(e:jason) and I are also sorry that we couldn't make the get-together - we had a long standing appointment at a golf course with our father that required us to be in Jamestown on Saturday. We missed his birthday so we made it out to hang with him. It was good to see Dad, seeing as we rarely make it back to good ol' J-Vegas. We also visited Grandma, who is still coping with the fact that people think she is funny... as if its a bad thing.

On Friday though, gratuitous fun was had by all at the M*A*S*H Bash. It was my first time attending, and all in all its your standard carnival-style tent with food, a stage with a band, free wine and beer, cigars and lots of people. It was staged, if you didn't notice it, at the Red Cross building on Delaware. I think I should have ate before I drank - it got ugly and my friend had a camera to document it all. Here are some of the more publicly acceptable images.



My brother, myself, my buddy JV and our friend Anne, a former Buffalonian who was visiting from NYC. I was very impressed with her willingness to smoke a stogie with us - she didn't even give it a second thought. She golfs as well so I suspect that she's been around enough golf events to have learned to appreciate fine tobacco. I shouldn't have been so surprised.



My brother and I - as you can see its still daylight but I'm already too drunk to keep my eyes open. (e:jason) was amused.



At Gordon's towards the end of the night. Me, Anne and one of the girls JV and I played darts against. I don't recall this particular picture being taken, and as you can see at this point I probably wasn't taking much into consideration at all. JV told me that I came up with a "classic line" before I left - I'm a bit terrified to find out exactly what I said, to be honest!

Don't ask him - based on this picture he must not know.



Devastating. The article I pulled this picture from referred to this as the "Seinfeld look." This vaguely reminds me of another humorous picture taken of a presidential candidate in 2004.



If you ask me, the only thing missing from Obama's picture is training wheels, which depending on your political outlook may provide some apt symbolism.

Personally, I'm waiting to hear the reaction from the utterly humorless among us that couldn't stand to hear or see exploitation of one humorous moment from "their" candidate. At least he appears to be enjoying himself during some very well-earned downtime. Can't hate on that!

Seriously though, even President Bush has enough sense to put on a track suit. The hippest presidential candidate in 40 years can't really be that unhip, can he?

She does a shit job if you ask me.



She's doing the same thing right now. If she were on the payroll my boss would totally smoke her. Instead she gets cut off when the Tim bits arrive.

Watch this space for a political entry very soon regarding last nights speeches and how I feel about the upcoming election. I am going to utter some words that I've never imagined uttering before regarding Senator Clinton.

Item 1 - Exxon Mobil CEO lashes out at environmentalists and suggests that it is their "corporate social responsibility" to supply the world with fossil fuels. Since I actually work in this industry I find it appalling that he would associate its ideals to theirs, which in reality are completely incompatible. They have no clue what "corporate social responsibility" means and their CEO has now proved it. Oh, and instead of placating global warming activists he is provoking them.

Item 2 - A film of a real deal alien, alive and apparently blinking, is going to be shown to the media Friday in Denver. When things like this pop up, UFO fanatics usually completely overblow the whole thing. Then, when the video is shown everyone is naturally underwhelmed. I really hope this doesn't end up being a scratchy video with a couple of shifting pixels.

Item 3 - Notorious lefty punching bag, Rupert Murdoch, lavishes praise on Barack Obama and the Democrats while poking Olbermann in the eye. (e:jason) and I watched Olbermann last night - I'd have to say I agree. and

Item 4 - In what I am now dubbing the "Million Moaner March," some of Hillary's supporters are planning protests in Washington over what they feel is an inadequate, unfair and disenfranchising solution to the Florida and Michigan delegate problem. A particularly salient bit - "If either candidate dislikes the committee's eventual decision, the matter could go before the party's Credentials Committee in July or August. Any action it took would have to be voted on at the national convention, which opens Aug. 25 in Denver." If the final tally shows that Hillary would have won had all the votes counted, I guarantee it will go to the convention.

Item 5 - Famous opera house La Scala plans on staging an opera production of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." This is as disturbing as setting Don Rumsfeld quotes to chamber music. The funniest bit is that this will give the phrase "operatic kvetching" a whole new spectrum of irony.

When you are as bored with presidential politics as I am the only thing that will startle you is a tasty little morsel like this one -

It is about how small stories become big news and how the media is complicit in the proliferation of such news, using the recent Hillary Clinton-RFK example. I find media members critiquing other media members fascinating because its one of the few times where they are actually honest about the shortcomings in their profession. The twist - the author was witness to the media echo chamber that he criticizes in this example.

Its just one of many examples on how journalistic integrity is on the wane. Its a bit scary to think that a generation of journalism students are learning from this and presuming that this is the correct way to go about their job.

Is there any other kind?

Creator of N'SYNC is going to the pokey - apparently the man made a decades long career out of bilking banks and individuals for $300 million. For his troubles he's about to become the jail pincushion for 25 years. Looking at the man makes me wonder if Karl Rove and Chris Farley had some sort of love child.

