The Images script was down post-reformat. I fixed it (didnt' give the aspnet account permission to read/write from the /images/ directory). Enjoy the digital imagery goodness that is.
I've been busy, give me two more weeks, then cool stuff.
Admin.
December 2002 Archives
Oh man, has this been crazy. So about two weeks ago, the server randomly starts deciding that every other page containing cookies or ssl data will be a 404 error on my internal network. BITCH. So I'm like "whatever, no time to fix" (although I ordered SAT score reports sent to each of my colleges through a vnc connection to my server). Anyway, my brother comes home from college, notices how shitty the internet is, complains to my parents telling them it's my fault (which it is, yes, but still that's really a whiney little bitch move to go complain to the 'rents) and suddenly my network is a router. This fucks over all the websites, the active directory as i know it, the dns server, FILE SHARING, and so I take 4 or 5 days to reformat the server, then switch everything back to the server sharing internet instead of the router (my brother figures this out, but doesn't care cause the server is running beautifully now) and I just finished fixing up asp.net to finally work again on all the sites. I've added this one, .net, and joanna's so far, I'm moving on to the others quite shortly. Sorry this took so long.
Tragically, this is the longest downtime the server has ever experienced in its 3 year history. Don't remember all the three years? Visit the archive and start reading from post one.
PHEW! OK, what'd everyone get for christmas? comment within this post please.
surivial?
my computer :) ... with some headphones ;)
I would bring...
1) a nice knife
2) nothing
3) something British
4) nothing
I can survive just fine on that, I think.
--Fiend
At least John didn't ask the question about the tree falling in the forest with no one around...
1. For survival the first thing that comes to my mind is a big Leatherman with about 50 bajillion different tools like a saw and some pliers and scissors and stuff. Of course Prozac seems like a viable option as well, because I can see how being stranded on an island would mess with one's psyche, and sanity is fairly key to survival.
2. For sentimental value I'd bring along "Master Of All Masters," the best children's book ever. My grandparents got it for my dad when he was a kid, and my siblings and I read it when we were kids, too, so it has a special place in my heart. Aww. :)
3. Only one cd? Well, in that case, my vote is for "Dress To Kill" by Eddie Izzard. I've listened to it I don't know how many times and I still react with genuine laughter everytime I hear it, plus it'd probably eliminate the need for Prozac. I love fringe benefits!
4. Last but not least I would bring some pens and paper, because writing, be it random thoughts or poetry or what have you, is a huge part of my life.
So, that's that.
--Christine
1. For survival the first thing that comes to my mind is a big Leatherman with about 50 bajillion different tools like a saw and some pliers and scissors and stuff. Of course Prozac seems like a viable option as well, because I can see how being stranded on an island would mess with one's psyche, and sanity is fairly key to survival.
2. For sentimental value I'd bring along "Master Of All Masters," the best children's book ever. My grandparents got it for my dad when he was a kid, and my siblings and I read it when we were kids, too, so it has a special place in my heart. Aww. :)
3. Only one cd? Well, in that case, my vote is for "Dress To Kill" by Eddie Izzard. I've listened to it I don't know how many times and I still react with genuine laughter everytime I hear it, plus it'd probably eliminate the need for Prozac. I love fringe benefits!
4. Last but not least I would bring some pens and paper, because writing, be it random thoughts or poetry or what have you, is a huge part of my life.
So, that's that.
--Christine
...So....yeah. Hey, this is Mark. I'm indebted to Spork for that sparkling intro; thanks, hon.
So, anyway, I'm going to go straight into the current topic.
1) For survival, a big bottle of bleach. Hypothetically, this island will have coconuts. We can burn the coconuts to make coconut charcoal, through which we can filter sea-water. Then, a single drop of bleach into something like 2 liters of water makes it potable. Voila! I'm a spaz. However, if I could have ANYTHING....
See, I'm a huge geek. So I'd request the Varia Suit, from Metroid 3 (I'm obsessed with it). Whilst the other Ops fight amongst themselves with puny shotguns and the like, I'll be taking them out with my crazy Power Beam. Eventually, they'll see the futility of resistance, and, seeing my MacGuyver-esque survival skills (see above), will elect me their tribal king. Sure, some sneaky wretch, and I'm thinking specifically of Spork here, might try to get me drunk on delicious coconut wine and steal the suit whilst I slumber. However, he would have not counted on my intrusion countermeasures, including electric shocks to the wearer who is not me! Ha! Squirm, Spork, squirm!
