The Beantown Bloggery

Congratulations to Bloggery Reader Janine who won the drawing for a pair of tickets to the Boston Bruins Pub Crawl on 4/9.

Enjoy the game with some added fun provided by Anthem Entertainment. Bar hop to three of Boston's best bars with no cover, no lines, and no waiting! There will be awesome raffle/auction items once again, door prizes for the first 100 patrons, a fan appreciation item at the Garden (while supplies last), and more! All ages are welcome on the pub crawl prior to the game, but after the game it will be fun for 21+ patrons only!

Venue: Porters, The Greatest Bar, Johnnie’s on the Side, TD Banknorth Garden

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest. For those of you that didn't win but are still interested in going, tickets should still be available.

Click (here) to get tickets.

PS. I should have a new contest up later this week for a T-shirt giveaway for folks.

So the current production name for Adam Sandler's new movie is "Lake House." I'm sure they're going to change it later since there's already another movie with that name. Thought I'd fill you in on a few more details on the filming that I've seen. You've already read about the star studded cast (here).

And speaking of real estate, funnyman Adam Sandler’s construction peeps are building a fake addition to Grove Cottage in Essex and making improvements to the town-owned lakeside property for his new flick tentatively titled “Lake House.”

I couldn't find any information on what Grove Cottage, I'm just assuming its some sort of historical home in Essex. Anyone out there that can fill me in? I did find some information about on Centennial Grove Park in Essex. Their website says they've been booked until September.

CENTENNIAL GROVE HAS BEEN BOOKED FROM MARCH 10, 2009 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 BY A FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY. WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING ANY RENTALS FOR THIS PERIOD.

Click (here) for a link to the Herald article

Click (here) for a link to the Centennial Grove site.

Coming up this Thursday is the 14th annual Taste of the Back Bay event - April 2nd, 2009, 6:30-9:30pm at the Prudential Skywalk. These events are usually pretty fun. I've been to the Taste of the South End events in the past, but haven't been to one for Back Bay yet.

The Taste of the Back Bay is an annual sampling of local restaurants and other purveyors of the finest food and drink available in Back Bay and the surrounding area- including signature dishes, fine wine, and micro-brewed beer.

Proceeds go to charity and I took a look at the list of the restaurants that are participating, it's a nice list. My faves: KO Prime, Sorellina, and L'Espalier. Yum.

Tickets, which tend to sell out quickly, are available now. Tickets cost $75 for NABB members, $85 for non-members, and $100 at the door—should tickets remain. Those wishing to attend are greatly encouraged to purchase tickets early.

Click (here) to get your tickets.

I think U2's little "secret" concert a couple weeks back (here) was a record breaking week for me. Everyone wanted to know what was going on. So I figured, ya'll might want to know that U2 tickets for their real concert in the fall go on sale today at 10am.

Onsale to General Public
Start: Mon, 03/30/09 10:00 AM EDT

U2 360º Tour
Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, MA
Sun, Sep 20, 2009 07:00 PM

Click (here) for a link to the Ticketmaster site.

This just in from Bloggery Reader Jerel:

I live on Appleton St. There is a notice posted in the lobby of my building and all around the neighborhood that See Kate Run will be filming at the Cyclorama on Thursday night (4/2/09).

Also, someone had asked me about casting for See Kate Run. It's being done by a company called Mara Casting. I don't know if they're still looking for folks, but I found their site and will provide you guys with a link to it. It's up to you to contact them to find out if they're still looking for folks.

And for those of you who are already extras, if you have any info for folks, feel free to comment here or email me and I'll get a post up.

Click (here) for a link to Mara Casting.

PS. Thanks Jerel!

I met a lot of smart people while I was at MIT and one of the smartest ones I've met is giving a talk this afternoon (here). If you've got some free time this afternoon, head over to MIT to listen to his presentation on Engineered Gene Circuits for Medicine, it's going to be one hell of a talk.

Dr. Timothy Lu received the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize in 2008 for his work on engineering molecular circuits and bacteriophage (viruses that infect bacteria) to treat intractable infections and address the global health crisis of antibiotic resistance. His research applies core principles from electrical engineering and computer science to biology to achieve these goals. Attend this special seminar by Dr. Lu to hear him present his work in three exciting areas.

Tim and I have talked a few times about the research he's doing, something along the lines of using bacteriophage to combat biofilms and/or antibiotic resistant bacteria. But I never got to hear the whole story, so this will be a good chance to do so.

