Fist off, THANK YOU ALL FOR GETTING ME TO 15,000 Hits ON THE WEBSITE, I so really appreciate it. Now let's look forward to the next 15,000, don't forget to tell all your friends to come by and visit. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE (I'm not too proud not to beg).

Ok, now onto our regularly scheduled update.....

Well Sunday night I was watching TV, and low and behold, look who was on Sixty Minutes but our favorite accused pervert himself Michael Jackson. I was really wasn’t expecting much from the interview, most TV reporters don’t have the “balls” to ask most interviewees the questions most of us are thinking. Say what you will about Howard Stern, I don’t agree of how he treats women, or a lot of his gags. But when Howard gets a celebrity or newsmaker behind the microphone watch out. He doesn’t worry about what other people think, he just asks what is on his mind, and a lot of times he gets the true, no B/S answer from his guest, or if he dosen't get an answer he doesn’t feel covers the question, he calls the person on it and doesn’t let them get away with it. You know, I would pay almost anything to see Howard Stern interview Michael Jackson, instead of that lame-wad Ed Bradley on 60 minutes.

Geeze, talk about lame questions, Ed Bradley was trying to make Michael look like a victim, (Like, lets all feel sorry for Poor Michael), and the answers that “the King of Pop” gave were some of the most egregious made up fabrications I had ever heard of before in my life. It was almost enough to make you nauseous listening to this guy, and the fantasy world that he lives in. Partly I feel really bad for him, because he is basically just screaming for help, and hopefully this will help him get it, but you know if I had his money and the “Yes” people around him like he has the real world would seem so distant to me to. Not having to ever really deal with real life issues, and always being surrounded by his entourage since he was a young child, has made Michael Jackson a really sad victim of his own success. And now it’s going to come back to bite him hard in the ass. I really don’t see him making any kind of “come back” from this one. His popularity in the general public had been fading over the last 5 to ten years, this is just going to push him down to the “whatever happened to” status”, well after the OJ Simpson type trial, and whatever consequences come after that.

I’m not even going to get into the news of his spokesperson quitting on him, or the Nation of Islam now getting involved. Yeesh.

If you want to read the full transcripts to the Sixty Minutes interview, click here.

Anyway that’s it from this little piece of Terra Firma I call Fabersplace,

Peace

Mike

P.S. Our buddy Odd Todd has a great new holiday cartoon up on his site, stop by for some fudge striped cook-es and some coff-ay. Tell him Mike sent ya.

P.P.S. Here’s something a friend e-mailed me quite a while ago, I think you will like…

THE IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2" in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "Yes."

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar - effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter - like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers."

Hi all, I hope everyone had a great holiday yesterday. For those who celebrate X-mas I hope that Santa brought you all that was on your list, even if you were naughty or nice, (Preferably naughty). For all my non-celebrating friends, I hope you had a nice day off and were able to sleep in, catch a movie, bowl and of course enjoy the ever-traditional meal of Chinese food.

My day was fairly uneventful, and even had the chance to catch up on some smaller projects around the house. It used to be that I would have William in the afternoon on X-mas day, but come on, what little kid is really going to want to leave all his new toys that he just got from Santa, to go out with Dad. Don’t get me wrong. We have a great time when we are together, but I thought it would be easier, and can always change when he gets older. So anyway, it was a good day just to sit around, ponder some new ideas, and kind of reflect over the past year and think about the changes that I have seen in the past year, and to start speculating on what’s to come in the near future.

No, don’t worry I’m not going to turn today’s update into, a retrospect of what kind of year 03 has been, or how I’m so looking forward to the future. In all truth many people know what I thought of 03, if not, just look back at the archives here on Fabersplace.com, and for the future I really won’t get too excited until someone out there invents the flying car, also maybe if NASA calls me to inform me that I have been selected to be the first average schlub to live on the Moon. Hey a guy can dream can’t he??