2) Hmmm, for sentimental value...I'm not really sure. Not much holds much sentimental value for me...Oh, wait. I'd take one of my grandfathers suits. My grandfather was a pretty short guy, you see, so almost all of his suits fit me really well. And I'm a big, post-humous fan of my grandfather. He did this joke at the doctors office with apple juice and those little urine cups....suffice to say, he's my role model.
3) I'd have to say, at least right now, the Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack, which is so fantabulously good I cannot contain myself. It's got a lot of varied music, some really beautiful pieces, etc.
4) Finally, I'd have to have a book, which I think would be Underworld, by Don DeLillo. It's pretty long, and I've only read a bit of it so, if I divided my time between reading like a page a day and ruling the island with an iron fist, it could last me my entire stay at the island, until I signal an passing ship by firing a rocket straight at it! BOO-YAH!
So, yeah....my first post. I'm getting teary-eyed. For more of the same, here. Ta-ta!
Mark
So, anyway, I'm going to go straight into the current topic.
1) For survival, a big bottle of bleach. Hypothetically, this island will have coconuts. We can burn the coconuts to make coconut charcoal, through which we can filter sea-water. Then, a single drop of bleach into something like 2 liters of water makes it potable. Voila! I'm a spaz. However, if I could have ANYTHING....
See, I'm a huge geek. So I'd request the Varia Suit, from Metroid 3 (I'm obsessed with it). Whilst the other Ops fight amongst themselves with puny shotguns and the like, I'll be taking them out with my crazy Power Beam. Eventually, they'll see the futility of resistance, and, seeing my MacGuyver-esque survival skills (see above), will elect me their tribal king. Sure, some sneaky wretch, and I'm thinking specifically of Spork here, might try to get me drunk on delicious coconut wine and steal the suit whilst I slumber. However, he would have not counted on my intrusion countermeasures, including electric shocks to the wearer who is not me! Ha! Squirm, Spork, squirm!
2) Hmmm, for sentimental value...I'm not really sure. Not much holds much sentimental value for me...Oh, wait. I'd take one of my grandfathers suits. My grandfather was a pretty short guy, you see, so almost all of his suits fit me really well. And I'm a big, post-humous fan of my grandfather. He did this joke at the doctors office with apple juice and those little urine cups....suffice to say, he's my role model.
3) I'd have to say, at least right now, the Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack, which is so fantabulously good I cannot contain myself. It's got a lot of varied music, some really beautiful pieces, etc.
4) Finally, I'd have to have a book, which I think would be Underworld, by Don DeLillo. It's pretty long, and I've only read a bit of it so, if I divided my time between reading like a page a day and ruling the island with an iron fist, it could last me my entire stay at the island, until I signal an passing ship by firing a rocket straight at it! BOO-YAH!
So, yeah....my first post. I'm getting teary-eyed. For more of the same, here. Ta-ta!
Mark
We've had some rather great discussions here lately about survival and it seems that anonymous users are actually outposting most of the sporkops ... anyway, I've got to tangent briefly from our discussion, but I want the next post to be still on that topic! Just consider this a quick interjection.
Many have asked me, "how do I become a SporkOP?" Well, it entails a vigorous disciplinary training and a ruthless hardcore tryout and application process entailing brutal physical exertions in one hundred degree weather in one of the most dangerous obstacle courses on earth, only rivaled by the United States military's "Hell Week."
First, applicants aren't fed for 2 days, while locked in a small claustrophobic cage. Second, 12 hours into testing, a random collection of pop songs on vinyl is placed on the spinner and started at zero volume. The music is set to crescendo slowly to approximately 95 decibels, not too harmful to one's hearing loss, but 24 hours later when it peaks, it becomes rather irritating for the last 12 hour stretch. 3 hours before finish, when switching the album back to side one track one, the album is secretly switched for one with a sizable scratch halfway through track 2, so that at the peak of Justin Timberlake's newest single, the album goes on a continual AB repeat to drive the applicant into the ground. Imagine 12 hours of this, after already having survived the first 36.
Second, applicants are forced to run, jog, or walk (the applicant's pace, as long as they don't stop) up and down the hill in my backyard 35 times. There's no required finishing time, this is merely for my own amusement.
Finally, a 90 multiple choice and 2 essay exam is given to see if they truly have what it takes.
Alright, so this isn't really true at all. Why bring it up at all? Well, we've a new SporkOP member, who's been a targeted SporkOP for some time now. Many of you think "man, why didn't i get picked" ... and well, this person was sorta in the running before most of you.
