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Date-Based Archive Roosevelt Island Redux

So last Saturday I went with Matt and N. to check out Roosevelt Island, to see if it is a viable place to live or not. I determined a series of things which can only be explained through lists and charts.

I'll start with a list of things on the island:

1. Several clusters of luxury sky-rise apartments, and more being built every day.
2. A really nice park that extends around the perimeter of the island.
3. Several hospital compounds filled with elderly people, some of whom have chronic diseases, and a bunch of amputees of various ages.
4. One diner with so-so food.
5. Two or three churches
6. A library.
7. A couple of schools.
8. A wine store.
9. A very large Gristedes.
10. Some other small yet skanky looking places to buy food.
11. A thrift shop (which includes books).
12. Did I mention the old people?

The island isn't populated by just the decrepit. To be fair, it is a very diverse population ethnically, and there are a lot of families and yuppies when it comes to the age-breakdown. As Matt points out on his blog, there are crazy people, too. The island is 100% free of hipsters, that's for sure.

There are two ways to get the Roosevelt Island - one way is by taking the F train. The other way is by taking the tram, which does take MTA cards after all. Either way the commute is pretty short, and from the tram you can walk to the Lexington Avenue subway station, so most of the subways are covered.

As we walked around the perimeter of the island, it seemed like it might be nice to live there. But the next day I found myself kind of depressed. It was as if the somewhat depressing air of an island with a 100 years of convalescing patients kind of wore me down.

At any rate, I have to move in February or March or so. Well, I don't haaaaaave to. I could move any time next year, but I hear February is a good month for it since most people don't move then. I was thinking of either Roosevelt Island or Brooklyn - probably Park Slope. I'd like Matt to be our roommate again, too.

And therein lies the problem! Matt was not overly impressed with Roosevelt Island, but without a roommate, living there really isn't an option. The 1-bedrooms are too expensive for me and N. on our own. So without Matt (or some mystery roommate/s) we couldn't really live there. So we'd live in Brooklyn. I know that would please a few of you reading this, but then you couldn't visit my fabulous Roosevelt Island apartment to go swimming and have BBQs, could you?

Anyway I find this all very vexing, so I've made this chart:

Pros and Cons of Living on Roosevelt Island vs. Brooklyn

Stuff	Harlem (for comparison)	Brooklyn	Roosevelt Island
Elevator buildings	yes	no	yes
Dishwasher in the apt.	yes	no	yes
A freaking pool	no	no	yes!
Nice Views	yes	no	YES!!
depressing old people smell	no	no	yes.
TRAM!	no	no	yes
The commute	30 minutes	35 minutes?	30 minutes
Friends in the area	no	yes	no
24-hour delis	no	yes	no
Park to go jogging in	yes	maybe	yes!
Safe to walk around at night	no	maybe	yes
Bagels	no	yes!!	no
Amputies	no	some	a ton
Forbidden abandoned 1850's mad scientist laboratory	no	no	YES!!
All BBQ, all the time	no	no	yes!
Post office delivers to your doorman	yes	no	yes
Getting to the airport	annoying	annoying	annoying
Taxis want to take you there at night	usually	sometimes	almost never
Taxis pick you up from there	sometimes	no idea	probably not?
Tons of resturants , including sushi	no	yes!!	no

Posted by erin at 06:57 PM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive So it's come to this!

While taking one of those online quizzes I ran across the following question:

Do you know where your library card is?

So I created this poll.

I added a few more options to the end of it. Also, not stopping there, I created a 4-question Quizilla quiz.

Posted by erin at 05:19 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Dean Mom

While I was at Otakon and Maggie was having her bridal shower (note to Alison: how did we not find this page yesterday? The answer is 5pm) my mom got promoted. Big time! My mom is now a Dean at Jackson Community College. She's Dean of Foundation Studies. This is awesome news!

I knew my mom would become a Dean eventually, but I thought it might take a few more years. But now that she is a Dean, I think that President of the college should totally be her next career goal.

