Andy Labis, Author at Entertainment Ave!

Are You a Toilet Roll Replacer?

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So the other day I had to use the toilet, and sadly it was a #2 in a place that wasn’t home. It wasn’t horrible, I mean the bathroom there is clean, but for whatever reason pooping at locations other than home is always a little squirmy for me as I worry more about any noises and smells than germs for the most part because, well, many a study has been done that you aren’t picking up most horrible illnesses from the toilet, and you are more likely to catch something by shaking someone’s hand. For this trip the toilet roll was empty, but there, on the back of the toilet, was a roll of toilet paper, though not brand new, as you could tell someone had used it from its lack of still being “glued” together.

Me being me, I immediately grabbed the roll while sitting there, while pondering life, and replaced the empty toilet paper roll on the toilet paper holder. I then thought to myself two things. One was “Who is the lazy-ass who used the toilet paper and didn’t put the fresh roll on the holder?”, and two,”I guess I’m a toilet roll replacer.” The latter occurred to me as it also occurred to me there have been many a time when I’ve had to put the fresh roll, sitting right there on the toilet, on the holder, and I wonder: Are you a toilet roll replacer?

That’s it for this one! I’m Andy!! L8R!!!

Have You Been to an Opening Day?

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Now that pitchers and catchers have duly reported, as well as the rest of the players, it’s that time of year when, unless your basketball team is great, or you are a hockey nut, your sport’s thoughts are probably drifting to baseball, because, as James Earl Jones says in “Field of Dreams,” – “The one constant through all the years… has been baseball.”

Yes, even if you are a casual fan there is hope, hope that this year your team might be a little bit better, that maybe, just maybe, this could be the year that they catch fire and actually become good, or that, God forbid, they might actually make it to the playoffs (Oh, wait, most everyone makes it to the playoffs nowadays – scratch that – The World Series).

Me, I have three teams that have my loyalty, the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, and Chicago Cubs. The Indians are always near and dear to my heart because they are really my home-town team, the team I loved while growing up in Lorain, OH, even though they always sucked, and my first big-league game. The White Sox and Cubs are a result of my transplantation to Chicago for college, and my general sticking around here. Back in college we would go to the old Comisky Park quite a bit as it was right across a few streets from Illinois Institute of Technology, my college alma matter, and a trip to a Cubs game became a staple of Rush Week in our fraternity.

As the years progressed my core group of friends would generally score bleacher tickets to opening day for the Cubs, a little easier back in the day before the online ordering system became a cluster-f of “Waiting Room” delays, though lately, I’ve missed a few, although, for me, the bleacher experience has come and gone, preferring now the comfort of my own seat, with a little less of a “drunk” crowd around me.

In any case, opening day is coming soon, and though I’ll be missing it this year I will have hope for all of my teams, at least until probably the end of opening day, and I wonder: Have you been to an opening day?

That’s it for this one! I’m Andy!! L8R!!!

Do You Have Any Desire to See an Opera?

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Sitting in front of the TV there was an add for Shen Yun at the Chicago Opera House, which I guess is also where the Lyric Opera happens in Chicago, and it occurred to me that one of the weird things on my bucket list is to go to an Opera. I don’t really know why. I guess part of it is that scene in “Pretty Woman” where Richard Gere explains to Julia Roberts that some people enjoy the opera, but for others, it becomes a part of their soul, or something like that. Also, back when I used to work in downtown Chicago, I would walk past the Chicago Opera House and sometimes the backstage doors would be open I would be fascinated by the stage props that I could see. Part of it also probably has to do with my enjoying a good musical, and although different, what the hell.

In a not-so-weird juxtaposition I suppose, another thing on my list is to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” My guess is you probably have heard the song “O Fortuna” in a movie yet have no idea what it is (Go ahead, Google it), and back in the day, in the search for the song, I came across a CD of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine, and realized I like the entire thing.

There are a lot of operas to choose from so in the end my challenge, in thinking about seeing one, is finding one that would be a good introduction to see if I’m one of those that would enjoy it, or if it would become part of my soul. I’m sure I’ll find my way, someday, to the opera, but I wonder: Do you have any desire to see an opera?

That’s it for this one! I’m Andy!! L8R!!!

