SEPTEMBER 6TH

HI ALL,

Okay, here it is--September the 6th and IØm thinking to myself, ²Okay, Mike, itØs been a few months since you typed up a new WhatØs New! Get off your butt and start typing!Ó So I decided to listen to my inner voice instead of just sitting around watching the Mariners lose once again and not feeling that motivated to do any kind of work.

Okay, here we goÚLADIES AND GENTLEMANÚBOYS AND GIRLSÚMICHAEL FABER IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF THE WHATØS NEW PAGEÚNOW LETØS GET THIS PUPPY GOING!!!

Yup, folks, we have totally hit the dog days of summer. So far, the summer has flown by; trying to remember what I have done and been has become quite a blur. Hmmm, where should I begin? LetØs start with the present and work our way backward. This summer, I have been doing some independent contracting at Microsoft, developing and updating internal websites for the company. ItØs been fun being back at Microsoft. The atmosphere, the attitudes, just the general lifestyle has been quite impressive. IØm not sure where this will go, but hey itØs fun finding out.

I have also been trying to spend a lot of this summer outdoors, including going hiking a few times a month. I had a blast doing anything from just a simple walk around Greenlake or hiking to the beach, to climbing Mount Si, Tiger Mountain, and Cougar Mountain. The summer has been quite funßthe Northwest is so nice this time of year, with no humidity and not being extremely hot. ItØs almost perfect outside weather.

In addition, I have had time to explore the Northwest more. I have visited such exotic locations like Portland, Vancouver (both in Washington and British Columbia), Spokane, Yakima, Port Townsend, and let us not forget Tacoma. No one in his or her right mind could ever forget Tacoma. ItØs been fun to explore and just go wherever the wind has taken me.

To get off subject for a moment, IØll now let you know a little bit more about the Northwest and the environment in which I live. Seattle is broken into different neighborhoods; each neighborhood has its own distinct feel and personality. One of these areas is named Fremont; it is considered to be the funky, artsy section of town. Each year, they a Summer Solstice parade, which to say is kind of unique is to say it mildly. I donØt know how to clearly explain it; itØs kind of a mix between Mardi Gras and a total free-for-all. ItØs been a Seattle tradition for almost 27 years now, and it gets larger and weirder every year. I have a whole mess of photos from the parade; take a peek here. (Warning: some instances of nudity that appear are not suitable for all ages.)

In early August, I had a visitor from the East-someone who had never been to the West Coast before. Yes, my dear friends, I got a visit from my nephew, Danny. YouØre probably going, ²Wait a minute, Mike; how could Danny come out to visit? He is only a little kid.Ó All I have to say to you all is, ²No, no, no; my little nephew isnØt so little any more!Ó Believe it or not, Danny just turned 13 at the beginning of August. He came out for a week of fun and frolics. Let me tell you, we traveled everywhere around Puget Sound, and even made it up to the Vancouver, British Columbia area. It was sooo much fun. I really donØt think we rested once on his trip out here.

The best part of the trip, though, was when Danny got to meet his only cousin for the first time. It was so cute. At first, William was so unsure of who this other guy hanging out with his Dad was; and by the end of their first meeting, William was using me as the translator for Danny. For example, William said, ²Dad, tell HIM (pointing at Danny sitting right next to me) that IØm having pizza for dinner!Ó or ²Dad, tell HIM that IØm having root beer!Ó However, by the time they saw each other the next time, William was like, ²Dan letØs do this, Dan letØs do that!Ó Danny could do no evil in WilliamØs eyes. William was just crazy about his big cousin.

I guess I did a great job with DanØs visit, because when he got home back to Florida, one of the first things he told his mom when he got off the plane was, ²You know, Mom, I guess it wouldnØt be that bad to move to Seattle.Ó Gee, if I knew that was all it took for them to come out here, I would have had Danny out here nine years ago.

In the world around us, itØs the same old junk but just a different day. The U.S. is talking about going to war with Iraq, the economy sucks, baseball is talking about going on strike, and we have an idiot named Bush in the White House. Welcome to the world of 1991. Ummm, I mean 2002. Jeeze, like I said, the more things change, the more they stay the same. In my mind, the most serious issue pressing the U.S. has been the sudden publicized rash of abducted children from around the country. Being a parent, the child abductions have hit a stronger cord with me. The thought of anyone taking a small child from his or her parents is horrifying. I just donØt even understand what would make someone to take a child, and hurt them the way that has been described with these defenseless kids on the news. (Sorry, IØm not going into details about what was done to some of these kids; if youØre that interested, turn on CNN.) I couldnØt even fathom what I would do if something like that happened to William.

