It’s pretty lame but one of my regrets in life is having not been a part of these Nickelodeon game shows as a kid. Growing up in Orlando they filmed a lot of the shows in Universal Studios back when they still had Nickelodeon Studios with the green gack fountain outside. Now that building looks totally different and is where they currently hold Blue Man Group shows. How times have a-changed.

As a child, I recall watching TV and seeing people wearing red and blue jumpsuits sliding down from a giant mouth and diving into a giant ice cream sundae just to grab an orange flag and thought: why can’t my family be doing this??? Why can’t I get to play Sonic the Hedgehog for points and then stand in front of a greenscreen and duck imaginary floating Medusa heads?! When will I get to put on moon shoes and pop balloons filled with SHAVING CREAM???

It would have been rad to don a Blue Barracudas t-shirt and assemble the shit out of the shrine of the Silver Monkey. Maybe even have met Melissa Joan Hart or Cuba Gooding’s brother. Could’ve watched Kenan Thompson before he became “the token” on SNL, or Kel Mitchell before he starred in the vastly underrated Mystery Men.

Oh all the childhood memories that could have been.

On hindsight, I guess I never bugged my parents enough. Alas the Aggro Crag, we were not meant to be.

via backstreetboys1993-2001

Final nostalgia story for the night.

This is Amy Winehouse.

I actually very vividly remember the first time I ever heard Amy Winehouse and it was the winter of 2006, sometime in the week between Christmas and New Years Eve. I got into a car accident a few weeks or so prior and it was actually great since it wasn’t my fault and now I had $6,000 to spend on another used car. I was scouring used car places both print and online hoping to replace my fallen Saab 9-3 (leather seats, turbocharged, cool ignition in the middle console instead of by the steering wheel…how could I give this up???) and was hoping to find one by Christmastime. Christmas rolls around, still no replacement, and by this time my parents have nearly persuaded me to just go get a shitty Honda Civic and keep the cash for myself (oh parents, clearly you are more responsible than I). But no. I was this close. I test-drove this ‘99 Civic and was so ready to pay the dude but I just couldn’t. ”Would I really just be another Asian kid driving a Honda Civic?”, I asked to myself. It’s the dumbest reason ever, but I just had to have the Saab again. Even though Euro cars have the worst electrical problems, everything is more expensive, and you can only take it to Euro-centric car shops. Hondas on the other hand, you can take that shit at like the 7-11 and get car parts if you look hard enough.

So now I’m still sans automobile and New Years is coming up. Still looking through car mags left and right and hell bent on finding a car less than 6 grand that wasn’t a Dodge Stratus or a Toyota Camry. I’m not a car snob or anything, but c’mon, that shit is wack. And then one afternoon a day or two before New Years, I found a VW Golf that caught my eye and was definitely within the price range. Bummer though they are closed until the day after New Years. Alright so blah blah it’s now 2007 and I go and check out said VW Golf and everything looks good. “Oh word, it’s even got an amp?” “Yes it’s got an amp” “$5,500?” “$5,500.” Paperwork. Signature. Handshake. “Happy New Years!” Big ass smile on my face.

I drive home (holidays, so I was in Orlando) and pick up some CD’s real fast so I can joyride around and test out the speakers. A CD I’ve been listening to which came out earlier that month was Ghostface’s More Fish album and I was particularly feeling his song “You Know I’m No Good”. So here I am, starting off the new year in a new car, driving around playing Track 14 very loud. ”Wow, Ghost really knows how to dig for old soul samples; this is on some Shirley Bassey shit”, says naive Mark.

Next thing you know Amy blows up, the song is used in Mad Men promos, she’s all over the media, smoking crack, doing heroin with Pete Doherty, and has presently aged about as well as my VW Golf. My car right now: roof leaks, roof carpet is falling off (fucking orange fuzzy stuff all over the place), driver-side power window is broken, airbag light stays on all the time, plus a laundry list of other miscellaneous things that need to be fixed.

On hindsight, maybe I should’ve just gotten that Honda Civic after all.

via naomii

Malibu Beach, CA
2006

NOTE TO SELF: This photo is 3 years old. Must take more photos.

More photos of my old room. This would be the “overly-masculine movie posters” section.

So 2 years and 3 apartments ago my room used to look like this. I was pretty into my artsy French philosophy phase and decided to paint my entire room red. As stylish as it might have been, I’m sure waking up to superbright red walls every day had some adverse effects on me. That and it was the worst possible thing ever when he had to move out and I had to paint over all the red. Let’s just say when all was said and done my room was slightly pink and we didn’t get back our security deposit.