The Crying Game ...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

A Print-ad of the Past ...

Some Pictures ...

Just a couple of pictures from walking around the city this past Saturday.

Up up and away ...
The Comcast Center.

Reflections ...
The Comcast Center
The Bell Atlantic Tower
Liberty One















The Comcast Center Plaza ...
Designed by the same team who created the fountain pool infront of the Bellagio in Vegas.






















C-Rex ...
I have mentioned my cat, C-Rex and his "love affair" with a stuffed rat many times. The rat was given to me/him by a long-time friend (who is apparantly no longer allowed to speak to me). C-Rex carries this rodent around the house and often props it up next to his food dish while he eats.

This Fall on FOX ...

Ed. note: The following post is scripted as a commercial. And, if you're offended in any way, please get over it. Thank you.

(fade-in: quick clips of raging fires, wars, hurricanes, George W. Bush, Wall Street, Famine, etc. Menacing music playing softly...)

Announcer (voice-over):

In a world gone wrong.
In a time with little hope.
Where do we go?
And to whom do we turn?

(Cut to the FOX logo with "Coming this fall" scrolled beneith...)

Announcer (voice-over):

Coming this fall to FOX...

(Cut to an aerial shot of a Malibu mansion on the side of a hill. Music changes from menacing to slightly more light-hearted...)

Announcer (voice-over):

In a Malibu mansion...

(Cut to a shot of a long white stretch limo driving up a winding driveway towards the camera...)

Announcer (voice-over):

One man will hold the answers

(Cut to close-up of rear door of limo being opened up by a driver. A sandled foot steps out onto the gravel driveway...)

Announcer (voice-over):

One man will change the world...

(Camera pans from sandled feet standing on driveway upwards, slowly revealing a white flowing robe, a thick twine of rope tied loosely around the waist, long slender fingers intertwined together infront of the man's chest. The camera raises further as the music builds to a beautiful harmonic pitch. A face is revealed, bearded and long, eyes looking towards the sky. The sun shines down from behind the man, giving a halo of light around his head...)

Announcer (voice-over):

The son of God...

(Screen shows shots of people emerging from cars pulling up infront of the house. Twelve people in twelve different cars, young and old, black and white, men and women. As the announcer speaks, the people line up side by side facing the front of the mansion. Nervous smiles and looks of amazement are shown across all of their faces as they wonder what they are about to take part in...)

Announcer (voice-over):

These twelve men and women were chosen from thousands of entries across the globe. They will live in this oppulant mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean. And they will tested on their will power and, more importantly, their faith...

(Screen shows screen shots of other names of shows...)

Announcer (voice-over):

From the combined creators of The Bachelor, Joe Millionaire, The Surreal Life and every one of Flava-Flave's shows comes the ultimate reality show. A show that will test the limits of human compassion to win the ultimate prize...

(Screen shows the large double doors to the mansion slowly opening up and stunned gasps from the contestants as they see who walks across the threshold. Camera shows close-up of sandled foot stepping out onto the marble step as the name of the show spirals onto the screen...)

Announcer (voice-over):

The Rapture...

(Screen shows reactions from the contestants...)

(1st Woman):

Sweet Jesus.

(2nd Woman):

Oh my God.

(man):

Holy *beep*

(Jesus looks down from the steps, arms raised outward, smiling)

(Jesus):

Welcome one and all to my home...

(announcer):

These contestants will be fighting for their very souls and the winner will receive eternal bliss at God's side.

(screen shots of contestants taking part in chosen battles: following special written instructions to turn water into wine, building a fan to part the waters of the backyard swimming pool, revealing their deepest sins in the confessional booth.)

(Shot of woman contestant in the confessional booth. Floating crosses of assorted sizes and styles floating in the background behind her)

(Woman contestant):

I'm a born again Christian. My entire life is devoted to serving Christ.

(Shot of same woman in the kitchen of the mansion slamming a frying pan down on the countertop. Other contestants stand around looking in her direction, obvious signs of arguing permiate the room.)

(Same woman contestant):

Don't *beep* with me people or I will slice you up, fry you and serve you to the homeless!!

(Shot of same woman contestant back in confessional booth, looking into the camera and smiling.)

