The precious is mine...

The iPhone 3G is mine and has been since late Friday night. My entire 7-11-08 experience will be detailed later.

Tremendous Breaking News! Update - It's fake! Damn.

Actually, I don't know how new or old this news is. I just know that it is great.

Update - I have been informed by reliable sources that this news is unfortunately fake. Still, a boy can dream. Therefore, it will remain posted.

Star Wars - The Force Unleashed (The Video Game)

OMFG! Forget the Clone Wars. This is it. Too bad it's not a movie. I know what I will be doing on September 16th.

Random Thoughts 07-10-08

New show obsession alert!



I maybe a year late, but the way I see it, I am just in time. My wife and I have gotten hooked on MAD MEN. My friend Paul's been talking to us about this show since it first started airing last summer on AMC. We are halfway through Season 1 and lucky for us Season 2 starts on July 27th.

For those who don't know, MAD MEN is a drama that takes place in the 1960's at the fictional New York advertising agency Sterling Cooper. It centers on Don Draper, a high-level advertising executive, and the people in his life in and out of the office.

This show is freaking amazing, from the acting, writing, costumes, set designs. The attention to detail in capturing the era is amazing. The writer's strike took away my favorites for this summer namely RESCUE ME and ENTOURAGE, but MAD MEN is definitely a worthy fill in. In all fairness, the current RESCUE ME minisodes are some of the funniest sh*t on TV right now and ENTOURAGE is only delayed until September.

In short, MAD MEN is riveting and required television.

New Blu-Ray Purchase














I just picked up the BATMAN BEGINS Blu-Ray disc. If you haven't already figured it out, I am convinced that THE DARK KNIGHT will be the second coming. It will be the Empire to BB's New Hope. Yes, yes. I believe it will be that good.

Now let's lay all the cards on the table, I already own BATMAN BEGINS on DVD and HD-DVD (OCD anyone?). The primary reason to pick this release up is because it contains the 6 minute IMAX prologue for THE DARK KNIGHT in HD.

If the remaining 146 minutes of THE DARK KNIGHT are a great as the prologue then we are in for on hell of a film. July 18th can't get here soon enough.

My Baby Girl is 8 months old today!!!!!

Happy 8 month birthday sweetheart!

Mommy and Daddy love you dearly! (and you too Butch)

You are the light of our lives!

Random Thoughts 07-07-08

On July 11th, it shall be mine. Oh yes, it shall be mine.

Old Friends

I decided to rummage through my photos yesterday to see if I can find some good stuff and I came across some classics that should bring back a lot of memories. You see, back in the day my dear friend, Aris and I were inseparable. In addition to that, we were both idiots but we had a great time growing up in NYC.

Now, we are both fathers and time has brought on new adventures and challenges for each of us. And even though we live far apart, the memories of our childhood/adolesence are never far from my mind and heart. If our children are able to have friendships like ours, then they're in for a helluva an amazing time.

Aris, you are my brother and I love you dearly. Miss you man.

Here's to the last 27 years. I hope these pictures bring a smile to your face.

Do you hear that faint sound echoing in the wind? I think you can make it out.. ling-ling-ling...

Yanks beat Boston in the bottom of the tenth!

The Bronx Bombers beat the dreaded BoSox in the bottom of the 10th 5-4. A-Rod hit his 536th homerun which tied Mickey Mantle for 13th on the career list.

The team came back from 4-2. Mo pitched two scoreless innings and got the win. The kid, Brett Gardner singled home the winning run off Jonathan Papelbon with two outs in the 10th inning!

Bring on the Rays! Let's make up some ground boys!

My Baby Girl's got a blog!

Make sure to visit Sophia of Astoria

Daddy loves you sweetheart!!!!!

Happy July 4th!

Everyone, have a happy and safe 4th!

Random Thoughts 07-03-08

Those who know me, understand. There is no reason for explanations.

-V-

Diablo III (a.k.a Blizzard succeeds in destroying my life)

Sorry folks, this one just snuck up on me. This past Saturday, I was parusing one of my regular video gaming sites www.joystiq.com, when I came across a Starcraft II story. I am eagerly awaiting it's arrival, so any news is good for me. What I wasn't expecting was any reference to Diablo III. Well, there it was in the first sentence "Amid all the hype for Diablo 3..." My brain froze. So obviously, I started to look up the news and a sublime feeling came over me, one part unadulterated geek glee and another part sheer terror. It quickly dawned on me that Blizzard had just launched another salvo that would destroy whatever free time I had left in my life.

Diablo III, in my opinion is Blizzard's final piece in what I like to call its Unholy Triumvirate. I am not talking about the Diablo trilogy, no no. I am talking about WOW - Wrath of the Lich King, Starcraft II and now Diablo III. It is Blizzard's quest to destroy the foundations of my life.

First off, they are going to release Lich King sometime in November of this year. That alone should be enough. But nooooooo! The rumors are that Starcraft II will be released in December of this year. On top of that they now announce Diablo III (release date TBD). This is too much to handle something has got to give.

When was the last time Blizzard had this many releases lined up? I guess EA purchasing them was a great thing. Just barrage us with all this video gaming goodness. Beat us to a quivering pulp and make us beg for more.

A coworker of mine asked me how we feel about Diablo III.

My response - like a toothless crackwhore waiting for her next hit.

In short - I'm f*cked.

-V-

La Familia

I cannot begin to stress how blessed I am to have Christine as my wife. She is the most loving, sexy, funny and understanding wife on the planet. She makes it so easy to love her because she is such an amazing wife, mother and friend.

Then there is our princess...Sophia, She will be 8 months old on July 9th. It is truly a miracle to watch her grow everyday. I still can't believe that I was able to sire such a beautiful creature. Thankfully she has her mother's looks.

Here's a group shot:

If Christine and Sophia are my Alpha, then someone has to be my Omega. It is not everyday that people can be visited by greatness. In fact, some people are exposed to greatness everyday that they do not realize that it's in their presence. My family lives with greatness. Yes, yes, Christine and I have our love, we have our blessed Sophia, etc. etc. No, I am talking about the phyiscal embodiment of greatness.

I give you.. Butch

Greetings and salutations

My oldest and dearest friend (Aris) turned me onto this blogging habit of his earlier today. I decided to bite the bullet and see what comes of this.

So without any further adieu, here goes -

The Vladosphere will be a place where I will attempt to post my thoughts on my addictions to movies, music, video games, politics and whatever else tickles my fancy.

More importantly, it will be a place where I would like to share photos and stories about the loves of my life - my family. That's Christine, Sophia and Butch.

I hope you find what I have to say interesting, funny and insightful.

Let the madness begin.

-V-