Do You Have a Digital Picture Frame?

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Fine, here’s my answer. Yes. I have a digital picture frame. It was a gift from my wife, one to help me get a boatload of concert pictures off of a cluttered wall, and two, because it was an awesome gift for someone like me who took boatloads of pictures that, like many folks, have them just in boxes or stored digitally for no one, not even me, to see. It’s a nice one, larger than most, from Kodak, and used to have a feature to connect to some Kodak website that you could store your pictures on, a site, of course, no longer supported. But the frame still lets you connect wirelessly to a computer, or use a media card to store pictures on, and will display them.

Like many a digital picture frame, though, I should probably update the pictures on it as right now it’s still all of our wedding pictures and a few other ones I like. Not that it’s not an important date, short of my birth it ranks up there as number two. Aw, hell, it’s number one as I don’t remember being born. In any case, I’ve taken more pictures since then, have been archiving older pictures, and should probably do a media card update, just to get some new stuff for me to see.

I do know a few people who do the scrapbook thing, but in this day and age of taking pictures everywhere with your phone, I wonder: Do you have a digital picture frame?

That’s it for this one! I’m Andy!! L8R!!!

P.S. Yes, in that picture, it’s me, as a young lad, in front of a TV, with the Johnny Cash show on.

Have You Used the “Near Me” Feature on the iPhone App Store App?

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Maybe I need to get out more, or maybe I need to go to some more exciting places, but the other day I started to become fascinated with the “Near Me” feature on the App Store app on my iPhone. Supposedly it shows what some of the most popular apps are around you that people are downloading, and for them most part the people around me are really concerned about the news or how to get from here to there, although it also seems like my neighborhood has a lot of radio legend, Steve Dahl, fans, as his app is displayed prominently among the choices.

I’ve tried it a couple of times at places I’ve been, and usually it’s been a similar result – local news apps, travel times, train schedules, but oddly enough, never seeming to be anything fun. I think I might need to head to some fun parts of the area and see what comes up, but for now I wonder: Have you used the “Near Me” feature on the iPhone App Store app, and what the heck, I’m curious of any wacky ones that might show up near you.

That’s it for this one! I’m Andy!! L8R!!!

Do You Zipper Your Clothes Before Putting Them in the Laundry?

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When I was a young lad and my mom was showing me how to do laundry, there were many tips and tricks she instilled in me that I still perform to this day. Fine, I will admit that when it comes to emptying my pockets I’m not always the most diligent which has led to one or two washings of the few Washington’s and Lincoln’s, as well as the occasional pen and the loss of those annoying collar “stays” that somehow get sucked into the bowels of the dryer. I’m also not one to always “shake” out my clothes after the washer portion as opposed to just putting a giant ball of wet clothes in the dryer, as the “shaking” out leads to a quicker drying time and the less likelihood of hidden “wet” spots in the clothes when the dryer stops, and, I admit it, I’ve done my share of mixing lights and darks (took me a few minutes one day to realize why my yellow towel turned slightly pink, even though there was a dark, red towel in the mix), but the one tip I still try to keep up with to this day is zipping up all zippers before putting the clothes in the laundry. As I asked my mom why the one day, she simply said that it eliminates the chances of the zipper snagging your other clothes, thereby maybe tearing them, or leaving you with that snagged thread that can ruin your clothes should you now try to “break” it by being lazy and pulling on it, instead of taking the couple of minutes to get some scissors.

Do I zipper the clothes all of the time? No, but I do wonder: Do you zipper your clothes before putting them in the laundry?

That’s it for this one! I’m Andy!! L8R!!!

Will the Comcast/Time Warner Merger Result in Better Customer Service?

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The website Funny or Die has done it again, putting out a short of how most of us figure Comcast really feels about us, the customer. Yes, there is a merger coming between Comcast and Time Warner which results in a company where competition really isn’t an issue. Much like there wasn’t a choice in phone companies, and there really isn’t that much of a difference now even with all of the “breakup of the telephone monopoly” from way back when, we are at the mercy of the major players when it comes to cable TV or internet service. Really, what are you going to do? Sure, you can go for the digital antenna and still get broadcast TV, sort of if you aren’t that close to your city, and a company called Aereo, who had an interesting way of trying to bring broadcast TV to people who wanted to get rid of their cable TV, now finds itself heading to the Supreme Court to protect their business model, but when all is said and done, until the next technology breakthrough comes along, we are tied to the giants with the infrastructure, and political contributions.

