This is really sad. Mitch was one of my all-time faves. He'll be greatly missed.

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Comedian Mitch Hedberg Found Dead In New Jersey Hotel Room
03.31.2005 3:13 PM EST

Comedian Mitch Hedberg was found dead in a New Jersey hotel room Wednesday morning, according to Minnesota's Pioneer Press. He was 37.

The cause of death has not been determined, and details concerning his death have yet to be released. The Pioneer Press reported that Hedberg's family has been told he suffered a heart attack.

The comic — who bore an uncanny resemblance to Rush frontman Geddy Lee and once explained the reason his was not a household name was because most of his fans lived in apartments — spent much of his career straddling that fine line between cult status and relatively larger stardom. Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, Hedberg was known for his disheveled hippie look, his relaxed, almost sedate stage manner, and his dawdling delivery — his face forever concealed behind a pair of shades and a wall of floppy bangs.

Much like Steven Wright, Hedberg was a master of the sharp-as-glass-shards one-liner ("Rice is great when you're hungry and want 2,000 of something"; "I would imagine if you understood Morse code, a tap dancer would drive you crazy"; "When someone hands you a flier, it's like they're saying, 'Here, you throw this away.' ") His comical, almost-too-obvious observations about life's subtle peculiarities inspired Time magazine to declare the stand-up comic "the next Seinfeld" in 2000.

A frequent guest on Howard Stern's morning radio show and "Late Show With David Letterman," Hedberg's resume also included several television and film roles, including appearances on FOX's "That '70s Show," the NBC comedy series "Ed" and the animated shows "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist" and "Home Movies."

Hedberg also lent his voice to Comedy Central's "Crank Yankers," played the Eagles' road manager in the film "Almost Famous" and wrote, directed, produced and starred in the 1999 independent film "Los Enchiladas!" The film centered on a small Mexican restaurant in Minneapolis, where Hedberg's character, a drifter, was working as a cook until he suddenly found himself in charge of the joint after the manager attacked a customer and the chef left for a better job.

Hedberg's first television appearance came on MTV's stand-up series "Comikaze," a gig he landed by personally pitching his act to the program's talent coordinator. In 1997, he won the grand prize at the Seattle Comedy Competition. Years of headlining club tours followed, and Hedberg eventually secured a development deal with FOX to create a sitcom, though that project never came to fruition. In 2003, Comedy Central Records issued his albums Mitch All Together and Strategic Grill Locations, and sponsored a tour with Hedberg, Lewis Black of "The Daily Show" Dave Attell of "Insomniac."

"He had a heart of gold," his mother, Mary Hedberg, told the Pioneer Press. "He was a brilliant comic and a wonderful person."

Hedberg joked often about drug abuse, but in a recent interview, he said he'd given up smoking marijuana several years ago. "For 10 years, it was amazing, but then I had to give it up because it didn't feel as good," he said. "The audience thinks I'm stoned all the time and I have to write my material that way ... so sometimes, when they come up to me after a show and ask me to join them, I just tell them I'm an undercover cop."

According to an article published in the Los Angeles Times in 2003, Hedberg spent two-and-a half-days in jail, and six weeks in a hospital bed, following his arrest in May of that year for felony heroin possession. But Hedberg said he was arrested for "possession of paraphernalia and pills and things like that. My actual bust was minor. I got a misdemeanor. People used that bust to try and prove that I was busted for having, like, a kilo of heroin on me."

A posting on Comedy Central's Web site reads, "Tragically, Mitch Hedberg passed away this week. Mitch was a beloved member of the Comedy Central family, and we join fans in our sadness. He will be missed."

Something just dawned on me concerning the whole Terry Schaivo case. Bear with me on this one...

There were people in this country who discounted Michael Schaivo's loyalty and devotion to Terri on the grounds that he wasn't married to her 'long enough'. These are the same people in this country who likely flocked to theaters in 1997, praising the short-lived romance of Jack and Rose in Titanic as the truest love they'd ever seen. In the same vein, look also at Romeo and Juliet. If these same people can give such validity to these relationships that occurred in a much shorter time period than that of Michael and Terri Schaivo, why can't they give the Schaivos' relationship, and therefore Michael's position as her husband, that same validity?

Yes, I realize that Jack/Rose and Romeo/Juliet are fictional characters, but nonetheless, their bonds of love are acknowledged as true and lasted mere days. Rose went on and loved again after Jack was gone, just as Michael Schiavo did after Terri was essentially 'gone'. So why is Michael Schiavo vilified while Rose is applauded in the film for carrying on bravely?

I realize now that Terri has finally passed, these points are all relatively moot and that there were so many more angles to this highly-politicized story, but this particular element just struck me as odd and full of hypocrisy.

