Building yesterday’s tomorrow, today. Since 1998.
Do yourself a favor and don’t get whatever allergy/flu/plague/Martian death curse that’s had me feeling like I’ve been feeling for the last 48 hours. It’s really not worth it.
Also, it’s official; I’m the worst person ever at being sick.
It’s an alternate history novel where the technology for Guitar Hero and Rock Band falls through a time warp into the early 60s. It takes the reader through a 60s and 70s where Hendrix, Reed, Page, Townshend, etc. never make music, because they spent their formative years learning how to press buttons in time with the Dave Clark Five and Gerry and the Pacemakers.
No stealing my idea.
From the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, which is spotlighting international and ethnic festivals. What a cool idea. I guess I live in little Uruguay now.
If you were giving some visitors from Neptune a tour of the planet and wanted to show them 5-10 attractions/landmarks/places of interest that really sum up the coolest things about Earth, where would you take them? (They’re paying for all the travel, which isn’t a big deal, since the Neptunian dollar is trading really well right now.)
UPDATE: 5-10 is a suggested number. If you only want to take them to Lake Tahoe, The Summer Shack and a round of putt-putt, you will not be deducted points for not reaching the minimum.
"You love this town / Even if that doesn’t ring true / You’ve been all over it / And it’s been all over you" – U2, "Beautiful Day"
Project 351 is on hold because I no longer have a car. The 100 Movies Project is on hold because I suck at finishing things I start. What I needed was a ridiculously ambitious, but short-term project that wouldn’t drag on for years. And I just recently reread Tunnel Vision by Keith Lowe, a novel about a guy who goes through every London Tube station in a day to win a bet. Want to guess where this is going?
And so that’s why I spent Friday making my way through every stop on the MBTA. From Wonderland to Mattapan to Riverside to Alewife and everything in between. In one day. In a little more than 12 hours, to be exact.
I didn’t have as many adventures as Andy did in the Lowe novel. I did manage to avoid the big delay of the day, which is rare enough on its own. I did catch some kids trying to remember the name of the song about the T, that they remembered was loosely based on the tale of the Flying Dutchman (it would have been epic if they were sitting under a CharlieCard sign at the time). I figured out where exactly Dudley Square is. And I was lucky enough to see Louie the Tricycle Guy out near Heath Street.
The only part of the system I wound up skipping was the SL2 to the waterfront. Because, let’s face it, it’s a bus (though I did the Airport section and the Washington Street Silver Line; nobody’s ever accused me of sparkling consistency). I got a shot of the interior or the exterior or the general vicinity of each stop. Except for one. The first person to figure out which one I missed (and leave your answer in the comments) will get the original copy of my checklist I lugged all over town, autographed by me.
I’ll be posting a fairly detailed map (hand-drawn, of course) once it’s already been revealed where I screwed up.
There’s discussion every so often that the law should require convicted drunk drivers to carry special license plates on their cars. The idea is that the general public can be aware that there’s a dangerous screwup in their midst and can take appropriate precautions.
In a similar vein, everyone who was affiliated with the Republican Party in 2008 should be required to provide a disclaimer to the effect that they were responsible for the delusion that Sarah Palin was qualified to be Vice President of the United States.
I’d feel safer knowing those dangerous screwups could be identified at a distance.
As a big loser in today’s “Where Will the MBTA’s Daily Crippling Signal/Switching Problems Occur” derby (Copley!), I’d like to thank the train operator for at least trying to keep us updated, though I will point out that telling us that “MBTA officials are on the scene” is approximately as comforting as being told “a family of badgers is on the scene; we should be moving momentarily”. I love this city so much.
The BunkoSquad elves have been paid off, the strike is over, everything is cool again. Now to see what’s been going on for the last month. Any suggestions?
Probably the most famous person ever to come out of Northborough died yesterday. I don’t remember seeing him pitch, unfortunately; his all-too-brief career was just about the time I was learning to differentiate Tigers from Pirates from Phillies on my baseball cards.
But sometime in the late 80s, during one of my daily hours-long tennis-ball-hucking-against-the-chimney sessions, I was in a groove, practicing my pitching from the stance and my fielding all at the same time, when I noticed Mark’s truck parked across the street, presumably to do some landscaping or concrete pouring either at Mrs. McAllister’s or that mystery mansion up the hill. I threw a little harder, fielded a little flashier, hoping that maybe Northborough’s only pro ballplayer ever would take notice, take interest, and forward my contact information to the Tigers. It didn’t work. Oh well.
Reading the comments in some of the Detroit memorial articles is pretty amazing. We’ll miss ya, Bird.
Obama’s really going to slightly open relations and dealings with Cuba?
Is that really a good idea? I’m no expert, but is seems to me that the sanctions and the embargo were only 25 or 30 years away from starting to show some signs of working.
The personal website of Michael, the 2006 Time Magazine Person of the Year. If there's nothing new here, check out my stuff on Bostonist, where I write the daily Sports Redux five times a week.
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