From my trailer to yours.

Halloween has always been a fun holiday, but when I was a kid I figured that growing up meant no trick-or-treating, therefore no more fun on October 31st. Not true.

Let me demonstrate why Halloween is just as great for adult males as it is for children:

Any questions?

Every all-growed-up girl who gets decked out for halloween can’t just have a normal costume. They always go the “sexy” route. Wanna be a nurse? You’re gonna be a sexy nurse. How about a police officer? Sure, a slutty police officer. Perhaps an innocent French maid? If by innocent you mean trampy, then yes.

What’s a guy to do on Halloween? Thank God for the holiday, that’s what.

As many people already know, the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, was released exclusively as a download this past week with the consumer’s ability to pay whatever they want for it (or pay nothing at all). Radiohead is one of my favorite bands, so of course I jumped on the opportunity to hear some new material, and I wasn’t disappointed at all. The album is great. Thom sounds so confident in his voice, it is only getting better and better. The songs are very interesting in their structure, mainly very linear as opposed to sectional, something that we have come to expect from Radiohead but is still generally unorthodox. Some of my early favorites include “Nude” (which is a song they’ve had lying around for a while now) and “Reckoner.” The opening track, “15 Step,” once again proves Radiohead’s mastery of making 5/4 time sound natural.

The controversial element of the album is, of course, the price. Allowing the fan to choose what they pay is certainly a revolutionary concept, yet coming from Radiohead is not particularly surprising to me. Not only do they have the resources and wealth to be able to do it, experimentation is now their calling card musically so it only seemed natural for it to carry over into other elements of their career after they fulfilled their major label contract.

I have paid a lot of money to see Radiohead live three times. I legitimately own every full-length CD they’ve released (plus about three CD-Rs of unreleased and rare stuff). I am a true fan of the band who has supported them all the way and will continue to support them. And you know how much I paid for the new album? Nothing. And despite what some people seem to think, I don’t feel the least bit bad about it.

Seriously, I don’t see any problem with it, yet I got into a discussion or two with people who couldn’t believe I wouldn’t pay a dime for the album. Are you kidding me? This is a band that obviously doesn’t need any money (otherwise, logically, they would make us pay a minimum). There are also plenty of people who are willingly paying money for this download (including one person I saw who was paying $100). That’s great, I love that some people are doing that and the band will still make a ton of cash from this release. But if someone offers me something for free, I’m not going to feel the least bit bad about taking it for free. If you met the band backstage and they said, “hey, here’s our new CD,” would you say “oh cool, hey, let me at least give you five bucks for it.” No. Of course not. You’re going to take it for free with a smile on your face. And that’s what I’m doing. If they want me to pay at least $4, they can make me pay $4. It’s well within their power and I’d happy do it. But they said I could have it for free. So now I have it for free.

A couple more points in this matter: first of all, the normal CD will be released next year and I’ll probably buy it. If anything it was a genius move letting me hear the album first so I know I like it. I also hate paying for digital downloads. I like having art and credits, plus I am not a fan the degradation of quality when buying an mp3 from iTunes or something. It is fine for some people (tons of people have downloaded Shaimus from iTunes and I love that), but it drives me crazy. Luckily the files from Radiohead’s website were higher quality, but still not CD quality. Finally, when they next come to town for a show, I will be there. They make so much money from touring, if that’s not supporting them I don’t know what is.

In Rainbows is a very cool experiment and Radiohead is making waves in the music industry as well as making an interesting point. If you were considering getting the new album, I say definitely download it. And pay whatever the hell makes you happy.

While clicking through CNN.com today I came across an article about some Democratic primary thingy, and after my eyes immediately glazed over from the poo-slinging boredom that is politics, I saw this picture of Joe Biden:

First a quick disclaimer: I am not politically ignorant. I just hate politics and I can’t stand self-righteous people on either side of the spectrum. I also would rather leave politics out of this blog for the most part. They will inevitably slip in once in a while, but generally I’d like to avoid them. Also, I have no idea what the article was about because I didn’t read it. I was too busy being distracted by this photo.

Why? His eye. Look at it. It looks like he has no eyeball. It looks like an empty socket. It’s small, I know, but it really looks like it’s not there. I don’t even know how he managed that. I do know that it looks to me like the very epitome of the phrase “vacant stare.” It also inspired me to make this:

Any time I get an opportunity to do some good Photoshopping, I am a happy man. After all, drawing bloody eyeballs in the hands of politicians is what life is all about, isn’t it?

While sitting in traffic one day, I realized that I am constantly reading those little license plate frames that usually say the name of the car dealer on them. What made me notice doing this were the few frames that said something different or unique; for example, I saw one that said “I love volleyball.” Confident in the fact that I was a better person for knowing that, I caught sight of a frame that had the driver’s business name and website printed on it. It soon occured to me that hundreds of people potentially read my license plate on a regular basis. What good was it to me if they knew I got my car at Springfield Hyundai?

So for the modest price of $15 I got me one of these:

Astute observers will notice that I still haven’t switched to California plates yet. I’ll get around to it. For now I am only thinking about how clever it was to turn my car into a driving advertisement for my band.

The last time I got to see my Phillies in the playoffs was when I was 10 years old. I lived in Boston when the Red Sox won the World Series in ‘04, and that was fun for sure. But it certainly left a lot to be desired, being surrounded by the joy and the triumph of an adopted home team. I was rooting for the Sox for sure, but this wasn’t the team I grew up watching. I hadn’t been to so many Red Sox games that I couldn’t even begin to count them. Quite the opposite in fact; I had been to exactly one Red Sox game at Fenway Park, and that was when the Phillies were in town.

The past few years have been unbearable for fans of the Phillies and the Eagles. I watched the birds go to four straight NFC Championship games, then finally take that next step to the Superbowl only to lose by 3 in a game they could have won. That season took so much out of me I could barely watch the next year, I was still worn out from putting so much energy into my team. The Phightin’ Phils didn’t fare much better. Two years ago they were eliminated on the final day of the season, last year on the second-to-last day. Even this year they brought it down to the last day, but FINALLY won the East for the first time since ‘93. I repeatedly played the video footage of the final out and the celebration afterwards, listening to longtime commentator Harry Kalas with a lump in my throat. It was a similar feeling to when I got choked up as Donovan McNabb held the NFC Championship trophy high above his head to a roaring crowd at Lincoln Financial Field with confetti streaming down.

The Phillies have a long way to go before they can get to the World Series, but baseball is the hardest sport to make it to the playoffs so it was a special moment all the same. I can’t even really describe how I felt on Sunday after it happened. There seems to be a general feeling among fans that just making the playoffs was all we needed. Even if they don’t go all the way, we’ll be happy with the season. That’s not to say I won’t be bummed with anything less than a world championship, of course. They lost the first game to the Rockies today, and my stomach gets tied in knots just thinking about the next game. Sunday morning I literally woke up on 3 separate occasions from nightmares that the Phillies were losing and the Mets were winning. I can’t help myself. There is a part of me in this team.

To the 2007 Philadelphia Phillies I say thank you for an exciting season. It was filled with ups and downs, frustration and happiness, but we finally made it. I drink this beer for you. Hell, better make that 5 or 6.