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Indian Blood: Buffalo History Lesson for Christmas.

• This story is set in Buffalo, on December 25, 1946. INDIAN BLOOD takes you back to a time when bad manners were a catastrophe and foul language was unheard of coming from a young boy’s mouth. A warm and delightful comedy that is both heartwarming and funny, INDIAN BLOOD centers on an incident in the lives of two cousins who cause trouble at The Nichols School. They blame their “Indian blood” for the mischief that they cause. Packed with references to Buffalo-area points of interest, this show will surely delight local audiences. 
  

You need an imagination to enjoy this show. That sounds snarky, but really; 50% of each scene is invisible, placed only by the thorough description of young Eddie, who has to jump put of character in order to exposit.  Thank God for the upstanding and charismatic performance of Ronald Wendschuh as “Grandfather,” who swept in at the perfect moments to revitalize the air and keep me awake for the rest of the show.

I hope the first paragraph is enough to satisfy those in search of a real structured review of Indian Blood, because I can’t really give one.

I liked it, I didn’t love it, but I’d tell anyone to go. It’s a Buffalo play, set in Buffalo, writ by a Buffalonian, and riddled with enough references to make any out of towner feel like a local. I dare a group of friends to play Buffalo Buzzword Bingo, just hold your victory shout to a nudge, lest the aisle-nazis get you.

Despite the slow start, give the show a chance, and perhaps you’ll catch what makes this play a great addition to the holiday spirit: “Indian Blood shows that no matter what the heyday of Buffalo was, families were still fucked up, Poles have always been funny, and family is the absolute strongest thing anyone can have in this city.”

• Shows run through December 23rd
• tickets, pricing, and seating charts, go here
• Press release

CompUSA is No More

• LOS ANGELES, Dec 7 (Reuters) - CompUSA, the computer and gadget retailer controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has been sold to a restructuring and investment firm that will close stores and sell some company assets. The new owner is Boston-based Gordon Brothers Group, which recently helped CompUSA sell under-performing stores. The terms of the deal were not not disclosed. Dallas-based CompUSA said on Friday that active discussions are underway to sell its technical services business, CompUSA TechPro, its online sales operation, CompUSA.com, and select stores in key markets. The chain’s 103 retail stores will remain open and staffed during the holiday season, offering discounts on computer and electronics ahead of the planned store closures.

First, Liquidation of over 100 stores; this was expected as Slim has been trying to get rid of his investment in the flailing dead company for some time. I’m sure Best Buy is reveling in this news. On that note, did you notice we have almost more Best Buys than Walmarts in the Buffalo area?

•  Reuters

Hot Bear du Jour

Happy Birthday LoLO! The Hot Bear du Jour is my buddy Lorenzo, who picked up and moved out of Buffalo to live in Las Vegas cause he’s crazy. Ok, so he got his teaching job there and loves it, but we misses him.

Hope your 29th Birthday is a good one.. go get your cakes iced!

• Photos via flickr {Laurencebear24}
• my photos tagged with “Lorenzo“

Hero Design: 13th Months on Allen

Last night was a long night for me, however the best part had to be Hero Design’s 13th Months on Allen party. I drug(dragged?) Angel with me, and we headed to 93 Allen around 7:30… A homo has to show up early, but not too early; gotta make that fabulous entrance. Apparently, yuppies feel this is appropriate too, as uninteresteding folk converged into that small storefront around the same time, making for a very multicultured congestion. I guess thats what rubbing elbows with the snobs really is.

Whatever though, it was great that everyone showed up: hipsters, yuppies, homos, these crazy kids from Syracuse that snatched a box of Dunny’s before I had a chance to a few months ago (bastards), and all the other friends and family of Beth and Mark’s. The boys from that Block Club magazine also made an appearance. I got a kick out of being able to impart some of my love and knowledge of the toys to Patrick, and got them to experience the joy of opening a blind box item. I also imparted the importance of cluttering you desk with toys instead of papers, makes you look creative and less stodgy.

It felt like turning someone on to crack, but the good kinda crack. Angel gifted me with a few Dunny’s and a new toy called a Cloth Head. I traded Beth the Bumblebee Labbit for the plain mustard one on display. Patrick and Angel traded Dunny’s as well; granted they were identical, but the deal was made before they opened the boxes.

I managed to snag Mark and ask him a couple of questions about his first 13th months on Allen. Click the play button to listen.

PS. when Beth was bagging up something for Angel, she managed to set another bag on fire with a candle.  It was so funny we had her sign it as a 1/1 edition piece.  That was the ultimate collectable. I’m getting it framed.

Online Nickname Googles better than realname?

Asked a Slashdotter:

“I was recently laid off, and during several of the interviews looking for a new job as a mid level IT manager, I was asked “So, I can just Google your name and find some of your work?” The answer is “yes”, but searching for my name doesn’t really bring up many results compared to searching for my online nickname which I have been using for about a decade. I am very tempted just to put that nickname on my resume. Is the professional, albeit technical, world ready for this step? Where should I put it? At the top or somewhere in the body?”