Mark my words, you'll be hearing about this guy on 20/20 or 60 Minutes in the future for having revolutionized medicine. May as well get your autographs now. =)

Monday, March 30 2009, 2:45pm - 5:00pm
SPECIAL SEMINAR BY Dr. Timothy Lu
Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
Hosts: Professor Sangeeta Bhatia and Professor Tommi Jaakkola
Location: MIT Grier Room A, 34-401

Click (here) for more information. I'll see you there.

And what a star studded cast it's going to be. Remember when they were writing the script back in November (here)? Well I guess it's done and now they're casting and it's looking good.

Studio has set Sean Penn to play Larry, and negotiations are underway with Jim Carrey to play Curly, with the actor already making plans to gain 40 pounds to approximate the physical dimensions of Jerome "Curly" Howard. The studio is zeroing in on Benicio Del Toro to play Moe.

According to the original article in my older post they were planning on filming in Rhode Island, but everyone knows that we in the great state of MA have better tax credits. Besides, the Farrelly brothers filmed Fever Pitch here, they may as well just come back. Fingers crossed. =)

Click (here) for the rest of the article.

Well, it looks like today has the makings of a very 'Stuff' centric day. Bear with me, I didn't have internet for about 3 days during my trip so I have a zillion emails, RSS feeds, and 9 days worth of newspapers to read today.


Coming up a day before the DVF event is another Stuff event - Party At The Summer Shack.

Date: Wednesday, April 1
Time: 6pm-8pm
Location: Summer Shack. 50 Dalton Street, Boston, MA

Food, Prizes, and Booze. What else could you ask for? I've been to a fair number of Stuff events in my day, so chances are if I can rally the troops, I'll hit this one up as well.

Click (here) to RSVP.

I'm back!! Those of you that follow my twitter saw my remark earlier this week that I haven't been away from Boston for 9 straight days in quite some time. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again. I was hoping that it'd be warm by the time I get back, I'd say we're close, but not quite there yet. Can you believe we're almost into April already?

Coming up next week is a Stuff Magazine (formerly Stuff@Night) party celebrating Diane Von Furstenberg's '09 Collection. The only reason I know that name is because my super trendy friend Marie likes her stuff and the name has come up a number of times during our "killing time during the work day" conversations.

If you can't see the details in the invite above, the event is on Thursday, April 2 from 6-8pm.

Click (here) to RSVP

Betsey Johnson is a pretty popular fashion designer right? I have no clue, but the name looks pretty familiar. Well she's having a fashion show coming up on April Fool's Day at The Estate.

Don't miss the Betsey Johnson Spring 2009 Fashion Show, a 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Newbury Street location. Doors open at 9pm. Fashion House models will be strutting their stuff on The Estate's runway at 11pm. Presented by Fashion House in conjunction with Salon Marc Harris, Richard Bertone Photography and Tia Maria Makeup.

Click (here) to get your tickets.

Interesting site that someone sent to me, I believe it's a relatively new site called HubEats.com which aggregates restaurant deals by day. Seems pretty handy, I may have to check it out once I get back from my trip.

HubEats.com is a daily on-line calendar that will list current and upcoming food events––prix fixe dinners, promotions, cooking classes, happy hour deals, wine dinners etc.––for each restaurant that chooses to participate. Check it out.

Just browsing through the list I see one that I did get to try out last Monday when I happened to be at Minibar that night: Monday - Thursday: $2 Mini Kobe Beef Burgers 5:00pm - 7:00pm

Their mini burgers are pretty tasty there. I recommend you try it out sometime for dinner and/or happy hour. Oh and in case you don't know where Minibar is, it's in the Copley Square hotel.

Click (here) to check out HubEats.com

I haven't been very impressed yet with the "declines" we were supposed to be getting in our auto insurance since the whole 'managed competition' thing took place (here). But things could get better soon. Word is that Geico is on it's way.

Geico is entering the auto insurance market in Massachusetts.

State Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes confirmed in a statement Friday that the nation's third-largest auto insurer has filed to begin selling premiums in May.

Geico would become the second major national insurer to being doing business in Massachusetts since the state moved to "managed competition" for auto insurance a year ago. Progressive was the first.

Let's hope some more competition ends up getting us those declines we've been waiting for. And finally all those gecko commercials we watch will actually apply to us.

Click (here) for the article.

I have fond memories of Bauer Wine & Spirits on Newbury. I used to get wine from there for dates and formals while I was in school. The folks that worked there were always very helpful and knowledgeable. It may have been the first place I ever purchased alcohol from. It was either them or Marlboro Mart, but I digress.

Coming up tomorrow is a BBC beer tasting. I recently had BBC for the first time and it's pretty good - I suggest you check it out.

