Hudson Seaplane

The view from our cold water flat (actually an apartment on river terrace overlooking the hudson and beautiful New Jersey) is nothing short of amazing. After returning from a pair of concerts, directly beneath our 21st floor window were the remains of the US Airways plane that splashed down Thursday afternoon. Naturally, we ordered pizza and stayed up all night, snapping a few photos along the way. A video is certainly in order for the excavation.

Of course, the coolest thing is that nobody got hurt, (endless respect to the pilot), and so it is with relative ease that we can feel humbled. As ridiculous as it may be, an event like this is important in the way it brings people together. Our technology is not invincible, and accidents do still happen. I can't wait to hear what Barack has to say about it. Three days, bitches!

What The Hell Do I Know?: Governor Patterson's iTax and the Islanders being sold to Toronto.

Follow this link:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=53869903141&ref=ts

And if you don’t like to follow instructions, then just read this:

The iTax is a budget proposal made by Governor Patterson to put taxes on things ranging from beer to sporting events (follow the link for more details)
On the group, you can see a lot of political talk going back and forth amongst people too mad to type correctly but all I can say is although this sucks, lets not attack the guy.

Granted, this sucks, but I think I understand where he's coming from.
Albany is not getting enough tax money from the people and the money's gotta come from somewhere, so of course the first victims are going to be things that are considered luxuries such as sporting events, jewlery and other things listed in the link. But the problem is, those "luxuries" are things that could really jumpstart the economy. You just got to read people.

As stated, one of the things being taxed are tickets to sporting events. Governor Patterson clearly isn't into sports (and no, he wouldn't need to SEE games, there's the radio so that argument can be tossed); and seriously, to not be into sports in New York is like being married to a female supermodel and not like tits. Anyway, if he was, then he’d realize he’d be losing money taxing sporting events.

We got to ask ourselves: why do people go to sporting events? The same reason why people buy music, take their cars for a spin for the hell of it, or drink like fishes: to get away from the stupid ass taxes they’re paying already.

Do you know how much dough can be made on people trying to escape? Too much.
Heres what I’m thinking: lessen the prices of the tickets, sell the beer cheaper, and let people have their fun. Not only will this make people come back more frequently but if these guys have fun at the events, they’ll tell their friends (?) and other people will want to go. And then they’ll buy stuff and the kids will get soda cheaper, and everything else falls into place. The shit sells itself. Then, the state comes in and taxes the big companies for selling the products in New York, not affecting the product itself., like taking a cut from the beer companies and giving it to the state to fund schooling and health plans and the like. As far as the sporting locations go, same thing. Take more from the company itself, but not let it affect prices of tickets. If the tickets were the same price AND New York taxes the companies, that’d be ridiculous, but to sell more tickets to people who CAN buy more and you have a gold mine. I know they already have a property tax and other wacky taxes to go with it, but they dared to be here, let the state do it’s thing. Like I said, it will sell itself.

But what about the companies that won’t share their profits with the state? Fuck ‘em.
Really. What the hell are these companies going to do? Leave? Let ‘em.

Say Budweiser gets really upset with New York state, being they (the company itself) has to pay more to sell the beer there. If they leave, they’d be making a big mistake. New York City has a lot of people, and a lot of depressed people, at that. There’s money to be made there, my friend.

Maybe it’s a moral thing, too. To not go to the games itself, but to be home and watch them, or to not drink a lot of beer and get something else, but really, it’s not going to fly. It’s only because people are depressed and you can make money off depression.
Plus, if all this money we can shave off these companies can fund public venues and other needs more than they are already, people wouldn’t be so depressed.

This probably is in a lot of people’s heads already, or maybe I'm wrong (I welcome both, but I hope I'm on the right track).

So:
Tax the companies, leave the product alone.
People will buy them still, I swear.

Just a playful thought.
-Nick S

P.S- That picture I added is what I think about the Islanders being sold.

The Moth

Recently I had the urge to become a great storyteller. That's probably because I finally I have some good stories to tell. That aside, I began to look for inspiration, clues, something that might help me understand. Because I just couldn't figure out what made some people great at telling stories and others (me) so bad at it. Then behold! An organization of storytellers. Enter: The Moth.