Welcome one Mr. Mark Popham. He goes by the name Markutio, but I knew him back when he was still neuromancer. Little else is known about this mysterious character, other than that he likes New York for a "silk" flower amidst a jungle of concrete, and that he's sometimes "crunchy" and other times granola. He hates 80% of his Great Books class, or at least finds most of them to be illiterate and incompetent robotic sheep, and if he were a pretty movie, he'd most definitely be The Virgin Suicides, because he's sad, but pretty, and very, very dreamy. Oh yes, and he rapes turkeys ... NAKED!
He has his own little web site, to which I'll have to let him give props too, because it'd be an invasion of his privacy to release that information in front of such a large, and incredibly harmless fan base as TheSpork.com's. I mean, a total of like 35 people might read the address, 10 or so of which probably don't know it yet! SCARY!
Spork.
wow. this is very hard. mine are probably going to be very impractical (inpractical? unpractical) and useless. and i never watched any of those reality tv shows, so i dont really know how they work.
1] SURVIVAL
a toothbrush. or maybe a towel. im not quite sure. stupid as it seems, if im going to be stranded on an island, im going to have to figure out some ways to stay clean .. i could probably wash my hair and clothes with the ocean water, hm well actually i could clean everything with the ocean water. and a toothbrush is pretty useless without toothpaste. so maybe a towel. cuz i want to stay dry. i dont like wet. which is why i wouldnt want to be on this island in the first place, unless it was say .. iceland.
oh wait. SURVIVAL. ok i just read through every one else's, and i didnt know .. we're supposed to kill each other? um .. ok so that kind of survival. well i would bring .. a cell phone? a police guy? poison chopsticks. :stab: hell i dont know. why dont we just all have bazookas or heat-seeking missiles.
2] SENTIMENTAL VALUE
my parent's photo album. i lub my mommy and daddy.
3] CD
hm. i could obviously say radiohead - ok computer, but ok computer is too .. one-track mood for me to listen to on a island. so if i chose radiohead, it would be the bends. but i dont know if i would want to bring radiohead, because i would wear the cd out. cd depends on the people im going to listen to it with, the island itself, my moods, etc .. so maybe .. hm. pinback - blue screen life. a island-y cd. its good. wear-outable.
4] SOMETHING ELSE.
a hot guy. to pass the time. or a mall. whichever. ^_^
really, this question was too hard for me. sorry if i disappointed anyone, actually i disappointed everyone, but i'm just going to assume i'll never be in this situation. and if i were, and i were stuck with just spork ops, i WILL go insane. but i wont be, because i'll have my handy dandy notebook cell phone and get someone to fly me away. eh;lkaj;lekrjh
- jo [not a survivor]
First off, the original season of survivor was off the chains! Infact, it was so far off the chains, you'd have to travle light years to rejoin the two. Second of all, before it became "The SEX World," "Real World" was tight. In fact, it's still my dream to be on their. Uber-Christian philip, versus a house full of dirty sinners*, that's good TV. And thirdly, man theSpork.com is totally thugged out now...i mean...i knew that for a while since i visit here all the time...uh...ON TO THE LIST!!!!
1) A time machine. I can just go back to the point where theSpork decided to put us on a freakin !!!DESERTED ISLE!!! and back hand the fat whale baby. Then i can travel into the future, and come back with a cybernetic laser eye and LCD clock built into my skin. Then i'd go back in time, YET AGAIN to capture a dinosaur and make him my pet. Then i'd travel BACK TO THE FUTURE ($38 at best buy on tuesday, first 60 people get a Back to the Future watch! hooray!) and get my dinosaur some cybernetics too! I'd name him becket and then we'd return to the middle ages and go wenching together... Or maybe, i would just bring the book, "Worst Case Scenario"! Surely it would know what to do if i didn't have a time machine!
2) The X-Men. They beat the Sentinels every time. You'd think some giant robots could beat some "ex-men" you, know? And why would you want to be an "eX" man, anyway? I'm perfectly happy with being a man. And to meet a girl who got the sentinel joke, then find out she was an "ex-man" would be a major bummer...
wait? what's that? OH! a SENTIMENTAL item...doh! I'll go with a picture of my girlfriend. Wait, she hasn't given me one yet! *grumbles about a complaint he's had for nearly a month*
3) One CD?! ONE?! I'm too fickle to settle on ONE. Can't i have a radio? How about...Lostprophets! They are #1! And everyone else is #2 or lower!
