the curious case of benjamin button

sophmore year in college, way back in 2002, i decided that i needed some black shoes. so i was at the store and i saw this pair of black columbia shoes. not quite boots, since they are low tops, but not quite dressy, not too cute, kinda utilitarian, yeah..like a jeep. anyways, i remember the first trip i took these bad boys on... a trip to new york in november of 2002. we did a lot of walking around the city during that trip, which is -- if you know me -- a little out of character for a lazy ass, but thats what we did, and that was my introduction to, what ali now calls, my hobo shoes.i shouldve known we'd be in for a wild ride, while coming back from that trip to new york, these guys set off the metal detector at JFK. and so the tsa people made me take them off and put them in one of those plastic bins and slide them through the xray machine. keep in mind this is way before any attempts at making a shoe bomb, so long before taking off your shoes at the airport became standard.

it may be a little odd to be writing an ode to a pair of shoes while they are still up and running at full force, but thats ok--im not the kind of guy to wait until its too late to show my appreciation. let me tell you, these shoes, they have seen life. the stories they could tell... they have lived in santa barbara, san diego, downtown LA, and now the palos verdes/torrance area. four pretty top notch places to live if you ask me. they have walked the streets of new york, seen the sweltering heat of india, theyve ran around in the snow of switzerland:theyve taken a road trip to new york-making the stops along the way: new mexico, arkansas, virginia, dc, etc. theyve been to vegas and seen everything the city has to offer, they have been soaked in the rain of new haven--where they accidentally kicked someone's face while stumbling around trying to avoid the people sleeping on the floor, theyve visited houston, been to boise, been to norcal. theyve been the focus of projects in art class. they were on my feet when one of the single funniest events of my lifetime occurred:



they've met new people, reunited with long lost friends, theyve met girls, they have seen some of those same people leave or move away or fade into obscurity just as theyve seen people stay. theyve seen acuras and hondas and nissans and toyotas and lexuses and bmws. theyve been to nice restaurants, hole in the wall food stands, and everywhere in between. they've seen many a drunken vishal naik experience: clubs and bars and house parties all included. theyve been there for fishbowls at ra, karaoke and karage at isshin, and the poolside fireplace at blue velvet. theyve brought some of these memories back home with them as a rock caught in the sole, or some dirt hiding along the stitching--which is why it breaks my heart a little bit every time i need to clean them. theyve seen unemployment, and theyve been to work on the busiest of days. theyve substituted for golf shoes as well as basketball shoes on the occasions when they were so desperately needed. theyve been to broadway plays. they have seen the highest of highs as well as the lowest of lows. and theyve done all this while providing extreme comfort. in fact, i just got back from a night out in santa monica in these babies. oh the stories they could tell.... these guys have seen more of the world than some people have!
this last picture is the most recent. there is a reason that i took the picture with my cell phone and not my digital camera--10 megapixels just does not do these shoes justice. the clarity, the cleanliness.. its just not true to the nature of the beast. the haziness that the cell phone camera provides is a true representation of these shoes...everyone has their favorite clothing item, whether its that pair of jeans that you love so much that you have to hold on to them even though you lost the button and have to hold the waist together with some thread, or that sweater that provides you with more security and comfort than you could ever imagine...that is what these shoes are to me. my hobo shoes. my benjamin button shoes--because they truly have lived life. and things are still going strong, as i just replaced the shoelaces and these puppies are ready to see more of what the world has to offer. come at me life, with these friends on my feet, im game to take what you have to offer.

123!

its january 23rd! 1-23! i met someone once who said her boyfriend or fiance or husband or secret lover or ex or whatever said that january 23rd--123--would be just because i love you day. so in tribute to just because i love you day, and since the 3-4 people that read this totally love me, and therefore want to know the inner workings of my brain, ill let you in...you get to read this just because you love me! or. as YOU would think of it...just because i (who is now you) love you (who is now me)! damn! i'm good!

-why do writers refer to athletes as if they are animals? hes a thoroughbred, they have plenty of horses on the front line, hes got some real bark to him.. oh yeah, now i know why... athletes are just worthless peices of meat

-do i want to start updating my facebook status every day? like what if you go to facebook and today it says "vishal is really liking the new james morrison cd" and then tomorrow it says "vishal was too lazy to leave the apartment for lunch AND dinner, so he went to el burrito jr to get a family meal to cover both" and then the next day it says "vishal misses shannon" and so on. do i want to be THAT guy?