Well, aside from waking up with a mind-blowing migraine, I've had a pretty decent morning. I actually figured out the problem that had been going on with my coffee maker. About 75% of the time, within the first couple of minutes of turning on, it would start to spew out hot coffee all over the counter. I figured I was doing something wrong, be it positioning of the filter holder or carafe and it turns out that it was a little bit of both. When I'd replace the carafe, I'd shift the filter holder ever so slightly by pressing the carafe-sensing-lever. By doing that, it wouldd shift the flow of water so that it wouldn't come straight down into the carafe...and would send it spilling onto the counter where coffee is much more difficult to drink. Don't even get me started on trying to add cream and sugar to the counter-coffee.

Also, it would appear that I've tentatively figured out the classes I'd like to take in the summer and fall semesters, to bring myself out of my hiatus status. In the summer, I'll be taking Environmental Biology, which will complete my lab science requirements. Then in the fall, I'm planning on signing up for 3 out of these four classes: Creative Writing - Fiction, Ancient Civilizations, Beginning Japanese, or Core A: The Global Challenge. The last one depends on the professors teaching the fall sessions of that course. The neat thing about taking that class is that it should practically be a blow-off for me, since it's the Freshman level Core class for our campus. The only reason I have to take that is because I dropped the Senior level Core class back in the Fall of '04 and that was the last time that particular course was being offered...as it had been ultimately replaced by the 'Global Challenge' course, shifting around the order in which the Core classes needed to be taken. To put it simply, I've already taken the Sophomore, Junior, and Senior level Core classes and now I have to finish up with the Freshman one. Piece of cake, depending on the profs teaching it.

Back to work now, time for a little exercise walking across campus and the regular up-and-down the stairs of the Mansion...

Holy Cadbury.



Yes, all 54 boxes of those sweet, delicious eggs are mine and currently residing in the fridge. When I do an Easter candy clearance, I do it right!

How to make an edicius

Ingredients: 1 part success 1 part self-sufficiency 5 parts leadership

Method: Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add a little lovability if desired!

(yeah, I got bored pretty easily today...)

Happy Easter, everyone. Eat some Cadbury Creme Eggs for me. And not those caramel or chocolate ones. The REAL ones. With all that creme-filled egg-y goodness. Yum.

I wonder how James Bond would fare when confronted with the Solar Death Ray. Probably crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside.

Last night, before going to bed, I had noticed that the outer display of my cell phone (Motorola flip phone) was acting as though the phone hadn't closed. Occasionally, the inside button which 'turns off' the internal display sometimes sticks, so I figured that was it. I open my phone...and suddenly a piece of the hinge falls off and the screen piece is dangling by one side. The odd thing about this is that I knew that the hinge of my phone was cracked. However, it was the other hinge that was cracked, not the one that so unceremoniously bid adieu to my phone last night. Odd. So at the moment, the hinge is being held together by duct tape and it's being kept closed with a couple of rubber bands.

Yes, you read that right. My phone is being held together with duct tape and rubber bands. I officially have a white trash cell phone!

Thankfully, I'm going to be getting a new phone by May, so I'll only have to deal with this one for another month and a half or so. Not too bad, though. This one lasted me just about two years before falling to pieces. I've seen some people's phones go after only six months. Time to peruse the Verizon Wireless site and see what I can get next.

Oh my god. These things are so damned cute. I want an alpaca for a pet!

I actually think I managed to get what could be described as "exercise" yesterday. While at work, instead of taking my car between buildings on campus, I actually *gasp* walked between buildings. It's been a while since I've done that, but it felt good. I definitely need the exercise. I haven't really had much to do today that would necessitate walking, which is just as well, since it's been intermittently raining and snowing all day here. Looking outside to the parking lot right now, there's actually a pretty good dusting on my car. But since our parking lot is below ground level and surrounded by brick walls, it's never a good indicator of how it really is outside. Currently, outside the Dreyfuss Building on campus...



...and just looking outside my window again, it's really starting to come down. Should be a fun ride home. Not because it'll be treacherous driving or anything...I'll let these words from an old VGCats strip explain it (with references edited to apply to NJ where applicable):

"The forecast is snow. A single flake of snow falls on the New Jersey driver's car and they snap. Up becomes down, right becomes left, and their grip on reality soon fades into oblivion and their mind blows inside their head. Pretty soon, they're cruising down the road at 10MPH and steering with their ass. They return home later to cannibalize their family and neighbors, constructing a fort from their bones."

And I bet you think I'm kidding too! I've seen the bone forts! Some people were holding them together with discarded "John Kerry for President" stickers! It's frightening! (not the Kerry stickers, the bone forts, you freaks!)

Well, the illustrious Opera 8 is what I needed. I can access Gmail properly as well as my bank...and I've never been able to access my bank with Opera before.

