The Little Big Post

Little Big Planet is the latest gaming craze, this time on the Playstation 3. The game has a really modest approach to gaming and focuses on creating and sharing your own levels with other gamers online. You can customize everything by adding your own photos, objects, background elements and the like. What’s really refreshing is that the online community with game is all about creating, sharing and having fun, rather than the goal of most games (which are maim, shoot and/or relentlessly ridicule). If you have a PS3 I strongly recommend picking it up. And if you don’t have one, and where on the fence then maybe this is one of the games that will make the purchase worthwhile. Sarah loves it, which pretty much is the green gaming light (so far Tetris and the Lego games are the only ones to gain the coveted seal of approval.

The Doner Time Post

Last night I went to hang out with Ali and Bob out in Leesburg for the evening. A local German restaurant called Hamburg Döner was having an Oktoberfest celebration so Bob and I wandered over to check it out. The place was teeming with people chowing down on German grub and drinking from their extensive collection of import brews. There where people wandering around in full lederhosen getups and a couple of St. Paulie Girl looking ladies, which I had a hard time determining if they worked for the place, or where just German enthusiasts. There was a polka band playing in the back and tents setup outside. Bob grabbed us some gigantor beer steins loaded with tasty goodness…a full liter to be exact. We got to keep the steins too which is cool, as neither of us could manage a refill on the monster. The things are so big it’s actually hard to drink out of them. Bob kept splashing himself in the face every time he set his down, and I swear my wrist popped out of its socket trying to tip that thing for a sip. Good times, lots of fun and a wonderful atmosphere on a Sunday evening.

The Save the Whales Post

On Sunday I headed down to the Mall with Eric, just to wander and enjoy the nice weather. It’s nice being back in DC and having an appreciation for how much ‘stuff’ goes on here. We walked the length of the mall and saw some pretty interesting things. The Marine Corps Marathon was finishing up right when we got there so we got to see people jaunting across the finish line while the onlookers cheered and applauded them. 26 miles…yikes. Well done guys. A little bit further down we ran into Mr. Can Head, posing by some landmarks in his trademark bin-on-head outfit. Don’t ask me why, here’s his myspace. I went over and asked him why he had a bucket on his head and he gave me his card and disappeared. Strange. Very strange.

The best part on our walk of seeming randomness was the Save the Whales rally going on in front of the Capitol Building*. Heroes’ Hayden Panettiere was there giving a press conference about the importance of whale conservation and whaling regulation. After she finished guys from the Whaleman Foundation staked out an area of the lawn and positioned people in the shape of a giant whale. They needed extra people and where giving out free t-shirts, so Eric and I joined in and became part of the whale's tail. A large cherry picker across the street with photographers took pictures…which I am yet to find on the net yet (here’s one they did elsewhere). Afterward we where going to stop for a picture with Hayden, but a reporter grabbed her for an interview that my bladder just couldn’t wait for (I had downed a large bottle of water on the metro and had spent the last hour laying on the grass as part of a whale butt), so we bailed and I sprinted for the Smithsonian bathrooms. If you’d like more info on the foundation you can find it here. While I personally agree that whaling and polluted ecosystems are destructive and need attention, I find it hard to focus in the issue at the expense of other travesties that are happening across the globe. That said I support the movement and think it’s great that people want to do something about it, I mean who wants to actually harm whales??

* I say seeming because we where actually looking for it.

The Maryland Theater Post

Saturday the family, Sarah and I headed into Maryland to American University’s Greenburg Theatre. Stefan’s girlfriend Courtney is headlining the current production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. The show centers around naive Millie Dillmount (Courtney) moving to the hustle and bustle of 1920’s New York city with nothing but a dream in her pocket. She quickly finds that life in the big city is not all its cracked up to be and an aspiring actress has her work cut out for her. Along the way there are evil fake-Asians, white slavery hostels, stints in speakeasies and hanging off of rooftops. I am not big into going to theater, but I really enjoyed it. It was funny, catchy and all around a lot of fun. Courtney did a phenomenal job, as did the rest of the cast. It’s a shame Stefan isn’t back to see the show while it runs, but the family wanted to be there on his behalf for her, and we where all proud and very impressed.

The Obama Rally Post

Yesterday Sarah took off work early to pick me up and take me out to Leesburg for an Obama rally. We piled into the van with Patti and Jacob and headed off down the Greenway along with 10,000 other vehicles who all has the same hopes of seeing Obama speak. Traffic was INSANE and considering how much time we left in advance I was amazed to see how off the mark we where. It took us about 2 hours to travel a distance that should have taken 25 minutes. Had I know the rally was on I would have spent the day down with Ali and Bob who live within walking distance of the park where the rally was being held. Oh well. We made it there and marched down the street at a quick clip to the park and managed to shuffle through the crowd to the top of a hill overlooking the rally. There where so many people there it was ridiculous, elbows and arms where in people’s faces, children where getting trodden on, and moving was all but impossible. It’s amazing how pushy and rude people can be at these sorts of events when they think they might catch a glimpse of celebrity. Everyone was vying for a view, and some seemed to want to get onto the stage with the amount of elbows they where throwing. Negativity aside I am really glad I got to go and see him speak before the election in two weeks. I hope to say I was there at something historical when he becomes the next president but I don’t want to jinx anything yet. I was there. (albeit at a good distance). I can’t imagine what DC will be like the day the new chief is sworn in…

I think the best part about the whole rally though was the aftermath. There where McCain supporters who posted up on the opposite side of the street shouting things like “Don’t’ Vote for A Terrorist!” and various ramblings about how they don’t want to be taxed more (I really wish they would read the plan and see that's just crap…but whatever they seemed happy). The worst of it though where a group of children that had duct tape over their mouths and hand-painted signs that said “Aren’t you glad your mother chose life?” which I thought was ridiculous. I felt bad for the kids if anything, standing their in the cold while Mom and Dad tossed jibes back and forth with the exiting mob from the rally. Said mob was rather entertaining walking down the Leesburg streets. Everyone was chanting OBAMA! OBAMA! And booing at any McCain signs people has on their lawns. Crowd control was rough when the motorcade came and went with people lingering the streets and in many cases wandering aimlessly in the middle of intersections. All said and done it was quite the experience to say the least, and well worth getting to be a part of even if I can’t vote for the guy.

The Chicken Tika Post

Over the past two years I have mainly been eating two types of food. Those that are microwavable and those that begin with 'Mc'. Sufficed to say I am a pretty shitty cook, or at least a very out of practice one. Since being back Mum has taken it upon herself to include me in the preparation of a few meals that she things would be things I could take away and cook myself in the future. Last week we made Tuna Cakes or as I like to call them Poor Man’s Crab Cakes, which where tasty and really easy. And this past weekend I cooked one of my favorite dishes; Chicken Tika Marsala with thick Naan Bread. It was a lot of work, particularly the bread, but after a good few hours in the kitchen, when it was time to eat, everyone seemed to agree that it worked out well. I took a snappy to prove my culinary prowess, though I promise it tasted better than it looked. Next week’s menu: 13-fish Bouillabaisse and Beef Wellington!Also pictured: Lankshark Lager. Now available in Virginia. Woo hoo!

The President Palin Post

If anything you shouldn’t vote for McCain solely on the off chance that he cops it and THIS happens. Hilarious little flash site that gets updated every day up to the election. Poke around the office and see for yourself.