-why dont i have more interesting random thoughts?

-is this scene enough to move hurley into my top 5 tv characters list?



- im pretty excited that i too can be like don draper:



- i'm cold

Can We Clone Gus Johnson?

So.. continuing with my theme of stealing titles, ill steal this one from eric. while i agree with eric that all commentators could learn a thing or two or three from gus, thats not what my post here is about. what if gus johnson commentated all aspects of your life? imagine how instense everything would be! the mundane would be fun, the fun would be exciting, the exciting would like.. be mind blowing! see! thats whats great about gus johnson, his enthusiasm takes you to a new level of excitement. take a look at these two clips from recent ncaa tournament games, first theres craig bolerjack with the bucknell kansas game from 05..



and then here is the single greatest announcing job in the history of the ncaa tournament. you know, i honestly watch this video clip like 3-4 times a year. whenever i need to get pumped, or when the ncaa tournament starts again, or if im just in a bad mood. this clip is the sports commentary equivalent of the william hung cd, in terms of cheering me up.



see the difference?! bolerjack has you watching an upset. gus johnson like.. moves you!

so what if gus was the commentator for the rest your life?

gus johnson on golf:
and here's the DRIIVVEE, down the middle of the FAAAIIIIRRRRRWAAAAAAAAYYYYY!
(as opposed to ...this putt... should break.... a little to the left)

gus johnson on the world series:
TWO OUTS, BOTTOM of the NINTH INNING, here's the PIIIITTTTCCCCCHHHHHH, deep drive to LEEEEEEEEFFFFFFFFFFTTTTT, Anderson with the CAAAAAATTTTTCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHH!!
(you know thats better than anything Fox throws at us.. Joe Buck, Buck Martinez, please..)

gus johnson on the morning drive to work:
getting on the 4440000000000000000005555555555555, an ACCIDDEEEENNNNT aheaaaddd!
(traffic will still suck, but at least youll be entertained)

gus johnson on the beer bong:
he's going for the DIAAMMMMMMOOOOOONNNNNNNDDDDDDD CLUUUUUUUBBB! 4 BEERS in ONE HIT! UNBELIEVABLE!

and my personal favorite...gus johnson on bringing a girl home:
he's going for the SHIIIIRRRRRRTTTTTT! REJEEECCTTTEEDDD! HEEAAARRRRTTT BBBRRRREEEEEEAAK CCIITTYY!!!!!

see. man. wouldnt that be an exciting life?

I Never...

not creative enough to think of a good lead in, so ill get right to the countdown...

-i've never played "i never." Sawyer tells Kate in this clip above that he knows she never went to college, because she wouldve known how to play i never. well. i went to colelge. ive never played i never. i feel like i understand the concept, but ive never played it!

-i've never played kings cup. another supposedly big college drinking game. i have no idea how this one even works. theres a cup in the center? umm... from there... what happens? i dunno! is there even a cup in the center? what's going on here?!

-i've never seen the lion king. ive seen the little mermaid, ive seen aladdin, ive seen beauty and the beast. so that means ill watch french movies, arabian movies, movies about the sea, but no african movies. when you say "hakuna matata" i have no idea what youre talking about. none.

-ive never seen titanic. largest grossing movie of all time? no thanks. was never interested. im the king of the world? good for you, buddy, good for you.

-ive never had dippin dots. what are dippin dots? why do they sell them at every mall? are they good? are they gross? i couldnt tell you!

-ive never been to a high school football game. i went to high school. i just didnt care about our football team. i like football. i knew people on the team. i watch friday night lights to the point where it is no longer a tv show, its my weekly vacation to dillon texas to creepily watch high school kids as they go about with their life. but those peninsula versus ... damn, i dont even know our rival... was it mira costa? yeah. those games. never went. did we win?

