Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Greetings From Springfield

It looks like Turkey isn't the only person heading directly to Moe's. CC from D.C. (actually she lives in Fredericksburg, which is outside of D.C. but doesn't rhyme with CC) emailed me her Simpsons-self last night.

CC also included a note with a little background info regarding her avatar that reads "I'm a staunch supporter of baked goods and I nailed my fair skin".

If you still haven't created your own Simpsons Avatar, try it now by
clicking here and don't forget to email it to me when you are done for posting on pop-o-matic!

Monday, July 30, 2007

More Simpsonsizing

Not only did Turkey turn herself into a Simpsons character, she also went directly to Moe's to experience a little Springfield charm.

Here's Big Daddy from Bon Jour Pee Wee. Hmm, after looking at his avatar and my own, I wonder if we are somehow related?

Weekend Recap

I feel like I crammed an entire weekend of activities into last Thursday night, which is why I didn't even post anything on Friday. I started off meeting fellow bloggers for happy hour after work in the village. Although I only stayed an hour and left before a lot of people arrived, I had a great time and actually remember the entire happy hour since I had to leave before getting as trashed as usual.

I left the bloggers and headed up town to my favorite Upper West Side bar, Yogi's, where I met up with Seth, Kelly, Adam, and Daniella. We had tickets for the 8:30 showing of Harry Potter in 3D at the Imax so we didn't have a lot of time at Yogi's. It was still enough to down several pitchers of beer and a few cocktails before heading over to the theater. I'm not going to spend too much time talking about Harry Potter I'll just say I was disappointed and found this to be the dullest in the series yet. There is an incredible fight scene at the end but unfortunately it just wasn't enough and this film seemed to lack the fun and excitement of the ones before.

After Potter, we headed to a bar for a few after movie drinks, which turned into a very late night/after party back at our place in Brooklyn. Kelly decided to chuck a sicky on Friday and crashed at our place Thursday night. On Friday, we all woke late to throbbing hangovers and spent the day convalescing. That night, Kitty came over for beer and Mexican food and we hung out chatting, gossiping, and watching lots of Ninja Warrior.

On Saturday Seth & I headed out to do some errands and were soon chased back indoors by the heat and humidity. Since nothing beats a cold beer on a hot day, we spent the rest of the day drinking, rearranging the apartment and looking at pictures from last week's vacation (yes, we used an old fashioned film camera).

So how was your weekend?

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Even More Friends From Springfield

Here's Kelly!

Love the shirt Kelly

Check It Out

Its been a while since I posted anything Star Wars related (at least I don't remember posting anything Star Wars related recently) and technically, I'm not posting anything about Star Wars right now. Instead, I'm telling everyone to visit Zombie Fights Shark for the most bizarre/hysterical Star Wars related whatever I have seen all day.

Zombie Fights Shark!: Ewok Celebration Song... Barbershop Style!

More Friends From Springfield

Earlier (see post below) I posted my Simpsons avatar and asked (in the comments section) for others to email me their avatars if they make one.

Looks like Kitty just got Simpsons-ized! Check her out!

Everybody Else Is Doing It ...

Irish and Jew did it a few weeks ago. Jdizzle did it yesterday.

So now I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

Meet Jeff McClure!



Click Here to make your own Simpsons avatar.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Spoiler Alert

Click Here. It has nothing to do with Harry Potter so you won't be pissed at me after.

The pop-o-matic Bar Report Special Restaurant Edition

I very rarely go out for dinner. Usually I go out for drinking and there may or may not be food served where I'm drinking. If I do make dining out plans it usually means heading to my favorite neighborhood pub, where I can always get a good beer, great burger and friendly service. They don't know my name at this pub but they know Kitty's and I'm usually with her.

This past Monday I actually had dinner plans (that means meeting people at a restaurant mainly for food). My sister in law was in town for a few days for business and we decided to get together at one of her favorite restaurants. She and my brother left NYC back in 2003 for California and as it turns out, her favorite restaurant is right in my hood.

