The Ikea Project

I hope you had a fun snowy weekend! Yesterday, I spent a good part of my day at Ikea, getting some things for the apartment. After probably 2.5 hours of roaming around looking at bookshelves and other accessories, I had completed a list of the items I wanted to purchase and wrote down the Aisle and Bin numbers so they would be easier to find when I got to the pickup area. I grabbed one of the heavy duty push carts and started loading up the cart. An hour and a sore back later, my cart was loaded except for the kitchen trolley which I had to pick up at a separate location. I had to rearrange all the boxes to fit the final item. Then it was time to get all 9 huge boxes into the car. Mind you, I drive a Honda Civic, very compact but the entire back seat goes down so I didn't think it would be a problem. I currently have a loaner car which somehow I forgot about when I drove straight through the EZ-Pass with no tag in the window. Whoops! I was just going to leave the cart in the pickup area and hope no one unloaded my stuff while I went to get the car. But I didn't. Rather, I used the handy locked cages they have so that you can lock up your cart while you go get your car. I pulled the car up and the unloading began. Boxes were loaded in, some were loaded out. It was like Tetris, trying to get the boxes to fit into the car but in the end, I completed the task and learned a valuable lesson; Bring someone with you when you go to Ikea.

I am a sucker when it comes to Hollywood Awards show. I can't get enough of them. So it will come to no surprise to you that I watched the Golden Globes last night with much excitement. The red carpet interviews were quite enjoyable because they were so bad. Apparently the crowd was so loud no one could hear anything. I'll admit, I had the show on the background while I was doing other things but turned to catch some of the better moments.

People will auction off just about anything.

Hello flying car!

George is back home in Maine.

Leave it to Adam to find this site. That's right, it's an excrement idea isn't it? He has some excellent posts so go read them right now.

MixMyGranola

For all of you Granola lovers out there, I interviewed one of the co-owners of this fairly new company, MixMyGranola. You can customize your own granola mix and they put it in a cool container with a name that you create. So I can create an Evan Mix. You can put your granola mix online at www.mixmygranola.com. There are a bunch of fruits, nuts, seeds and even extras to be added to your delicious creation.

It appears they took down the clip of adults fighting at Chuck E Cheese.

Who's entering the Faux Fois Grois contest? 10K on the line.

Barack and Spidey!

Have a great day!

Please Explain: 59Fifty

On today's "Please Explain" I'm asking my viewers to explain why people leave stickers on the New Era 59Fifty hats.

"The sticker just authenticates that the hat is the real thing."
-Marta Styni, Bronx, NY

"I keep it on because it's holographic and cool"
- Tyron Slade, Brooklyn, NY

"I honestly don't know why I keep it on but I think it's neat that people do"
- Steven Pravlo, Astoria, NY

"I don't get it myself. I mean, why don't we just start keeping our pant size stickers on our pants?"
- Rona Theronowitz, New York, NY


I received an email yesterday from YouTube about a short film that I posted done by my buddy Jon and starring me and Greg. It has been removed. I couldn't believe of all the stuff out there they removed our short film. Here's the email:

Dear niceevana,

Video Disabled

A copyright owner has claimed it owns some or all of the audio content in your video The Roommate. The audio content identified in your video is Our House by Crosby, Still, Nash & Young. We regret to inform you that your video has been blocked from playback due to a music rights issue.

Replace Your Audio with AudioSwap

Don't worry, we have plenty of music available for your use. Please visit our AudioSwap library to learn how you can easily replace the audio in your video with any track from our growing library of fully licensed songs.

Other Options

If you think there's been a mistake, or you have other questions, please visit the Copyright Notice page in your account.

Sincerely,
The YouTube Content Identification Team

More like Crosby, Stills and Cash. I'm imagining that someone reported it. There are millions of videos out there using music. Why ours? If you didn't get a chance to watch it it'll resurface, don't you worry.

Wow, this guy must sell a lot of dogs.

Mickey Rourke will appear in Iron Man 2!

Watch out MacBook Air...

MUST HAVE toy of the New Year.

