Don't Forget Your Filters

   Happy Monday, I guess. I hope you all had a nice weekend. I certainly did.
   Saturday we went to the New England Six Flags. Personally, I'm not a big fan of amusement parks, but it was nice to hang out with the guys. We did a vlog from Nik's phone (seeing as my phone was broken by someone in the marching band who will go unnamed...), but I haven't received the edited edition as of yet, so we'll see if that ever gets done.
   Speaking of the Nerds Under Fire crew, I'm working on putting together a new art page composed of stuff not only from Nik, but also myself, and my girlfriend Tiana (mostly her). Many of you have seen both Nik's and my own work, but Tiana is in her own league, so she will definitely dominate the page.
   You'll also be able to buy Tiana's prints on an Etsy store that is currently in the works. This is unaffiliated with Nerds Under Fire, but I thought I would give her a plug, anyway. She's an incredible artist, and I'll be sure to post a link to her store as soon as I can. Definitely something to check out. She's amazingly creative and does some incredible stuff.
   Anyway, back to Six Flags, we had a pretty good time. The park wasn't anything super special, but the rides were pretty good. Although I must say, I spent a long time looking for a decent souvenir and I could not find anything. I didn't expect much, but come on. Just incredibly stupid stuff. Granted they had awesome DC merchandise, because they have a deal with DC Comics, but what I wanted was something from Six Flags, which was weird. However, if you want to buy cool DC superhero stuff, Six Flags is the place to go.
   The only real disappointment of the trip was that most of the pictures I took didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. There are one or two decent ones, but of three rolls of film that's not very good. This is mostly because I kept putting off putting on the UV filter, or the 80b. Either of those would have helped a lot, and I'm really irritated that I wasted $30 on those prints.
   The moral of the story is, I really freaking need a digital camera because I simply do not have the money to be developing film all the time. Hahaha.
   Hope you guys have a great start of the week. I'll check back in with you on Wednesday.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

I'm Shipping Up To Boston

   Hi guys! Joe, here. Checking in from the Marriot just outside Boston, Massachussets. I'm sitting in my hotel room right now, we just got back from The Blue Man Group (more on them later).

   Thursday was fairly uneventful. Boring, even. Made better by the fact that I was leaving the next day for our band trip. We left at 7:30 this morning and got in around 2ish, maybe? I'm not totally sure. After hanging out for a bit, we went on one of the famous Boston Duck Tours. Other than some great photo ops, though, it wasn't super interesting. I did get some fantastic water shots, so all in all worth it. 

   I'm going to take a tangent here and say I hate cynics who have to lump all of humanity together. I won't name any names, but a certain person I'm sharing a hotel room with feels it nescessary to mention that he has no faith in humanity at least three times every day and I swear I am this close to throwing him out our third story window.

   Anyway, after the duck tours we went to a "hibachi" restaurant called Fire and Ice. The idea is, you og up to this buffet style area and pick out your food (all raw) and take it over to be cooked. An interesting idea, but it's pretty unsanitary. The food was okay, not the best hibachi I've ever had by a long shot. The shrimp particularly was quite mediocre. Regardless, I wouldsay that it was fairly decent meal that wasn't too expensive. 

   After Fire and Ice we went to see the Blue Man Group perform. Which was...interesting. Fairly funny and entertaining, but I really didn't see the huge appeal of it. It was really just a lot of random stuff. Lots of three guys in blue suits throwing food. The little music that there was was extremely good, but I expected more. I think if they had more of that and less of the weird skits I may have enjoyed it a bit more. 

   Tomorrow we're off to Six Flags. Personally, I would rather walk the city and get more pictures,but it should be a fun time. I have to remember to buy something for Tiana there. Hopefully writing it down will help me remember. 

Tacos,

Gladdstone

The Closest Shave You'll Ever Know

   Wednesday is here, and that means just one more day until I'm off to Boston for my last marching band trip ever. Sad, but I can't wait.
   As I write this, I've finally sat down to watch Johny Depp's Sweeney Todd and I must say,I had no ideaeither he nor Alan Rickman had the voices they do. They really are fabulous together. It's an excellent movie. I've never completely figured it out, but I absolutely adore dark characters. The Phantom, Dr. Horrible, Sweeney Todd, they are all some of my absolute favorite characters in all of fiction. Interestingly, they're all from musicals, which probably helps seeing as the villains/dark protagonists always have the absolute best songs (come on, do you mean to tell me that Music of the Night or My Friends aren't a couple of the best songs ever written?). Although, I must say, Jamie Bower is the real vocal star in this film. What a voice on that one. Absolutely astounding.
   Anyway, I'm about an hour in, and the chemistry between Depp and Carter is absolutely incredible. I will absolutely have to look for more with the two of them working together. One thing I don't understand, though, is whether or not he's killing everyone? It seems like that, but that would be stupid.
   I'll be singing these songs for weeks-I'm certain to sound like a bloody psychopath, Although, to be completely honest, that won't be a huge change from what I usually sound like.
   Before I change gears, when the homeless woman called Mrs. Lovett a witch, I about died. Greatest happy accident ever.
   In other news, I caught wind of an incredible opportunity today. Tiana told me about a Europe trip run by teachers at the school. It's not through the school, but the teachers run it still. The only issue, is it cost about $3,000.
   On the bright side, I think that if I pick up a few more hours at the restaurant, I shold be able to afford it, although I may have to cut out buying the new Super Smash Bros for a while. Completely worth it, though. We fly into Milan, and visit several villages in Italy and the French Riviera before going to Madrid, which we fly out of. Granted, it's only 9 days, but I've always wanted to go to Europe, so I'm incredibly excited-especially to be able to go with Tiana. It will be an amazing chance.
   I think that's all for now. I'll check back in on Friday (from Boston!).
   Oh, also-I will never trust a barber again.

Tacos,
Gladdstone