The Moth is an organization that was founded a few years ago in New York by a Georgian trying to recreate his childhood story telling enjoyment; summer nights on a porch with moths clinging to screens.

These stories are told by authors and regular people alike, and always in front a live audience. I've found these stories to be unbelievably entertaining, and the best part is, it's a podcast too!

You can check it out here.

For those out there who are around New York or LA, you can see one of these performances live. But beware, despite a total lack of advertising, the shows sell out very quickly and consistently.

Though I still don't think I'm a very good story-teller, I've definitely found a new source of entertainment and some inspiration as well.

New Year's Eve

If you don't like seeing live music for w/e reason and don't have enough friends to have a comfortable party, you should go to the Maritime Hotel for New Year's Eve. They're having a cabana party! For $30 you won't really be able to sit down [that costs $100] but you'll be at a decent dance party in the best hotel in New York. Plaza? Waldorf-Astoria? Be damned! One bathroom trip to the Maritime Hotel [en route to some live music], and you'll want to live there right as your divorce is being finalized.

So yeah, definitely save up your $30. Otherwise you'll have to go Rubulad. Yech!

Canned-gini: A Jet fan's opinion of a victim of the firing line.

Monday, Eric Mangini had officially been fired as head coach of the Jets. Old news? Relatively. Unexpected? mmm, Not so much.

It's tough already being the head coach of a New York football team, especially one whose fanbase is in a desperate need of a Super Bowl appearance; but when your organization pumps $140 million into trading, free agent signings, and other fancy-pants personel changes and not get into the playoffs, well, something's gotta give.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Mangini. I believe that he layed down a good foundation for player development and some strategies for offense and defense worked really well, and 2 out of 3 winning seasons is pretty good. But looking at this, I can see why changes might be needed.

This could've gone both ways. I think if we held onto him, he might've took what happened this year and use it to develop a way the offense can't collapse in the west or make better passing plays for Favre (if he doesnt retire...again), or he would've turned into another Herm Edwards and lead the team to another horrible season with absolutely no development. Oh my dear God, we don't want that.

Also, Mangini had one season left in his contract, so another question that could be raised is would he come back? That's tough to call now, but judging by the player's admiration for him, maybe he would've stuck around. But I feel it's time to move on and the tides have gotta change. I had a feeling they would sooner or later.

As far as new coaches go, I'm not too sure about Bill Cowher, as he just negotiated with CBS, but he'll listen to what we gotta say, so that's good. Spagnulo would be nice, seeing as the Giants' defense is diesel and Marty Schottenheimer seems fine, and having the line coaches interviewed doesn't seem like a bad idea, either.

There's going to be a lot of talk about what's going to happen next year. But as far as coaching is concerned, but I think it'll work out considerably better than years past.

-Nick

The Nick Sciretta Show on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=47319603984&ref=ts

The New York Yankees batting order for 2009

Radio waves, ESPN analysts and even the most informed Yankee fan would think of the 2009 batting order as follows:

1. J.Damon
2. D.Jeter
3. M.Texiera
4. A.Rod
5. H.Matsui
6-9. J.Posada, R. Cano, X. Nady, and whoever plays center field (Swisher, Cabrera?)

Here's where I come in...The Yankees should offer me millions of dollars to tell them how to run their baseball team and get the most out of their players. The most important thing the Yankees must worry about is the development of Robinson Cano. Call me crazy, but I firmly believe that this is more important than their starting pitching.

Cano is still a very immature player who has a hall of fame caliber baseball player struggling to get out and play to its potential. We saw a glimpse of it in 2007 when he came off of the disabled list and almost stole the batting title away from Joe Mauer finishing witha .340 batting average and leading the league with doubles...all after missing 6 weeks of ball! My point is this...It is time to bat Cano in the 3 spot! It is very simple. This will give Cano the ego-boost a young, immature players needs. He will shine in the 3 spot. I guarantee it. This leaves Tex in the 5 spot with Matsui 6, concluding with Posada, Nady, and the TBA center fielder with a very strong and respectable bottom of the order.

Happy holidays and a Merry Texmas to all!

With Love,

Marc