I’ve thought about this from time to time. I hate to Google my real name because there is another Nathan Strang in the world and I don’t like him or his piloting ways. Never met him and I don’t care. He’s all up in my search results, and he needs to quit. Google “Buffawhat” however and you get pretty much the same information, plus almost every social networking profile I participate in. Of course, minus the other Nathan Strang, because there is only one Buffawhat.

Your online identity is becoming more and more unique and important as the web starts to tie up its loose ends and integration is becoming more complex.

And as I let myself beknown around buffalo as “Buffawhat,” I feel my name will soon become less relevant than my moniker.

Any thoughts? how integral is your online identity to your real self?

Star Wars Mimobots Series 2 Pre-order

It’s really all about the Mimobots when it comes to cutesy custom flash drives. Essentially the Dunny of portable storage, The Star Wars collection has been the most popular series ever. What better way to triumph a triumph than to add on to the series? Genius move.

$49.95 gets you 1GB of decapitable storage. The only hitch is this is a preorder; shipping is expected “January/February,” which means the beginning of February. This would be, like uh, the perfect gift for, like,  your favorite buffalo geeky blogger, who ever that may be (*bats meal ticket eyes).

• 1GB: 49.95, 2GB: $69.95, 4GB:109.95
• Preorder: Princess Leia, Han Solo, Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker
• Available: Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2, Stormtrooper
• Mimoco via Gizmodo

Brobee Says Hello

I figured a cell snap wasn’t enough to feature the cutest new vinyl (ok, plush) edition to my desk.

Meet Brobee, he’s part of Kidrobot’s hottest new collab with the kid’s show Yo Gabba Gabba!, featuring him and his other pals, who I’ve yet to collect.

And to catch just how twistedly good this show is, here’s a video of his “Party in my Tummy song”

• Hero Design
• Kid Robot
• Yo Gabba Gabba!

You know you are an Urban Hipster when:

• You think Buffalo has an awesome music scene and cite the Goo Goo Dolls being mildly famous in the late 90’s as evidence of it.
• Fidel Castro hats seem like a good idea.
• You think the glare people give you when you’re constantly pulling out your iPhone is one of jealousy.
• You think of being a regular at the old Pink as a life goal.
• You fail to see the shocking similarities between the quality of the products being sold at the Elmwood Art Festival and Walden Avenue Super Flea.
• You’re completely oppose to chain restaurants and refuse to eat at them on principle. Thankfully, Starbucks is just a coffee shop and it doesn’t count.
• You pretend you don’t eat at Pano’s.
• You pretend you do shop at the Lexington Co-Op.
• Two words. Emo glasses.
• You read Artvoice for something other than News of the Weird.
• You think a fishing store will destroy the city but have no problem shipping the Bills to Canada.
• You think JP Losman should be the Bills starting quarterback. Not because you think he’s better suited for the job (you don’t actually watch football), but because you like his haircut and he lives in your neighborhood.
• You remind everyone how great it is you drive a Hybrid just in case one of them wants to give you that medal you feel you’ve earned for it.
• You won’t shut up about how great the city is but you don’t have the balls to send your kid to the public schools
• You refuse to drink anything but wine and microbrews at a bar and turn your nose up and anyone who doesn’t but you’ll still drink Pabst Blue Ribbon to be ironic.

There are few more, so check out the post on WNYMedia. John you are the best at what you do.

• Via - WNYMedia 

The Sai One Custom Hoodie

Rock. Star.

Angel made me this Hoodie over the weekend. By hand, fit for me. I feel like a big ol’ homo wearing custom made threads. Ok, a warm big ol’ homo cause this sucker is toasty!

This was a prototype and I think Angel has plans to make a few more in different variations. If you want one, stop by his store on 818 Elmwood and let him know, or email him. Just remember, its Sai One; meaning this is the only piece in this style he’ll make.

Check out the flickrset with larger shots of the hoodie

Podawhaffacast #2

Offishally called the Podawhaffacast, I’m back and mumbley as ever, but now I have a co-host cohort, Angel. There were a lot of technical difficulties with this one, mainly audio tracking and the camera popped a bit out of frame, and its a huge file because I couldn’t edit it with the camera we used… regardless, Its a pretty tight show.

I think we covered too much information, the next episodes will be about 5-10 minutes long. Below you can check out the links and information we mentioned from the show. Thanks for watching! and give us some feedback as what to put in the next one… coming in the next couple weeks.

From the Show

• Nicole Giordano: Trunk Sale @ Sai One, on Dec 1st. All Day.
  www.nicolegiordano.com
• Sai One: Clothing and Accessories straight from NYC. 818 Elmwood.
  www.saione.blogspot.com
• Buffawhat’s Map: pinpoint locations and info on my favorite places on elmwood to shop
  Shop Local {Google Maps Mashup}
• Hero Design: 13th Month Anniversary @Hero on Nov 30th. 93 Allen. 7-10.
  www.heroandsound.com
• FireBrand: Boots Shoes Bags! 715 Elmwood.
  www.firebrandfootwear.com
• “Indian Blood:” December 4-30th @ Studio Arena. 710 Main St.
  www.studioarena.org
• Diary of a Freak Dancer Resurrection: dj Xotec’ newest mixset. download from my site or his.
  www.djxotec.com
• The Autobots: November 3oth, at Club Marcella. 12-4am. 622 Main St.
  www.theautobots.com