played alongside the credits.

No link, as my previous post says it will be shown on the B24 Blog as part of a double feature at 5:30 PM today.

No rating either. As I said, I don't want to sound biased.

Now, here are some that weren't posted on YouTube.

Vincent

This movie was basically a montage of paintings, many of them from artist Vincent van Gogh. There isn't much to say about this one. After about two minutes of watching this, I continued to think to myself, "Is it over yet?" Two words can best describe this movie: Totally Boring! Even more than Swiss Days!

My Rating: 1 Cow and a Moo… And I'm being generous with that Moo there.

Riding the Bus with Phyllis

This video documents a day in the life of Phyllis, a bus driver for Utah State University. While the campus shuttle bus theme was right on the edge of being interesting, there was a good cameo by the UTA's TRAX light rail system. And you can't go wrong with being pro-transit. Near the end, Phyllis was all like, "Don't drive to class, take the bus. You may show up a few minutes late, you may be a few minutes early, but at least you'll get there!" The second of three transit-related movies that were in the running, not bad at all.

My Rating: 6 Cows

Group Date

After a planned date to a Hannah Montana concert didn't go as planned, a group of friends get together and try to recoup the loss. Selling cupcakes on the street, doing drawings in Central Park, selling MetroCard swipes in the subway, or rapping elsewhere in Manhattan, each of the couples has their own obstacles to overcome, For example, Jen can't really rap that well, but Oscar teaches her a couple of things. This film was one of the highlights of Lingos, and there was a great effort put on by the cast, to make this film a hit.

My Rating: 8 Cows

Challenges

Walking through the projects in Manhattan's Alphabet City can be tough, especially when confronted with a couple of street thugs, one of which being armed with a knife. Don't worry, because the hero of the story has a little Western in him and gives is friend some advice he received from an Indian chief. Little does he know that the friend had some advice of his own.

This film was voted the best film of the night. I agree that it was good, but I don't think it's worth any more than my rating of 8 Cows, which is still excellent.

My Rating: 8 Cows

TAFT

The surprise hit of the evening (and my personal favorite) is a short film called TAFT. William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States, but that factoid has nothing to do with this film.

Picture this, an oil field with numerous "nodding donkey" pumpjacks dotting the desert landscape. At the start, everything is still and silent, with the pumpjacks motionless. Then suddenly, things liven up as the song Rock Around the Clock starts up, and the pumpjacks start movin' and groovin' to the music. A hilarious and totally unexpected film which deservedly gets my highest rating for the night.

My Rating: 10 Cows


There you go, those were all the movies, and thank you for reading my reviews.

Johnny Lingo Had a Cow, Traded for an Ugly Wife…

On Saturday, the Lingos Film Festival took place in Manhattan. In preparation, I submitted a video entitled, The Rest of NYC. I put a great deal of time and effort into making that video, and was satisfied to submit it via e-mail, and post it on YouTube.

At the start of Saturday night's event, I was excited in anticipation to see my creation presented before the large crowd that showed up there. There were several films that had me laughing, and then there were some that made me want to do my best impression of Homer Simpson shouting, "Boring!" Out of respect for the creators of those videos, I kept my mouth shut when such feelings came upon me.

The biggest surprise was not what was shown, but what was not shown. Even though there were many good videos, mine was not shown! At all! Not even a reference to it! The worst part is that nobody said anything to me about whether it could or could not be shown there. If I had received an e-mail a day or two before saying something like, "Hey, Robert. Could you bring a copy of your video on CD or DVD [or even on a flash drive] to the event? I can't seem to play it on my computer." I would have done so. I had produced it in 3 different formats: AVI DivX, WMV (which I sent via e-mail), and iPod-compatible MP4. However, nobody said anything to me about getting it in another format.

These videos, they're like my children. I have made 31 of them (with a 32nd on the way), and if someone doesn't give the video the respect it deserves, or the respect which I expect it to receive, it offends me. Nobody has given me a clear and proper explanation as to why it was not shown. I have worked my butt off to get this out before the submission deadline, and having done so, I expect nothing but the best treatment. (I'm not saying that it deserves to win an award, I'm saying that at the very least, it should have been shown to the audience.)

To not show a video which was submitted according to the directions I had received, and presuming that others had done the same, and not give an explanation as to why the video is not being shown, demonstrates a lack of respect toward the video and its creator. It's as if someone had come out of nowhere and slapped me in the face, for no other reason than to slap me in the face.

I had planned a release of this video on my blog during the week following the Lingos, so I promoted it to all I could get to listen to me for a moment. I am posting the video I submitted for Lingos as part of a double feature at 17:30 EST (That's 5:30 PM for those who don't understand the 24-hour clock), on Monday, December 3, 2007. It'll be right here on this blog. I've already mentioned it to many, and hopefully, they'll be watching.