(Woman Contestant):

I am very into my volunteerism and charities.

(Multiple shots of contestants in different forms of challenges.)

(Announcer):

Each week is a different challenge and each week a contestant must be banished from the mansion until only one remains...

(Shot of Jesus holding a wafer.)

(Jesus):

This is my body. Will you eat me?

(Shot of each contestant as the announcer speaks each word)

(Announcer):

Who.....will....be....saved....

(Shot of Jesus)

(Jesus):

You are banished from this house...

(Shot of male contestant in the confessional booth)

(Male contestant):

There ain't no way I'm spending 7 years during The Tribulation without taking some of these bitches down with me.

(Aerial Shot of mansion)

(Announcer):

This fall on fox... The Rapture...

(Shot of FOX logo)

(Announcer):

Save the date...

(Fade to black)

Reality at its Un-reality-est ...

John and Kate Plus 8 is something, like so many other reality shows on cable, I unknowingly get sucked in to when flipping through cable channels on a rainy afternoon. But there's something about this show that infuriates me.

In a time of financial uncertainty of many Americans, the Discovery Channel has the balls to continue to air (and worse pay for) the life of a family of twins and sextuplets and the trials and tribulations the parents have in raising them. I have seen an episode where the mother travels to New York to receive lypo-suction for free from a doctor who's wife had seen the show and the husband has received hairplugs...both for free. I have seen an episode where the family traveled to Sesame Place, a children's amusement park north of Philadelphia and had received special treatment including free rides and visits with the muppet characters, all private and away from the general public.

In interview segments of the show, the couple talks about the difficulties of raising 8 children, yet in these segments you don't hear a sound coming from any of these children. Are these interviews held in the middle of the night or is there someone (a nanny no one is supposed to see or members of The Discovery Channel team) watching the children off-camera?

They (reality-TV producers) are stuck making these shows to save money on actors/sets and other expenses that go in to making scripted television and yet they still call it reality?

Now I hear there's a new family on the reality-tv couch; a family of 19.

How much money are they being paid to talk about their hardships?

How many free gifts will they receive?

Reality TV is becoming the best job to have in this millenium...

A Big Gamble for Center City ...

After more than two years battling neighboring homeowners in South Philly over the proposed gambling complex on the Delaware waterfront, Foxwood Resort has its eye on Center City, more specifically Market East and even more specifically The Gallery at Market East. A shopping mall developed and built in the mid-70's, The Gallery at Market East is a white slab of cement taking up four city blocks on the northern end of Market Street. It was designed to help boost a sagging retail area of Center City, connecting the downtown to the surrounding suburbs via a new underground regional rail station. And it helped...at least in the beginning.

But, as with many other major projects of the time, little to no thought went into the project beyond its immediate goal: to get people to shop within its fortress-like walls. The exterior, instead of being planned with the surrounding streets and buisnesses in mind, was designed similarly to those shopping malls that grew from the once rural farmlands in the far reaching suburbs of Montgomery, Chester and Bucks Counties; no friendly or welcoming exterior, but rather windowless white walls that rose four stories above the sidewalk. The only thing different between this mall and its suburban counterparts was its lack of a 30 acre asphalt parking lot surrounding the structure.

The interior, although large and somewhat airy (in parts), is a maze of steps and escalators forcing you to travel from one level to another. There are also two parts of the mall that you have to exit the building and cross the street to continue on your journey. On some levels, you cannot even get from one end of the mall to the other without having to go through the K-Mart that slices the complex in half like a magician's stainless steel blade through his assistant. The main entrance to the mall, on Market Street, goes from street level to below ground and then back up to street level again once you're inside, as if the glass canapy making up the main entrance had sunk several feet during construction and was left that way.

The lower level of the mall (that actually does travel the entire length of the building) is where you can find the food court and portable kiosks under the low claustrophobic ceiling of glass orb lights that went out of style around the same time Billy Beer was being removed from store supermarket shelves in the South. It is also where you connect to the suburbs via the regional rail lines or the Martket Frankford Line. But getting to the subway at times, can be a lonely trek through desolate corridors of blacked out glass and unused kiosks. Market East Station (for regional rails) is a little more comfortable in its layout, but still feels more like walking through an airport than a shopping mall.