I hope my mom's new job comes with a great big fat pay raise, although who knows! Let us all remember the four meaningful factors that determine a wage, as taken from Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner:

1. How many people are willing to do the job
2. The specialized skills a job requires
3. The unpleasantness of a job
4. The demand for services that a job fulfills

Like consider my job. Lots of people are willing to work in animation, but few want to work on the production itself so much as say, the storyboards. There's some specialization, and sometimes long hours are required, but it's not horribly unpleasant. However, the demand for American cartoons isn't huge. It's not like the demand for hamburgers. So my job pays alright, but it certainly isn't investment banking.

I don't know how all this applies to Deans.

Also on a sidenote, remember that "Little Einsteins" show I worked on for like a month last year? The DVD with my name in the credits is now on sale. Although I'd only recommend it for preschoolers and stoned Teletubbies fans.

P.S.
Read Freakonomics, it's awesome.

Posted by erin at 07:13 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Otakon 2005

Another successful Otakon!

I spent most of my time in Artist Alley this year, but I can only really say that I maybe broke even on my selling of 500 pins, you know, that the pins maybe paid for the table and my admission to the con, and my food for the weekend, my transporation, and a really cool hat (pictured below). Stella suggested that maybe me and Alison should get our own button machine. It's not a terrible idea, but if I plan to go to Korea in October, that kind of purchase will have to wait.

More Pictures

I got to meet other podcasters! Hooray!

Posted by erin at 06:42 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive To a foreign person.

From Usagi-Chang records:

for a foreigner:
The mail order to the overseas visitor is not performing.
You purchase at amazon or HMV online shop.

I found the above while looking up info on my new favorite band, MacDonald Duck Eclair. They kind of suck.

Wonder what Anime Expo looked like, in documentary form, with fanservice? There's a sample video in the upper right-hand corner here.

This McSweeney's article is extremely funny and everyone should read it.

This poetry quiz went pretty well, yielding the following results:

I am heroic couplets; most precise And fond of order. Planned and structured. Nice. I know, of course, just what I want; I know, As well, what I will do to make it so. This doesn't mean that I attempt to shun Excitement, entertainment, pleasure, fun; But they must keep their place, like all the rest; They might be good, but ordered life is best. What Poetry Form Are You?

If they told you I'm mad, then they lied. I'm odd, but it isn't compulsive. I'm the triolet, bursting with pride; If they told you I'm mad, then they lied. No, it isn't obsessive. Now hide All the spoons or I might get convulsive. If they told you I'm mad then they lied. I'm odd, but it isn't compulsive. What Poetry Form Are You?

ZOMFG only 3 days until OtakoN!!!!!11

Posted by erin at 05:38 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Link of the Daaaaaay!!

Alright, this is my attempt at making an icon that is a fake Harry Potter spoiler like these it also mocks me, but goddamnit, I just couldn't figure out what font that was, so I used this Neverwinter font from here. And on this site you can read about how different fonts would behave at a party.

This video of Japanese nerds of the 1980's is certainly worth reposting. Supposedly:

To understand this clip you need to have watched Gundam Movie 2 "Soldiers of Sorrow" or Gundam TV Episode #24 "Black Tri-Stars". Specifically you need to have seen the Jet Stream Attack/Matilda's death scene.

And for my own later reference, here is where Bamboo Dong of Shelf Life provides a nifty side-by-side comparison of Freddy from Cromartie High and his namesake.

Posted by erin at 07:25 PM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive Yes, It's Laser Chess

On my recent trip to Michigan I mentioned the demo of a laser chess game I saw at Toy Fair to my brother's gamer friends. They flipped out, because it was so goddamn exciting. Alright, it is pretty neat. I'm surprised I was able to find the information sheet on it at home, which contains the name of the game - Deflexion. It is not yet for sale, but they do have a mailing list.

Posted by erin at 07:08 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Quizzing My Friends - Test Answers Revealed

Well, a lot of you took my quiz at that quiz-your-friends page, and I have to say I'm very disappointed in you, class! Only that kiss-ass N. got a passing score, and most of you did worse that a 50%.