Funny or Die probably gets it right in the video below, and really, why should Comcast, or Time Warner for that matter, care about us that much. We need them, they have us by the balls, and they really, probably don’t give much of a F&%k. I know the answer is probably moot, but I would like to hope it gets better. I wonder: Will the Comcast/Time Warner merger result in better customer service?

That’s it for this one! I’m Andy!! L8R!!!

Comcast Doesn’t Give a F*CK from Tarik Ellinger

Have You Watched Jimmy Fallon Since He Took Over for Jay Leno?

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Now that the Olympics have been over for a while, and the hubbub of his replacing Jay Leno is dying down, the Jimmy Fallon publicity machine now really needs to work it. The latest bit – thanks to some prodding from Rahm Emmanuel, Mayor of Chicago, was a dip in 32 degree Lake Michigan for the annual Polar Plunge, a fundraiser for Chicago Special Olympics. Happily for most, but probably not for some, they both survived, with Jimmy wearing a nice suit for his dip in the lake. The story made the Drudge Report, hit all of the news wires, and if Jimmy Kimmel thought picking up the Mayor of Toronto at the airport would get him tons of publicity, sadly Russia invading the Ukraine and an event that involved what was probably a lot of shrinkage pretty much assured a win for Fallon in this round.

But, will it result in people watching?

As great as all of the publicity is for Jimmy Fallon, and there’s a good change you’ll see coverage of it on your local news, especially if you are watching an NBC station, I don’t think it will make more people watch The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. In fact, and I know I haven’t, but I wonder: Have you watched Jimmy Fallon since he took over for Jay Leno?

That’s it for this one! I’m Andy!! L8R!!!

Did You Watch All of the Academy Awards?

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With another Oscar season over, and some of the complainers spouting how it was the night for Hollywood to say “Look how important we are!”, it was also a night of consistently one of the most watched television events. A lot of people watch their TV’s wondering who some of the nominees are, many have never heard of the films that are either nominated, or win for that matter, yet, for some reason, every year, we gather around our televisions, and this year we might have gathered around our handheld devices because ABC was streaming the Academy Awards to their app, as long as you actually subscribe to a specific cable provider, which I find bassakward because really, don’t you want as many eyes as possible watching so you can shove commercials down people’s eyeballs?

As it is, though, we watch. We get sucked into the red carpet, we wake up the next morning wondering who won, and then don’t really care, and the marketing blitz hits for those “non-mainstream” movies that win big, as now it’s a movie you “must” see because the people that rate Hollywood found it important.

Some years I make it all the way through the telecast, commenting like many of you, and some years I fall asleep. I can’t remember, though, any year I’ve never actually just skipped watching the Oscars altogether. As I type this the jury is still out if I will keep my eyes open this year, but I wonder: Did you watch all of the Academy Awards?

That’s it for this one! I’m Andy!! L8R!!!

Have You Been in the Front Row at Your Favorite Concert?

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Posting all of my concert photos on Flickr got me to thinking how lucky I was, for at least three songs at a time, to be in the front row at concerts. Having seen quite a few shows, it was generally pretty cool to be up there, right at the foot of the stage, as the lights would go down and the band or singer would come out. The crowd would go crazy with the mosh-pit type shows being the craziest as body-surfers would generally find their way over the barrier, sometimes kick you in the head, and be escorted back into the crowd, although even some of the the “calmer” shows still had their version of crazy fan.

I do remember a time, though, when we actually scored front-row tickets, back in those days when you didn’t have to rely on scalpers, and it was for AC/DC, where I impressingly remember the security dude telling all of us in the first four or five rows that we could jump up and down all we wanted, that we could generally have a great time, but if we even looked like we were going to rush the stage that they would take us out. Sure enough, a few rows back, someone made that move, and I’ll just say that the security dude wasn’t lying.

Having been lucky to have the best “seat” in the house for many shows, for about three songs at a time, today I wonder: Have you been in the front row at your favorite concert?

That’s it for this one! I’m Andy!! L8R!!!