Phooey to Firefox, I say! They've ripped off Opera so much anyway!

OPERA FOE-EVAH! *throws up the devil horns*

Okay, I'm already getting sick of Firefox. It's okay...but it just doesn't feel comfortable like Opera does. I guess I'm just really, really picky when it comes to my browsers. Back to a combo of Opera and IE, I suppose. And maybe if Opera 8 is as good as Avery says it is, I might not even need IE anymore either.

I never thought this day would come...but it appears that I may have finally been converted to Firefox. I think I just got tired of always having to use Internet Explorer for GMail or PNCBank. I feel bad too, because I've really been so loyal to Opera for the past few years...but now that I've been able to actually tweak Firefox to have mouse gestures and other functionality like Opera...well...yeah. I'd much rather use one browser for all my needs, rather than two. It's not necessarily Opera's fault either. A lot of developers seem to be purposefully excluding them from their compatibility tables and it's just making things tough all over for Opera users. In any case, looks like it's finally time to uninstall Opera from all my computers.

Damn...I actually just had to turn down a paying job today. One of the schools for whom I videotape shows has their senior graduation in June and they wanted me to videotape it. Unfortunately, I already had dance recitals booked for that date. I felt bad having to call the nice woman back to tell her I was unavailable. 'tis the first time I've actually had to turn down a job. Blargh.

Now I know how those who frequent corner coffee shops feel...when those shops end up closed up due to the corporate scourge of Starbucks.

The video store that I've frequented since I moved to Jersey (Video Video in Morristown) is going out of business. Probably at least partly due to there being a Blockbuster in such close proximity. Yeah, I'd rejoined Netflix recently, but still...this was my local video store. Makes me feel more than a bit guilty for frequenting Starbucks now.

I actually did something productive this week, though. Danielle and I finished repainting my bedroom in 'Cafe Au Lait' (hey, that's what the color's called), put up some new Hunter Green blinds and then some plaid window toppers that split the difference of the two aforementioned colors. Looks quite good, actually. Even moved my bed to a new location in the room, relocated my bookshelves and a bench into the room...and it still feels like I have more room in there than before, even though I have about 3 times more stuff in the room. Goes to show what moving a bed can do for a small room. I'll try and have some pics up once I've actually really cleaned up the room; I still have a lot of junk scattered all over the floor. In fact, that's what I think I shall go do right now...

Yesterday, Danielle and I saw a van advertising this site on the back and sides and...wow. I think that might be too much chocolate for me. But it's a brilliant idea.

I finally decided to update my page for my freelance video venture because, frankly, the old one looked like crap. I decided to try my hand at some basic Flash for this one and actually looks pretty classy for a change. Not all the pages are done yet and the equipment page will probably get the Flash treatment eventually as well, but for now...well, check it out here and let me know what you think.

This was the first I'd heard of it, but Neil Gaiman has a movie coming out this year called Mirrormask. Just watching the trailer itself...it looks absolutely incredible, brilliant. Surprisingly enough, it's a Jim Henson Production. The old Creature Shop has come a long, long way.

Another snow closing? Yup yup. Campus is closing up at 3:30 today, so I'm getting the hell out of here...well, as soon as I'm done with everything I'm currently working on. Which means I probably won't be out of here until 4 anyway, but it's still early nonetheless.

Danielle and I just got back from the newly-opened White Castle in Ledgewood and my, oh my, it was a-hoppin'!

Seriously!

You would think that people out here had never seen a White Castle before! Cars were wrapped around the building for the drive-thru, the inside was absolutely packed. And this was at 11:30pm! We were actually in the drive-thru for close to 45 minutes...but it was worth it for the damn-near $25 worth of deliciousness that I purchased: one double cheeseburger, one jalapeno double cheeseburger, a regular order of chicken rings, a small vanilla shake, a medium chocolate shake...and a Crave Case of 30 burgers! Yum yum yum. (No, I didn't eat all 30 burgers now, that would be an eating feat of which even I am incapable!)

It made me wish I had a camera phone, though. This was truly a site to behold! The locals of Ledgewood, New Jersey are whole-heartedly embracing the magic that is...WHITE CASTLE!

Too bad the place is going to turn into a hangout for those damn rowdy teenagers and their loud rap music! *shakes cane*

Remember that Italian journalist that Iraqi insurgents had captured? Well, they let her go...and thanks to US forces, the Italian Secret Service agent escorting her is dead and she was lightly wounded. She was captive for a month and allied forces fire on her car upon her release.

Am I alone in thinking, "What the fuck?!"?

Are we actually trying to piss off every other country in the world?

The strange things I see outside my window around one in the morning. It looked like this poor fellow was being hauled in for a DUI. It makes for a pretty neat slideshow, though. As always, click to enlarge: