GUITAR HERO IS THE NEW KARAOKE! Er, or at least it was for a few short weeks at Pianos! Late at night, after all the bands had finished playing, Jasper (the guy that books all the bands at Pianos) would bust out his Playstation and run the video to the bigscreen projector and the audio through the club's PA system! It was amazing. ˆ jasper ˆ shandi ˆ guitar hero ˆ videogames ˆ

Here's a shot with the flash on so you can see Jasper and Shandi going head-to-head. ˆ jasper ˆ shandi ˆ guitar hero ˆ videogames ˆ

On Wednesday night I went to some party on 1st Ave (and saw this Sarah Lewitinn doppleganger)... ˆ strangers ˆ tongue ˆ

...and then afterwards I went over to Home Sweet Home and hung out with Smellsgood Gina and Matt. ˆ gina bonjersey ˆ matt ˆ

Place was nice and quiet and we closed it out!

On Thursday afternoon, Benjamin made the mistake of leaving his brand new camera out on his desk when he went to the bathroom, so Mike and I picked it up and took a bunch of "secret photos" for him to find later. This one made me laugh so hard that I took a picture of the picture so I'd have a copy of it on my camera. Meta! ˆ me ˆ mike montero ˆ best ˆ cci ˆ the bird ˆ

Thursday night I went out with Hallie, Chris Black, Sarah and Brandon. ˆ brandon ˆ chris black ˆ hallie ˆ sarah ˆ

Neon church on the walk home! ˆ church ˆ neon ˆ

On Friday night Meredith's parents came over to our apartment to hang out and I convinced her dad to try Guitar Hero! ˆ mr silverman ˆ guitar hero ˆ videogames ˆ

Later that night I got a call from Matt asking me if I'd mind doing him a favor: His new girlfriend Elle was in town from Miami and Matt was taking her and her friend Paula out to dinner at Morimoto (the Iron Chef's restaurant that had recently opened up in Manhattan). Matt was worried that Paula was going to feel like 3rd wheel, so he asked if I'd mind coming along as her date. Boy, the things I'm willing to do for my friends! Who's a better friend than me? (And more to the point, who has a better girlfriend than me? "Honey, Matt wants to know if I'll play wingman and be his new girlfriend's friend's date at some fancy restaurant tonight...uh, is that cool?" "Sure, have fun!") ˆ elle ˆ paula ˆ

Elle and Matt. ˆ elle ˆ matt ˆ

Pseudo-couple Paula and me. ˆ me ˆ paula ˆ

The food was ridiculously fancy and over the top! ˆ food ˆ

No idea what these dishes even are! ˆ food ˆ

Tiny, dainty portions of food... ˆ food ˆ

...plus huge magnums of sake...

...means that we were all acting like this by the time our entrees showed up. ˆ me ˆ paula ˆ food ˆ tongue ˆ ugly face ˆ

Hahahah. ˆ matt ˆ laugh ˆ

Classy! ˆ paula ˆ ugly face ˆ

Keep in mind that this is kind of a fancy restaurant! At first we were a little worried that we were going to get "spoken to" by the staff. But I think after having to deal with uppity customers all night, the waitstaff got a genuine kick out of us. Because every time we finished a bottle of sake (in the classiest of ways)... ˆ elle ˆ matt ˆ chug ˆ

...they'd bring us a fresh one! (I love how Matt is proudly displaying our fresh bottle while he not-so-subtly tries to get a peek of Elle's titty). ˆ elle ˆ matt ˆ peep ˆ

By the time we finished eating our entrees, it was almost 1am and the restaurant was COMPLETELY EMPTY. ˆ elle ˆ

Which meant that we were free to use the table decorations as props in hand-job jokes without having to worry about offending other patrons! When our waiter came back out after clearing the table, we were certain that he was going to politely usher us out, but instead, he asked us if we were interested in dessert! ˆ matt ˆ tug job ˆ

Paula's attempt to spoon-feed me in a seductive manner went horribly awry... ˆ me ˆ paula ˆ spoon ˆ

..and I ended up with chocolate mousse on (and in) my nose. ˆ me ˆ paula ˆ drunk ˆ kiss ˆ

Which led to taking a whole bunch of pictures where we're smiling with chocolaty-brown shit-teeth! ˆ me ˆ paula ˆ shit teeth ˆ

Yay, shit teeth! ˆ elle ˆ matt ˆ shit teeth ˆ

Elle, Matt and Paula! ˆ elle ˆ matt ˆ paula ˆ

We finally got our check around 1:30am! (Thanks for putting up with us, waitstaff at Morimoto!). ˆ matt ˆ me ˆ drunk ˆ

Sorry we got so drunk that it seemed perfectly reasonable to take photos like this as we packed up our stuff! ˆ elle ˆ paula ˆ

Best fake-date ever! ˆ me ˆ paula ˆ

Right as we were leaving the restaurant (at 2am!), a white Cadillac strech-limo (that looked like it had just driven to Manhattan FROM THE 80s), pulled up to the curb and asked us if we wanted a ride! Out of habit, I waved him away with my hand, but Matt was intrigued and asked "How much to go to the Lower East Side?"