Convivium Osteria, on 5th Avenue in Park Slope is a cozy little spot that features an Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish mix cuisine and the decor to match. I didn't see any beer bottles behind the tiny bar so I decided to open the wine list, which is longer than some books I've read and provides a little bit of info on the bottles stored in the cellar. I started off with a glass of Merlot because Merlot was one of the only words I recognized (you may have figured out by now that I'm not much of a wine connoisseur) then went on to enjoy a bottle of whatever my sister in law ordered.

We ordered a bunch of appetizers, which ranged from a meat and cheese plate to what I think was a whole octopus (I didn't go near that one). These plates were all large enough that I could have left satisfied at that point but decided to order dinner as well. Many of the entrees involved fish of some sort and since I don't eat seafood, I ordered the Gnocchi al sugo di faraona e funghi di bosco (Potato gnocchi with guinea-fowl and wild mushroom ragu). I'm not entirely sure what guinea-fowl is (some sort of bird I hope) but it was delicious!

Convivium Osteria is a bit more pricey than I'm used to but as I said before, dining out for me usually happens in a bar. I will definitely go back, in fact, this would be a great place to take my parents (who love eating out) if they ever actually visit. If I had some sort of rating system, I would give Convivium Osteria 4 out of 5 pop-o-matic bubbles!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Genius At Work #7

As much as I love a good beach vacation, there are a few elements of the beach itself that I'm not so crazy about. For starters, I hate sand. More specifically, I hate when sand gets all over my stuff and me. But even worse than sand, is sun screen.

You have to apply this crap a good hour before heading out and then you have to stand around waiting for it to sink in. If you sit down or put your shirt on before you've achieved proper absorption, all your efforts will be wiped off. Even once fully absorbed, you are left with a slick greasy feeling all day and there is no guarantee that you even covered your entire body - you'll just have to wait until that random patch of sun burnt skin appears to realize you missed a spot.

So here is my Genius idea - a sun screen pill! Think about, there is a pill for just about everything, from regulating your mood to keeping you from getting pregnant. So why in this modern pill happy era are we still slathering this messy crap on ourselves?

Come on pharmaceutical pushers, get with the program!

Monday, July 23, 2007

I'm Still Ready For The Summer!

After a week of fun and sun at the beach we return to our drab and bleak existences, with nothing to look forward to until Christmas. Yes, I know I'm being a little dramatic but vacation was a blast! Thanks Kitty for keeping an eye on things around here, I love that Nubbin story. And thanks for watching the cats. They said they had a lot of fun with you and I noticed that none of their chores were done so I imagine you let them get away with a lot more than we do.

Now that vacation is over, I'm making a conscious effort to keep summer-vacation Jeff (or "Snack" as I somehow became known over the week) alive and kicking. With just a few simple life changes, I plan to bring the holiday home and so can you! Following are a few of my ideas and I hope you add your own in the comments section.

1. Drink more beer and drink it more frequently.

At home I normally opt for vodka because I've convinced myself it has less calories and fat than beer. On vacation, I only drink vodka for breakfast before cracking open my first cold one. For now on, I choose to limit my vodka consumption to Bloody Marys (which should never be drank after the sun sets) and go with beer at all other times.

2. Eat more junk food.
So what if its compressed into a can, it's still cheese isn't it?

3. Wear shorts and flip-flops to work.

I don't want to get anyone into trouble with this one so check with your human resource department first. If you are anything like me and are grossed out by your feet being so exposed on the subway, then do what I'm doing and wear Vans to work and keep a pair of flip-flops at the office to change into. It's sort of like Mr. Rodgers meets Jeff Spicoli.

4. Shower less.
A little sunscreen can go a long way in fighting body odor and it will help you fight the sun's harmful cancer light. So rather than jumping in the shower every morning, just slab a little Coppertone on.

5. Install an outdoor shower on your terrace or roof.
Lets face it, your are going to have to take the occasional shower and nothing says vacation like showering outdoors. If you don't have a terrace or roof access, try a fire escape and hose attached to the kitchen sink.

6. Get but naked!.
Whether you believe in evolution or creationism pull your head out of your ass clothing is man made. So why conform to man's restrictions? If you are a little trepidatious about this one, take baby steps by skinny dipping. Then you can move on to skinny hot-tubbing, streaking on the beach and eventually you will be skinny rocking-chairing.