To be fair, there were a lot of trick questions and purposefully obfuscation answers. I will go over the CORRECT choices now, in order to clear things up for you all.

1) What is my current drink of choice?

CORRECT ---> a) Black and Tan - made from Guiness and I don't know what that other beer is, this is my default drink order at bars nowaways and has been for several years now. I can't get it in Michigan because they don't have Guiness on tap, ever, despite the large Irish population.

b) White Russian - in 1998 - the year of The Big Lebowski, I started drinking these as a reference to the film. I gave it up by 2001.

c) Amstel Light - I have been known to order Amstel Light at bars and sometimes have some in the house. This is my kind of "I'm on a diet and shouldn't be drinking," beer, or sometimes the "I don't know you well enough to stay at your birthday party more than an hour" beer.

d) Gin and Tonic - this is N.'s favorite drink, and also Troy's. If you guessed this, I'm very disappointed in you.

2) Which of the following organizations was I NEVER a member of?

a) National Honor Association - N. correctly points out that I should have said "Society" instead of "Association". What a teacher's pet, correcting the test questions! Anyway, my misnomer fooled no one, since no one picked this.

CORRECT---> b) Odyssey of the Mind - I was never asked to join Odyssey of the Mind until 6th grade, when I complained loudly that I'd never been asked to join OM. Then my teacher asked and I declined.

c) The Association of Independent Video an Filmmakers - I can't believe no one guessed this. I've only been an AIVF member for a year and I only joined it in a half-assed attempt to find reasonably priced health coverage. I never talk about it.

d) Phi Theta Kappa - almost EVERYONE guessed this, and you're all wrong, suckers! Although Phi Theta Kappa is a national fraternity, which I couldn't join, being a girl and all, the other Phi Theta Kappa is a national honor association for junior colleges. I was briefly a member when I went to JCC. I only really expected that other JCC attendees would get this one correct, and even then, only people who were other members. In any case, it's so obvious that I wouldn't have joined a frat that all y'all should've figured out that this was somehow a trick answer.

3) Which Harry Potter book is my favorite?

a) The Philosoper's Stone - My second favorite, and in my opinion, still the best book of the series in terms of quality.

b) The Half Blood Prince - I finished reading it a week ago so spoil me all you want.

c) The Prisoner of Azkaban - Everyone guessed this and you're WRONG WRONG WRONG!! This was my LEAST favorite book of the series, although my favorite MOVIE of the series so far. I really hated this book. I was sick of their little Scooby Gang solving 40-year-old mysteries about Harry's dead dad. Lame-ass!

CORRECT --> d) The Goblet of Fire - For me, Goblet of Fire really expands on the larger Wizarding world and turns the series into more of a cult book. I'm one of the few people who really actually loved the Quidditch World Cup. I did forget the ending of the book, but that's not as bad as forgetting everything from book 5. Pretty much only Johan guessed this choice correctly, proving his short-term memory is in tact. (Also I didn't realize he reads my blog. Hi, Johan!)

4) Which is my favorite Miyazaki movie?

CORRECT --> a) My Neighbor Totoro - I have always said, over and over again, that this is my favorite one and Miyazaki's best. It always tops my top five Miyazaki lists, but all you suckers got this wrong, with a few exceptions.

b) Castle Cagliostro - Probably my fourth favorite Miyazaki film.

c) Nausicaa - everyone guessed this (except N.) and you're all wrong! I do love Nausicaa, and I did dress like her, but seriously, this movie has it's flaws and I recognize that. The comic is excellent, but I asked specifically about movies here. Do I have to dress like a giant Totoro to prove to you all my undying love for Totoro? Apparently actions speak louder than words.

d) Castle in the Sky (Laputa) - my second favorite. I'd recommend this to anyone, ever, of any age.

5) Which of the following anime conventions have I attended?

a) A-Kon - A-Kon is in Texas, and I've never been to Texas. N.'s been to this con, but I haven't. We were thinking of maybe going next year.

b) Katsucon - Katsucon is in Washington D.C., and I've never been there except to change flights. I have not been to Katsucon.