I missed out on the finer points of the negotiation (me = totally wasted, remember?), but the next thing I know, Matt's grinning from ear to ear and waving us all into the back of the limo. ˆ elle ˆ matt ˆ limo ˆ

And so our classy night was taken to even classier heights. ˆ me ˆ paula ˆ limo ˆ

By the time we got to the LES, whatever party we were supposed to have been attending, had long since ended. So instead we made friends with a bearded, black cowboy... ˆ elle ˆ matt ˆ me ˆ paula ˆ cowboy ˆ strangers ˆ

...and then headed over to Angels & Kings in the East Village to visit Sarah, Karen and Brandon. Right after I snapped this picture, I dropped my brand new camera and broke the lens-protector! So that the next time I took a photo... ˆ brandon ˆ elle ˆ karen ˆ sarah ˆ dj ˆ

...it looked like this! OH NOS! ˆ karen ˆ sarah ˆ broken ˆ

I experimented for a while trying to use the broken-lens protector to frame the photos in interesting ways... ˆ karen ˆ sarah ˆ broken ˆ

...but eventually gave up and just ripped the broken part off the lens. And was over-joyed to discover that despite the fact that I'd just dropped the camera on its lens and then ripped half of lens-assembly off the camera, that the camera still took perfectly good photos! (Not to mention that this is pretty much my favorite photo of Karen of all time. I love how it looks like it was taking during a private, Undies-Only dance party! *gasp!*). ˆ karen ˆ best ˆ dance ˆ

Thanks for dinner, Matt! (Too bad the first time I hung out with your girlfriend was also the LAST TIME! BOOOOO!) ˆ elle ˆ matt ˆ hoodie ˆ

Goodnight, Paula! You were the most-fun fake date I've ever had the pleasure of being fake-set-up with! ˆ elle ˆ paula ˆ

When I got home, I played with these whiskery critters. ˆ ratso ˆ roxy ˆ rats ˆ

On Saturday night, Gina came over to our apt for a girl's night. So I decided to head out and leave the girls alone to "do their thing." (Incidentally, their "thing" turned out to be... ˆ gina ˆ meredith ˆ couch ˆ

...joke-photos of them making faces like this... ˆ meredith ˆ excited ˆ helmet ˆ

...and this while wearing my brand new bike helmet! Hahah. ˆ gina ˆ helmet ˆ

I went down to some house party in Chinatown (near my old apartment *sniffle*) and met up with Posh Tony, Elliot and Elliot's new girlfriend. ˆ elliot ˆ posh tony ˆ

Around 3am, Posh and I decided to head west to check out the tail-end of MisShapes. Here's Posh laying a smackeroo on Little Miss Leigh Lezark... ˆ leigh ˆ posh tony ˆ kiss ˆ misshapes ˆ

...who was kind enough to give me a lift home in her lil' rental car. ˆ leigh ˆ rental car ˆ

On Sunday, I rode out to the Meadowlands with Matt to check out the Bamboozle festival (because I'd had so much fun at the previous year's event). But this year the festival was waaay too hot and over-crowded and after about 90 minutes, I ended up giving up on fun and catching a bus back to NYC with Gurj. ˆ jeet ˆ bamboozle ˆ thumbs down ˆ

After work on Tuesday I brought my bike to the bike shop to get some work done and ran into this baby squirrel sitting on the window ledge of the shop! ˆ squirrel ˆ

Look at how god-damned adorable he was. Just chillin' on the ledge, eatin my nut...doing my thing. ˆ squirrel ˆ

He let me get REALLY close before his burgeoning squirrel-senses kicked in and he realized that allowing himself to be touched probably wasn't such a good idea. ˆ squirrel ˆ

Later that night, Matt and I went to see Priestbird (the amazing band formerly known as Tarantula) play at the Merc. ˆ band ˆ priestbird ˆ

If you like metal, GO SEE THIS BAND! (Figured I'd throw that in there just in case the electric-cello and double-necked bass/guitar combo didn't pique your interest). ˆ danny bensi ˆ band ˆ priestbird ˆ

Inspired by the madness of the Priestbird show, a bunch of us decided to make some music of our own (er, sort of) at karaoke later that night. Here's the Fatty kicking some SUPER OLD SKOOL Jovi with "Runaway." ˆ fatty ˆ karaoke ˆ

I like how Amanda and Matt go from "normal faces" to... ˆ amanda ˆ matt ˆ

...METAL FACES in like .05 seconds! ˆ amanda ˆ matt ˆ metal ˆ

Then AFTER karaoke, I went to some party that Geordon and Leigh were throwing around the corner... ˆ geordon ˆ leigh ˆ hoodie ˆ

...and Leigh showed off the bruise that was just starting to show up after she got doored by a cab while riding her bike earlier that afternoon. Ouch! ˆ leigh ˆ bruise ˆ ouch ˆ

Friday night I went out to meet up with David Caggiari! He was in town to play a bunch of shows with his band! Here's David and Sarah. ˆ david c ˆ sarah ˆ

Karen nuzzling up to David. (Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm! Smells like handsome!) ˆ david c ˆ karen ˆ

Marisa and Jenny were there partying it up. When the bar closed down... ˆ jenny penny ˆ marisa ˆ drunk ˆ

...the five of us decided to go back to our apartment to play some...

...Guitar Hero! Woooo! Here's David breaking his cherry while Karen cheers him on! ˆ david c ˆ karen ˆ 239 e 7th ˆ guitar hero ˆ videogames ˆ

Jenny Penny: Still partying at 6am. ˆ jenny penny ˆ metal ˆ

We ended up playing until the sun came up! ˆ david c ˆ 239 e 7th ˆ guitar hero ˆ videogames ˆ