That's about all I can think of right now so I hope you can help add to this list.

Friday, July 20, 2007

The Nubbin - A Hipster Toll Bridge Story - The Conclusion

Hi Gang!

If you haven't read Chapter 1 of this little tale, scroll down to the post following this one...

When we left off, my angry and confused crew was listening to the details of the story. As we made our way upstairs, the search was on for "the guy who look's like he's in the White Stripes, wearing a skinny tie and Capezios". My friend Jess, who is very Brooklyn, was eager for the inevitable confrontation, and even when we had almost given up on finding him, she insisted we not leave until we search a little more thoroughly. Alas, there was no sign of him, until I realized that he might be in the smoker's alley to the side of the bar. Sure enough, there he was, leaning with his back up against a brick wall, hunched over, one Capezioed foot propped back on the wall, talking to his hipster friend while he smoked a cigarette.

Kitty: (standing a foot in front of him, pointing directly into his face, my husband close behind): There he is! Babe, there he is! That's him!

At this point, my husband deftly swept up next to the hipster, and, because of the hipster's crouched over positioning, my husband seriously towered over him.

Husband: (bad-assedly) Buddy...Why don't you do me and yourself a favor...and keep your feet away from my wife.
Hipster: (Nodding quickly) OK!
Kitty: (for some weird reason, giving him the thumbs up sign) Yeah!

We triumphantly exited the smoking section, while I bragged to all our friends about my husband's defense of my honor, which I thought was flawless. No fisticuffs, no obscenities...my husband let the Nubbin man know who was boss, but he remained civilized (which never gets you thrown out of bars). We later discovered that the Nubbin man was a member of a band that had played previously in the evening, and that they were from France. Our investigators are already hard at work looking for the band's assumingly lame MySpace page.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The Nubbin - A Hipster Toll Bridge Story - Chapter One

Hello Pop-O-Matic Gang!

Kitty here, from My Husband Hates Veggies. I am happy to report that the ladies of 7th Avenue (Kiki & Mame, Jeff & Seth's cats) are alive and well, and eating enough for three (Mame being an attractively Rubenesque feline).

I apologize for neglecting you for the past few days, and have decided to share a little story with you all that happened a few weeks back.

My husband and I were at a local live music/bocce ball court/watering hole, to see a band that my husband has been working with. We had a gaggle of buddies with us, we were jamming to the tunes, and having a "2 beer buzz" good time. I made my way to the unisex restroom, ala Ally McBeal, and on my way out, was stopped dead in my tracks, toll bridge style, by the leg of a sitting fella who was dressed like he was in the White Stripes - but if the White Stripes wore all black and white instead of red. He was surrounded on either side by hipsters and ladies who appeared to be struggling fashion models. He wore Capezios. A "conversation" followed:

Kitty (smiling): Do I know you?
Hipster: (smirking): {unintelligible mumblings}

I gave a small chuckle, smiled politely at what I thought was a lame flirtation attempt, and made my way once again to rejoin my crew. Once again: Hipster Toll Bridge! Confused, annoyed, and over it now, I look to his friends and say:

Kitty: I don't know this guy. Do you know this guy? Can you tell him to cut the shit?

This is when the climax (no pun intended) of our story occurs. For at this moment, Hipster points his Capezio toe, and nuzzles it squarely into my crotch, and begins twisting his toe, presumably aiming for my magic button.

Kitty (backing off his foot in horror, but also trying not to spill a beer): What the fuck are you doing? Who the fuck are you?
Hipster (with utter smarminess): I am giving you a nubbin. What's the matter? Don't you like the nubbin?

I know, I know, I should've thrown my drink at him. Instead, I disgustedly went to push past him again, at which point, I kid you not, he attempted to erect the Hipster Toll Bridge once more. This caught the attention of Struggling Fashion Model #1, who turned around to survey the situation. I locked eyes with her, my fellow sister, to hopefully intervene in this dilemna that her friend was causing. She slowly looked me up and down from head to toe and back again, and then, after deciding that I was the most boring creature she had even laid eyes upon, uttered a long weary sigh, and turned back to her other friend. All this hapenned at about the same moment that a pointed Capezio made it's way back to my crotch. Luckily, my crotch dodged his shoe, which I believe was running late for the Chorus Line open call down the street. I pushed at his leg (without spilling my beer!), and high on adrenaline, made my way back to my husband and friends, who were all very angry, albeit confused, by my tale.