The world is on edge right now, with the US looking to attack Iraq again. It seems to me like George Jr. wants to try and defend DaddyØs honor, because Papa couldnØt finish the job (take that any way you wish). I donØt know, I just canØt think of any major reason for us to invade Iraq and remove the evil dictator Saddam Hussein. We have enough troubles going on here in the States. From what I can see, the president is taking heed to the old government adage, ²If we go to war, the general public wonØt realize how crappy our country is doing at home.Ó Boy, kids, not to be a pessimist, but things in this country are not looking pretty.

My sentiments arenØt based on a Democrat vs. Republican standpoint; itØs just that our economy, which for the past few years relied on the high-tech sector to boost itself, has been in a recession since even before September 11. To make matters complicated, because most of our traditional industries (such as iron, farming, electronics, and pharmaceuticals) are now being transferred to other locations in the world for 1/4 the cost of keeping the industriesßand the jobs that go with themßin the U.S. Everyday, IØm reading stories about how one company is laying off 5,000 people, and other companiesØ CFOs are revealing that they are $3,000,000,000 in the red and trying to hide it by saying this astronomical figure was just an accounting error.

Now the government has to once again bail these companies out of their problems that were fueled by their greedy ways. These companies should take responsibility for their actions. ThatØs part of the problem with society today; everyone is always trying to find an easy way out. I could make an excuse and try to find an easy way out of my credit card debt that I have gotten into over the past year (with the divorce from Angela, trying to start my own company, and not having a real steady flow of income for a bit). However, IØm not that type of personßI will get it all paid off eventually. It might take a little bit of effort, but I can do it.

On this note, I have found a website created by a woman in New York who had gotten herself into a lot of credit card debt. So, being ingenious, she created a website called Saving Karyn. I admire her for her originality, but I donØt like how she is begging for money, not taking responsibility and sacrificing for her mistakes. Take a peek at her site; tell her I told you to stop by. A friend of mine said IØm just jealous that I didnØt think of it first, which is partly true; but ultimately I would end up feeling guilty taking money from others. (I guess itØs just part of my makeup.) Another site I highly recommend would be Odd Todd.com. Todd is an unemployed dot com worker who decided to have fun with his unemployment. Be careful though his site hits home a little to close bone for us former dot goners. Drop by and say Hi.

On the sports front, itØs the lull before the storm with the baseball strike. IØm not 100% sure if the two sides will see eye-to-eye. I canØt really relate to either side; I just canØt get the notion that the players donØt want to pay a luxury tax on anything on salaries lower than $100,000,000. Also, the owners donØt want to share money among all the teams, not just three or four teams that want to bring on all the big players, and then go on to the playoffs because they can afford it. It will probably still be a year or two off till the ²playing fieldÓ starts leveling off again, so to speak. Judging by the way the Mariners have been playing lately, it would be much to the teamØs advantage if they have some days off for the strike to put their heads on straight. Can you believe it? For the first time this year, the Mariners are out of first place and heading downward. I have a feeling that, if a baseball playoff takes place this year, I donØt expect to see the Mariners there. (Editor's note, since I wrote this article, the threat of the strike has ended, "OH JOY").

IØm not really sure what to expect with football this year. ItØs still too early, and IØll have a well-rounded report in my next update. A lot of teams have undergone many changes and a lot of realignment, so a lot of different faces will appear on your favorite teams. Oh yeah, and be sure to welcome a new football team: the Houston Texans.

Right now, IØm flipping the TV and finding that William Shatner is hosting ²One-Hit WondersÓ on VH1. First, to see him talking about music is quite scary (try listening to his version of ²Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,Ó OY!). TonightØs episode features heavy metal one-hitters and Shatner is decked out in the big hair and an Eddie Van Halen guitar. Oh yeah, there wonØt be any peaceful sleep tonight for this host of FaberØs place.

Okay, IØm just rambling, which leads to my next bit of news. IØm going to be starting a semi-daily rant during the first week of September. Even if itØs just a few lines or thoughts, at least you will know whatØs going on in my life. IØll have pictures and movie reviews as they become available. But it will be more of a daily diary or random thoughts. I think itØs something I can do every few days. I want to share my life with my friends and random viewers to FaberØs Place. (More people show up everyday; thanks, guys, for coming by!)