4) And, of course, i'd bring a bible. Whether bigg dawg brings one or not. I mean, it's all important, and since bigg dawg isn't a sporkop, I DON'T THINK HE WAS INVITED TO BE STRANDED ON THE ISLAND WITH US! Take that, fat boy! Aw, jeepers, that was really mean. I'm sorry...
I don't need a compass to know which way the wind shines,
El Chef Penguino
go to www.jester-race.com ! now!
*OOO! a footnote! "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 8:23 So I too am i sinner, but i try to avoid it. Unlike THOSE people who be "gettin' it on" on national televsion
Alright, so, my turn. For the topic, visit here.
(1) - Survival
Well, since it's already been explicitely stated that I'd be attacked by Mr. NavySEAL himself, just because of the shear principle that killing everyone is what we're destined to do according to Lord of the Flies, I would need defense myself. Besides, Grant's bringing a knife, and Bigg Dawg (if he actually came, he's not a sporkop) is bringing a freakin' axe. Both stated the weapon could and possibly would be used for defense purposes.
So, I searched long and hard, and thought hard, and decided on the Mossberg 590 shotgun with an 8 round magezine. "Why?" you ask. WEll, the Mossberg got very good reviews from many sites I went to, and as an added bonus, one of the few shotguns with an 8 round magezine with a good review. Actually, the only shotgun with a good review and 8 round magezine. And 8 rounds is important of course, because if we're all basically planning on killing each other off, I'd need a round for each SporkOP, assuming I can't get a double kill off with one spray shot. That'd be tight. Anyway, I figured a shotgun would be my best bet for power, and dispersed range of fire so that I don't have to be as accurate as with a pistol or rifle. I obviously have very little military training, and I figured this would be my best bet against a freaking navy seal with only a freakin' knife (and I'm sure, knowing his parents, if he already owns this knife, it can't be that long or it wouldn't be in his house).
Anyway, I figure since Grant's my only real threat, I probably waste a few rounds on him and take his knife, then bigg dawg would be next, and take his axe, and the rest of the party would be no problem regardless of remaining shells.
(2) - Sentimental Value
Alright, I liked Grant's "a girl" idea. Or perhaps a poster of Jenna Jameson. See, I'd use this one to find something sentimental that could also be used to "survive." Like the jenna jameson poster. Or girl. Or perhaps claiming that my massive attack CD has sentimental value and therefore I can bring it as well as the CD chosen in step three. Or maybe, if I had a girlfriend at the time (right now I don't) I'd bring a picture of her. No, that's just cheesy. Actually, side note, I'd wear my running shoes (not one of my chosen items, just chosen apparel). That way I can exercise while i'm there, have a good grip on the ground (towards the inland, away from the sand) so I can outrun grant, and out maneuver, while he's flopping around in sandles ... so I can get a clean shot off with the pump shotgun. :-P
(3) - CD for a Stranded Island
God, this is hard. Perhaps I would make changes to J-Spot Volume II adding Supergrass's - Moving, and Wilco's - Poor Places or possibly Jesus etc. As well as possibly a pavement track. I'd also overburn J-Spot to the full 82:30 instead of just 80:36 like it currently is (oh, and I'd remove the intro outro tracks on it currently for more room for other tracks) ... I, of all people, despise mixes, but if I only had one cd for the rest of eternity, I'd have to make with it.
(4) - Anything else
Probably extra magezines for the shotgun. Or, as Grant put it, if he can have a bag full of socks (what a freakin' pussy) then I can have a bag full of magezines.
Either that, or a second firearm. Possibly a Desert Eagle .357 (not the .50, contrary to movie belief) ...
So that's me ... I'm waiting now for Grant to get on here and post about my ignorance when it comes to weapons and firearms. A shotgun long range probably would at best tear holes in someone's skin, so I'd obviously have to make sure they're close range. And with Grant's skills as a SEAL, that becomes dangerous. yeah, basically I'm screwed. Me with my shotgun and desert eagle couldn't take Grant with his freakin 3 inch hunting knife. Oh well, at least none of the other ops have a chance.
Spork.
i hate survivor. it was the worst show ever. wait, no, second worst. it's spiritual forebear, "The Real World" is the worst show ever.
did anyone else read Lord of the Flies for english. this makes me think of that. good book.
la di da i've got a.d.d... what was the question? o there it is, what would i bring. hmm.