-other random i nevers: been to arbys, had a steak, watched 90210, done a keg stand, seen the usual suspects, succesfully driven a stick shift car, watched the colbert report, owned a pet, lived in the ghetto

there are actually 2 more things ive never done that may really surprise you, but i dont really think those are blog material. i may tell you if you ask me, but more likely i wont. yup.

just another day in the life of....

yeah yeah, blatant biting of someone elses blog title, but im bored as bored can be right now. for whatever reason, my company doesnt give the 26th off.. i get it for the sales people, as we are a retail based company, but what does marketing have to do today? ive been here for an hour and a half and sent out 5 emails. 3 of which are no where near work related. and the other two emails contained a grand total of 5 words. considering most of my job revolves around emails, doing some stuff here on my computer, and then emailing some more... im run-rating at about 18 minutes per word. if most manufacturers are off today, what good is making vendor marketing come in? who can i work with? also, if 2/3 of the office is taking the day off, why make everyone take a vacation day? dont fight it, pc mall, just give us the day off. if the employees you do have in the office all feel like bringing in their laptops and watching movies, or they spend their time writing on their blogs, i dont think its a good use of time. im just sayin...

i just looked back at my end of 2007 post and so i guess 2008 was an improvement over 2007. i got a new job, its better than my old job. i dont hate it as much as other people here at pc mall do. i dont hate it as much as i hated sva. my boss and vp seem to like me. so i guess thats all a good sign. i know the grass isnt always greener on the other side, so maybe its not really in my best interest to keep thinking about moving jobs, especially with the job market so shitty, but at the same time, i feel like i have to at this stage to keep getting raises. we'll see when i make it to a full year... but we do get some perks that dont come with EVERY job, so i guess thats nice too. never got to go to luxury suites at staples center before.. or have vendors pay to take me out drinking on multiple occasions.. so yeah... i dunno! hmm... what else... 08 saw another ucla basketball run end at the final four without a championship and another angels season end in playoff failure--sadly, both of which im getting used to. i moved into my own place this year. i made some new friends this year, and thats always nice. 08 definitely had its share of sad moments and its share of very happy ones. so as i said last year, hopefully that trend will continue and 09 will be even better than 08. but what if its not? what if i peaked at 25? 08 was better than 07, so why isnt this post as optimistic as that one was?

so finishing up on the end of 07 post.. lets see how i did... "so now i feel like the pressure is on me to step up the quality. i can not and will not guarantee more posts, because im lazy. i cant really even guarantee that ill make better posts because i just dont have that many thoughts that can be thought of as "quality" or "interesting" or even "not lame." " yeah... good thing i couldnt make those guarantees... this will be post #12, 07 had 17. are these quality posts? eh? 07 had one winner in the original VTN post, 08 had one winner in the myheritage.com post so thats not really an increase in quality. "one thing i can try to do is step up the graphic design. i do actually enjoy that. ive even made a new header. however i fear that this might be a temporary change and ill revert back to being lazy." yeah... i reverted back to being lazy... so what will 09 bring to victornewman.blogspot.com? 10 posts? one of them being good? cant even guarantee that!

oh well! on to 09!

TV

you know one thing that bugs me? when i hear people go "OHHH HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER IS ON... I LOVE THAT SHOW!!" hearing that makes my skin crawl a little bit. and here is why: you cant be the worlds biggest fan if you jumped on the bandwagon late! where were you when the original robin sparkles episode came on and i only had my brother, julius and eric to discuss this with? when the fortress of barnitude episode first aired, were you watching it or were you doing something else with your monday evening? if you accept that you missed the boat early, but are glad to be on it now, thats perfectly fine. ali is like that with FNL and Chuck. but dont go around talking like youre the worlds biggest fan when people like myself and eric have already been in on this since day 1. i wont name names, but there are a few HIMYM fans that are getting a little ambitious in their fan-dom. just letting you know.

**edit** 12/26/08 : ok, so to clarify, hopping on a bandwagon : perfectly fine. hopping on a bandwagon, and then acting like YOU discovered fire : not fine. :)

anyways, now that we've gotten that out of the way... ive been thinking, who are the 5 best tv characters? to qualify, the show has to be on tv right now. ive had this discussion with two other tv connoisseurs, and after the brainstorming session, here is my list.

5: Barney Stinson- How I Met Your Mother.

Barney.. I dont even know where to start. the fortress of barnitude, the naked man, the bracket, the shameless hunt to find robin's music videos, the trembling fear that overtook his character after the slap bet, the subtle build up that he really does have a heart despite his exterior..as is seen by his trip to san francisco to get lilly to come back.



4: Elliot Reid- Scrubs.