For those who may wonder where the title of this post is from, it is from the film Johnny Lingo, where the name of the film festival comes from as well. A basic synopsis of the film can be found here. At the wedding party for Johnny and Mahana, some of the island kids began taunting him, saying, "Johnny Lingo Had a Cow, Traded for an Ugly Wife. Johnny Lingo's married now, He'll be sorry all his life!" That's how I felt when I discovered the faux pas of not seeing my video at the LFF.

Anagram Maps

Sometime last year, I was inspired by the London Underground anagram map to make a few of some of my region's transit network.

Here's the first of that series: The Long Island Rail Road. I used the official fare zone map as a base.



Next came anagram maps for New Jersey Transit and Metro-North. There were a few bugs and other things that made me take them back into the shop to re-work them.

I also did one of the Washington Metro.



Now, if you've ever seen the official WMATA map, you'll notice immediately that the style on my map is completely different from theirs. Also, notice that some stations (like "Neon Quorum Servant" [Mount Vernon Square]), I've taken a few liberties.

1. Generally speaking, anagrams on this map are based on WMATA maps published in the early 1990's. Since this time, it seems that WMATA has been tacking on ancillary points of interest to the official station names. Take a look at the name of the station two stops up from Neon Quorum Servant. ("Zero Date Courts"). This is derived from the string, "U Street-Cardozo." The latest map labels it, "U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo." Too many letters!

2. Street names are fully spelled out.

3. University abbreviations in station names are omitted, unless the abbreviation is ridiculously obvious.

It wasn't long before I discovered someone else had done a different version of the same system, modifying the official map. Cords Loosing. I guess because the station names are so short, or there are very few anagrams for certain stations, both anagram maps have the same name on both maps.

Franconia-Springfield	Frangipani-Cornfields Mine omits the hyphen
Crystal City	Catty Lyrics
Pentagon City	Giant Potency
Smithsonian	This Mansion
L'Enfant Plaza	Fatal Zen Plan
Morgan Boulevard	Vanguard Bloomer
Takoma	Oak Mat
Landover	Old Raven

Enjoy! More soon.

Randomoneum #2

I've been pretty bored recently, but I found a good way to entertain myself (at least for a little bit). I use Microsoft Train Simulator to pull a mixed consist down the Northeast Corridor. The train consists of three supercharged Dash 9's a few Tropicana cars, a few other assorted cars, and four passenger cars at the end. Now, the "Super-Dashes" have an insane top speed, and I can drive one from Philadelphia to Washington in a few minutes, reaching a top speed of something like 5,000 MPH. With three of them pulling the mixed consist, I can get the train to 1,000 MPH quite easily. I get the train to a certain speed, uncouple the locomotives from the train (which causes the locos to accelerate even quicker), and then drive them to a certain point out of the way of the "runaway cars." If I pull off the "Get the locos out of the way" bit successfully, the cars pass by and I chase them on an adjacent track to see where they stop. I got the train to 1,000 MPH south of Wilmington and uncoupled. The "runaway cars" stopped… 76 miles later, south of Baltimore. They were doing at least 200 by the time they passed the locos. Yesterday, I did this with 5 Super-Dashes, and let the train go at 1,400 MPH. They passed by going about 300 MPH, and they ran all the way to Washington Union Station. What happened? It's something like the GG1 wreck of 1953. I'll probably do it again and make a video of it and post it on YouTube or something.

Speaking of videos, I've made another one, and uploaded it to YouTube, in preparation for the Lingo Film Festival. The LFF is basically a thing where you have to make a short film, and it gets shown there. Hopefully, mine gets shown. The last I checked, there were only four videos (including mine) on the YouTube page. I was stressing about it on Friday, worrying that the e-mail wouldn't be received. Then I found that the deadline (which was that Friday) was extended to this coming Wednesday. I'll post it to the blog after this coming weekend, and will probably be as a double feature with another project I'm working on.

Of Pushing Daisies and Stuck Elevators

Of the new shows of the fall television season, the one I'm hooked on now is Pushing Daisies. It's about this guy (Ned the pie maker) who has the power to bring dead things back to life, and… well, I'll spare the details at this point, but the interested reader can check out the Pushing Daisies article on Wikipedia.

Anyway, when I watched the first episode, I was amazed at how everything was put together. The extra details of a person's age (i.e. "36 years, 3 months, 9 days, 12 hours, 17 minutes"), the place names (A pie shop named "The Pie Hole." Could there ever be a better name?), and the interesting relationship between the main characters (Ned's childhood sweetheart, Charlotte, who everyone calls Chuck. She was revived by his power, and as a result, cannot be touched by him again, or she would die again.) There's just something about this show that draws me to it again and again, over what else is on at that particular time slot.