Hopefully though this next year will find us all in a better frame of mind, and maybe the people of this planet can start correcting some of the mistakes made over the past year, and 2004 will find us all living more harmoniously together.

Ok that’s it for today, have a great weekend, don’t wait in line for too long to return your unwanted gifts. I’ll talk to you all soon.

Peace

Mike

P.S. Ok here’s a story I found on Yahoo, god this is pushing the frivolous lawsuit issue further…

Model, Age 2, Seeks Lost Wages in Mishap

STAMFORD, Conn. - A 2-year-old model and actor who cut his head at a playground is seeking unspecified lost wages and other compensation from the city.

Konrad Mader of Greenwich was running toward a treehouse at a playground Nov. 4 when he crashed into a railing, according to a claim filed last week by his mother and reported Friday by The Advocate of Stamford. The blond toddler received several stitches.

Deena Mader, the boy's mother, did not specify how much she is seeking on behalf of her son.

In a letter to officials, she demanded compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering and a "lost wage amount due to his inability to audition or take modeling or commercial jobs while his head heals."

Mader blamed the boy's injury on a green railing, which she said blends in with the landscaping. Mader said the railing should be painted a brighter color.

"This accident was preventable had the railings and safety measures been correct at this park, " Mader wrote in her claim.

Tom Cassone, the city's director of legal affairs, said his office is investigating the claim.

Joe Falzone, a facilities manager in charge of maintaining city parks, said he is not aware of defects in the playground and there are no plans to make changes.

Well last night was one of those nights where I felt so proud to be a parent. First let me go into a little background. Many of you know that when Angela and I were engaged, she had decided to convert to Judaism so we could raise our children Jewish (much to her Mom’s chagrin). Well after we split up she decided to take everything that she went through and throw it out the window, which is fine, that’s her own personal choice. But that’s neither here nor there for this conversation. Part of our divorce agreement was that I would raise William with the Jewish religion and Angela would raise him with what ever religion she was practicing.

Of course to a young child Christmas holds more allure (the bright lights, Santa, and lots of presents), where Hanukah is more low key and family based. As I have stated in the past, Hanukah is actually one of the more low key Jewish holidays as far as they go. The only reason it’s becoming bigger is because of the competition from Christmas, and they want to make the Jewish kids feel included (not to mention all the money that the Jewish families could be spending on presents and decorations at the stores, but hey who’s counting on commercialism).

Anyway, yesterday was William’s time to spend with me to celebrate Hanukah, and to experience the lighting of the menorah and such. To make it special for him, I had it planned that he would play a little before hand and then at sunset we would light the menorah together. It really couldn’t of gone any better. Of course when he got there, one of the first words out of his mouth were, "Hi Da Da, where’s my presents?" Oh well, he is only four. So anyway, when sun set came, I told him to stop playing his game, and lets get ready. I let him set the candles into their proper place and then lit the fist candle for him. Then I gave him the candle and let him light the other four. As we were lighting them, I taught him how to recite the Hanukah prayer. It was truly incredible hearing him listen to me and repeating it after me. My chest felt like bursting, I was so proud. I so wanted to have that moment last forever. It made me once again realize how important my being a part of his life has been, and will be in the future. Of course the other thing it made me think was, Damm, what a time for me not to have a camera anywhere around (my digital camera died a few months ago, so I was photo-less. Don’t worry, I’m already busy at finding a replacement, hmmm maybe that’s what I should ask for my birthday, no I know I promised I wouldn’t do that again, but if some nice person wanted to send me a Sony Cybershot DSC-P10 Digital Camera, I wouldn’t say no).

I was pretty smart this year, instead of giving William all his gifts at one shot, I decided to give him his smaller gifts yesterday, and then the big stuff on Saturday (yes I know, Hanukah will be over by then but he doesn’t know that). I figured this way it shows him that the holiday is spread out more then one day, and that it celebrated for eight days, and try to explain that to him. Hey at least it’s better for him now, then when I was a small child and only used to get a pair of sox for each day of the holiday. Gee the times have changed.