Berkshire Brewing Co. Tasting
Thu, March 26th 2009 05:00 PM-07:00 PM
Bauer Wine & Spirits

Gwen Richardson, area rep for the Berkshire Brewing Co. (BBC), will be on hand this evening to pour samples from their line of locally produced ales and lagers. BBC's spring seasonal, a maibock, will be out just in time for this tasting.

And if you go there, do me a favor and say hi to Gwen for me. I'd do it myself but I'll be on a plane.

Click (here) for the Bauer site.

All I can say about this is that I really hope this new project includes underground parking because otherwise, that's a lot of downtown parking that will be vanishing. Isn't the Government Center garage the main place that folks park whenever there's an event at the Garden?

Raymond Property Co. said Monday that a Project Notification Form has been filed with Boston officials and outlines two scenarios to build what could be the largest so-called “green” development site in the city. The project, as it stands, would result in between 3.6 million square feet and 3.78 million square feet of mixed-use development — including Class A office space, residential units and a hotel — adjacent to Boston’s City Hall.

I'm all for building up our downtown, but parking's pretty pricey already. With this garage going away (and if there's no replacement), I only see parking getting even more expensive.

Click (here) for the blurb.

Nothing goes with sports like beer does. So I can think of nothing better than a pub crawl prior to a Bruins hockey game. I went to my first BC hockey game just a little while ago (here). I haven't been to a Bruins game yet, but I'm thinking maybe I'll check this event out on April 9th.

Contest ends on Monday 3/30 at 11:59PM.

Click (here) to get more info on the event.

This is kind of neat. I'll probably still go to haymarket instead since it's closer to my home (and probably cheaper too) but for those of you that live downtown, there is talk of a farmer's market going up for the summer near the Pru.

Dave Gilson, owner of the Herb Lyceum at Gilson's restaurant in Groton, is working with owner Boston Properties to open a farmers' market on the building's cement plaza bordering Boylston Street.

The market, which would run on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., would be directly managed by 14 vendors, including six to eight farmers. Vendors who have signed on to the project sell products like Asian greens, mozzarella cheese, chocolates, bread, baked goods, and high-end desserts.

Isn't there also a little farmer's market in the Copley Square area on certain days?

Click (here) for the article.

I'm waiting for the news update that reads like this: "Tom Brady Playing Football Again." But until that happens, here's some more info about a 2nd wedding that he and Gisele are planning.

Radaronline.com reported yesterday that the couple will tie the knot again in Costa Rica, where the bride has a home, during the first week in April.

The guest list will top out at around 50, which is way bigger than the intimate circle of 10 that witnessed the glam couple’s super-stealthy first wedding in California on Feb. 26.

That is all.

Click (here) for the blurb.

All the hardcore trance people have probably known about Armin Van Buuren's upcoming show tomorrow for some time now. He's one of the best DJ's in the world. I've seen him spin a couple of times back in the day when Axis and Avalon were still around. Haven't gone recently though.

But if you haven't heard yet. He's going to be at The Roxy tomorrow night. I bet the show will be awesome.


Click (here) to get tickets.

Lots of people to thank for this post. Bloggery Readers: Amanda, Tory, and Anonymous. Here's the scoop. There's a tv pilot (presumably for ABC) that has been filming near the state house called "See Cate Run". Here's what my gracious readers have filled me in on.

"SEE KATE RUN" an ABC show is filming at those locations. I was an extra on Thursday and saw the VSI sign.

I work right by the State House, and received a letter stating that filming would be happening there between March 20-22 and March 28. They have shut down parking on several streets (parts of Bowdoin, Park, Beacon, and Charles). Apparently it's for a TV pilot called "See Kate Run" with Amy Smart where she plays an ADA running for President. Maybe people will be able to see parts of the filming?

Hi there! As of this afternoon, there have been many large trucks parked along Bowdoin Street and a "VSI Extras" sign pointing to the side entrance of the State House. I read on Perez Hilton this morning that Bruce Willis married over the weekend- any chance he'll be in Boston again filming more of The Surrogates soon? I love your blog!

So here's the confusing part. I guess the call sign for this show is the same as the one used for Bruce Willis's "The Surrogates" which filmed here last year (here). If someone wants to snap a pic of the VSI sign and send it over, I'll get it up for everyone. I'll be back in Boston by 3/28 so I will saunter over there myself as well.

Click (here) for a small blurb I found which spells it "Cate" instead of "Kate"

This Adam Sandler movie is going to be CRAZY (here)! They already had a pretty star studded cast including Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, Rob Schneider, and David Spade. Now there's going to be more!

