Brad Miller

The drivers’ scheme, the commission said, involved 1.8 million rides and cost passengers an average of $4 to $5 extra per trip. The drivers, officials said, flipped switches on their meters that kicked in the higher rates, costing New York City riders a total of $8.3 million.

I think they call this the drunk tax.

Important bit of info to watch for: Code 4 on the meter is for trips outside NYC while Code 1 is for trips within city limits.

via the NY Times

The sushi chef went to a car in the parking lot and brought a package of meat back into the restaurant where he opened it at the sushi bar and sliced the meat to serve, according to the document.

Doesn’t everyone keep their whale meat in their trunk?

via reuters

New York hasn’t had a big earthquake in 126 years, and history suggests that we’re likely to have one every century or two. That said, we’re in little danger of a Chile-level megaquake—but it’s also true that the city’s buildings are vulnerable during even a moderate temblor.

Townhouses and Tenements - Danger: Pancaking.

Loft Buildings - Danger: Cracking masonry, falling bricks.

Most Skyscrapers - Danger: Falling objects; fire.

Estimated Deaths: 1,170 New Yorkers, if a 6.0 quake occurred today at 2 p.m., according to a 2003 study.

Last Major Quake: 1884 Magnitude 5.2

via NY Mag

New Jersey… please stop embarrassing us.  

The New Jersey progression of celebrity: Thomas Edison, Grover Cleveland, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Joe Piscopo, The Sopranos, Cake Boss, The Jersey Shore Cast (but they’re really from NY).

Erik Raj has made a children’s book. Even if you don’t have kids, you should go buy it because he’s such an awesome guy.

I finally was able to purchase my tickets for Conan O’Brien’s The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour at Radio City Music Hall. It’ll be fun to see him in such a big venue, after only seeing him live in the tiny Studio 6A for Late Night. 

Damn… Conan O’Brien Tickets at Radio City are sold out already on ticketmaster. Unless you want the special $250 tickets.

America

from Mad Magazine… I think

Google Maps added bike routes for directions via bicycle.

The Big Lebowski Alignment Chart

via FronzKofko

This Sunday I’m shooting an audition video with Andrei for what is sure to be a horrible, horrible show. It will be awesome.

Casting Call for Brighton Beach!

Are you the Russian Snooki or The Situation? Are you a super outgoing and fun-loving Russian-American that sometimes sneaks kalbaska, pel’meni and vodka from the fridge? Can people hear the Euro/Techno/Russian music blasting from your car before they see you pull up?

via brightonbeachshow.com

jeremyduncan:

For Tumblr Tuesday I recommend Brad Miller aka Millertime83. I don’t usually do this, but, by count of notes and reblogs, I think Brad’s blog may be under appreciated. He doesn’t post too often, maybe a few times a day, and it is a happy balance of personal vs. informative. His posts are concise and interesting enough to never bore me.

He never post about love, self-loathing, or depression, either. Tumblr is way over saturated with those type of posts.

Check out Brad’s videos and award-winning vidblogs.

Jeremy, thanks for the kind words.

I made a video for the upcoming Film Fights “Over The Top”… It’s been a while.

Do you think Tumblr is basically the latest incarnation of Live Journal?

via manny

Since when are there audio ads on Pandora for the iPhone?

Not The Onion.

Republicans turned off by size of Obama’s package

Republicans are not sparing the rod when it comes to beating up on President Obama’s economic stimulus package, but it’s clear they are unable to raise their membership to withstand the newly found vigor of his congressional muscle.

As debate over the dimensions of Obama’s package snaked through the House, the blame game over who bore responsibility for America’s current economic pickle grew predictably partisan.

The story behind Oscar’s “Kanye moment”

The most riveting face-off during Sunday’s Oscar ceremony came early: When producer Elinor Burkett wrestled the microphone away from director-producer Roger Ross Williams after their film, “Music by Prudence,” won for best documentary short.

We talk to the two filmmakers whose personal fight became one of the ceremony’s weirdest moments

via salon

(via saturninefilms)

I visted Iowa in December, and I’ll agree with that sentiment. The highlight of the trip was seeing a guy at a Taco Bell drive-through with a dead deer strapped to his roof rack.