On Sunday Judy and I went to go see the third installment of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Return of the King. As I talked about a little bit in my last update, I consider myself fairly much a closet "geek" and have a love for fantasy and sci-fi. I had read all four of Tolkens books originally in junior high, and then again during college, and found myself equally excited about the films. I saw the first two films and didn’t have one complaint about either of them; I found them both beautiful and extremely entertaining. They felt like the book came to life, (the only other movie series I felt that with was the Harry Potter films).

So in all excitement I went into seeing Return of the King the same way. Let me say this first, overall I really did enjoy the film, I think Peter Jackson has caught the feel of middle earth more then any other attempts before (two very poorly animated film versions of the Lord of the Rings, and Return of the King). He literally made you feel like you were lifted from your seat in the theater and transported to Middle Earth. The film carries you along the various adventures following Frodo & Sam carrying on the quest to destroy the one ring, and Gandalf and Co. defending humanity again the Oark insertion. This film served two purposes, in one way it told the tale of the fall of Sauron, and rise of Aragorn, and it also was a way to say farewell to friends you have spent the last two years getting to know. It was very beautifully done all the way around, and I did walk out of the theater feeling satisfied, but I felt like something was missing. I can’t tell you what, maybe in that it ended to neat and clean. In the books the Hobbits return to their land to find that Sauraman too had decimated it, kind of innocence lost, instead they returned to find the their home land as they remembered. It was almost like their were a lot of little things rushed through, Yes I know at 3 hours and 40 minutes this was a long film as it was, but still, what can I say. It dose rank in my top 10 films of the year but I really don’t think it will be the top film the academy awards (sadly enough) or for me. Don't get me wrong I really did like it, and can't wait to see if they do the Hobbit in a few years.

Ok that’s it from my end of the world, I hope all of you are doing great, and have most of your holiday shopping done.

Peace

Mike

As many of you know I consider myself a geek, not a living in the basement of my parents house type, but enough to love sci-fi, comic books, cartoons, b-movies. Yes I have been to comic book shows since I was a little kid, and yes I had even been to a Star Trek Convention (actually got to meet George Teki & DeForest Kelly) I’m not ashamed of it, and I kind of wear it as a badge of honor. But man I always had to draw the line at a certain point.

William and I were out for our weekly Wednesday night romp, (usually we go to the local mall and go to the bookstore and Jillian’s to play video games). Usually we see the normal mall rats, and hurried, hustle and bustles of busy shoppers, but not on this fine day. We were walking though the mall and William poked me and said “Da, Da why are there people dressed as monsters here?” Looking over to where William was pointing, I was quite shocked to see at least 200 “people” dressed in all kinds of mid-evil / middle earth garb waiting in line at the movie theater to see The Return of the King on the first day. Let me get this out first, I loved the first two Lord of the rings movies, I’m a huge fan of the Tolken books (have read them many times), and even based some pieces of my artwork on the stories. But man these people take the cake. There were “people” dressed as Wizards, Elves, Dwarfs, Hobbits, Oarks & Warriors of all shapes and sizes. There were some people who had extremely detailed costumes, and others who just wore all black with the words Hobbit on their chests. A few of the costumes I even wanted to cover William’s eyes so he wouldn’t see the blood and fake gore. It truly amazed me at the dedication of these people, but come-on people aren’t you taking it a tad bit too far. I used to laugh at the folks dressing up for Star Trek conventions; I guess I now have a whole new breed of folks to laugh at now. If anyone has any pictures of any Lord of the Rings costumed moviegoers, please send them to me.

Of course I’ll be seeing The Return of the King, this weekend (sans any type of costume). I’ll have my review on Sunday night.

On that note Happy Chanukah to all my Jewish friends, eat a potato latke for me.