Quirky, funny, hot, longs for an apple thief. yes. you win. thank you. can you be real?




3: Hank Moody- Californication.

Not for the womanizing ways, but for the utter disregard for anyone that isnt close to him. and the fact that hes truly hilarious. the dry one liners truly make the show.



2: Don Draper- Mad Men.

There is a certain mystery about don draper. he's basically the epitome of cool.




1: Tim Riggins- Friday Night Lights.

i tried defining Riggins, but simple words do not do the man justice. all i can say is that when my fantasy football team was in a rutt last season, losing week after week, i changed my team name to "RIGGINS!!" and i didnt lose again for the rest of the season. BECUASE YOU KNOW WHAT?! WE'RE GOING TO STATE!





other names thrown in for consideration: Sarah, Chuck, and Casey from Chuck; Landry and Saracen from FNL; Dwight Schrute from The Office; Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock; Marshall from HIMYM; Turtle from Entourage.

through the years

with a little help from yearbookyourself.com, here is a look at one vishal naik through the years:

1950:
1958:
1970:
1976:

1982:

1988:

1994:

1998:

people dont change

vish in the late 80s:














vish in the mid 2000s:

Shirts now available!!

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NO MARKUP EITHER!
(the way cafepress works is that they give you a set price, and from there you can mark it up, so the prices you see are their default prices. i'm making $0 profit. tho if i get an overinflated ego and think someone might actually buy one of these shirts, ill start adding a markup, so get it now!! Also, cafepress only allows me to have one design per tshirt style, so if you would like the a certain design in another style, let me know! ill set it up!)

you HAVE to watch this movie

the other day i was over at christine's and there was this movie that she HAD to watch-or so all her friends were saying. so we watched this movie..and well, there were some similarities between the main character and ms kim. so i got to thinking, if there were a movie made about my life, who would be in it? obviously, its way too hard to find characters from specific roles that fit the personalities of the people in my life the way katherine heigl fit christine, so i figured id make guesses as to who i would cast for this fictional movie (such as the indian guy from weeds and kal penn playing me and my brother, john cho playing brian park, and so on) but since a lot of my friends are asian, and there are only so many characters that kristen kreuk and grace park can play, i figured id do some research at myheritage.com to find celebrities that look like my friends. and then bam, ive casted my movie....

well, it didnt really go according to plan. for the most part my responses ranged from not even close to hilariously far apart. so instead of fake casting what could only result in the worlds worst movie, ive decided to just post links to the pictures (embedding the pictures themselves would make this post WAY too long).

this whole movie about my life thing is still interesting to me, so if you have suggestions as to who should play who, let me know! (yes, i know it might be 4 months before anyone other than the 5 people who are about to get an email telling them "you are mentioned in my new blog post" reads this, but whatever)

personal favorite: the last lookalike for david hill-i almost fell out of my chair laughing when that one came up.
most accurate: dave ruttenberg.
actor who would be hilarious in his role as a character from my life: the last response for my dad.
funniest group: goh. hands down.
(since the responses are in a circle around the friend's picture, when i say "first", i mean highest percentage; when i say "last", i mean lowest percentage)

so check out the results:
me, ali, brian, julius, christine kim, michelle, christine fan, julieann, kristie, andrea, eric, dave ruttenberg, dave hill, rich, rob, cathy, caroline, nana, kaiping, justin, jason, my brother, my mom and my dad.

and now my thoughts on each person:
me: jeff gordon, really?
ali: i wouldve guessed clive owen.
brian: i LOVE how raven symone was #2. hilarious.
julius: he wishes he was as awesome as bruce lee.
ck: in some pictures (not the ones used, of course) samaire armstrong CAN actually look KINDA like christine.
michelle: sharon osbourne. hahaha.
cfan: kim smith was looking pretty wonderful in her appearance as lauren davis, saracen's cheerleader girlfriend on friday night lights, and zhang ziyi has always been a tasty nugget, so id say cfan wins for "best" lookalikes.
julie: julie's new nickname, the pale rihanna.
kristie: a diverse representation for ms ota. a white girl, a japanese male, a rep of each of the major asian nations and a french singer.
dre: stephanie tanner. awesome.
eric: audrey hepburn. hahaha. eric's so pretty.
rutt: the middle initial p now stands for pacey.
hill: aretha franklin. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
rich: not gonna lie, rich looks like none of these people, maybe thats because i picked such an awful picture to use. haha
rob: billy zane and...
cathy: sung hi lee. that has the makings of a good looking couple.
caroline: i dont know who any of those people are.
nana: this camile velasco person keeps popping up.
kaiping: WILT!
justin: heres the proof, justin is superman.
jason: comically one of the best sets of responses, hansbrough, micheal jackson (before he became wacko jacko), will smith, jayne mansfield all rolled into one. freaking goh.
nish: i can just see it now, my brother singing "YEAH YEAH YEAH, living la VIIDDAAA LOCAAA."
mom: well an indian actress made the list.
dad: if this movie were made with this ass cast, vince vaughn as my dad would be SO funny that it might actually make it worth watching. key word: might.