Imagine spending 10 years of your life working on a movie and then your ex-wife comes along and makes some relatively low budget flick in a year and takes your award… That’s got to suck.

Finally, ABC is back on! I don’t have to watch a bootleg internet stream of the Oscars anymore.

Well this ad is pretty ironic, isn’t it?

ayearuntil:

In the grand tradition of Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day parties, someone pulled these pipers and drummers off the street and into the apartment. So, they played.

Another day of the temperature in the 50s… Goodbye to last of the snow in my backyard. See you next winter.

via Andrew Buck

WTF Cablevision?! Why did all of my network television channels just turn off at midnight? That was a funny SNL sketch.

Some great shots of NYC & Las Vegas from the air, at night

The images of New York were shot on Nikons latest camera, the D3S, using three gyro stabilizing mounts and flown using twin star helicopters. (Eurocopter AS355). We flew from heights of just over 500 ft up to 2,500-ft with no doors on, it was very very cold.

via boston.com

Why does a salad cost more than a Big Mac?

via the consumerist

My apartment has 3.5 bathrooms… I could make a killing doing this.

We are offering 10 1 day memberships to use our toilets in our apartment during the Hoboken Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. $40 for the day gives you unlimited piss and poop sessions. It is a $2,000 fine if caught in public and with nearly 154 police officers working that day you will no doubt get caught, the fine is up to $2k and you will have to perform community service which we are learning will be you holding a sign at 14th St and Washington St that reads “I’m an asshole, I got caught pissing or shitting in public”. Avoid all of this and give us $40 and you can piss and poop to your hearts content. Free toilet paper included if you sign up now, otherwise it is $10 a roll at the door. You can also stop by our home and use a designated non membership toilet for $25 a pop as needed. This is a very serious offering, reply for address.

Daily Kos: Leno’s Tonight Show Reality Hacking, adds Laugh Track to Sarah Palin Appearance (via shorterexcerpts)

Wait, you mean people actually laugh at Jay Leno’s jokes? I assumed the whole show used a laugh track.

greetingsfromnewjersey:

lizlemon-:

Kingda Ka - New Jersey

Open 2005 as the worlds Tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world

Hight: 139m
Max speed: 206 km/h
Acceleration 0-206 km/h in 3,5 seconds

In U.S. Standard that’s 460 feet tall and 130 mph… Every time I’ve tried to go on that roller coaster, though, the damn thing breaks down!

El Toro, the new wooden coaster next to it in this photo is really awesome. Probably my favorite ride in the park, tied with Nitro.

Thieves cut a hole in roof of a Best Buy and rappelled down to steal $26,000 worth of Apple laptops, never touching the floor or setting off any motion detectors.

On top of the building, they used a saw to cut through several inches of rubber and insulation, then sliced a 3-foot-wide square in the metal roof, he said.

“High level of sophistication,” said Detective James Ryan, a police department spokesman. “They never set off any motion sensors. They never touched the floor. They rappelled in and rappelled out.”

via nj.com

Sometimes we have to close the curtains in my living room so as to not scare the neighbors.

Fallout Shelters of New York City

via dontfeedtheanimals.net

Actually, that’s a little bit of a facetious comparison. While Alice in Wonderland, like Hook, is a misguided and expensive sequel to a beloved children’s story, at least Steven Spielberg understood what it was that made Peter Pan tick. Watching Alice in Wonderland one can’t help but realize that the work of Lewis Carroll holds no place in the heart of Tim Burton, and that he probably doesn’t get any of it beyond the most superficial surface level.

I’m expecting the movie to be like Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Planet of the Apes; entertaining, but forgettable.

via chud.com

Using a collection of satellite images, scientists painstakingly stitched together months of observations to create these montages which show the surface of the continents and oceans in stunning detail.

Much of the imagery came from a space camera onboard the Nasa satellite Terra, which is orbiting 435miles above the Earth’s surface.

via VisibleEarth.NASA.gov

Who wants to do the Tough Mudder race?