Continued tomorrow...

Friday, July 13, 2007

All I Ever Wanted

Remember that song from Meatballs, "Are you ready for the summer"?

That's ringing through my head right now because I'm gathering my gear (swim trunks, sun screen, beach towel, plastic two-beer-holder hat) and heading to the beach! For the next week I'll be getting shit-faced enjoying the sand and surf on Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Thanks to AT&T's craptastic coverage, my cell phone doesn't work on Ocracoke and I'm not bringing a computer so I will be completely out or range and out of touch for a whole week. I can't wait! Its going to be just like Survivor without all the surviving and with plenty or booze and food.

I've asked Kitty to take care of my cats and you while I'm gone so check back here for her postings and remind her to feed my cats.

Also, if you are looking for some fun-time summer jams, Seth just released his latest podcast titled, Escape Pod. It's a little bit of Styx, Gwen Stefani, Kylie, Meatballs, B-Ho! and more all thrown into one.

Have a great week everybody!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Nintendo E3 2007 Media Briefing Part 2

If you haven't already read part 1 of my Nintendo E3 2007 Media Briefing recap then please click here and read it so I don't have to retype anything (sorry, I'm lazy). Go ahead, the rest of us will wait while you get caught up. ...... Done? Great, lets get to part 2!

In addition to the Wii Wheel, which we discussed in part 1 so I hope you weren't lying when you said you read it, Nintendo will also release two additional Wii controller accessories. The first, the Wii Zapper (working name), is a unique hand-held frame that allows you to attach both the Wii-Remote and Nunchuk to each other in a blaster housing. And just why would you want to do this you might ask? First-person shooter games of course! The Zapper will arrive this year packaged with a Nintendo developed game. My guess is the game will be something that recreates those crazy carnival games where you shoot water into a clown's mouth and a balloon inflates out of his head. Does anyone else find that creepy? Regardless of the Nintendo game, the Zapper will really shine on Capcom's new Resident Evil game, the Umbrella Chronicles. This shooter reveals the back story behind the fall of the Umbrella Corporation by exploring locations from previous Resident Evil titles plus never-before-seen locations, like Umbrella's stronghold. This is definitely not your father's zombie blasting game.

The other big news from yesterday's briefing is Wii Fit, a new game that will make going to the gym obsolete if Nintendo has their way. Fit comes with the Wii Wireless Balance Board (working name), a pressure sensitive board that looks like a large scale. You begin Fit by standing on the board and having some basic measurements taken and recorded. Don't worry, you won't have to endure seeing your weight displayed on your plasma because Fit measures and tracks your Body Mass Index (BMI). The game then offers more than 40 activities including aerobics, yoga, muscle stretches, and hula hooping plus sports, like soccer. The idea is to stay active while having fun and hopefully watch your BMI come down.

The Wii Zapper and Resident Evil: Umbrella Corporation are scheduled to be in stores in time for the holidays. No date was given for Wii Fit but it should be out some time in 2008.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Nintendo E3 2007 Media Briefing Part 1

First of all, I want to thank my friends at Nintendo for bringing today's E3 Media Briefing to New York. Today's briefing, which took place in Santa Monica on Day 1 of E3, was broadcast at Nintendo World in Rockefeller center for those of us who didn't bother to go couldn't make it to CA for this year's stripped-down expo.

A majority of the briefing was spent citing some incredibly impressive numbers that validate Nintendo's general awesomeness and dominance in the industry. I'm not going to bore you with numbers because lets face it, unless you are an accountant, numbers are boring. Instead, I'm going to get to the good stuff and by stuff, I mean new games!

Including downloadable Virtual Console titles, there are currently over 150 games available for the Wii. By the end of the year, that number will climb to roughly 350. I guess I lied about not talking about numbers. Some of those games were shown today along with additional titles due in 2008. This year we should see the release of Super Mario Galaxy (finally), which was originally shown at last year's E3 event. Galaxy looks amazing and takes the Mario franchise, originally launched with Super Mario 64, into an entirely new world. Players navigate Mario through a series of gravity-defying planets, challenges and power-ups in vivid detail.

