Longest. Match. Ever.

At 59-59, in their fifth set of the first round match at Wimbledon, Isner and Mahut have been at it for 10 hours over the past 2 days. Play has been suspended for a second day due to the fading sunlight. They have both beaten the previous record for most aces in a match, 78, with almost 100 each.

One of the many reasons I love tennis so much is the fact that a match is never over until the last point has been completed. This is the case even if a tie-breaker is played, since you have to win by two points. Even on match point, down 0-6, 0-6, 0-5, Love-40, the match is not over.

These guys are showing incredible (preternatural?) mental and physical fitness. I only hope that the ending is not anti-climactic. Whoever wins is lucky that the match is delayed once again, since he will have a little more recovery time before the following one. I can't imagine one's body performing well after such wear and tear.

In any case, you may watch practically any important sporting event on ESPN3.com these days. Play resumes tomorrow at some point. I can't watch anymore. Let me know how it ends.

Crackberry News

I don't know how people use the standard, full QWERTY keyboard on Blackberry Bolds and Curves and the like. I'm now on my third Blackberry since 2004, starting with the slender 7100 series. I have pretty long, skinny fingers, and I know people with some pretty stubby digits. How they use a crowded, tiny button keyboard is beyond me. I have been waiting for at least a year to replace my Pearl, and my prayers seem like they just might have been answered, though this phone is not yet available in the U.S.

She will be mine. Oh yes, she will be mine. They even have a version that employs the old ABC, DEF keyboard, should you prefer that to a QWERTY (which is laid out like a computer keyboard, in case you don't know what that means).

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberrypearl3G/

Bobby Strikes Black

Miami's up-and-coming rapper, Black Bobby, has just released his second mixtape in 7 months. The first two tracks are the standouts, in my opinion, but there's something for everyone here. Old school, Kanye-like soul sounds, techno beats, and some original production by boy-wonder, R-Cubed, a local producer who's barely old enough to get into an R-rated movie.

Go here to download the album.

Does anyone know how to hyperlink photos on Blogger these days? They've made this thing less user-friendly, I think.

That Other Sporting Event Going On This Week

Local Miami hero, Erik Compton, a 30-year-old golfer who has undergone not one, but two heart transplants in his young life, has qualified for the U.S. Open. This year it's being held at Pebble Beach, one of the most beautiful places in the entire world.

Please join me in sending many positive thoughts and prayers, if you are so inclined, his way.

You may read a little bit about him in today's article in the Washington Post.

Nike Soccer Ad

There are several reasons that this ad and the world are totally awesome. Let's watch!

C'est Bon

It's like they crawled inside my brain to make clothing I would design myself.

http://www.bonobos.com/

Awesome Miami Rap

From the New Times -

"If you haven't heard about Black Bobby, now its [sic] time to pay attention."

Click here to download his latest -

http://blackbobby.bandcamp.com/album/black-bobby-major-blazer-x-exhibit-dmv

Double 0 Zero

Since I don't have a blog called "This Is Totally Not Awesome," I have decided to use this one to share some rather unfortunate news, namely that the next Bond film is on hold because of the uncertain future of MGM.

eonline.com

And here's a bit of trivia about the movie, courtesy of IMDB -

Ian Fleming's short story "007 in New York" is rumored to be the basis for this film. It was first published in the The New York Herald Tribune in 1963 and then in the US edition only of Fleming's 'Thrilling Cities". It was first published in the UK in November 1999 in The Sunday Times magazine supplement as a tie-in with the film release of the Bond movie The World Is Not Enough (1999). Its working title was "Reflections in a Carey Cadillac" and its original title was "Agent 007 in New York" when published in the NY Herald Tribune. The story features a Bond Girl called Solange, a name which was used for a character in Casino Royale (2006). For the first time in 2002, the short-story was added to the "Octopussy and The Living Daylights" compendium which includes these two short stories plus "The Property of a Lady". This was the first time that the short story was published alongside other Bond short stories. "007 in New York" is the shortest and also arguably the least well-known of all the Ian Fleming James Bond short-stories. The story is famous for representing two story elements: (1) it includes James Bond's only literary shopping expedition and (2) it includes his recipe for scrambled eggs.

SWEATSTOCK - This Saturday in Miami

NetfWiix

I got my girlfriend a Netflix subscription for Christmas, since we had recently gotten to a point where we were renting a movie every week from Blockbuster. Contributing to Blockbuster's demise, I decided that it only made sense to spend the 10 bucks/month for unlimited movies from Netflix. I thought I would miss going to the video store and browsing through the movies, but I don't. At all.

Now that we have Netflix, we don't watch as many movies as we used to, of course. But alas, Netflix just sent me an email that if you own a Wii, which my girlfriend does, then you can order a free CD that converts your Wii into a Roku-type box that streams Netflix to your TV. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving -

So, if you have a Wii, go here and it should arrive in 1 day. Sorry you have to wait so long.