Peace

Mike

Ok here's today's funny to go with the first day of Chanukah.

Things a Jewish mother would never say

• "Just live with him.. you don't have to marry him.. I don't need any grandchildren"
• "Be good and for your birthday I'll buy you a motorcycle!"
• "How on earth can you see the TV, sitting so far back?"
• "Don't bother wearing a jacket -- it's quite warm out."
• "Let me smell that shirt -- yeah, it's good for another week."
• "Just leave all the lights on...it makes the house more cheery."
• "Could you turn the music up louder, so I can enjoy it, too?"
• "Run and bring me the scissors! Hurry!"
• "Aw, just turn these undies inside out. No one will ever know."
• "I don't have a tissue with me -- just use your sleeve."
• "Well, if Timmy's Mom says it's okay, that's good enough for me."
• "Of course you should walk to school and back. What's the big deal about having to cross a few main streets?"
• "If she wants you both to move back east to live near her family it's fine with me."
• "Mother's day, Shmother's Day you just go to the beach and enjoy yourselves.."
• "You don't have to call me every week I know how busy you are."
• "You are so lucky to have your in-laws!"

Ah another sign that the holiday season is upon us yet again is an event meant to bring fear and loathing of ones’ co-workers and their associates. The event I’m referring to is of course known universally as the HOLIDAY PARTY.

It’s quite fun actually going to a holiday party where you don’t actually know anyone. Yes you still have to be social and on good behavior so you don’t totally embarrass the heck out of the person you’re attending the party with. But it also gives you the advantage of being the dark mysterious stranger, and everyone taking you in, and wondering, “who the heck is that person with (enter your friends / loved one’s name here, in my case it was with Judy)”. Usually when I attend one of these events I’m usually attending as a guest, since being self employed the staff Holiday events usually tend to be quite small. It’s also fun since you really don’t have anyone you need to suck up to, so you can actually just sit around and do some people watching at it’s finest. You just got to love seeing co-workers mingle outside of the office, it’s like a whole different world, and then when free alcohol is added to the mix, watch out.

This brings me to major observation about larger gatherings (Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, Holiday Parties, and even Night Clubs), where alcohol and music is involved, a very despicable creature comes to life, this creature suddenly effects the whole crowd. This creature can look like any one of your male co-workers (Joe from accounting, Bob from IT, even all the way up to the CEO of your company), but oh no my friends this creature has taken the shape of your fellow employees, these creatures are slow to emerge at the party, but oh my friends once they do, watch out. What are these creatures I refer to, why of course they are the dreaded “DANCING WHITE MEN FROM SUBURBIA!!!!!” Yes my friends be very afraid, you never know, you might actually be sitting next to one of these grotesque creatures as we speak. Heck, you might even have one lurking inside your body as we speak, just waiting to spring out at any moment. The site of this grotesque beast trying to get their grove on the dance floor is enough to wonder why how any women would want to even consider associating with one of these creatures. If you see one of these creatures try to move away slowly before they come to dance with you. You can see these poor schnooks boogying down to such hits as ‘Hammer Time’, ‘The Electric Slide’ or ‘Celebration’ (you can put your own tunes in this place, depending on your location of choice). Hence the great amounts of booze devoured by both sexes to make the pain of seeing the white man shuffle a little easier. These creatures usually fade away into the darkness as the evening progresses, and are replaced by either the burnt out shells of Embarrassed Bystanders or the late night creatures known only as the Inebriated Ones’ (these usually are the lucky one’s who don’t remember a thing the next day). Just remember you have been warned.

Ok, that’s it from this side of my mind. I know I promised a review of “the Last Samurai” but it’s getting late, I’ll write it up tomorrow. Oh yeah, I did really have fun at the party (you can tell from the picture of Judy and I, from Saturday night). But as most of you know by now, I like to over analyze everything.