OMG! on Yahoo is the gossip section, so you know. (I'm talking to you Ho sisters and Mike but I suspect you're already familiar with these sites!)



In other news - will we see a quantum leap in space travel during our lifetimes? Scientists are working on developing anti-matter technology for future propulsion systems - as the article states, it would shrink an 11-month journey to Mars down to 1 month.

Its rare that I use my space here on (e:strip) to endorse a product or service, but this time has to be different - I think I found my new favorite spot.

Yesterday (e:jason) and I went down to Hardware after work to drink some Westmalle Dubbel (oh, and we got let in on a couple secrets they keep in the cooler) when I thought about food. Where the hell are we going to eat? I looked out the window across the street at Lagniappes. I thought, "Oh, I read about this guy (gulp) on Buffalo Rising's website!" BRO readers gave the place a ringing endorsement so I had to check it out. Besides, they have po'boys and I haven't had a proper one since I was last in New Orleans.

Its a small place but I'm telling you, the place smells like love. I'm sorry but there is nothing like a small area smelling fragrant with the creole spices in the air. When a place smells that great, you just know that the food is going to be good. Bottom line - I love this kind of food. I ordered the fried oyster po'boy with remoulade, and (e:jason) ordered a fried soft shell crab po'boy. I also got an order of the jambalaya to share with my brother.

I didn't get to the jambalaya and in fact its sitting in my fridge, which is a shame because I did have a bite of it and its freaking lovely. I loved my sandwich - you get a choice of side and I went for the black eyed peas. Absolutely delicious. For a side (e:jason) went for the fried okra - I nicked one when he wasn't looking and agreed with him after letting him know I stole one that they were excellent.

This is not your normal sandwich shop though - the man in the kitchen is an award winning chef. I think it would have been more pragmatic to skip the extra entree I ordered and went for the gumbo. There is little pretentious about the place, with the possible exception of artwork on the wall created by local artists.

Lagniappes dinner hours are Tuesday - Saturday, from 4pm - 2am, and lunch hours are Tuesday - Friday from 11am - 2pm. Read carefully - no Sundays or Mondays. They also deliver if you are so inclined. Here is their website - - give them a try if you haven't. The desserts are listed on their menu as "Fresh Selections Daily - Please Ask." So, for me the only question left is this - where are the beignets?

Quick note - the prices on the online menu are wrong - a few items have gone up a buck or two. A good example is the jambalaya I ordered - originally it was $8 and I paid $10 last night. Nor am I complaining about it really. Keep in mind that their prices are subject to change without notice. The priciest thing on the entire menu is their cajun sampler, at $19 - it includes crab cake, jambalaya, red beans and rice, a cup of gumbo and fried oysters. It must be a mountain of food and I'm sure that it would be a great meal to share with a like minded person of the opposite sex (or same sex, depending on your persuasion). You know, creole spice smells in bed aren't a turnoff for me. Does that make me weird?

Jack shit.



I suspect that this is the closest thing to an honest day's work he's ever put in, so I have to admit I feel conflicted. Does he deserve scorn or does he deserve praise for this effort?

I received an e-mail from Buffalo.com about a free "seminar" being hosted by the Buffalo News tonight regarding citizen journalism. I have a proper rant to launch on this topic later on. Suffice it to say, as usual I have found something (or things) to be skeptical about. Some of you may be compelled to see it my way - I'll lay out the evidence and let you decide.

Today I will find out if O3 Cafe in Snyder has decent food. O3 Cafe is located within the Snyder location of Everything Elmwood - there really is nothing like selling our neighborhood character to the burbs directly, is there?

Sorry - I am a technological Luddite when it comes to phones. I've solicited (e:paul)'s advice but I haven't gotten my bootleg Nokia phone yet. In other words, there will not be any pictures of the food!

I actually have a food question for y'all. I've heard of a few new local joints in and around Allentown have opened up. Seeing as I rarely make it south of West Ferry for anything other than booze, what can you guys tell me about the Quaker Bonnet and Steel Crazy?

I swear I'm going to skin somebody alive if this happens again. 3:30am this stupid fucking bastard screamed at the top of his lungs 'ASSSSSHHHHLLLLLEEEEEYYYYYY!" Finally, after the third time, I got up, ran to my window, opened it and snarled/shouted "SHUT UP!!!" I don't think I've ever sounded so primal. They got the message and left.

I have to admit I'm beginning to harbor major resentment and sooner or later its going to be impossible to be nice about it. This moron must really not realize that he's waking up an entire neighborhood. I'm simply going to begin calling the police, or in lieu of police, I'm breaking out the supersoaker and it will be filled with synthetic deer urine scent.

Impressive really - it broke the records that Halo 3 set for opening day sales and opening week sales.

The subplot involves a potentially hostile takeover by EA. As the article states, its a $2b deal for the parent company, Take 2 Interactive. Seeing as the offer falls short of the trading price I think this is absolutely frivolous. They compare it to MSFT and Yahoo, but at least in MSFT's case they are offering well above the trading price. I don't see EA getting a sniff unless they are willing to pay a reasonable premium for an obviously hot commodity.