1) a boat, duh!
(actually, a big bag full of clean socks. reason: seeing as i actually know a thing or two about survival, i can tell you that if you're not takin care of your feet you're gonna go nuts. actually on an island (we'll assume there's sand on this island) socks might just be annoying cause you get it all inside and stuff, but supposing it were a swamp island you would definitely want them. Well, actually if there's sand and i knew i were going to be stranded on this island (we can assume this, as well, right?) i'd just wear sandals and then i wouldn't need socks, so my survival item would be my big ol ka-bar knife. You're always needing to cut stuff up, and with a knife i can make other weapons, firestarting tools, perform surgery, assasinate sp0rk in a hostile takeover...)
2) I dont have sentimental values. I'd have to bring something real emo but i dont know what. maybe i could still bring my socks and have the ka bar for sentimental value.
3) We're going to have an MP3 CD player, right? cause for this one i'm bringing a compilation of like 100 songs or whatever on a data disc and for the sake of bandwith i'll abstain from listing them all here. actually i just dont feel like running through my collection picking out good stuff which i would have to do because when it comes to picking out music i have a deeply seeded obsessive need to give it ridiculous amounts of thought and make sure its perfect, and there's definitely no one CD that i would be willing to listen to on repeat for an indefinitely long amount of time because that'd be like listening to the radio or watching MTV.
4) this one's way too open ended. anything? geez dude. well bigg dawg's bringin the good book, so i can just borrow that from him now and then ;) and there'd be no gas (or necessary soaps, polishes and waxes) so there's no point in bringing my car (sniff.. i'd miss it!) or a girl, that'd be nice, but thats not practical and she'd probably dump me and we'd have to live at seperate ends of the island
ooh! i got a good one!
if there are waves (we'll assume there are) i'd have to bring a surfboard cause i've always wanted to learn how to actually surf and that would be good for passing the time.
or maybe just more socks.
i've been trolling MOC all day and i'm gonna blame that for my incoherent post, rambling sentences and lack of proper punctuation
goodnite.
-G-
Alright, it's time for a new discussion. Side Note-> Seems I pissed some people off, unintentionally I swear, there was pretty much zero chance of them ever actually reading what I wrote except that ... well, we've a soviet spy somewhere in our system! Ok, well, enough of that, because I could explain, but I'd come off as an ass no matter how I tried, even though I'm not ....
I have realized how increidibly small the internet has made the world. Most of this comes from how I can't grasp the fact that anyone that doesn't (1) go to my school (2) know me somehow (friend, relative, colleague) would possibly WANT to read this website ... or if they knew another SporkOP ... I mean come on, this is some BORING shit.
Alright, so, what's the solution to all this? Let's all get stranded on some islands and live like primates or the people on survivor! Cut ourselves off from as much communication as possible ... which leads me to my next discussion...
SporkOPS!
Hypothetical: We are all being stranded on an island together! Just us SporkOPs. It'll be like survivor only no races and no team building and backstabbing. So! You can bring four items:
1) One item for survival (ex: bug spray, or detergent for washing down CJ)
2) One item for sentimental value (ex: picture of girl, poster of Justin Timberlake)
3) One CD (there will be a solar powered CD player provided free by TheSpork.com's non-profit)
(also note, there is a difference between CD for stranded island and best CD of all times)
(see first discussion)
4) One other item (note, there will be no solar panels allowed other than the one provided by TheSpork.com)
So what would YOU bring?
Let's try to get all ops to participate (come on watermellen, here's your chance) and regular users, even though it's just an adventure for SporkOPs, you can post your ideas too.
OPs, try to explain WHY you'd pick something. Example, in the case of the detergent to wash down CJ, because he is a smelly oaf.
Spork.
I've decided many things lately. Entroducing is actually my favorite DJ Shado CD now, not Private Press as I've stated to others. Second of all, Wilco is damned incredible, and I love Supergrass. Where were half these artists a year or two ago? Of course I had Endtroducing summer after Freshmen year, and I thought it was too slow (go figure). Back then I associated volume and tempo with quality. Such incredible ignorance.
Well, there are two new sites to the TheSpork.NET family that I'm not quite sure I'm supposed to give away or not yet, because I'm not sure if either sites are considered gold status or not. But, umm, I helped a chap set up a website here on TheSpork.NET, his name is Herbie. You'll find some crazy schizophrenia stuff on there. Also, basik finally bought his AbsenceOfDesign.com site. I don't think he's posted anything yet, and ignore the stuff I wrote on there for him until he does put his site up. But expect great things!