CORRECT --> c) Yuricon - Yuricon was held in Newark in 2003 - and you might remember me complaining about Newark and cannibalism and long-time readers of my blog might remember me making a chart comparing Yuricon to other conventions.

d) All of the above - almost everyone picked this and you're all Wrong times one million. I resent the fact that some of you probably think I've been to every anime convention in the country! Do you know how many anime cons there are in the U.S.?! Hundreds! Look at this site! I'm never going to attend freaking AnimeIowa! Would you guess that I'd been to that one?

6) Which of the following countries have I NEVER visited?

CORRECT --> a) Spain - I'm kind of surprised that so many of you got this one right. It's not what I'd have guessed if I didn't know me very well.

b) Australia - Johan is the only person who picked this, which is surprising, since he went to Australia earlier this year himself and seems to have conveniently forgotten my amusing anecdotes about my 1993 trip to Australia.

c) Switzerland - I was there in 1996. Great chocolate, crappy food, everyone is in the military and an extra-value meal at McDonalds there cost $10 American. WTF? There's no value there.

d) Germany - Also 1996. Good food.

7) When I started dating N., which of the following criteria was MOST important in finding a new boyfriend:

a) He likes anime. - Pretty much only Eugene picked this, which is shocking, since I've talked to Eugene about Doctor Who. Perhaps it's just cause you didn't know me when I was a Simpsons fanatic, and we haven't had long talks about Dr. Who.

b) He can quote the Simpsons. (Only seasons 3-6 must be memorized.)

c) He loves Doctor Who.

CORRECT --> d) All of the above in combination. - I'm surprised how many of you got this right. Almost everyone correctly got this answer. Do I really go around saying this all the time? Is my Doctor Who fandom so obvious? Or do you all just really like "all of the above" answers, despite striking out on question #5 using the same tactics?

8) Which of the following films is NOT on my top ten all-time-favoritemovies-ever list?

a) Annie Hall
b) Clerks
CORRECT ---> c) Spirited Away
d) Return of the Jedi

I guess this last question was a little unfair because I didn't really lay down my criteria for my "All Time Top Ten Favorite Movies" list. The criteria are as follows:

A) The movie must be at least 10 years old.
B) I must have watched the movie many, many times.

As such, my top ten movies are thuswise:

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Star Wars; A New Hope
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
7. Annie Hall
8. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
9. Clerks
10. Back to the Future

There's no anime on this list, which might surprise you, but when it comes to anime movies, I haven't watched enough of them multiple times. Certainly not enough to compete with other films on this list, many of which had a really big impact on my life! (In terms of Annie Hall, I learned other people had felt that way about break-ups, in terms of Clerks, I learned that people could really make movies like that, about people like that, and it really shaped my idea of film school prior to enrolling in NYU, and in terms of the Holy Grail, it redefined my sense of humor.)

Clerks could only make the list recently, since it had a 1994 release. It looks like they're making a sequel?!

Here's the final scoreboard from the quiz:

1	Froglar the f'in Bear	(N.)	75
2	charlotte	(mom, who cheated somewhat)	63
3	magnetgrrl	(high school friend)	50
4	maggie	(good at guessing)	50
5	Matt	(my brother)	50
6	lug	(from work)	38
7	eliza420	(had that JCC advantage)	38
8	roos b		25
9	Stevo		25
10	someguy	(surprised he reads this blog!)	25
11	Sam		25
12	other other carrie		25
13	jen	(my best friend for 8 years!!)	25
14	miss malora ann		25
15	s l o b a s s		25
16	Agnieszka		25
17	mightyplatypus		25
18	Rick		25
19	johan	(you'd think my roommate might know me better)	25
20	kickinthehead		13
21	Ali	(for shame!!)	13
22	darkling1		13
23	Jake		13
24	ET		13

Posted by erin at 03:38 PM | Comments (4)

Date-Based Archive Oh-ho! This should be amusing!

I want all my friends to compete for my favor:

Take my Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com!

Remember, the answer is "Shoot the hostage".

Posted by erin at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Ouch! My everything!