Speaking of movies, now itØs time to review some of the movies I have seen in the past few months. First off we have ²Star Wars: Attack of the ClonesÓ or ²Star Wars: Episode II.Ó When George Lucas originally created the first three films, he inadvertently created a whole mythology that started somewhere in the middle. So, for many years, people asked, ²George, how did this all start? How did Dearth Vader become so scary and evil? Who is the Emperor? Who was Luke and LeaØs mother? Who is Boba Fett?Ó

Well, in an attempt to start answering some of these questions, three years ago, Lucas released ²Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.Ó Unlike a lot of people, I actually did enjoy most of the movie, which was overall fun, although very formulaic. I felt like, hey, the ²Phantom MenaceÓ movie basically has the original Star Wars movie ending. Yes, I found Jar Jar Binks and Anakin Skywalker less enjoyable than being licked in a room with Gilbert Gottfried, but I did like a lot of the explaining of the legend.

Three years later, the second part of the Star Wars epic is released. I thought, oh God; itØs going to be another JarJar and Anakin show. First, George Lucas announced the name ²Star Wars: Attack of the Clones,Ó much to the chagrin of his fans, who insisted on naming the film ²Shadow of the Fall.Ó Oh my God, I thought, Lucas is flashing back to a 1950s cheesy sci-fi. After waiting in line for four hours to see the movie on the best movie screen in Seattle (put Cinerama link here), I wasnØt terribly disappointed but definitely thought Lucas could have done better.

To give you a little background on the movie, the concept of the ²Attack of the ClonesÓ story is that 10 years have passed since the end of the last movie. Obi-Wan Kenobi has become a full-fledged Jedi and Anakin (whoØs now 19) is his apprentice. They are assigned to protect Padmô Amidala (now a senator) who is targeted for assassination by the Evil Emperor. I wonØt bore you with the whole storyßI figure you might have seen it alreadyßbut the long and short of it is that Anakin has been obsessed with Padmô for ten years, and they fall in love in the midst of a underground conspiracy by the Evil Emperor and Count Dooku to take over the government.

I was pleased with the first half-hour of the movie and the last hour of the film, but I donØt know what kind of drugs that George Lucas took to think that a bunch of science fiction fans would want to see a romantic love story between Anakin and Padmô. I for one was going nuts, thinking I paid how much and waited for how long to see this sap? Okay, maybe sap is a little tough, but hey, I wanted to see some Jedis kicking butt! And let me tell you, the last hour was totally worth the wait. The battle scene, in which the whole Jedi force came to rescue Obi-Wan, Padmô, and Anakin, was fully incredible. For years, Lucas has been perfecting the use of computer animation for special effects, and my God, he has done it. The final battle between Count Dooku and Yoda is more than words can even bring to justice. Just go to the movie for the last hour. You will be glad that you didnØt have to sit through the rest of the dreck.

The next Star Wars Movie is due out in 2005, and in truth, IØm not really looking forward to it. ItØs going to be a very dark movie. Yes, I do want to see how Lucas is going to pull off the final transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. I know Anakin is going to kill off all the Jedi, and I also know that the Empire will be born from the Republic. In addition, a final battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin will result in Anakin becoming disfigured and place him in the familiar black armor and helmet, or, as my sister said when we saw the original ²Star WarsÓ back in 1977, ²Michael, thereØs the heavy breather!Ó LOL. Good luck, Georgeßyou will need it.

The second movie IØm going to review is the third installment in the Austin Powers trilogy, Austin Powers in Goldmember. (By the way, a rumor is going around that Mike Myers is signed on to do five of these films, so guess what, folks, we are stuck seeing our buddies Austin and Dr. Evil for the next six years, at least.) Austin Powers in Goldmember brings our favorite swinger back to center stage once again. This time, instead of just playing three characters (Austin, Dr. Evil, and the aptly named Fat Bastard), he adds to his repertoire the movieØs main villain Gold Member, who like his name, has golden genitalia, and has an odd obsession with devouring flakes of his own skin. The movie was pretty solid from start to end, and was a good evolution of the existing characters, while bringing in the new characters of Foxy Cleopatra (the Foxxy Beyonce Knowles) and Nigel Powers (the always suave Michael Caine) definitely complimented the cast.

I donØt want to spoil any of the surprises or jokes from this film, but the first 15 minutes alone are worth the price of admission. DonØt go into this film expecting an epic movie, but you will leave with a smile on your face.

ThatØs all for the WhatØs New this weekßlike I said, stay tuned for my weekly rants!

To View The May 5th What's New Click Here
To View The March 1st What's New Click Here

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