Say Hello

To the soon to be released Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing.

OMG (Oh Mein Gott)

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/#/futureModelsSLSAMGclass/

It's All About the U

Tiniest Apt in NYC

This is pretty awesome. This couple lives in a 175 s.f. studio that they bought for $150,000. They pick up their work clothes at the dry cleaner on the way to the office, they keep underwear in the kitchen cabinets, and they even let guests stay with them.

www.nypost.com/

Wedding Singer

I was just sitting here thinking to myself, "wouldn't it be hilarious to find that band that swears in classic songs from the movies Starsky & Hutch, Old School and The Hangover and hire them for one's wedding?"

I don't know if you can do that, but they have a website and they go on tour and stuff. That's pretty awesome.

http://www.thedanband.com/

iPhone Squared

What an age in which we live. My parents remember the days before they owned a television. My mother literally came to the U.S. on a boat in the 1940s.

There is a new app, called Square, created by the co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, that turns one's iPhone (and other smartphones, in the future) into a credit card reader and payment system. Reading the following article is pretty hilarious for  someone with a seriously Irish name like me (Colin Patrick O'Higgins). The major players are the aforementioned Mr. Dorsey, Jim McKelvey, and Tristan O'Tierney. Sounds more like a drinking team than a group of enginerds! So, an Irishman, an Indian, and an Asian walk into a bar...I'm getting off track.

Here's a blurb from the article. So simple. I can't believe I didn't think of it. From GigaOm - 


What Is Square?
It’s essentially a small magnetic reader that plugs into the headphone jack of an iPhone. When a credit card (or a debit card) is swiped through the reader, it reads the data and converts it into an audio signal. The microphone picks up the audio, sends it through the processors and then is routed to Square’s software application on the iPhone. From there the encrypted data is transmitted using either Wi-Fi (for iPod touch) or a 3G Internet connection to back-end severs, which in turn communicate with the payment networks to complete the transactions.

This Is Pretty Phat

Click on the album cover to go to Black Bobby's website and download his new mix tape. It's free, so that's pretty phat, I mean awesome.

Boo-hoo! Ja mon!

Halloween arrives in only 17 days! No doubt, 85% of people will go as pirates, but of the remaining 15%, at least 8 will go as MJ. How do I come up with these figures? I love Halloween and I have a gift for it.

If you decide to go as the King of Pop, please go to this site and do it right. You can get an exact replica of his sequined glove for a mere $550. Believe me, it doesn't work if you buy a cotton glove and try to glue sequins and glitter on it. I did that in 2001 and I am still ashamed that I did not execute better. I wish I had a photo of that costume handy, but I'm fairly certain I have one in storage.

Anyway, here's the site. It's awesome, but it might be a total scam, so be careful. Any time I'm ordering from somewhere that seems kind of sketchy, I'll type in "_____ scam" or "_____ problems" and see if something comes up in a search.

The B Movie Team

I used to get all psyched for sequels to movies I loved or when they would turn old TV shows into blockbuster Hollywood movies. I even got excited about the GI Joe movie before I started hearing about all the production problems and the fact that it wasn't screened early for critics. That's a very bad sign.

You know what? When they make movies about old TV shows, they almost always suck, because if they had a good idea for an action movie, they wouldn't need the gimmick of an old TV show (that's probably really terrible if you were to watch it today, by the way, but happened to be good during its time) to get people to watch it.

Doing remakes of movies from other countries, however, seems to work pretty well. Maybe they're smarter than we are.

I do have to make an exception for Miami Vice, even though many people think that was also terrible. The movie was directed by the creator of the TV show and more of an embodiment of his vision anyway. I loved it. Saw it twice in the theater and had a Miami Vice theme party on opening night. If you didn't like it the first time, give it another shot. Have I ever steered you wrong?

Oh, so the reason I was prompted to make this post is that they're filming a movie version of The A Team. As soon as I saw that on WWTDD, I heard the theme song in my head. Which brings me to another point of contention. Why don't they include the theme songs in the movie versions??? In the 80s the theme songs were the best part of the show. They got you all psyched up to watch. I give you Air Wolf, as an example. The opening song is so awesome that you watch the show even though it's terrible.

So, here's the A Team theme. I guess I should say "the The A Team" theme -
A-team theme

And here's the A Team theme played on classical guitar -

Here's Airwolf -

And Miami Vice -

Look how good Magnum PI's is -


See how awesome the 80s were?

Go See This Movie

Where's Your Brain? Why'd You Hit Me? Where's Your Brain?

370 Beech Street, Highland Park, IL is the real-life property that served as the home of Ferris Bueller pal, Cameron Frye. It's for sale. Awesome [Ferrari not included].