Journal To The Center of McGuirk

altonmcmillan @ 2007-09-16T23:49:00

2007-09-17T04:01:21Z

Found the Alice In Chains "Unplugged" show while flipping through channels tonight. I happened to come in during the worst three songs on the show (the last three) though, which was less satisfying than I'd thought. Strange to see it on VH-1 Classic as a mid-90s relic, since I remember it being new.

Also, I have a full-time job copy editing with the same paper I interviewed with a while back. I may actually be able to stop back in town for a couple days sometime in the coming months as a result.

The Bengals' disaster today was extensive enough that changing the sheets won't do the trick for them tonight; they'll need to hit a furniture store and get a whole new mattress and frame, since that smell's not coming out anytime soon. The NFL was dead to me for a few hours afterwards.

altonmcmillan @ 2007-09-10T19:01:00

2007-09-10T23:03:35Z

I thought I was losing interest in football this weekend when I didn't really care all that much about opening weekend.

Then the pregame for tonight's game started and all was right again.

altonmcmillan @ 2007-08-23T22:20:00

2007-08-24T02:21:10Z

Superclassico (Chivas/Galaxy) and Yuengling... Hard to argue with that Thursday night.

altonmcmillan @ 2007-07-18T21:45:00

2007-07-19T01:48:29Z

The news feed is down.

[RIP airrore.livejournal.com/friends]

altonmcmillan @ 2007-07-10T10:58:00

2007-07-10T15:22:38Z

Thought I posted this before, but I guess I didn't...

If anyone wants to hit the beaches this year for cheaper than usual, me and sara are still paying rent on the place we were renting in Lewes.

The place has a full kitchen and working gas grill, so you'd be able to buy food and eat/make it there—saving you the cost of eating out— and is literally a five minute car ride to the beach.

Visitors could be there as late as August 9/10 (Friday) (we have the place until Aug 14, and would need to take care of everything else in the place over that weekend so we get our deposit back), though we'd have to work out a time in relation to other visitors' schedules (sara's family is going down for a week, either late in July or early in august.

We're fine if you want to come down for just a couple days or for a whole week (again, so long as it doesn't conflict with her parents' time there), since any money we get for the place is an aide to our finances :D.

If you're interested, give me a call or leave me a note on here.

altonmcmillan @ 2007-06-06T21:43:00

2007-06-07T02:53:52Z

There are many new things to discuss.

I have a new favorite TV show: Tyler Perry's "House of Payne." It's a throwback to those old sitcoms where people all say things at the same time, nothing really happens and running jokes include going back to one's home, morbid obesity and badly delivered dialogue.

Tyler Perry— if you didn't already know— is the voice of a generation that gave the world "Madea's Family Reunion," "Madea Goes to Jail," "Tyler Perry Presents Madea," and 17 other Madea-related comedies in 2005-2006. It looks like the sitcom may distract Perry from producing more movies and plays this year, but don't fear: If all goes well with the TBS sitcom, video games "Madea's Hand-to-Hand Combat," "Tyler Perry's 'After Dark'" and "Madea's Halo 4" can't be too far behind.

I also have a new home in Westminster, Md., which is about 30 minutes northwest of Baltimore. Sara got a job there that pays better and *probably* won't be as unpleasant as her old one and since the cost of living here for one person is prohibitive, I'm heading there, too. D.C. is a ways away— over an hour by car, roughly— but there are a series of trains we can take to get there from a town about 15 minutes away, so there's that.

Luckily, I also have a job interview with a new (see how that works?) paper Friday, so with a little luck I'll avoid a period of too much unemployment.

Indoor Winter Pt.1

2007-01-26T12:33:40Z

We woke up around 6:15 this morning to find that every time we moved the covers, a gust of frigid air blew up the bed at us.

A check of the thermostat revealed 50 degrees, well below the 64º that we set it for.

A trip out to the gas tank showed over 1/8th of a tank (out of 200 gallons) remaining and a liquid reflection to a flashlight flare.

On the coldest winter night in Delaware for the 2006-07 season, our furnace shut down.

The landlord's on his way from D.C. to look at it; he should be here by 10:30-11 a.m.

On the plus side...

Adult Snow Day!

altonmcmillan @ 2006-11-02T15:16:00

2006-11-02T19:16:33Z

Finally tracked down a reporting job round here, and wouldn't you know it- sports reporting.

Half of the time, anyway... The other half of the time I'll be doing layout and/or copy editing, but I'm quite happy to do that as well.

Now, to figure out what the hell is happening in field hockey games...

altonmcmillan @ 2006-09-07T07:31:00

2006-09-07T11:37:44Z

It's a Tom Petty kinda day, and those come around about as often as Collective Soul days.