Pardon my use of all the exclamation points, but holy crap, that's a lot of celebs that will be in town. Here's who else is on the way:

Word from the Left Coast is that Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph and Colin Quinn have joined the cast of the “Untitled Adam Sandler Project” set to shoot on the North Shore this summer.

As we’ve told you before, the film is about five best buds from high school who throw a 30th reunion over a Fourth of July weekend. Kevin James, David Spade and Rob Schneider also star.

Who knows where the "cool" hangouts are at the North Shore? Or hopefully they'll film up there, but they'll live/eat/hangout downtown.

Click (here) for the Herald blurb.

I was pretty surprised. The Dave Matthews pre-sale last week actually lasted almost an hour before tickets sold out (here). But then again Fenway has twice the capacity that a place like TD Banknorth Garden has, so I guess they had a lot more tickets to sell.

For those of you that missed out on the pre-sale, regular tickets go on sale today at 10am EST. You know the details already, right? There are two concerts. 5/29 and 5/30 at Fenway.

Click (here) to get your tickets.

Ok this is exciting. I've never been to a Fark party, but I pretty much go to their website every single day. I probably get more news from them than I do from CNN. Well, it looks like they're in town tomororw and will be doing a Pub Crawl.

It's the 3rd Annual Boston Farkers St. Paddy's Day Pub Crawl!

When: Saturday, March 21, starting at noon
Where: Kenmore Square through Allston, specifically: Cask & Flagon, Beer Works, Dugout, Sunset Cantina, The Former T's, White Horse, Kells, Silhouettes, Deep Ellum, Greenbrier, Corrib Pub, Irish Village, with food somewhere in the middle.

Who: Any and all Farkers and their non-Farker friends who want to show us their tits/moobs/exciting combination of both. And for every Farkette that shows up, FlyingPig's going to do an Irish Car Bomb.

Oh yeah. We'll meet up outside Cask & Flagon. You can use my UltraFark email if you have any questions. See everyone next weekend!

Too bad I'm going to be out of town tomorrow. I don't get back until the end of next week. If any of you go, let me know how it is. Maybe I'll make it next year.

Click (here) to go to Fark.

So after much coercion from a few folks and also a little bit of curiosity on my own end, I've decided to join Twitter. Be forewarned though, some of the posts may be about Boston but most of the posts will be just for my friends to know where I'm at, what I'm up to, and what's currently on my mind.

Since I count all of you readers as my friends, I'm perfectly fine with ya'll knowing what I happen to be doing. But also let it be known, that I used to have a xanga account which I used as my personal blog and part of that whole "personal" aspect is going to ported over to twitter. What does that mean, you ask? It means that my twitter is going to be chock full of sarcasm, random thoughts, and overall strangeness. What can I say? I'm a weird dude.

Anyhoo, you've been warned. Follow my twitter at your own risk. The upside is that I will be able to twitter from my iphone, so sometimes if something important is happening, I will tweet (what's the verb form of twitter?) about it right away via my iphone, which is something I couldn't do on this blog.

Click (here) to see my twitter page.

PS. There won't be any Boston-centric twitter'ings until after I return from my trip next Friday.

I had a reader who asked me to post pics of the warm weather I'm experiencing in Texas, but honestly there's no fun pictures of Texas that I can post. Although, I do have a funny story for you. I was on my way to Little Rock, Arkansas today and during the drive I passed a store in the boonies of Texas that read "Guns, Archery, and Donuts. (true story)" So obviously, I picked up a 9mm Glock and a dozen glazed donuts. Just kidding. I wouldn't have been able to bring the gun back to MA so I just settled for the donuts. =)

Anyway. So I'm in Arkansas now, and it's not really very warm here. Warmer than Boston, but not really very warm. So instead, I will leave you with a couple of pics of Cap Cana (Dominican Republic) which I described in a previous post (here) so we can all drool a little.



I swear one of these days, I may just drop everything and move to the Dominican Republic to become a sunscreen and surfboard salesman.

It's a sad day in Mudville. It looks like the family that own's James Hook (the lobster biz) is looking to sell. Following the devastating fire that took place during the summer (here), they rebuilt temporarily, but the permanent solution may be to sell to someone else.

The family is putting the site up for sale and awaiting responses from developers who were asked to propose scenarios that incorporate the historic wholesale and retail seafood business into a new building.

Jimmy estimated it would have cost the Hooks between $2 million and $3 million to rebuild the original retail and wholesale operation. Without another generation to run the business, Jimmy said it didn’t make sense for the siblings to make a large investment. Instead, the five siblings envision a new building that will incorporate the family business and perhaps a restaurant.