Till Tomorrow

Peace

Mike

Greetings holiday shoppers, t-minus 14 shopping days until the blessed event is here, when that jolly fat man comes waddling house to house leaving packages all along the way. God I love it when Vinnie the Drunk staggers into my neighborhood and drops his belongings from a hole in his duffle bag, and harasses all the neighbors for a little cash for a little drinky poo. Ah what found memories this time of the year hold.

Oh did you think I was referring to Santa, yeah he comes around the same time as good ol’ Vinnie and of course lest us not forget Herschel the Chanukah Dwarf. You know Herschel; he goes across the countryside on the back of his trusty grey wolf, Moshia Pippick. Bringing small gifts, potato latkes, and dreidels’ for eight nights during the winter to all the good Hebrew boys and girls.

Come on, you say you don’t know who Herschel the Chanukah Dwarf is? Ah come on over here and Uncle Michael’s going to tell you all about Herschel. Herschel’s been around for many, many years, a lot longer then that Chris Cringle guy created by Macy’s Department Store as an advertising gimmick about a 105 years ago. (Hell, a Montgomery Wards store clerk created Rudolph the Red Nose reindeer for a holiday contest during the 1940’s). Nope not our buddy Herschel, he’s no sell out. Herschel has been around for almost 2200 years now, since the Macabies had their famous oil miracle in Jerusalem. Some say he’s a direct descendent of the Macabies, others say he’s a little more then just meets the eye. It’s really tough to quite say. All I know though is that he helps put a smile on the face of every good Hebrew boy and girl. Just the thought of being there when the children come into living room to see the menorah on the coffee table with all the appropriate candles for each day ready to be lit, a nice plate of potato lates sitting right next to a small but sensible gift for each child. Some say if you listen closely at night you might be able to even hear him in the distance urging his faithful steed onto the next Jewish household “Oy, Moshia Pippick away we go on to the next home to bring some Chanukah joy to all”. Ah just thinking about it brings a sparkle to my heart and a tear to my eye.

Hope your all having a fun and peaceful shopping season

Peace

Mike

P.S. Tomorrow I promise to give you my review of The Last Samurai, the new movie set in 19th century Japan starting Tom Cruise

Ok, sometimes I think machinery is out to get me. I’m not usually a very paranoid person or such, but I think my washer and dryer have a real beef with me. First let me back-track a bit for continuity sake. Last weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend Judy went up to see her sister and her family up in New Jersey. The sad news was that she caught the flu while she was up there. So she came home sick as a puppy and of course I wanted to take care of her. In all reality she was way too sick to even drive home, so I let her stay at my place. Not wanting to get sick, I tried to stay a safe distance, until she was well enough to head home. Finally after a day or two, she was finally well enough for me to drive her back home, but with her gone that then presented the problem of having a germ filled house. So as soon as I got back into the apartment, I flung open all the windows and broke out the disinfectant. Also I stripped my sheets and comforter off of my bed and threw them right into the washer.

My fist mistake came when I started hearing this loud banging noise coming from the washing machine which was half way though it’s spin cycle. I figured, "dam the load must be unbalanced or such". So into my laundry room I went, only to find not only an unbalanced load but also the floor was wet from where the machine flooded out because the comforter was taking up so much room.

Not happy at all I decided to yank the soaking wet comforter and let it drain a bit in the bathtub (my laundry room is connected to the guest bathroom). Grabbing the towels off the wall I use them to soak up the water off the floor, so now I not only have a wet comforter but also now three wet bath towels. I decide to in my wisdom, “Heck with this air dry, when I have a nice high capacity dryer right here at my disposal”. So I throw the soaking wet towels and king sized comforter into the dryer. Thinking then to myself, “hey these things are really wet I should set this for at least 80 minutes”. So I set the dryer and go off to finish off some project I was working on around the house.