Lastly, this post turns out not be very bloggish at all ... except the second paragraph. Lastly, TheSpork.com soon will have it's last scripts moved over to .NET, and the .NET login structure moved over onto the .com's storage. So what will become of the .NET? I'm going to actually rewrite the login structure of all of my hosted sites ... right now thespork.com, basik.thespork.com, jo.thespork.com, herbie.thespork.com, and probably soon absenceofdesign.com all use the sporkscript stuff to post. Problem is, they're all using seperated databases. I want to merge all that information into one database. For instance, Jo or Basik can have an account (ONE account, not two) for thespork.com and their own sites to post on, with full access to news posts. That same login then, will have rights to post comments as a .NET login on the other person's site. Also, .net's own news page will simply be a collection of all the news posts from every site brought onto one screen. And somehow, the trickiest part (it'll involve some sort of challenge response encryption passport.net similiar style authentication [you caught me, I have no idea what I just said]) thespork.net will do the authenticating for each of the other sites. Oh, and I'm going to somehow write user functions that basik.thespork.com compiles and links from thespork.net, for example. It's hard to explain, but basically in my code I could call like thespork.net.users.authenticate(basikuser,basikpass) from within basik.thespork.com. Basik.thespork.com would not have an authenticate function defined anywhere, but it can call it from thespork.net's libraries. Yeah, techie stuff.
S.
Just wanted to say I'm still alive, and that I've been mustering together all the creative juices in my head to come up with topics for college essays that every time I visit the site I'm out of ideas for here. However, post January 1 I'll be all done with my applications and can get to working on some more good discussions and scripts and such. Till then, I'll still try and post just not very creatively.
First SporkOP to post something interesting we can talk about gets a cookie ... viewers post ideas beneath this post.
Spork.
PS - Fiend summed up my evening well this afternoon - "Wilco rawks" (in more or less british terms)
i find it funny that thespork.com has turned into a galleria message board, but one more piece of news that you might enjoy:
THEY ARE KEEPING THE FOOD COURT!
bingo. that means they are keeping my dad's restaurant. they might have to close it down for a year for remodeling, but after that, its all good.
hey, I'M excited.
- jo [just peachy]
So its official. The first two new tenants at the re-designed Galleria will be Hard Rock Cafe and Borders Books/Music.
Anyone caught wearing a HRC Louisville shirt will be shot on sight.
-BE
sigh. i dont know what to think about the galleria thing. its sort of inevitable, seeing how horrible the galleria has become. after growing up with is for the past erm .. 17 years, its done nothing except go downhill. after january, the dillards is going to close, which is essentially the biggest non-food grossing part of the galleria, and since the galleria cares nothing about its food court, that basically means a very near end to the galleria as we know it.
wow that was insanely depressing. but hey, thats how i feel. i love that little restaurant. and the one next to it, lajadis (good italian food ^_^ go go go). oh well. i mean, my dad says i've always been this way - when i see a business open (say, the glassed seating area that used to be an ice cream place) and then see it close, i get really sad. i just hate seeing businesses go under. anywhere. because i can imagine how i would feel if i invested a lot of time and effort and money into starting up a genuinely good business, but because of lack of customers, publicity, profit, or whatever, it has to close. that seems to be like a big smack in the face, straight out telling you that you've failed at something. but its always nice to see the people try again.
:wipes eyes: ok so end of that story. what would i like to see louisville have. i agree with most of the stuff said; it almost seems like louisville cant cram any more crap into its horridly neglected downtown. yea, it seems like they're doing stuff - waterfront, skatepark, convention center, but man, most of that stuff is on the outskirts of downtown. there are still some gems in it, but most of it is too old, or cluttered, or dirty, or ignored, or just messily refurbished. i dont know. louisville doesnt know what to do with its downtown.
my dad said that when he opened up in 1984, downtown was the place TO BE. there were shopping areas everywhere, a lot of restaurants, lots of entertainment. people went to the galleria to shop(!). but most of it had to do with the fact that people lived there. with the rising of the malls (st. matthews and oxmoor especially) and then suburbia, the rest of boonieland, and then stuff like tinseltown and the summit (feel free to think of more.), everyone just moved away. now, i think i'm not the only one who thinks this, but generally, downtown is really far away. (ok, its sort of close to john, i suppose.) i mean, it takes 25 minutes every morning to drive to school, and on weekends, theres not enough incentive for me to just cruise around downtown and have fun. i mean, what is there for me to do downtown? first of all i dont like walking around downtown because its dirty and every place i would go is not together, and second, everything closes at 6. how is louisville going to expect to have a night life if everything closes so early.