Without a future generation to work the biz, it makes sense to sell. I'm assuming they had some sort of insurance payoff and instead of putting that back into the rebuilding, they'd rather just sell and cash out. With the state of the economy the way it is, it's probably a good idea. Lobster is a luxury that (most likely) fewer and fewer folks are going to be able to afford.

PS. Thanks to the reader who sent the article to me. I couldn't figure out your name, and didn't want to disclose your email address, but you know who you are. Thanks!

Whoa! This is pretty big news in the business/geeky engineer world. A friend of mine worked for Sun for many years but recently jumped ship to go to Apple corporate after all the layoffs and such that Sun has been experiencing. They've got a big office in Burlington (I think) which could be affected big time by this acquisition.

International Business Machines Corp. is reportedly in talks to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. for at least $6.5 billion in cash, a deal that would directly affect more than 6,000 workers in Massachusetts.

The purchase price, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, would be a 100 percent premium over Sun's closing price of $4.97 a share Tuesday. Sun shares opened trading on Tuesday up more than 68 percent at $8.36. IBM was down almost 4 percent at $89.46.

The deal would be the largest acquisition in IBM history.

I guess we won't know what this means for MA workers until after the acquisition happens - if it happens at all. But hopefully it won't mean job losses for us. The last thing we need is more unemployed folks.

Click (here) to read the rest of the article.

Did I tell you guys that I finally quit the Sports Club LA? It was nice while it lasted, but prices kept on going up and amenities kept on going away. And it's probably a little preposterous to be paying $277 a month for a gym. Before you throw up in you mouth over the cost - that's the price of the executive membership. Their regular membership is cheaper. Anyhoo, there is plan in place to build another high-end gym in Fort Point Channel.

Equilibrium, a high-end fitness center, has leased 8,028 square feet of commercial space open a training center at 303 Congress St. in Boston.

Equilibrium, whose facilities include full-service spas and members-only cafes, will open a new location in the Fort Point Channel neighborhood. The building at 303 Congress St. is a 71,898-square-foot office building. The six-story property was completed in 2001 and features floor-to-ceiling windows.

I gotta say, in my opinion, a high-end gym is NOT what that area needs. What they need is stuff that would support people living there. A grocery store, a T stop other than the silver line, maybe daycare/schools for families that might want to live there. That's just me though, I'm sure they had some consulting firm do an analysis of some sort that said it'd be a great place for a gym.

Click (here) for the article.

Would a slight increase in the cost of your Sam cause you to drink it less? I've been drinking a fair amount of the white ale lately - it's pretty tasty. I'll probably stick with them despite the price increase. I like them as a company. I remember last year they did that whole 'hops sharing' thing when there was a shortage (here). That was nice of them.

The company predicted higher costs between 7 and 9 percent, mostly in packaging costs for a new contract for its glass bottles and operating costs of a Pennsylvania brewery.

The company plans to raise prices by 3 percent, which should help offset higher costs.

As a sourcing guy, I'd probably say operating costs are tough to deal with, but increased packaging costs? Unacceptable. Time to put out some RFQ's for new packaging and new bottle suppliers.

Dear Sam Adams folks. Shoot me an email if you need help with getting packaging quotes. I'd be glad to help if it meant keeping the cost of beer down for all of us.

Click (here) to read the Globe article.

PS. Sorry there aren't any cutesy images in these posts. I've been reduced to using wifi at an internet cafe (while traveling) to get my posts up and they're blocking image uploads. GRRR...

Since I'm on a roll with the topic of travel, here's one about how we're finally going to get Southwest Airlines at Logan. Jetblue, then Virgin, now Southwest. Time to get your travel on. Especially now, airfare is cheap. But then again, no one has any spare cash either. I'm in TX right now and I haven't gotten such a good deal on airfare in years.

Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines Co. said it plans to begin flying out of Logan International Airport by the fall, a long-awaited move that could drive down airfares for Boston passengers.

Chief executive Gary Kelly told The Globe the airline is planning "a conservative launch" with eight to 12 daily departures from Logan.

I'm trying to think if I've ever flown Southwest. I don't think I have. I do remember they got caught up with some safety violations/fines last year but hopefully that's all fixed now.

Click (here) for the Globe article.

I love that Logan continues to bring in more airlines and more routes to fun places. Most notably was the launch of Virgin America last month (here) but there's definitely more on the way. The latest one I read about is that Jetblue will start flying direct to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic starting this summer.

JetBlue Airways Corp. on June 19 plans to launch year-round nonstop service between Boston and the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. Service will begin with one flight per day on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and may increase in frequency during the peak winter season ... The new service is awaiting approval from the Dominican Republic's government.