About thirty minutes later I had started to notice a burning smell the had been filling the apartment, at first, thinking first maybe it was from the outside; I went to the windows to check on the smell. Finding nothing I started searching around the apartment until I came upon the laundry room. Rushing into see what was causing the smell I found out that the culprit was my dryer. Fearing maybe the dryer had set something on fire, I grabbed the fire extinguisher ready to act. As I flung the dryer door open I was relieved to find that nothing was actually on fire, but to my very annoyance I found out that since the comforter was so wet it had stuck to the side of the drum barrel, and as it heated up, it started burning the stuffing inside the comforter. So what ended up happening was what I was smelling was the material inside the comforter being heated and burning through the comforters’ top material. Very annoyed I yanked the comforter out of the dryer and realized in some weird way that this was just a plot between the washer and dryer to tell me not to overstuff them. Oh well, consider it now a lesion learned. (I’m not even going to mention that if I took the time to read on the comforter tag it said gentle cycle only, DUH).

Oh well, I though you would be amused.

Peace

Mike

Well happy holidays to one and all. Yes that most jolly of time of the year is once more upon us. Where everyone brings good cheer and our debt level just goes through the roof.

I know this season is supposed to bring goodwill to all mankind, but man something about the holidays just makes the hair on the back of my neck stick up. Everyone brings a sense of caring and happiness to one another; people go out of their way to be good to thy neighbor and such. Well no offense folks, I think it’s a load of bull. If everyone wanted to be good to their neighbor and full of good cheer, why couldn’t they do it for the other 11 months of a year? Just because you get gifts on December 25th, or expect bonuses from work, your nicer to everyone around you. ARRRGGGG How frustrating is that? People should put this “nice” energy they are oozing out of their pours and spread it out through out the year. You don’t think the guy sitting next to you isn’t as nice the rest of the year? The old lady crossing the street doesn’t need help during the summer? That the homeless families aren’t starving and freezing at night in the winter?

Could you imagine how much of a nicer world this would be if everyone would use their “Christmas” Cheer year round? Sometimes I think maybe the Jehovah’s Witnesses might have it right by not celebrating any holidays at all, but celebrating everyday of life. My Uncle said it perfectly when he said, “We are thankful everyday, and we don’t need just one day a year to show it.” (Don’t worry I’m not going to be converting, I’m happy with my religious choices, but I’m open minded enough to respect how other religions look at things). Ok, “whew” I got just blew off my annual holiday steam I feel so much better now.

I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day, drank lots of wine or grape juice, ate lots of bird and watched the Big Balloons float down Broadway (and I can’t say Al Roker anymore since he lost so much weight). The holiday came and went without much fan fair for me; I actually spent the day painting my living room (see picture), then went and spent the evening with my Uncle and his family. Was very pleasant and a nice way to be with family.

I know this will surprise a few people but I’m actually quite proud of George W. Bush for secretly flying to Iraq and spending Thanksgiving with the troops. There isn’t much that I feel that this President has done right, but could you imagine how much the spirits of the troops were lifted to see their commander and chief come out of an airplane hanger and join them for dinner. These soldiers who day after day put their lives on the line for a country that doesn’t even want us there anymore. These people who are away from their loved ones on a day when family is so important. I still don’t agree on his policies and decision-making, but George W. might actually have a heart, (not going to comment on having a brain).

On that note, I hope your all well. I have so much to talk to you about over the next few days. (About the adventures of Holiday Shopping, & How I almost burn down burnt down my apartment and sacrificed my comforter to the big laundry pile in the sky).

I’ll talk to you all soon

Peace

Mike

P.S. A quick congratulations from all of at Fabersplace to my friend Denise out in California for graduating from the California Culinary Institute / Cooking School: School of Culinary Arts, Pasadena, CA as full-fledged Chef. I’m so impressed. She dropped her career in marketing to follow her dreams and go back to school, so very cool. If you’re even in Century City, CA (west of LA), stop by her new restaurant called C2 (right in front of the Towers that used to be the ‘ABC Entertainment Center’) tell her Mike sent ya. - Peace