Also due before the end of the year is Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This sequel to the number one selling game of all time on Nintendo's GameCube ups the ante with new characters, new moves and new arenas in this smash or be smashed brawling game.

One of the most highly anticipated games due next year from Nintendo is Mario Kart Wii (working title). The Wii edition of the popular and long running Mario Kart series, will allow players to challenge and race other players around the world through Nintendo's WiFi service. In order to keep the race fair and give both beginners and pros a chance to win, Mario Kart Wii will come with Nintendo's new wireless Wii Wheel, a steering wheel housing for the Wii-Remote that introduces new controls and challenges.

I've got oodles of more Nintendo goodness to share with you but not enough space to do it in one post. So, check back tomorrow for part 2 of my report from the Nintendo E3 2007 Media Briefing.

iNot So Sure

I finally had a chance to check out the iPhone in person. This guy standing next to me on the subway had one and was definitely enjoying showing it off. Fortunately, his obnoxious display gave me the chance to get a close look and my biggest fear for the iPhone was confirmed - finger smudges!

I hate finger smudges on anything shiny. From stainless steel kitchen appliances to windows to LCD screens, smudges drive me crazy! Now, I'm having second thoughts about the iPhone, which is a virtual smudge magnet. If Apple hasn't addresses the smudge bug by the time version 2.0 comes out, which is the earliest I would even consider buying one, I'll have to really go to work developing a genius solution.

Apparently, I'm not the only fuss-bucket who thinks smudges are evil. Somebody else actually created something to illustrate their insanity. Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Super Happy Terrific Products

It's no secret that I'm a fairly unreasonable germophobe. I'll consistently go out of my way to avoid touching anything with my hands that may have been touched already by the general public. While I haven't reached Howard Hughes levels of insanity yet (I gingerly touch a bathroom door handle to get out rather than wait for someone else to open the door from the outside) I have no doubt that this phobia will only get worse as I get older.

Which brings us to today's Super Happy Terrific Products - the Handler!



Apparently this little hook dohicky is strong enough to pull open a door, press a toilet handle, touch the buttons on an A.T.M., etc. The product description also includes some falderal about being infused with nano silver particles which effectively kill 98% of all single-celled organisms (bacteria, viruses and fungi) on contact. Whatever.

Its usually sold on Amazon for $10.95 but appears to be out of stock right now. I'll keep checking back and let you know as soon as they are available.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Back To Reality

Its been almost a week since my last post and what a week its been. For starters, last Tuesday was the blogger happy hour. I met up with the authors of some of my favorite blogs for drinks in the East Village and still have the bruises to prove it. Seriously, does anyone who was out that night know why my shin has a giant bruise on it? The following day was July 4th, which we celebrated over at Kelly and Adam's place. Adam managed to grill up some delicious food on the grill before the rain started and we all got sufficiently bombed by the time the fireworks began.

Seth and I took care of a lot of busy work around the apartment for most of the day on Thursday then Friday we rolled out to the theater for the Transformers movie. I have to admit I went into the movie expecting to be disappointed and boy howdy was I proven wrong. Transformers was insane! Sure, it had a fair amount of goofy bs and it seemed like an awful lot of time without anything transforming but all that was nothing compared to the fighting between the Autobots and Decipticons. After seeing the movie, Seth and decided to changes the names of our two cats to Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Later that night, Kitty came over for some Wii action and we played Mario Party then tested our brain size with Big Brain Academy. We left Brooklyn for the first time of our Independence holiday weekend on Saturday when we traveled into Manhattan and up to the Upper West side to hang out with friends Francisco and Jeff. Finally on Sunday we recuperated from our 4-day hangovers rested and relaxed before heading back to work today.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

The Countdown Has Begun

I've got so many things to look forward to in the immediate future that I can barely focus on typing this post. Maybe a little Focusyn would help.