ha goodness, ive really missed the question. sorry for making you read so much. maybe louisville should reopen whatever that street was that they closed in front of the galleria; it may not save the galleria for now, but it would definetly help for the future galleria. plus, traffic flow would be much nicer. they should also figure out what kind of people they want to attract. i figure that they want to attract tourists and stuff, which we really dont have unless its conventions ..
ok wait. sorry to deviate, but another thing that makes me mad about the galleria. the new "international" convention, right? its close to the galleria, so when people have conventions, they come to the galleria to eat. EAT, my friends. when we have conventions, my dad works like mad from 10 - whenever they leave (we normally dont serve dinner, but for conventions we sometimes do). they might walk around and buy some stuff from fashion shop and dillards and whatnot, but they mainly come to EAT. without the food court, do you know what they wont have? STUFF TO EAT. also, the food court serves business men and women monday to friday, and there are a lot of loyal customers. mainly because the food court is the closest and quickest place they can get stuff to eat. without the food court, do you know what they wont have? (fill in blanks.) hard rock cafe and ESPN are great ideas and stuff, but you cant base everything solely off of sit-down restaurants. especially in downtown, especially in a business area. you need a lot of fast food.
anyway. so yea, they seem to want to attract tourists and stuff too, but they keep saying that they want to attract the younger crowd. i dunno. they're gonna have to do a hell of a lot better than hard rock or ESPN to get me to go down there. i dont even like hard rock cafe. their food is overpriced, and its just burgers with guitars hanging on the wall. goodness.
i think im done for the day. all in all, i think that .. i dont know. its all good, yet .. theres a lot of work to be done.
- jo [likes chinese food]
Well, I think Jo should be speaking about this more than I should, however, the whole Galleria thing is removing her father of a job. He owns the little Chinese restaurant there, Wok'n'stix (I probably spelled it wrong) and they're essentially (again, she knows the details better than I) not offering rent to them anymore and getting rid of the food court to be replaced by the Hard Rock. And why? Because Louisville wants to have more business in the city? Kick out the little guys and let in the big ones?
First of all, Hard Rock's aren't that great. The food is normal. It's nothing outstanding at all. Second of all, the only people that go to Hard Rocks (or, let's be more honest, the only people that SHOULD go to hard rocks) are tourists. You don't find anyone in a city like Chicago, Atlanta, or New York deciding that the way they'd like to spend their Friday night is by going to a Hard Rock. Now, granted, I haven't been to a Hard Rock in a while, and I'll maybe go once if my parents decide to go, just to see what our Louisville Hard Rock looks like, but you won't see me sporting around a Hard Rock Louisville shirt. Last, I think the Galleria is a terrible place to put a restaurant such as that. In my experience with the cities I've seen Hard Rocks in, they're usually pretty high capacity. The Galleria has NO parking at all. The location itself is terrible. Most Hard Rocks don't have their own parking, of course, however I think that Hard Rock won't get much advertising (unless their plan is to put up a neon side on the side of the Galleria like "Hard Rock inside").
Anyway, I could see the ESPN Sportzone being a little cooler. I've never seen one, but the idea seems slightly (note, slightly) less touristy. Here's the thing about Louisville. We're too bent on becoming a big city. Most people don't realize this, but we have an insane number of incredibly awesome restaurants in this city. Most attend Bellarmine, and then don't leave the city and open up a restaurant. My mom went to Bellarmine for one week (long story) and it's basically one of the best culinary schools in the US. However, these restaurants aren't chain, and they aren't cheap, and also they're in overabundance, and therefore they compete and a lot go under, simply opening up for new restaurants to do the same. I don't think a hard rock or an ESPN zone that we need.
Louisville's problem is precisely as Brian stated it. There's nothing downtown. Louisville is very spread out across all of Jefferson County, and now with the merger that's only going to worsen things. The best that the city can do is open up some more bars and clubs and such downtown to attract more people to go downtown. Some stadiums might be nice, I know merger was supposed to maybe get us a pro team, and they actually became decent that would certainly help even more. It's basically just that we have no population, and thus it's hard to attract a small amount of people downtown, plus there's certainly a limit on space downtown. Where would we put new stadiums? It's all tricky business. Same thing for shopping, you can't just lay down a Macy's or a shopping mall or anything.