so there you have it. myheritage.com, funny, but not even close to accurate. oh well. so much for a movie cast....

the best show on tv

i still dont know why people arent watching friday night lights. aside from the fact that its easily the best show on tv, eric and i both recommend it...and we're the two smartest people you know!

this season got away from reality a little bit, like a guy losing his scholarship because he punched someone in a movie theater and took back his apology. lets be serious here...if youre being recruited by a major college program, you can get away with far more than that. case in point. but thats ok, its still great. unfortunately because of some selfish people in tv land that decided they needed to strike----which by the way, i was reading postsecret.blogspot.com one day, and i saw a post where someone had submitted a card saying how they were glad they went on strike, because now this person didnt have to write such pointless crap... ok... so in case that person ever finds this post, here is my response: that "crap" is far and away the most important thing youve ever had to write about in your sorry excuse for a life. and if you hate it so much, quit. find a new job. dont be selfish, because thats all that strike was. 100% selfishness...anyways, that has been bugging me for a while, but back to my story...oh! another side note! unfortunately i didnt save the picture from that postsecret post, so i was searching around on the internet to see if anyone else did, and i found someones blog where they talk about indian food. its nice that you like our food, i like our food too. but please, spell it correctly. its not chicken tiki masala. not like tiki torch. tikka! also its not nan. its naan. please, get it right. ok. NOW back to my story----because of this unfortunate strike, this seasons order of 22 episodes has been cut down to 15. the dvd for season 2 is coming out soon, so those final episodes wont be made this year. there is talk that they will never be made. which is truly appalling.

radar interviewed the nbc entertainment head, ben silverman, about friday night lights:

Radar:Quick question! A lot of us are happy that you've kept Friday Night Lights on the air despite lousy ratings. It's totally the best show on TV. But is there going to be another season?
Silverman: Do you watch 30 Rock? That's the best show on TV.

R:Not regularly. But what about FNL?
S:Start watching 30 Rock. It's the best show on TV.

R:I don't want to watch 30 Rock. I want to watch FNL. I love it.
S:I love it. You love it. Unfortunately, no one watches it. That's the thing with shows. People have to watch them. We're NBC, we have a reputation to uphold. And, man, with this writers' strike ... well, we'll see what we can do. But start watching 30 Rock.

what is that? 30 rock is not the best show on tv. fnl is. i will not, at any point in my life, watch 30 rock. i know eric likes it, but thats not enough for me. hes only half of the duo of smartest people you know. i cannot, and will not, support anything with tracy morgan in it. and what reputation does nbc have to uphold? a show thats critically acclaimed and award winning is bringing the network down? ok, douche, show more of americas fattest fatties and youll be sure to get ratings. good thing ck was already on american gladiators and scrubs is ending. those were 2 of my main reasons to watch nbc this season. if fnl is done, then nbc is dead to me. i dont watch law and order anyways.

some ideas on how to attempt to save the show:
-LIGHTS ON: Send Light Bulbs To NBC To Save Friday Night Lights
-Why We Love Friday Night Lights...And Why We Want to Keep It Around

tv guide's website lists some other possibilities for the fate of the show, which include letting it run on other networks, or dropping it all together, and hoping another network picks it up. either way, as long as its on tv, im ok. espn did a great job with playmakers, so i have no doubt they can take an established show like fnl and let it do its thing.

buffalo wild wings update

I GOT MY SHIRT!! it only took 2 emails! you have no idea how pumped i am. first ck was on american gladiators last night, and now i have my hot wings shirt. hands down, this has been the best week of 2008!