Waiting to hear back for a graphic design job I interviewed for on Tuesday. Interview went realy well, feel like I've got an almost assured second interview but won't know until I actually get called for it.

Have another interview today at 4pm. With a little luck, I'll have to choose between two things I'd like or don't mind doing.

Sara's car died, so she took Carlemagne today. Waiting around the apartment for her to get home so I can head out for the interview.

Still, it's a nice morning here in Delaware. And I have all morning to just relax. Overall, preh good sorta day.

altonmcmillan @ 2006-08-31T19:14:00

2006-08-31T23:15:53Z

Ernesto's pointing a stern figure at Delaware.

Immediately after I finally make it to a beach. Damn.

altonmcmillan @ 2006-08-16T23:14:00

2006-08-17T03:16:19Z

The good news for Browns fans is that the team is finally trying to emulate their more successful siblings downstate. The bad news is that it's only happening off the field.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/football/nfl/specials/preview/2006/08/16/bc.fbn.browns.centermes.ap/index.html?section=si_nfl

altonmcmillan @ 2006-08-05T02:31:00

2006-08-05T06:32:20Z

The Descent may be the scariest movie I've ever seen.

Seriously.

altonmcmillan @ 2006-07-30T13:30:00

2006-07-30T17:31:44Z

Moving to the beach (Bethany Beach, Delaware) in a couple weeks. We're fairly likely to have parents and college friends as visitors shortly after, but if anyone from home wants to head out, there's probably a weekend or two free (depending on when we get there).

*Update*

Looking at a place tomorrow within a bike ride of Cape Henlopen State Park, meaning the beach will be within a handful of minutes away anytime. rockin'.

A Saturday of Horra'

2006-07-16T06:11:36Z

Just watched The Changeling (1980), and had one (well, several) question afterwards:

Did Ringu borrow some of its ideas from this movie?

There are some striking similarities to it, and while it shares even more in common with the American remake (down to the Seatlle locale), it bears mentioning that a few key plot points were similar/the same.

No, there's no video tape and there IS one George C. Scott. But still.

It has some of the 70s/80s-style synapse failures (people staying/going to places they have no business being, exploring dark and haunted places almost exclusively at night etc.), but it's still worth checking out.

Good building of mood and tension, and the payoff at the end of the movie doesn't kill the whole thing. Sometimes, that's all you can realisitically ask for from a horror/suspense movie.

altonmcmillan @ 2006-07-13T15:40:00

2006-07-13T19:42:49Z

I officially have a master's in journalism now.

I am also a master of unemployment.

One out of two isn't bad, right?

Roswell That Ends Well

2006-06-21T00:48:50Z

I have an interview sometime this week for the Roswell Daily Record's Sports Editor opening. (Yes, that Roswell.)

If I get it, I might be on the road as soon as next weekend.

That is all.

altonmcmillan @ 2006-06-18T22:28:00

2006-06-19T02:36:26Z

From Sara's friend Tim, regarding Brazilian striker Ronaldo:

"Let's make Ronaldo a verb, you know, like "You totally Ronaldoed that pie!"

Paradox, maybe?

2006-06-13T02:32:06Z

Something odd was pointed out to me earlier after we finished watching the American version of Dark Water. I often go to or rent horror movies and have often expressed how much I enjoy them. However, of my 100+ movies, only one is actually a horror movie.

Speaking of which, last night Ju-On was on Sundance's Asian Extreme cinema. While it did not include countless Japanese and Americans poking their heads into attics as in the remake, it was just as lifeless and erratic.
(Japanese horror movies, at least from my perspective, are often long on ideas and short on mood/execution.)

Looking for work anywhere/everywhere; may be something surfacing in Md. or New Mexico, but that's all speculation, really.

Now in a new apartment and trying to put together a big-ass kickball game some weekend, should the lot of us have time any time between now and June 30th, when most people are leaving anyway.

altonmcmillan @ 2006-05-28T11:53:00

2006-05-28T15:54:00Z

One Sunday afternoon, Three Indiana Jones movies.

altonmcmillan @ 2006-03-20T01:32:00

2006-03-20T06:57:56Z

Hello from the Tundra once again...

We just had 10'' of snow dropped on us thanks to the fabled Lake Effect.

This, after returning from Austin, TX (SXSW for Spring Break, muthas)... Needless to say, it was quite a shock to our systems.

Crazy fun though. Austin is a surprisingly nice city; my impression was Texas= sketchy going in, but Austin is very well formed, and has some nice green spaces, not to mention shit-tons of live music venues. For a comparison, think Columbus' High Street, except that pretty much all were live music.

Plus, the food was cheap AND delicious. In all, I was very happy with my time in the city, and now have another location I'd hapily move to in the future.

Now, South By Southwest...

