Last night, I ran home after work to change into my Knicks jersey – we were going to the Knicks opening game against Miami!

Basketball is my favorite sport, and I’ve been a die-hard Knicks fan ever since high school. It was hard not to be, as the 90s were the glory days of the Knicks (at least in my lifetime) and all of New York was crazy for its boys in blue and orange. Ewing. Starks. Johnson. Sprewell. Houston.

I cried when the Knicks lost the 1999 NBA Championships to the Spurs (and I still have a grudge against the entire city of San Antonio, almost a full decade after the event). I declared that I can now die happy when I ran into Allan Houston at a sports bar and got his autograph.

So when the Knicks announced their schedule for the 2008-2009 season, I begged and pleaded with J to attend more games this year. I guess I am a lucky woman, because he agreed. 

My old Houston jersey is so beat up that the letters are all peeling off. Although Houston had been hoping to return this season, an injury kept him out. So J bought me a new jersey: #42, David Lee!

I was worried that our 300-level seats wouldn’t be too great, but I thought the view was fantastic!

In celebration of the first game, they gave all attendents a free hat. Here I am, happy with my hat and beer.

The Knicks City Kids dancers were so cute and amazing. I told J that when we have kids, we have to make them try out for this.

The halftime show featured Q-Tip…that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while!

D’Antoni seems to have groomed the team pretty well. I know that Miami isn’t a very good team, but at one point the Knicks were up by 21 points!

Alas, either the Knicks got too cocky or they deliberately decided to make the game more interesting. Miami started catching up in the last 8 minutes and at certain points, I was getting pretty nervous.

The Knicks prevailed at the end, winning the game 120-115. Crawford had an amazing 29 points…the man was unstoppable! My boy, Lee, had 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists.

All in all, a great game.

As a bona fide bookworm, I can’t help but excitedly share this link of the day:

Top 10 Most Outrageous Opening Lines in Literature

If I could add one more, it would be Love Story:

What can you say about a twenty-five year old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. The Beatles. And me.

Do you have any you think should belong on the list?

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Two of the most recognizable logos in N. America have announced drastic facelifts.

First up is Pepsi.

The new Pepsi logo will be skewed in order to resemble a smile:

Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi Max will have different variations of the smile. According to AdAge, “a ‘smile’ will characterise brand Pepsi, while a ‘grin’ is used for Diet Pepsi and a ‘laugh’ is used for Pepsi Max.”

Over the next three years, Pepsi plans on spending $1.2 billion to change everything about its brands – their looks, packaging, and merchandising.

As if that wasn’t enough, Mountain Dew will be rebranded Mtn Dew (perhaps to appeal to the younger, texting crowd?):

My thoughts on Pepsi’s rebranding: I don’t like it.

Last summer, Coca Cola underwent a redesign and came out triumphant. Taking away the superfluous swishes, swirls, and fizzes, it delivered one of the strongest testaments to its brand in the company’s history.

Perhaps Pepsi was trying to take a cue from its biggest competitor. Citing the current economic situation as the driving force behind the rebranding, Pepsi tries to mimic Coca Cola’s design success and miserably fails.

Sure, the new design is more modern, more chic, more hip. However, those words are not always the best choice of adjectives for a 100+ years old company that is synonymous with American culture.

The new bottles look more like space-age energy drinks, if you ask me.

Let’s move on to the next brand on our list: Best Buy.

From the before and after shots, it is obvious that Best Buy aimed to draw away from its outdated and garish logo.

I actually like the overall look of the new logo. It’s clean, modern, and plays homage to the old logo.

However, something nagged at me as soon as I laid my eyes on the new logo and I couldn’t figure out why.

Then, while searching for images of the new logo, it hit me.

The typeface.

I had written about the power of a typeface before.

In this case, the typeface does not work with the logo.

It is an indecisive font, neither new nor particularly striking. It is inconsistent in its ends and corners, giving the viewer an unsettled feeling.

Too bad, because the rest of the logo isn’t horrible.

What do you think of Pepsi and Best Buy’s new logos?