The shopping experience leaves alot to be desired as well in The Gallery, unless of course you had an urge to shop at a Payless Shoe store. These you can find almost as easily as a Starbucks. Although I was quite young when the mall first opened, I remember it being a more substantial destination that it is today. With Strawbridge and Clothier anchoring one end and Gimbles the opposite and John Wannamaker a block away (2 of the 3 were actually department stores founded in Philly), there was a higher end and more competative market within the cement walls of The Gallery. But, as with so many before them, the major department stores have gone out of buisness, either being bought out (Macy's is now in the John Wannamaker building) or closing their doors altogether with nothing to occupy its space (Strawbridge & Clothier). The current day major tenants of The Gallery are Super K-Mart and Burlington Coat Factory. The failing department stores that once thrived along this busy corridor of Market Street are a long ago thing of the past. Walking along this same strip of pavement you will now find discount sneaker stores, no name electronics, CVS, Rite-Aid and McDonolds. Clerks stand in doorways shouting the specials going on inside while loud music from the mounted speakers above the entrance to the store punctures the air like a continuous sonic boom.

Inside the shopping mall, it's much the same: discount record stores, video game stores, sneaker stores, all piled up next to one another begging for your buisness. The forth floor of the mall, an area that is pretty difficult to get to in the first place, is all but completely barren of buisness, showing instead darkened window after darkened window of failed dreams.

And now Foxwood wants a shot, turning at least part of the mall into a casino and possibly adding a hotel. Personally, I have mixed feelings on this new project. A casino complex in the heart of Center City can bring traffic problems this city has never seen before, in an area that is already very congested at times (the Pennsylvania Convention Center is right behind the mall). No matter how many ways the city and its transportation system can describe public transit vs. driving, people in this area don't really get it. Although not the best system in the world, you can travel from one part of the city to the other (and beyond) and leave your car at home. Most big venues in Philadelphia (the stadium complex, the historic district, Penn's Landing, the convention center) are all within a very short walking distance from public transportation, yet people (especially from the suburbs) insist on driving, then find themselves complaining about traffic and parking fees. A casino built right on top of a major transportation hub is a good idea but suburbanites will most likely still drive into the city and circle around each and every block seeking that perfect and closest parking spot.

Another reason this may not be such a good idea is the fact that Market East is not the most desirable section of the city to walk around, especially for a tourist. Although relatively safe, it is very intimidating walking among the homeless and protestors and religious prophets shouting from soapboxes.

Over the years, many plans were layed out on the drawing boards to improve Market East. Some worked, some didn't, some never even had a chance. Among the more successful: The Pennsylvania Convention Center, along with the expansion and renovations of the Reading Terminal Headhouse on Market Street. A Hard Rock Cafe is nestled in on the ground floor of the headhouse. The Marriott hotel was constructed at 12th and Market streets and the PSFS building (a historic landmark) was converted into a Lowes hotel. On the eastern edge of Market street, Independence Mall was completely replanned and construction of the Philadelphia Visitor's Center, the Liberty Bell Pavilion and the National Constitution Center brought tourism to the highest this city has ever seen. At 8th and Market, Disney was supposed to build some sort of entertainment complex, but that fell through in the '90's leaving behind a big hole in the ground that was only recently filled in and turned into a parking lot. South 13th Street, not too far from Market East was once home to adult bookstores and topless bars, but was recently renovated with new storefronts and loft apartments. Although the bookstores remain, they are more descretely hidden among the finer stores and restaraunts that line the street.

So what will Foxwood bring to the (gambling) table? It is rumored that they want to convert the Burlington Coat Factory into a slot parlor and maybe build a hotel ontop of the existing structure. It really doesn't matter how they go about it, so long as the decision to give the face of Market East a complete overhaul. The projects of the past all tried to jump start development along the retail corridor, but none acheived it. It is now up for grabs.

I have a couple of suggestions, should anyone care to listen:

First, the mall...

As I mentioned above, the mall is split in half by a Super K-mart. The thirty years this mall has been in existance has shown over and over that the space is too large for the stores occupying it and there is no reason to have so many empty storefronts scattered from floor to floor. My thoughts are to shrink the mall to the section between the K-Mart and the old Strawbridge & Clothier store. The remaining half (west of the K-Mart to the proposed Casino in the Burlington Coat Factory) can be converted into a large boutique style hotel, with all rooms facing the open air interior courtyard of the building. From the ground floor lobby looking up towards the large expanse of skylights in the roof, one would see four stories of balconies draped in hanging and flowering plantlife. The building is big enough to provide many rooms along with provisions such as a gym, spa, pool, conference rooms restaurants, etc.

Along the exterior on Market street, open up street level shopping and cafes with outdoor seating and spruce up the streetscape. The upper floors of the building (now encased in white cement panels) can be a challenge to conceal or look more attractive, but a suggestion might be to install an artifical facade, maybe something along the lines of a steel frame outline forming the older buildings that once occupied the space. This may give a more intimate feel to the shopping and dining at street level if the occupants were not looking up a blank wall rising above them.

The glass atrium (pictured above) should be removed and expanded into a more artful glass enclosure, possibly expanding through to the north side of the mall, visually connecting the neighborhood of Chinatown on the next block. This atrium/winter garden can even be transformed into a grand european style entrance to the Market East Station below ground.

Again, they are my own thoughts and suggestions, something that will be seen only be a few people. The important thing is that, if Foxwood is serious about turning an outdated shopping mall into a hotel/casino complex, there is alot to take into consideration and, like the so many plans before them, their thought process needs to seriously expand beyond the boundaries of a shopping mall and out into a street that is in need of developement; a street that expands 7 blocks of which they will be smack dab in the center.

My Thoughts in Haiku(s) ...

Sitting in my room...
Eyes adjusting to the screen...
Doing what I'm told...

Twenty lines a day...
A wrapped box depends on it...
Nothing comes to mind...

Lines should not relate...
But they tie in at the end...
What ties into this?

Dinner off the Square...
Drinks abundantly flowing...
Cosmos, beer and wine...

My head swims in fog...
It's way to early to write...
Long Island iced teas...

Banging down the street...
A house under construction...
Banging in my head...

C-Rex and a rat...
A cat in love with a toy...
Boom-chicka-bow-wow...

And there you have it...
Not the Most perfect haikus...
But twenty-four lines...

Good-bye Song to the Post ...

After writing the previous entry, a song started to form in my head. Here it is:

Sung to the tune of "The Wall", by Pink Floyd


We don't need no overpriced drinks
We don't need no padded seats
Just large libations or a cold brew
Will more than make our night complete

All in all we miss that little hole in the wall
All in all we miss that little hole in the wall.

Welcome Back to the Post ...

...Err... I mean Stir.

That's right, after almost a twelve months the 30+ year old landmark that was the Post Bar opened with alot of renovations and little fanfare. If it weren't for an email I received from my friend, John, I wouldn't have known anything. Last night, Friday, was the official opening and I decided to swing by there after work for a beer and to check out the changes.

Before I begin, you must remember what it was like for several years: a simple hole in the wall place with a pock-marked bar and exposed beams (and wiring), no heat and very little air conditioning, mice, and nearly everyone with their own assigned barstool. You can read a more descriptive post about the bar here.

So last night, I entered through the steel door and stepped into the main bar. Fresh paint, exposed brick, shiny new ductwork and a large rectangular bar all combined to give the room a nouveau-chic industrial loft kind of a look. A new flat-screen tv hung on the opposite wall from where I stood (waiting for a beer) and glass doors displayed the contents of an assortment of beers in the cooler under the concrete bartop.

The original Post consisted of three rooms: the main bar, the game room and the back bar/dancer lounge, all lined up like drunken soldiers taking up the entire first floor of the narrow building. Stir's owners kept the footprint of the main bar, but combined the two rear rooms making it one long narrow lounge, with the "middle" bar empty save for a couple of small padded conversation benches. It makes the room more open and airy, but the lower ceilings keeps a cozy and intimate feeling. Niches in the wall displaying bottles of olives and small oil paintings of martini glasses help to create a themed atmosphere of sophistication. Behind the new back bar (where the office was located in the original location) is a DJ booth which, according to the website, houses guest djs on a weekly basis.