Busy. That's the easiest way to put it. Busy.

You'll hear about the corporate or lessened quality from past years, but it was still tons of fun, and even without the badge/wristbands that aided attending shows, we were still able to catch the Flaming Lips' secret Wednesday show (the couple new ones they did were pretty cool, for the record... Especially the Cow/Duck Jam, which featured Wayne on a Circuit-Bent child's sounds keyboard. Hillarious.), and ended up seeing them soundcheck AND standing about 8 feet from the stage once the show got going. The passes would have been useful for catching them the next night in a smaller place w/ Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, but since I was actually working that night and doing interviews for a story, I wasn't soo disappointed.

The people were all pretty cool, too. Or at least the Austinians (Austinites?) were; the crowd was a bit hipster-y, but that comes with the territory.

Also saw Wayne's nephew in his band, Star Death and White Dwarfs. They looked young (Aaron, the lead singer looked like Derek before the haircut), and they should be good; the good of their debut CD outweighs the usual missteps that you'll have.

Friday was a trip, though. As we entered the airport, Mike Ivins (Flaimng Lips bassist and exuder of all things cool) came in behind us. It was as if out of a movie; I saw him out of the corner of my eye, turned to see if it was who I thought it was, and then whipped back forward to not stare.

As if that weren't oddly timed enough, he was also behind us in line at the Delta counter. And waiting for a flight at the next gate over from us.

I had a cunning plan to start up a casual conversation with him. Sara said it was dumb, and that he would see through it instantly, so I eventually just wandered over and told him in my usual awkard way that I enjoyed the show.

He, of course, exuded cool, and said thank you, and my conversation with a Flaming Lip was over.

(Quite frankly, I was just happy I wasn't wearing my shirt from their '03 tour...)

There's probably a few photos from the show/the festival, but I don't really feel like getting the camera from Sara, so you don't get to see them.

Managed to get out and see "The Hills Have Eyes", which is about what you'd expect out of it. Call it the Texas Chainsaw/Death Wish fusion; genetically mutated A-Bomb victims in New Mexico ambush three generations of family, including a well-meaning, gun-hating jewish liberal (seriously, he even wears a Star of David necklace), who eventually snaps, killing freaks with extreme pleasure in hacking them as badly as he can. If ever a film wanted to beat you over the head with the gruesome nature of man (or a charred human leg, perhaps pried off of the police chief from 'Monk' for that matter), it's this one. There's a little that's well done, but not the bulk of it.

As for class, it's been busy as shit. Spring break was great for a rest, but now I've got a 6 week marathon, complete with the eventual collapse and vomiting that always follow around marathon runners. I just don't get the appeal...

Obligatory...

2006-02-06T03:17:56Z

Congratulations to the Steelers for taking the title previously held by the Patriots.

No, not the Lombardi trophy... The Steelers passed the 2001 Pats' record for Most Undeserving Champion in league history.

Anyone think Joey Porter is going to be calling this one a conspiracy? At least the Colts game was limited to one blatantly poor call...

[bah]

....

Now that I've got that out, not much of a Super Bowl, was it? It was mistake-riddled like a mid-season game, poor officiating aside. Something about NFC teams... not so good w/ clock management.

Roofs 2, Al 0

2006-01-25T16:42:47Z

Well, I'm an idiot.

As it turns out, the ground is very hard this time of year, and I did not slide myself far enough off the roof before dropping to the ground. End result: Al is now 1.) hobbled with a severe ankle sprain, and 2.) medicated and bed-ridden for the time being.

The first real day of winter in town

2006-01-17T14:33:49Z

9 a.m., on University Ave., from over my shoulder

Girl: Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Ah, The first cold-based scream of the year. When the wind gusts up the hill on University, there's no mistaking it.

The funny thing is, today isn't as bad as it has been...

Winter in Syracuse: Catch the fever... so you don't have to go outside.

9:30 in La Taza, sucking down the first coffee of the day. This may be a long winter.

altonmcmillan @ 2006-01-07T20:05:00

2006-01-08T01:10:34Z

Tomorrow, there will be a self-trashing look at my NFL picks. For real this time.

Back in Syracuse now, relaxing with the Pats/Jags game on tv, a order of wings on the way, and two rabbits in the corner. Ghost is still very intrigued.

The new roommate seems to be an instant improvement. She's much more laid-back, and also likes the apt. temperature above 60.

Also, it seems Robbb left more stuff here than I'd expected, so I'm much less stressed in general. Whoo hoo.

Oh yeah... The trip thing. It will come. All days have been accounted for, it's just an improvement/humor attempts process now.

altonmcmillan @ 2006-01-03T19:48:00

2006-01-04T00:48:08Z

This sitcom is starting to circle the drain... I suppose it had a good run though.