In case you haven't met me, I'm one pale-ass-mutherfucker. I'm serious. My skin is translucent. To paraphrase a Conan O'Brian routine, my genes dictate that I ought to be living in an overcast swamp somewhere in Ireland.

When I was on the high school track team, the other girls would sit around comparing their tan lines and me and my pale friend would brag about our "anti-tans". We claimed to spend time in black-light booths instead of tanning beds.

Last summer on that video game recording session I noticed one of the voice actors looked really pale and kind of sickly. Later he admitted to playing Halo and bragged about his national rank in the game. He wasn't ill, he was just another freaking nerd, like myself, who never goes out in the sun and probably stays up way too much every night, doing geek stuff, like say, practicing for Halo tournaments.

Nearly all caucasian nerds are pale. Goths, which are a kind of branch of the nerd/dork family, purposefully paint their faces paler - probably as an attempt to make themselves fit in less with ordinary society.

Frankly, I don't see when ordinary people manage to obtain their skintones. In Michigan people would actually go to tanning establishments, but in NYC that is seen as way uncool (as far as I can tell). Now, that might be because there are actual beaches near the city. I can verify this, as in the five years that I've lived here I've been to Coney Island once.

When I have a free Saturday in the summer, my first thought is not to rush to the beach. In fact, it's usually like, "Maybe I'll take a break from watching anime in order to go jogging in the park." Maybe. When I was playing D&D most Saturdays, any time outside was out of the question.

In fact most geek pursuits are indoors. I hated being told to "go outside and play" as a kid, because all of my really good toys were indoors, and I didn't want to get dirt all over my Star Wars action figures and My Little Ponies. In reality, there was a lot of outdoors to play in, and I should've appreciated it more, but as a kid what I really wanted was more rollerskate-friendly pavement and a few thousand fewer mosquitoes. Nowadays my main complaint about the out-of-doors is that I can't quite see my laptop screen in bright sunlight, and there is no guarantee of free wireless service outside.

Once in a blue moon I am struck with the absurd notion that I should attempt to get a tan. In junior high my paleness was much ridiculed, so I bought fake tanning cream that promptly turned my legs orange. (Which also brought ridicule.) Occasionally, in high school and perhaps even early in college, the notion has struck me that I had ought to sit out in the sun, and at the very least, get some reading done. I can remember doing this at least 5 times in 8 years. I guess that's not enough to maintain a really killer tan.

Recently I bought some fake-tan stuff, thinking that fake-tan-stuff technology must've improved in the decade since I last used it. I slapped some on for Anime Expo, since I'd be going around in such a short skirt for my costume. The tan-stuff was somewhat successful it took away that incandescent glow my skin usually has and made it more opaque in appearance. But my hands and feet got covered with weird splotches which looked kind of like skin disease. So yesterday, I decided to go out to the park and lay in the sun, using SPF 4.

I would like to say "with some success" at this point. A lifetime of farmer's tans meant that my forearms baked quite nicely - but the rest of me? Well... not so good. Let us all recall the Monty Python "Travel Agency" skit:

"...and sitting in their cotton frocks squirting Timothy White's suncream all over their puffy raw swollen purulent flesh 'cos they 'overdid it on the first day.' "

I couldn't quite reach all the way down my back, to the top of the tanktop I was wearing, and the tag of said shirt was flipped up, leaving a very humorous sunburn line across my back. This doesn't top my dad's legendary story, however, of going on a fishing trip and hitting the back of his neck with one hand and then not rubbing it in at all, which consequently left him sunburned with one white handprint on his back. (Like the mark of Sauroman!)

I put plenty of sunscreen on my legs, but I guess it's possible I rubbed it off or sweated it out, because my knees are certainly hurting, particularly on the back.

This is like nature's gentle reminder that I was not meant to be "put in direct sunlight". I'm not looking forward to the peeling. I was also pleasantly surprised to find only one bottle of generic Aloe Vera at our local CVS, due to us living in a colorful ethnic neighborhood, where certain haircare products get an entire aisle, and nobody is sunburnt except me. Let's face it, no one's whiter than me.

Posted by erin at 07:15 PM | Comments (0)