The Ice Storm

Did you ever see Ang Lee's film, The Ice Storm? Well, that's what it was like in NJ this morning. A pretty thick sheet of ice covered the ground, the car, trees, power lines.

I love NJ news stories. Especially any involving UFOs! That's right, mysterious lights over Morris County? Must be a UFO!



I know what you're thinking...new Olympic sport? No, not quite. This is one reason why I am terrified of ski lifts. No ifs ands or butts. I feel sorry for this guy but at least he'll be able to answer the "what's your most embarrassing moment" question without having to think about it.

And now, time for another Classic Clips and Quips moment. Boaz and I used to go to the Toy Fair every year to play with all the new cool toys. This segment was filmed in 2007, and includes a guest appearance by Howie Mandel who just sort of showed up and walked into our shot.

Classic Clips and Quips

I miss the days when Boaz and I would go out and film segments at premieres, toy fairs, chocolate shows, and many other great events. I'm going to start posting classic Clips and Quips segments. If you want to see more go to www.clipsquips.com.

The Satsuma Mandarin

I love citrus. I should probably be living in florida owning a citrus company because I just love citrus. I have always really enjoyed the "Clementine". It's portable, sweet, and usually contains no seeds. But last night, I bought a box of Satsuma Mandarins. They look like clementines, but don't let their rough exterior fool you. They are the most delicious and most flavorful citrus I have had in awhile. I've never seen them in my local supermarket before so I was really excited. In addition to still having stems and leaves on them, these fruits were not from Spain or Chile, no they were from California. If you haven't had one of these you've got to try them. I brought some in with me today and if you're nice, I might give you a piece.

Tim Burton is an amazing man. If you have never seen this you should give it a watch:



I also saw the trailer for 9 last night, a film which he is producing. It looks interesting.



Did you see this clip of Barack? He looks for something that tastes good and for a good price:



So I brought back some maple syrup from Vermont and apparently there was a leak in the jug because when I got to the upper west side, it was half-empty, or half-full. It's causing quite a stir.

Get excited. NYC Winter Restaurant Week is coming...

Flora and the Goof-Off

Gosh, I hope you had a wonderful holiday! I can't believe the vacation went by so quickly. Well, let's start the New Year off right! While we were on hiatus, I made it to Vermont and back. I read, watched movies, went to some fun parties, started to pack and move stuff in to my new apartment. It was a busy few weeks.

Last night I went to Home Depot to specifically get one thing, Goof-Off. Apparently this is the stuff that will get off any goofs. I wonder if Ken Marino and David Wain know about this stuff. Of course, when you go into Home Depot, you end up finding numerous other items that you think you need, and you might. I pulled the cart over near the cleaning supplies because I am in the midst of cleaning the apartment. All of a sudden I hear this bright cheery voice shout "can I help you?". It was Flora. Standing at about 5'4, Flora used to clean houses full time and still does on occasion. She told me all about each product and which worked best for every counter,tub,toilet,floor..you name it, Flora knew how to clean it. She told me all of her friends who clean houses come in and buy certain products. She told me what these products were and I bought them. If Home Depot employees got paid based on commission, Flora would have gone home one rich lady. "When you are done washing your floor, put a little Fabuloso on it and it'll smell real nice" she said. Okay I didn't buy every product she recommended, but I did get a few of them. While she was distracting me, someone apparently thought it would be funny to empty out the items from my cart because they were too lazy to get one when they came into the store. I couldn't believe it. I thought maybe I had left it someplace else until I saw my items thrown onto a nearby tool box. Flora comforted me and then continued to tell me about how Electrolox is the best vacuum cleaner there is. She won't use any other. An hour and a half later, I checked out and before departing, I thought it would be nice to tell the manager about Flora and what a great help she had been. The manager said how nice to hear a customer saying something good about an employee. Now I just need to find Fauna. Maybe she's in plumbing.

He's good enough, smart enough and gosh darn it, people like him!

This story reminds me of a great film I watched over the break called Young@Heart. I didn't get a chance to see it in the theaters and I am so glad I got around to seeing it on DVD. It is an incredible documentary that will make you laugh and cry. I sure did.



Have a great day! Good to be back.