There is something else of interest for that show. I first noticed it in the first episode. Ned had to encounter a man named Wilfred Woodruff. Wilfred Woodruff was of Asian descent, and his ancestor took on the Woodruff name during the U.S. Civil War. Notice that name, Wilfred Woodruff. Change the vowel in the second syllable of the first name, and change its position, and you get Wilford Woodruff, the name of the 4th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm not the only member of this church who has noticed this. About as soon as the episode was over, a thread about the show was posted on LDS Linkup, which basically asked if there were any Mormons involved in the writing of the show. One claimed that one guy was actually an anti-Mormon (using the statement that Wilfred Woodruff was commonly used on anti-Mormon web sites to refer to Wilford Woodruff). I thought this was interesting.

Another link between the writers and producers of the show and aspects of LDS history was established in the episode that aired this past Wednesday. In this episode, a man was murdered, and Ned was brought in to ask the deceased who it was that killed him. His response, "My wife did it." It turns out that his reply was more complicated than it first appeared, because the man had four wives. He was a polygamist. The practice of polygamy, officially discontinued by the Church in 1890, is still practiced by some groups known as Fundamentalists, who are not associated with the Church. (Church policy says that anyone practicing polygamy is excommunicated, so none of these people are members of the Church.)

Anyway, all of the stuff I've seen so far has been well-written, and changed just enough to eliminate any relation to the Church, whether it be pro- or anti-Mormon (and the word "Mormon" has yet to be uttered by the characters). As long as that continues, I have no problem with it.

---

Have you ever been stuck in an elevator with an attractive member of the opposite sex, and it was just the two of you in there? Well, I was, except for that last bit. Here's what happened. After an institute class, a bunch of us went to one guy's apartment for a pizza party. A few people, including myself, went to get the pizza, It turns out that the apartment we were going to is on the thirtieth floor of the building. We get on the elevator (there were six of us in there, including the A.M.O.S.) and begin to go up to the 30th floor. After starting up, there's a sudden jolt, and the elevator stops. None of the buttons respond, and we're just stopped there in a tiny elevator (at least we're the ones with the pizza). After a few minutes, the elevator creeps up and opens on the 4th floor, and the rest was an uneventful trip up to the 30th floor.

This brings to mind a conversation I heard on a radio show a few weeks ago. Two people from the show, a singly guy and an attractive single woman, were on an elevator when they got stuck. It was just the two of them in the elevator, but the other guys on the show (and a few guys who called the radio station) were ripping on the guy for not "taking advantage of the situation." I remember that after Blackout of 2003, there were stories about couples getting together, after being stuck in an elevator during the blackout. This talk of two people from this radio show being stuck in an elevator lead me to think about what I would do if I were in that situation. I'd say that it would depend on how well I know the person, and the status of the current relationship with that person. I don't think I'd need to say any more than that. Such details are not to be posted about on the Internet, especially if people actually read this thing.

Randomoneum

I got this game yesterday for my iPod called Phase. If you've ever played Dance Dance Revolution, StepMania, or Guitar Hero, you'll catch on quickly to Phase. The goal is to catch as many "notes" as possible as the song plays. One of the interesting things is that one of the background "journeys" you can take is an urban "landscape," with various buildings, yellow taxis, bridges, subway entrances, and even buses passing by you as you play. One such graphic is of a bus, either an Orion 5 or a Gillig Phantom, with a destination sign reading, "M5 LIMITED." (EDIT: Here's a screenshot!) I found that to be quite interesting. I'm pretty much hooked on the game, too. In my first day of having it, I've caught almost 2,000 notes.

Another new record on the 60th Street Tunnel run. 2:58.07, on an N with another set of R160's. However, it was spoiled by a missed connection with a 7 local train at Queensboro Plaza.

Here are a few nuggets I wrote, and posted at LDS LinkUp recently.

1. It isn't about homophobia. It's about protecting and defending the standards and values that God has set forth for His children.

2. Sure, there may be some who claim that God does not exist. However, there are many things in this world that could instantly disprove that claim, tearing it down like the winds of a tornado to a house of cards.

3. The creations of God are all around you. You needn't go far, just look out a window.

Look up at the sky. Notice the clouds, the sun, the moon, the stars. They didn't show up there all by themselves. Read the first chapter of Genesis. <link> It says that it was God that made all of those things. If you don't believe that, look at the Big Bang theory. It didn't happen all by itself. Someone or something had to start it all. Guess what? It was God.

Look at any buildings that may be in your view. Sure, they were constructed out of steel, or wood, or stone, but where is the source of those materials? If your answer is a business that sells building materials, ask yourself where did they get their supplies from. Follow this chain all the way to the source. Eventually, you'll realize that the source is something that was created by God, either directly or through a process which He gave power to exercise.

Finally, look in a mirror. You see that person staring back at you? That marvelous creation known as the human body. It is one of the greatest of God's creations. Both male and female were created after His image. In other words, the body which we all possess is designed after the body which God has. There is not one human being on this earth that was not created by a man and a woman, or at least the key components from each which make babies possible.

The creations of God are all around you. You needn't go far, just look at yourself!