Tonight's dinner

Ended up having this for dinner tonight. It was delicious; next time, I'd like to make it with some sauteed vegetables on the side over rice. I may also need to invest in something that truly can mash garlic into something resembling paste...using a small steak knife can only get me so far.

Cookies!

I'm not much of a cook, but I've taken to making a few things here and there from time to time. One of the recipes I've taken up on using on an occasional basis is this recipe for chocolate chip cookies. The only difference is that I only bake them for about 11 minutes or so; doing them for 13-15, as the recipe suggests, ends up burning the bottom of the cookies. It could be a problem with the oven I have, which may very well overheat when it is baking.

Movies that try too hard

So last night, I watched No Country For Old Men with my girlfriend. It's a very visual movie, but I get the feeling that the Coen brothers tried too hard. Maybe that's how the book that it is based on is like as well, but I could never pin down a distinct message that the movie was attempting to communicate. A lot of it boils down to Tommy Lee Jones' final lines, but even that didn't make much sense. We ended up turning to Wikipedia to try and get a better sense, but that didn't help much. It seems like a standard crime thriller until the protagonist gets killed...and then the movie sort of meanders its way towards the conclusion.

No Country For Old Men ended up getting the Best Picture Academy Award, along with getting rave reviews, which re-emphasizes my belief that movie critics tend to like stuff that they don't really understand. It's as though the ambiguity of message somehow adds depth.

Meanwhile, back in Philly...

Got back to Philadelphia today after moving a good portion of my dorm stuff back to New York. This 'no more school' business is really starting to sink in...it means I have to figure out a way to pass the time until I officially graduate. I might read a couple of books, something I haven't done for leisure in a long time - probably because college killed the notion of making reading anything more than mind-numbingly dull.

I also got hung up on by a real estate broker today. Nice guy; if he didn't want to deal with people calling him about housing, maybe he shouldn't put his goddamn phone number on Craigslist.

Last night's episode of The Office was decent. It was better on second watch; I think the commercial breaks threw me for a loop when I watched it live (sadly, it was the first time I watched the show during its scheduled time slot). Season finale is next week; Jim and Pam are getting engaged. You read it here first. It's too obvious, but it's the only way to do right by the fans of the show.

Now it's off to kill some brain cells by watching Smallville.

Where have all the good TV shows gone?

I'm not the kind of person who sinks into their couch and watches TV endlessly. That being said, it's not hard to notice the rather steep decline in quality television these days. I blame reality TV for this (ironic, given that I was a rabid fan of the inaugural season of Survivor, the show that started it all) - it's cheap and it brings in killer ratings. But what the hell is there to take away from crap like Dancing With The Stars and American Idol? Nothing...except a bunch of green to the corporate heads of the networks. It's why cult hits invariably die an interminable death (such as Arrested Development), or even shows that aren't widely-watched but are very well-written, well-produced, and well-acted (my example being Journeyman).

For me, I've largely eschewed watching new television shows. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was an utter disaster, thanks to Aaron Sorkin deciding to settle his personal scores on-screen. Heroes had a stellar debut season, but it became a bit too unwieldy for its strike-shortened sophomore outing. In the end, the superhero sci-fi drama - along with the unquestionably best comedy on television right now, The Office - are the only relatively new shows I watch. Strangely enough, I keep up with television shows that are aged by today's standards as well - 24 and Smallville, both of which debuted when I was but a second-year high school student. There's definitely something to be said about the quality of those shows - namely the fact that the quality of both declined irreversibly after their third seasons - but they still generate enough cheap thrills to please me more than hyped-up crap like Bionic Woman or yet another useless crime drama or CSI spin-off that CBS throws out. And it's been a long time since ABC had a drama to watch like Alias (I will never forgive JJ Abrams for abandoning the show for Lost).

Hell, when I was a kid, good old-fashioned beat 'em up shows like Nash Bridges, Martial Law, and yes, even Walker, Texas Ranger. At least they were entertaining and put a unique spin on fighting crime. Those were the days...but now we get fed totally mindless manure like Deal or No Deal. Stupid Howie Mandel and his dumb, show-ending salute.

Hunting for abodes: Following up

Searching for apartments in Manhattan is a pain in the ass. Brokers just want their damn fees, and the only no-fee places they all show are the same freakin' place - Stuyvesant Town. Seriously, why would I want to live 15 minutes away from the nearest subway stop? I'll be sweating like a monkey's uncle during the summer.

All in all, I woke up early to get a nice workout and to eat some awesome pizza at this joint called Andiamo's down in Gramercy. I'll have to end up being my own real estate broker and finding apartments that are reasonable priced. That's another thing - prices on property in Manhattan are expensive, particularly for hot spots. But is it too much to ask for a Gramercy or Murray Hill address that's on 3rd or Lexington Avenue? The next couple of weeks will tell.

Hunting for abodes

Well, I got lucky and found a few places in Manhattan that have openings for July. It'd be great to lock up a place before the mad rush that inevitably will occur once June comes around.

On the downside, it means I have to wake up around 6 tomorrow morning. Sweet.

This probably won't work out

Praying for lower gas prices will probably work about as well as praying for rain. At least it's not a governor out there leading the prayer session.

Welcome, Earthlings.

This will be a relatively short and sweet introduction to any readers of this blog.

As you can see, my name is AMN. I won't disclose my real name, although if you know me...well, there's not much I can do to fix that condition. I will be graduating from an Ivy League institution in two short weeks, degree in hand. In a couple of months, I'll be starting my job at a well-known financial institution in Manhattan. Life is good right now...I did well in school, I have a good job (that will hopefully still be around, economic conditions permitting), and I have a great family and a wonderful girlfriend.

I have blogged under a particular nom de guerre for several years across the intertubes...whether it's been on TV series websites, political blogs, or my erstwhile personal blog on Xanga. But I figure it's a good time to retire it and start blogging under something that doesn't make people ask, what the hell does your pseudonym mean?! It's kind of embarrassing when I have to start tying it back to David Blaine and Starcraft...and therein lies my point.

So that's my story. I'll be around making posts about random crap now and then.