For starters, there's the bloggers booze fest gathering this afternoon evening to look forward to. Aside from my own group of friends who I have been getting trashed with I have enjoyed the company of for many many years, my fellow bloggers drink like its their jobs.

Today also marks the opening of the Transformers movie! I have been salivating over this movie for as long as it was rumored to be in the works and my anticipation hit a new level when it was finally announced that production had begun. I have to be honest, I have a feeling that Michael Bay will rely on human characters that are so cliche and stereotypical that I'll route for their horrible deaths. But so what? I'm going to this movie for the Autobots and Decepticons.

Tomorrow is Independence day, which I'm fairly certain has something to do with freeballing it all day. With or without underpants, I'll be joining some friends and loved ones for a good old fashioned BBQ and hopefully illegal fireworks display.

Last but not least, as of 5:00 this afternoon, I've got a 5 day weekend to enjoy! My dreams of the workday/weekend reversal will come true if only for a week.

So I hope everyone else is as excited about the next few days as I am. I'll probably be too drunk busy to blog much over the next few days but you never know so check back.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Just In Time For Independence Day

Seth's latest NSFW podcast is now available for your listening enjoyment. Titled "American Dream," its another rebel rousing raunchy ride that roughly four minutes into the voyage features a cameo performance by Stephen Hawking singing War Pigs.

Check it out for yourself and let your freak flag fly at Seth In Brooklyn!

News Dump

From Monday's Curbed.com comes the following story:

The plague of human defecation spreading across Boerum Hill as of late has the neighborhood awash in crap and up in arms. Comes this morning to the Curbed inbox the first bona fide break in the case—a genuine crapper sighting!

Emails our tipster, "I just spent my morning cleaning poop off of my stoop. For the second time in two weeks I got pooped on. This time I saw her. I live on Dean St between Hoyt and Bond. 6:00am this morning my wife heard..... well peeing.... she woke me up and I went to the door. I live in the garden apartment so I looked up and saw butt—thus I yelled 'HEY MOVE YOUR ASS!!!!' This was the first time in my life that I literally meant it."

I'm sure Kelly whoever this is had a perfectly reasonable excuse.

How Was Everybody's Weekend

After the past three weeks of unusually busy days at work, I decided it was time to let loose and began my weekend Thursday during happy hour with Kelly and her friend, Daniella at Whiskey Ward on the lower East side. I only stayed for a few because I promised Seth that I would prepare dinner back at the apartment that night. I barely know how to to turn the kitchen's cooking things on so that meant stopping off at our favorite Chinese Mexican joint on the way home. Later that night, Kelly, Who stayed out drinking on the LES, stopped by our place on her way home and ended up staying until Friday evening. We had some more drunk than usual Wii-ing and eventually passed out on the floor in the living room.


Friday evening Seth, Kelly and I headed over to Kitty's place to meet up with Kitty, her husband, Cyndi, Monkey Daemon, Kitty's cousin and cousin's boyfriend. We then headed up to Prospect Park with our blankets, booze and a delicious assortment of cheeses and snacks for a Jazz concert. All though it looked like it might rain at any moment and we even felt a few occasional drops, the weather remained dry and turned into a beautiful night. We all headed back to Kitty's once the booze ran out after we had our fill of jazz for more drinks and plenty of Robotron.


Seth and I were up bright and early on Saturday eagerly anticipating what was supposed to be the highlight of our weekend - Morrissey at the Garden. We quickly found out Morrissey cancelled the show claiming that his throat was soar. Seth spent some time commiserating over the internets with other pissed off fans, when he happened upon our favorite quote of the day on some message board. One "fan" when discussing Morrissey's cancellation wrote "that fat old homo pulls this all the time"! We spent the rest of the day cursing that fat old homo and if the new date is scheduled for a night that we can't make it, that fat old homo will find himself on the receiving end of many angry blog posts here on pop-o-matic.

The rest of my weekend was relatively peaceful and relaxing but peppered with more Morrissey damnations. We even managed to rescue Saturday night by discovering a movie on Demand called 'Drive Through' about a killer clown/fast food mascot named Horny, who goes on a killing spree in the OC. I won't give too much away but let me tell you, I'll never look at a deep fry machine the same way again.

So, how was your weekend?