I was just in DR last summer. It was for a friend's wedding in Punta Cana - so I didn't fly into Santo Domingo, but increased routes hopefully mean decreased prices to get there. If you do go to the Dominican Republic, try to check out a place called Cap Cana. We took a day trip out there and I have pictures that look like I'm sitting inside my own personal Corona advertisement. It's beautiful there.

Click (here) for the article.

It's been a while since I've noticed a condo auction. Last year I think buildings like Folio, Skyline, and Broadluxe held auctions. Next on the chopping block - Longwood Towers in Brookline. Here's the info.

Preview:
3/11 through 4/3
Open House Daily
Call: (866) 414-5740
20 Chapel Street
Brookline, MA 02446

Event:
Saturday, April 4th
Westin Copley Place
Check-in begins at 12pm.
Auction begins promptly at 1pm.

This would be pretty good for doctors that work in the Longwood Medical Center area. Or possibly for students that go to any of the Fenway schools (Emmanuel, Simmons, etc).

Click (here) for more info.

I couldn't decide if I should post a link to the video of her photo shoot or post photos from it. So I think I'm going to go with an embedded video and then a link to the photos if you'd like to see the finished product. Everyone else who covered the article covered the part where she talks about wanting babies with Tom Brady. Eh, I don't really care. Here's what I thought was fun to read.

There was a time, however, about five or six years ago, when Gisele wasn't ready for love and marriage and babies. The pace of her career, her lifestyle, and her one-name fame were getting the best of her.

"I was drinking a lot of red wine, smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes a day, and eating cheeseburgers all day.





I think she's probably exaggerating, but that does give hope that despite a steady diet of wine, cigarettes and cheeseburgers, you can still bounce back and get in great shape if you try hard enough. I guess all I'm missing is the cigarettes. I've got the wine and burgers down pretty good at this point.

Click (here) if you can't see the video.

Click (here) to read the article.

I was physically ill when I read this article. I don't have kids, but if I did, I'd sit them down and talk about this whole escapade. And if I had daughters, I'd enroll them in karate and buy them pepper spray.

Of the 200 Boston youths (ages 12 to 19) surveyed last month, 51 percent said Chris Brown was responsible for the incident, 46 percent said Rihanna was responsible and 52 percent said both were to blame; 52 percent said the media was treating Brown unfairly; 44 percent said fighting was a normal part of a relationship; and a “significant” number said “Rihanna was destroying Chris Brown’s career.” Women blamed Rihanna as much as men did.

Umm. I have all sorts of problems with this. 46% said Rihanna was responsible? How? I'd like to hear the argument that it was somehow her fault that he punched/bit/choked her repeatedly. 52% said the media was being unfair? Nothing has happened to Chris Brown. NOTHING. Michael Phelps smokes pot after winning 9 gold medals and he loses millions in endorsements. Chris Brown assaults Rihanna and they get together for a duet? I don't get it.

Click (here) to read the article.

I took a brief roadtrip to Washington DC last week. It was a great time, for those of you looking for a place to go that's within a day of driving, I had loads of fun there. It's about 450 miles away, so you could do it in about 8ish hours including pit stops.

I went to a handful of museums while I was there. Unlike Boston where most of the museums are pretty expensive to go to, the Smithsonian museums are free. They've got an endowment and such, but I'm sure part of your tax dollars are paying for it as well. May as well check it out - it's your dough helping to keep it free.

There's plenty of bars to go to in the area, amongst the ones we went to last week was a place called Eighteenth Street Lounge which is known for being the birthplace of the Thievery Corporation. Also, I'm an equal opportunity BonChonist (here) so I swung by the Bon Chon in Annandale for lunch one day. Oh and also, there's a really famous place for Peking Duck that was frequented by lots of politicians (most notably George and Barbara Bush) called Peking Gourmet Inn. The duck is superb!


Great food, bars, and museums. Not a bad week if I do say so myself. There's a few other road trips I'd like to do when it warms up. Possibly Philly for some cheesesteaks and also Montreal - two separate trips of course.

PS. The Bon Chon in Annandale is better than Privus. Privus better shape up!

Because I was out for most of last week, I'm a little behind on getting posts out so forgive me if a few of these posts aren't as current as they should be. But then again, if you haven't seen it yet, it's new to you.

Here are a few pics from U2's performance in Davis at the Somerville Theater.


Anybody out there fortunate enough to win tickets to the show? Or if you didn't, did you head out to Davis Square anyway to hang out?

Click (here) to see more pics.

And (here)

And then some more (here).