Although the transformation is mind-boggling, what many of the Post regulars feared seems to have come true: it is not your bar any longer. Gone was any clue of the local watering hole that was home to many friends. Gone was the friendly atmosphere where everyone knew your name (and buisness). All this has been replaced with the stiff atmosphere and attitude of a new nightclub to compete with likes of any other upscale center city lounge, where it seemed as if you might actually be offending the bartender by asking them to make a drink.

When I walked in and stepped up to the bar, there were two people behind the bar, one twink loading the beer cooler and a woman (I later came to realize was either the owner or manager). She was talking to someone across the bar, and not once turned around to take an inventory of the clientele. I stood quietly with a twenty dollar bill in my hand, directly in line of sight of the customer to whom she was conversing. The customer looked over her shoulder at me several times, but never once broke the conversation to allow the bartender to do her job. The twink also looked up at me, but continued to rearrange beer bottles in the cooler. Other people around the bar were deep in conversation and once, I caught the woman casually look around, but her eyes stopped about 1/4 of the way around the bar before she turned back to her conversation companion. Finally, after about 4 minutes, she turned her attention my way and asked if I wanted anything.

I ordered a beer, payed and stepped away from the bar to take in the rest of the new establishment. I spotted a couple of people at the back bar and walked down there to check things out. The female bartender working there I knew was one of the owners. I remembered her from a couple of times when she had been in the Post. With barely an acknowledgment my way, she turned to two females and started a conversation.

When I had finished the first beer, I'll give her some credit, she did ask in a timely fashion if I wanted another. I ordered and sat quietly on the barstool, watching as more patrons filtered in. It dawned on me that everyone who was coming in, male or female, were friends of the owners (or one more young bartender with an attitude). This got me thinking...

What kind of a businessman or woman will open up a new establishment of any kind and, on the first day open to the public, won't even give a patron a friendly or at least a warm greeting, thanking that person for coming or at least welcoming them to their new place? The website boasts a "friendly atmosphere", but the only friendliness I witnessed was to those who knew the owner(s) or bartenders. In fact, in that short time that I was there, I realized that I was probably the only person who had walked in off the street. The only other friendly person who worked there was the bouncer, who remembered me from the days of the Post.

All in all it was a very unsettling experience. I walked out of there missing the Post and it's cold dampness and mice even more. Being in the customer service business for years, I was disappointed in the unwelcoming way I was treated. Stir has a sterile, but warm appearance and a sterile and cold attitude (unless you're in the know).

First impressions are hard to shake, but I will give this place the benefit of doubt. Chalk it up to opening night jitters, if you will. I'll probably go back and give it a 2nd shot, although it will never be my hangout as the Post was. I don't think it will be anyone's "hang-out". It's just not that type of a bar.

Besides, I know there are some of the old Post regulars who are most likely "in". As I am sure this review will eventually make it to the ears of the owners and that day will come when I walk in to hushed voices whispering things like "he's the one who wrote that scathing blog", in which case I'll be asked to leave. But it won't be a heart-wrenching moment.

But, in any event, I do wish success to the owners. It was a long time coming and the place is completely transformed for the better (except the 'tude).

Dinner with Big Daddy ...

Back in December, "Big Daddy" contacted me and wanted to get together for dinner and drinks. I was reluctant at first, having been going through my own personal hell what with the holidays and my birthday and all. Finally, I agreed and, after that first night turning out to be a fun-filled night of drinking and Cuban food, we made the mutual decision to try and make it a monthly meeting.

So, January came and we met up for drinks and had Vietnamese...and more drinks.

We needed to skip February due to one of us catching the flu bug so March rolled around and we hooked up a third time. I figured these meetings would at least give me a reason to write in the blog, since we seem to try something new each time. So here, in more detail is...

Dinner with Big Daddy...

Keeping up with the Joneses...

We met up at Uncle's Bar and had a few drinks. After allowing the liquor and/or beer to begin flowing freely through our veins, we decided on Jones for dinner. Stephen Starr's tribute to the 70's, Jones Restaurant has all the ambiance of a rec-room rarely seen outside of an old movie or tv show from the same era that brought us such great things as flaired pant legs and the AMC Pacer.