(via Brand Infection – Pepsi, Best Buy)

Guitar Hero World Tour was released today!

J and I managed to grab the last GHWT kit from our local Target and rocked out all night.

Oh, did I mention that we named our band Faith+1?

Due to the rising popularity of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, the song selection is a lot better than previous titles. The drum set is solid, the microphone is decent, and the new touch guitar is just…sweet.

Methinks we will be losing a lot of sleep in the next few weeks pretending we’re rock stars.

P.S. – I’m also loving the GHWT commercial starring Kobe, A-Rod, Michael Phelps, and Tony Hawk!

A friend asked me why I haven’t written about the T-Mobile G1 or the Google Android yet.

I actually have many thoughts on it.

However, I’m bitter.

Why so bitter, you ask? Because J, the big Google man, has had one for a while now, but forbid me to write anything about it.

Then, on Monday, he had the balls to say to me, “You can write about the G1 tomorrow, if you want.”

“Tomorrow” was October 22, the official launch day. When anyone could get it.

So, my friends, I refuse to write about it just to spite him.

And yes, our relationship is healthy and mature like that.

On to the links!

1. Students Competing For Slots At Elite Colleges Resorting to “Facebook Sabotage” ReadWriteWeb. I feel sorry for kids these days. I really do. In fact, I’m pretty certain that if I were a pimply 18-year-old applying to colleges right now, I wouldn’t be accepted to half the schools that gave me the okay ten years ago. HOLY CRAP THAT WAS TEN YEARS AGO?!? Wow I feel old…
2. The Art of the Jack-O-Lantern: More than just a pretty face! mental_floss Blog. I’ve decided to make up my own awards for these pumpkins. Scariest: Predator. Coolest: Death Star. Funniest: World of Warcraft! “How do you kill that which has no life?” Hehehehe…
3. Scientists Discover New State of Matter, Could Be Used To Upgrade Microchips, Gizmodo. I’m still a bit confused by this. I mean, more powerful chips to keep Moore’s Law going – yay! But isn’t a 3D electron crystal still a solid?
4. Seoul’s Banpo Bridge Turns into Gigantic Fountain, Puts NYC’s Waterfalls to Shame, Gizmodo. Giz declares the bridge a combination of the NYC Waterfalls and the Bellagio fountains, but “somehow better than both.” You know why Koreans do everything better? Because Korea’s got Seoul! Get it? Har har har!
5. House Members Vote for iPhone Adoption, Wired Gadget Blog. The country’s on the brink of an economic collapse, and thousands of Americans are losing their homes. And what does the government do? Try to use our tax money to get the latest “it” gadget in their paws. And let’s not forget the potential security issues, people.
6. Beautiful Examples of Moleskin Art, Smashing Magazine. I’ve been known to scribble on my Moleskin, but my doodles are nowhere near these masterpieces. Wow.
7. Dirty Dancing All The Way To Broadway! Perez Hilton. We have two copies of Dirty Dancing in the house, because J has a copy from his bachelor days too! And whenever we hear “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” J insists on trying to lift me at the end. So yeah. If Dirty Dancing comes to Broadway we’ll be all over that like white on rice.
8. California Is Due For A Katrina-Style Disaster, Wired Science. First we hear that NYC is due for a 5+ earthquake. Now they’re saying San Fran is expected to be wiped out soon too! What would happen if they came at the same time?
9. The Ultimate Collection Of Useful Photoshop Actions, Smashing Magazine. I *heart* Photoshop actions – they’re perfect for lazy bums like myself! Here’s a phenomenal collection for your image-editting pleasure!
10. 27 Best Places You Should Visit To Get Incredible Web Design Inspiration! Smashing Apps. Sometimes, you can squeeze all you want but not one drop of inspiration will ooze out of your noggin. Here are some inspirational resources for those er-duh moments.
11. JAL’s new Economy sear wins Good Design Award, Core77. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that these will become the industry standard for economy class seats. And you should, too.
12. Go Local for Custom Letterpress Work On-the-Cheap, Lifehacker. Do my eyes deceive me? Sub-$1 custom letterpress cards? Sign me up, mate!