Woohooo! Adam Sandler is definitely coming to film his movie in May (here). And he's bringing a host of other cool guys with him: Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. The Globe blurb says they're going to be filming in Essex, MA. But hopefully they'll do some filming in downtown Boston as well.

Lakefront Productions, Inc., affiliated with Columbia Pictures and Sandler's Happy Madison Productions, signed an agreement with Essex selectmen this week allowing filming in the town's Centennial Grove park. The flick, about five high school buddies who reunite on the Fourth of July after 30 years apart, will star Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. A crew will film at a grove cottage and in other areas of the park. According to a town news release, "Preparation for filming has already begun and it is expected that filming will occur this summer with site restoration to be completed by September 15." Essex will get $150,000 for property use and parking. The film will be directed by Dennis Dugan, the guy behind "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" and "Happy Gilmore." Shooting is expected to start in May.

Click (here) to read the rest of the blurb.

I'm on the road right now. In DC until the week's end and then Texas the week after that. I'm hoping that when I return, it'll be warmer out. And one thing that comes with all that warm weather - charity walks. I've got friends doing all sorts of walks this year: MS, Breast Cancer, Alzheimer's ... so far. Here's a new one that's worth checking out: The Gawad Kalinga 5K Walk.

Gawad Kalinga (GK) translated in English means to “to give care”, and it is an alternative solution to the blatant problem of poverty not just in the Philippines but in the world. GK’s vision for the Philippines is a slum-free, squatter-free nation through a simple strategy of providing land for the landless, homes for the homeless, food for the hungry and as a result providing dignity and peace for every Filipino.

The walk will be held on Saturday, April 18, 2009 from 8:30 AM - 1:00 PM.

Click (here) to get more info.

Uh oh. I just got an email saying that the Estate's Anniversary party is canceled because the Pussycat Dolls can't make it (here). This is NOT GOOD.

Due to a last-minute scheduling conflict, The Pussycat Dolls will not be able to attend The Estate's Second Anniversary Party on Monday, March 16th. Because of this, the anniversary party has been officially cancelled. We hope to reschedule in the next few weeks so please stay tuned.

All ticket purchases will be refunded within 7 business days. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this causes and can assure you that we are as disappointed as you. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

They better still be opening for Britney on Monday night or somebody gonna getta hurt (channeling Russell Peters). I'll keep my eyes peeled for any news on them cancelling on Britney as well and will let you know if I see anything. They better show. Cause if they don't, that'll be the 2nd time in they've canceled their Boston appearance.

I bet I would recognize a song by one of these artists if I heard it, but I can't name one off the top of my head. Earth, Wind, and Fire is performing with Chicago at Agganis Arena on Tuesday, June 16th @ 7:30pm.

Since the 60's and 70's Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire have epitomized the highest caliber of musicianship. Synonomous with musical diversity and spanning over 4 decades, they have pioneered the musical roads of rock 'n' roll, jazz, soul, funk, gospel, blues, rock, dance and pop.

Each band will perform a full set, and the two bands will come together both at the beginning of the night and for a final set that features both bands onstage together.

Presale begins: Fri, March 13 @ 10am
Presale ends: Sun, March 15 @ 10pm
Password: Together
Ticket prices: $97, $65, and $35

Click (here) to get your tickets.

Did anyone else get tickets to Britney's concert this upcoming Monday (here)? From what I've been reading, it's going to be an awesome show - the Pussycat Dolls are opening. And I guess after the show, PCD will be heating to The Estate for their Anniversary party.

Not so funny story from a few years ago. The Black Eyed Peas were in town performing and PCD was supposed to open for them. This was when that "Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me" song was at the height of its popularity. Anyhoo, we showed up to the Tweeter Center and were told that PCD cancelled - Danity Kane was going to perform in their stead. I threw up in my mouth a little when I heard this.

Anyhoo, we know where the Pussycat Dolls will be afterpartying on Monday. But more importantly, I wonder where Britney will be.

Click (here) to get tickets to the Estate.

Restaurant week sure has changed over the years. First it was once a year. Then it was twice a year. Now it's been extended to two weeks. Coming up this Sunday is the start of Restaurant Week(s).

From Sunday, March 15 through Friday, March 20 and Sunday, March 22 - Friday, March 27, 2009 diners will enjoy 3-course lunches for $20.09 and/or dinners for $33.09 at restaurants throughout Boston, Cambridge, the suburbs and beyond.

New to the Restaurant Week Menu this year is a 2-course lunch option for $15.09. Diners can enjoy an entree and then elect either an appetizer or dessert as the second course. Many restaurants are also including Saturday this year.