With stacked flagstone columns and lime green uphostered booths, dark wood and vinyl flooring made to looked like shag carpeting, the air within this corner location gives as much a long forgotten feeling of home as the food itself.

Although upscale, it is one of Stephen Starr's lower priced restaurants, offering everything from grilled tuna and breaded talapia to meatloaf and mashed potatoes, fried chicken and waffles right on down to a Duncan Hines triple layer chocolate cake for dessert.

The drink specials were just as funk-a-delic as the atmosphere. I had a S'more martini and Big Daddy ordered this sweet-tasting concoction that came complete with a gummy worm draped over the lip of the glass. When the overzealous waiter came back later in the evening and asked if we wanted another drink, Big Daddy simply replied: "I think we'll have something alittle more adult this time around."

All in all, dinner was fantastic. The food was good, the drinks were good and the company...well, what can I say....it was Big Daddy!!!!


Sake and Samurais...



After dinner, Big Daddy asked if I ever had Sake. After telling him no, he decided to take me to Raw, an upscale sushi bar and sake lounge in the heart of Center City. Walking into the long narrow room, I immediately felt as if I were standing in some hip and trendy club in Manhattan. A long curving bar, covered in green glass mosaic tiles guided you deeper into the diningroom set further back under the soft yellow glow of oversized Japanese lanterns hanging from the vaulted ceiling. Dark wood furniture, suede seating and a polished hardwood floor all joined forces in giving you the feeling that this was something more than the corner sushi bar.

Big Daddy and I took a seat at the bar and ordered a caraf of sake. All the while, as we sat sipping sake, Big Daddy asked (on more than one occassion) if I had to go to the bathroom. He had mentioned earlier in the evening about the special bathroom this place had designed was really urging me (and my bladder) to make a visit.

I got up from the bar, made my way down to the lower level via a long narrow staircase and emmerged into a large room with a double sink. To the left of the sink was a frosted glass door leading to the ladies' room. To the right stood the men's room. I walked through the door and was standing directly infront of (what can only be described as) a giant stone trough.

When a soft cascade of water started to flow down the side of the wall (I assumed either from a pressurized floor or motion detector) when the door closed behind me, I figured this must've been what Big Daddy was talking about. A raised stone slab was the only barrier between the dark tiled floor of the bathroom and the drain in the trough. I stood on the stone and pulled down my zipper, feeling slightly uneasy since I was standing directly infront of the doorway leading back out into the common area. My mind kept saying that this was not what he was talking about and that I was actually about to pee into a planter or something. But the covered urinal cake near the drain eased my fears (although not completely).

However, my eyes suddenly looked straight ahead at the mural painted on the tiled wall where the water cascaded down into the drain. A giant angry looking Samurai stared back at me. In his hands was gripped a massive sword ready to swing downward. Although I knew it was only a painting, the image before me made my bladder close up completely. My body was already screaming at me to put my johnson back behind the protective barrier of my buttonflies. There was no way I was going to stand in such a vulnerable position, before an angry Samurai and within eyesight of whomever stood on the other side of that frosted glass door.

I decided to wait until our next destination before I went to the bathroom...some place with blank tiles on the walls...

Spotted ...

I can't believe I was actually recognized on the street for my blog!

This morning, I was standing at the bus stop waiting to go into work and a man (David, I think he introduced himself as) crossed the street and stood beside me in the cold morning sun. He looked at me, pulled out the earpiece linked to his I-pod and said: "Do you blog...or did you in the past?"

"Yes," I replied. "But I haven't done it in a long time."

He then explained how he had forgotten how he had come upon it, but the started to read my rants and enjoyed them.

"I have been meaning to update it for about six months now." I explained. "I've been getting harassed by some of my friends about not keeping up and I had a few things I needed to write about."

He joked with me, saying I should get a commission on pizza sales from Lazarro's. "I read about that and figured it's right around the corner, I should check it out. Now I'm there all the time getting pizza."

It made me feel good, knowing that there are still some people out there who read my writings. And I do have more to write about including:

* Dinner with Big Daddy
* "Final Destination", the train ride
* My trip to Vegas
* (and possibly) my severed friendships

So I'll try to get rolling. In the meantime...

Thanks!