I guess the question was more what would we want in Louisville to attract us downtown. I think that more bars would do, however, Louisville's other problem is that it's lacking that entire "I'm going to go walk around downtown" vibe. Maybe it's because the streets are all a mess, and they're dirty, and you've got large multilaners getting in the way like Broadway or Main. There's just something about Louisville that says y'know, I'd prefer to drive around the city, as opposed to when I lived in Chicago or recently visited Atlanta, there was just something about them that said "I'm going to walk everywhere." Maybe part of that is that there were enough bars, shopping establishments, eating establishments and so forth all densely within a centralized area as opposed to Louisville where things just SEEM so spread out. You drive down major city streets and usually you see bars, shops, restaurants, what have you, whereas you drive down Louisville's downtown streets and you're looking at houses, car shops, body shops, hardware stores, or random office buildings that most of the time are empty.
I don't know, that's my incredibly LONG, and EXTREMELY random rambling about Louisville.
S.
OK...I want to possibly stimulate an interesting conversation here. Maybe Spork may see my value and not phase me out like someone told me he may do.
I spent the weekend in Indianapolis with 10 other guys to go to the U of L game Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse, and then the Colts-Texans game today at the RCA Dome (neither game was any good). With so many people, we were able to afford a suite at the Adams Mark Hotel Downtown.
Anyways, from the time we arrived in town, until we left, our cars never moved. We walked everywhere. Within 4-5 blocks of our hotel was a massive assortment of restaurants, bars, shopping, and both arenas. You name it, it was down there. On Sat night, every block was ALIVE with people walking between social spots, all having a good time despite damn cold temp..
I know Louisville is greatly lacking something similar downtown. If you follow the news, Mayor Armstrong is supposed to announce this Friday the tenants for the re-birth of the Galleria (4th Street Live I think??), which is supposed to be a start to something similar for Louisville. I know Hard Rock Cafe and ESPN Sportszone are potentials.
So I pose the question:
What kinds of places would it take to make you want to drive downtown for dinner, hang-outs, shopping etc?
I do realize most people here are not of drinking age, but think about the future...
-BE
Admin Note: I like the idea, if I could get SporkOPs to post their own ideas directly onto the page, make any little comments to individual posts beneath in the comments page, and regular users comment anywhere.
Speaking of Oasis... Liam Gallagher was in an attack in a bar in Munich and broke some teeth... silly Germans. Hope it makes the band come back to the States, at least they don't get attacked here. Details at the official Oasis website.
On to something else... with winter coming, how many of you are looking forward to the cold and snow, and how many of you can't wait for spring? I personally really like the winter. It's just so... peaceful, and it's beautiful, especially when undisturbed. Spring just gets annoying with all the rain and mud and stuff like that. Of course, I'm British, who am I to complain about rain? ;)
--Fiend
Alright folks, straight out of Compton (ok, so it's not) comes my newest mix CD J-Spot Volume II! That's right, volume II. I've been asked recently if there is a volume I, and I think guess I need to clarify that. Let's just say that Volume I kicked so much ass (far more ass than volume II) that it rawked you from here to Thailand. In fact, this is why you can only buy Volume I in small independent record stores (because, obviously, volume I was a vinyl only release) in Cambodia.
Anyway, I was asked to make a mix for someone and actually spent a great deal of time compiling it. Basically between coding the comment script and college applications I was working on this CD (and listening to it). So here's a track listing.
001 Looper - The Treehouse
002 The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You
003 Oasis - Wonderwall
004 Bush - 40 Miles From The Sun
005 The Shins - Caring Is Creepy
006 Koop - Soul for Sahib
007 Air - The Vagabond (feat Beck)
008 Badly Drawn Boy - Body Rap
009 Badly Drawn Boy - Once Around The Block
010 Massive Attack - Inertia Creeps
011 Elliott Smith - Pictures Of Me
012 Simon and Garfunkel - The Sound Of Silence
013 Radiohead - Optomistic
014 The Dismemberment Plan - Come Home
015 Built To Spill - Car
016 Dispatch - The General
017 Frou Frou - Shh
018 Belle & Sebastian - Women's Realm
019 Guster - Two Points For Honesty
020 Ben Folds - Emaline
021 Boards Of Canada - One Very Important Thought
Some will be lucky enough to venture across a copy of this volume here in the States, sadly however no volume will ever rawk as hard as Volume I.
Spork.