Everything I keep reading is that restaurants in general are faring rather poorly through this recession and so I can see why they'd want to extend restaurant week along with all those recession specials that are already going on.

Click (here) for restaurant week info.

I did two separate projects on Xu Bing when I was in college. Or maybe it was one project that I turned in twice for two different classes. I'll never tell! But anyway, he's going to be at the Peabody Essex Museum on Sunday for an event and it sounds pretty interesting.

Explore how contemporary art from China is influenced by the rapidly changing cultural and socioeconomic landscape, and how contemporary artists interact with or react to traditional Chinese art.

Panelists are renowned artist Xu Bing, whose works are on view in Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection; Barbara Pollock, author of The Chinese Art Explosion (Art News, September 2008); and Jerome Silbergeld, the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Professor of Chinese Art History at Princeton University; Nancy Berliner, curator of Chinese Art at the Peabody Essex Museum. Trevor Smith, curator of Contemporary Art at the Peabody Essex Museum, moderates the discussion.

The event starts at 2pm. Oh and for those of you that haven't heard of Xu Bing. Take a close look at the image in the upper corner. It kinda looks like chinese characters, but they're actually conspicuously arranged English letters. It says "Xu Bing."

Click (here) to get tix.

Looks like it's a day filled with concert listings. I just got an alert that the pre-sale for The Fray concert just started at 10am this morning as well. They're the ones that sing that 'How To Save A Life" song right? I haven't listened to their album in a while.

The Fray with Jack’s Mannequin Concert Tickets
Comcast Center
06/21/09
Door: 5:30 PM
Show: 7:00 PM

Presale starts: Thu, Mar 12 at 10am
Presale ends: Thu, Mar 12 at 10pm
Password: strings

Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, Mar 13 at 9am.

Click (here) to get your tickets.

I'm not a fan of DMB, but pretty much all the rest of my friends are. I listen to A LOT of music, but for some reason I just never got into Dave Matthews Band. Well, for all the rest of you, it's time to call in that favor from your friend with the American Express card. The Amex pre-sale starts today at 10am.

Get tickets before the general public to see Dave Matthews Band Summer Tour 2009
May 29 & 30
Boston, MA
Presale: Thursday, March 12 at 10am – Tuesday, March 17 at 10pm
$75

I did a little searching for the venue, because I can't find it anywhere on the pre-sale site right now (since it hasn't started yet) and it looks like the two shows will be at Fenway. Big crowd!

I also can't seem to find the exact pre-sale page, possibly because it's not posted yet. But I'll get you as close as I can, which is the E-tix site that says the presale starts at 10am EST.

Click (here) to go to Etix.

PS. To my personal friends that are reading this. Yes, I do have an Amex. No, I'm not planning on going. Yes, I will get tickets for you if you want. But, you're going to need to call me in the morning at around 9:30am to ask me because the probability of me being awake before 10am of my own volition is close to 0%. That means that if you send me an email, I won't get it until I actually wake up, which could very well end up being sometime in the afternoon on Saturday.

I forget which category she won in, but Adele won a Grammy a few weeks back.

I got her album after seeing her on the Grammies (I hadn't heard of her before then) and she does indeed have a great voice. And that "Chasing Pavements" song is pretty catchy as well. Tickets for her concert at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday May 2 are now on sale.

As of 1am this morning, there are still tickets available (I checked).

05/02/09
Door: 6:45 PM
Show: 7:30 PM

Click (here) to get your tickets.

A zillion thank you's to Bloggery Reader Bethany for letting me know about this. Apparently, the Phoenix is currently taking a survey on the Best of '09 and one of the categories is Best Blog and Bethany emailed me to let me know she voted for me and that ya'll should too!

Boston's Best Blog/Podcast
Vote for your favorite in Boston! If your choice doesn't appear in the list below, use the optional field to submit a vote for those we don't know about!

I would be much obliged if you would vote for me. And then email your friends and tell them to vote for me. And then call your parents and tell them to vote for me. If you have pets, they can vote for me as well. If you use the embedded ballot box, I believe you hafta click submit twice, until it says that you've successfully voted.

Click (here) if the embedded ballot box didn't show up.

I told you I got the chance to meet some Patriots Cheerleaders, right (here)? Well, a couple weeks ago they had tryouts to recruit new ones. Here are a few shots that the Globe took. Tryouts were on Feb 28, 2009.

Want to hear a sad story? When I did meet Dinna Yap, we talked briefly about this blog and she had said she was going to email me because she had an event she wanted me to blog about for her. She def never emailed me. It's cool, though, because if I met myself at a random party, I probably wouldn't email me either.