Here are some highlights:

• Braveheart Charge: Charge into battle with 5000 fellow Tough Mudders. Battle cries essential.
• Sweaty Yeti: Cool-off with a crawl on your hands and knees through piled up snow. The good folk at Bear Creek had promised us lots of fresh powder to separate the men from the boys.
• Fire Walker: Plain and simple, run through our blazing kerosene soaked straw expect flames at least 4 foot high.

Tough Mudder is the TOUGHEST one day event on the planet. This is not your average mud run or boring, spirit-crushing road race. Our 7 mile obstacle courses are designed by British Special Forces to test all around toughness, strength, stamina, fitness, camaraderie, and mental grit. Forget about your race time. Simply completing the event is a badge of honor. Not everyone will finish, but those who do make it to our post-race party will have truly earned the right to call themselves a Tough Mudder.

shorterexcerpts:

synecdoche:

watchingtheplanets:

inthetrees:

goodtimeforpie:

Robert Rodriquez shoots a music video on a tricked out Canon 7D with Zacuto with sniper rig.

there are no words.

oh my god

robert rodriguez is the shit to end all shits. this just re-affirms it.

The Canon 7D is really awesome. I was tempted and almost bought it, but you really need to spend at least another $2,000 to make it a workable functioning video camera. I ended up getting the Panasonic HMC-150, instead.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Ron Paul has continued to run his Congressional office in a frugal manner, and was able to return more than $100,000 from his allotted office budget to the Treasury this year, an increase over the $90,000 returned last year.

“Since my first year in Congress representing the 14th district I have managed my office in a frugal manner, instructing staff to provide the greatest possible service to the people of the 14th district at the least possible cost to taxpayers,” said Paul.

via house.gov

Ron Paul had a coupon.

I just watched “The Hurt Locker,” and while I liked it, I felt it seemed like a pretty ridiculous portrayal of the Iraq War, especially compared to HBO’s “Generation Kill.”

This NY Times essay, by photographer Michael Kamber, who spent years in Iraq, points out how fanciful and unrealistic “The Hurt Locker” is.

If there is one rule with the military, it is that there is strength in numbers. No one soldier, no one vehicle, goes out alone. Ever. Four vehicles and a 20-man squad is the minimum that I have worked with in Iraq. A lone Humvee would not be allowed to clear the gate at any base in Iraq.

As Mark Boal, the screenwriter, well knows, many I.E.D.’s in Iraq are remotely detonated. Mr. Boal actually embedded with an E.O.D. team in Iraq, so he knows the chances of recklessly approaching even a single command-detonated bomb and surviving are quite small.

E.O.D. teams are highly specialized. They do not fire sniper rifles, clear buildings full of insurgents, single-handedly engage a squad of enemy combatants or drive the streets of Iraq alone. What they do in reality is amazing enough: one of the most nerve-wracking and dangerous jobs on earth. It is done a disservice by this degree of dramatization.

When a filmmaker gets that many details wrong, it’s hard to believe she got the war right. “The Hurt Locker” is not a drama about a make-believe event. This is a movie about an ongoing war that has affected millions, in which 100,000 Americans are still serving. It deserves a minimal degree of historical accuracy and attention to detail.

via The NY Times

This is something you don’t want to see happen to your AV equipment during a live event.

This was new piece of equipment and it was 5 minutes before the Olympic short track speed skating event started.

Raw shrimp is kind of strange tasting…

Shabu-Shabu at EN Japanese Brasserie.

rhodyram:

A photo of Jersey City from Manhattan as the snowstorm breaks..

5:32pm - February 26th, 2010

That’s a pretty awesome shot.

Photos around Hoboken during today’s snowstorm.

Wow, the U.S. Hockey team is destroying Finland! 6-0 already in the first period.

Please go to http://www.youtube.com/kickass and vote for a video I made with Kevin Conn for his Lava-Roid comic book. If it wins, he gets an official Universal “Kick Ass” Movie poster with Lava-Roid on it which would be super sweet.

lickystickypickyme:

This mind blowing image, shows an astronaut taking a picture of himself in space. The camera and the earth reflecting in his helmet.

source