Month: May 2013

Photos: Clearwater, Hogan Beach and baseball

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I made a spontaneous trip down to Tampa, Florida, because my boy James said he was going to make the trip up to Clearwater to visit the Hulk Hogan Beach Store.  Frankly, I couldn’t see myself visiting on my own and I’m not sure to who I would be able to force come along, so this was an opportunity that I was not willing to pass up.

As for the store itself, it was pretty much the Hulk Hogan Nostalgia Center located on the Beach for all intents and purposes, filled to the brim with Hogan-related memorabilia, souvenirs, crap on the wall, as well as a huge variety of t-shirts and other chintzy things that all have Hogan’s likeness all over it.  And tons of yellow, it was like Asian camouflage in there.

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Charles Ramsey just won the internet

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’m know I’m not going to be the only person to use this headline, and typically it’s not often I use my brog to write about current events, but this was all just too much gold to not write something about. And there’s really not a whole lot to write about, because if you watch the video, which I’m pretty sure you’ve already seen because everyone had to have seen it by this point, but it completely speaks for itself.

Charles Ramsey is like, the best person in the world, for at least the next 15 minutes. The world needed Charles Ramsey more than it may have realized right now. God bless the guy.

And because I’m sure that this video will ultimately come down some day, I’m going to quote the best lines after the jump, because if I can’t replace the video, we all need to remember the memorable and notable things that was said by this everyman hero.

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The Nubian Queen drives a Honda Accord

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I would make a small wager that the woman driving this car, her ancestors don’t even come close to having been from Nubia.  Somewhere throughout time, being “Nubian” had less to do about actually having ancestors who lived along this tiny region in the Sudan, than the fact that the Sudan happened to be in Africa, so it happened to apply to all of those who were of African descent, and then it turned into being a term to replace the word “black.”

The funny thing?  It’s easy to accuse me of simply going to Wikipedia to find this information, but the thing is that I did a report of the Sudan back in grade school, and I actually did remember the region of Nubia.  The capital of the country is also Khartoum, but that’s besides the point.

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Spatial genius

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It baffles (read: usually aggravates) me how completely unaware people are of their surroundings at any given time.  Like in the picture above, I’m dumbfounded at how people are so incapable of judging distance, that they are completely incapable of being able to use a drive-thru ATM through normal means, and have to resort to this embarrassing and more time-consuming exercise of opening their door and practically standing at the apparatus.  Not only can I maneuver whatever vehicle I’m driving to where I can competently use an ATM from the driver’s seat, I can get within two inches of the point where my rear-view mirror would collide with the wall.  I’m like fucking Takumi from Initial D when it comes to my spatial awareness.

But it’s not just in cars; simply walking around is often a grating experience based on people who have zero awareness, zero peripheral vision, and zero sense when it comes to their surroundings.  I’m in a store, and some asshole is walking backward, or doesn’t seem to grasp that I can’t pass him/her in the aisle because they’re simply taking up too much space.  I alter my walking routes and I’m always thinking on the fly on how to get from point A to point B, not necessarily the most expedient and the fastest, but often times the path of least resistance.  If I have to take a wide berth so I don’t collide with a group of people walking side-by-side-by-side, I’ll take it, or if I see people that are likely not paying attention, I’ll do my best to avoid them.

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Photos: A day in Detroit

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

One of the best things about my baseball travels is that it gives me a legitimate excuse to visit places that I never really thought I’d ever visit.  I mean seriously, I don’t know anyone in Detroit, there’s not really any particular motivation for me to go to Detroit, but because there’s a Major League Baseball park in Detroit, it gives me a reason.  And that’s really all the little push I need, because sure I’m going to go see the ballpark, but obviously, I’m going to take in as much as I can otherwise, while I’m there.

As far as day trips go, this was the smoothest one I’ve had in ages, possibly ever, as I’ve already mentioned previously.  Detroit itself is indeed the gritty, blue-collar, kind of rough-around-the-edges kind of city that people often use to describe it, usually in exaggerated jest though.  It helped that it was a picture perfect day when I went, because seriously, I’d have second thoughts about wandering around the place at night.  But for what it was worth, I had an enjoyable time wandering around the urban sprawl that was Detroit’s general Downtown and eventual Greektown areas.  There really is that gritty blue-collar feel about the city, but as cliched as it sounds, in spite of how run down certain blocks looked, it legitimately feels like there’s still some fight left in the place.

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Real Men Don’t Wear Small update: Comerica Park

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

My latest baseball journeys took me to Detroit, Michigan, where I was able to get in a game at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, and officially ballpark #23 out of the 30 Major League Baseball cities.  Despite the fact that the Atlanta Braves are winless every time I go to see them play for the first time in other cities, the rareness of the Braves playing in Detroit compelled me to make the trip regardless, and if there’s one thing about baseball, it’s that salvation is always potentially the next game.