Haven't been able to get much more footage for this big video thing I'm hoping to do, but I'm just going to ask that people not be shy if I ask you if you want to be in a video.  I've finally started "Soul City," a short one, but it's looking to be a good one.  Get ready, people!

Meanwhile, I seem to have forgotten to mention that NP1 is now four years old!  I'm working on a new video, although I seem to continually forget to shoot footage at opportune times, for example, at Uno's last night, where we all hung out with Dean.  I also hung with Dean and Mike last week, pretty much just to get some footage.  It should be ready soon enough, though.  Stay tuned.

By the way, go see Star Wars.

I've taken another stab at the whole forum thing over at MySpace.  I've been on MySpace for a long time now, which is something because it serves little purpose.  Sure, it's a great way to network and get to know people, but for the most part, it's a place for people to promote themselves and whatever silliness they embark on.  And I'll admit that I've done it more than once on there.  If you're a member, you can find my profile and the MySpace NP1 Group as well.  If you're not, well, as Paul Banks of Interpol says, "You should be in my space." 

I'm also looking for websites that make stickers.  I posted this on MySpace as well, but I figure that I can get more people this way...  I'm looking to make some stickers for NP1 to get the word out, like bumper stickers and the kind of little decals that bands like sticking on payphones and toll booths on the Pike.  If anyone has any suggestions, lemme know.  You know the deal.

So what was the trial all about and why did it take so damn long?  Well, the charges were five counts of conspiracy to steal money from various banks in the Worcester area.  The trial was long, boring, and filled with evidence that consisted of bank statements, bad checks, and fuzzy security camera photos.  The basic case the Commonwealth brought in was that the defendant had been in on a scheme that exploited a glitch in the way banks have to hold and release funds from cashed checks.  It was a pretty elaborate, but also not perfect, scam, and the authorities got wind of it.  The defense's story was the the defendant was "the real victim here" and that his checks had been stolen.  However, the defense called no witnesses and presented no evidence to its claim.  However, that's not the way it works... it's the prosecution that must offer up any and all evidence, as everyone is innocent until proven guilty. 

Some funny moments arose during the proceedings, which helped make it easier going.  On one day, the DA misplaced his laser pointer (which he used during presentation of lots of the evidence).  "Oh no, that's state property!" he said before one of us pointed it out on his desk.  He would remember that in his closing statements, which he opened with, "Thanks for being so patient and so attentive..." as he pulled the pointer out of his pocket.  We all chuckled for a bit.  On another occasion, we came back from lunch and resumed with testimony.  Twenty minutes later, the stenographer walked into the room, apologizing profusely.  That's one that we DIDN'T catch, even though she sat right in front of us.  After a bit of catching up so everything would be on the record, we were back into it. 

The case was decided in the closing arguments.  On Friday, after being hit over the head with five separate banks' testimony that outlined every last damn detail of account histories and bank statements connected to the case, the closing arguments were presented.  The defense's case was ultimately about as strong as a damp square of toilet paper taking a bullet.  The prosecution managed to piece everything together into a coherent picture.  A timeline started to develop and patterns started to appear.  Any doubts I or any of my fellow jurors had were pretty much dashed right then and there.  Came into deliberations this morning and in about three hours hammered out our unanimous decision of "guilty" (which I said like the judges in Superman II) on all five counts.

My fellow jurors were all intelligent and preferred doing everything by the book.  We were also a pretty friendly bunch.  Our court officer was a great guy, too, he was always willing to lend a hand when we needed one.  Our judge was cool, too.  He took time to explain a lot of stuff to us during the trial and he stopped by our room to ask us questions and answer some of ours, as well. 

So I'm happy to be through with all of that.  Mom and Dad are in San Francisco right now, and they saw the Yankees take on the Athletics in Oakland last night.  I got a message on my phone from Mom saying, "I'M LOOKING AT DEREK JETER RIGHT NOW!  THIS IS GREAT!"  I'm glad the boys won for them.  I was in Vermont yesterday at Greg's graduation.  It was a thankfully short affair, and man is his school beautiful.  Made me wonder why I never went up to visit him.  I feel like a moron!

So...  Dean's coming up tomorrow, which I look forward to immensely, as well as Star Wars!  It's gonna be a great week. 

However, I had promised myself that I'd get Interpol's Antics on the way home regardless of the outcome, and that's just what I did.  Haven't had enough time to listen to the whole thing, but it's pretty damn good, so at least I have that going for me.

Today was Cinco de Mayo and I didn't even realize it until the afternoon.  If I had known, I'd be out this evening!

Now that I've got that out of my system, let's move on.  On Monday, I have jury duty for the first time in my life.  This has me both excited and nervous.  I am looking forward to seeing the process of jury selection, but I'm a little nervous about it as well.  Probably because I've got this feeling that I'll be picked for a case, even though being a white male, my chances are rather low according to the theoretical "fair and equal representation" of the population, so it's likely that I'll be spared.  Oh well, I'll have the camera with me, so you might get a new Real Life Story out of it. 

Well now, this boy's gotta eat. 

Before Backlash started, they taped a quick match for Sunday Night Heat, which they like to do to get the fans warmed up.  Then the big show got started up with tons of fireworks and spotlights and such.  The first actual match of the night was actually the one I was looking forward to most, between Chris Jericho and Shelton Benjamin.  They were both quite good, they were quick and hit their moves just right to get the crowd going.  Shelton won the match after a great series of reversal holds and pins, and Jericho was livid, as usual.  He stayed in the ring with a "What the hell" look on his face as he watched the replay over and over.  I love that guy, I wish they'd give him a legitimate shot again instead of having him chase mid-range championships.

Next up was a tedious "Tag Team Turmoil" match, which had "suck" written all over it.  Long story short, the fan favorite team of the Hurricane and Rosey came out the winners, so we couldn't complain too much.  The next fight was a "Last Man Standing" match between the now-psychotic Edge and Chris Benoit.  This was a match that was pretty much designed to push Edge further as a legitimate contender, so having him win this one wasn't much of a surprise.  But in these matches, guys can use any means necessary to win, so they ended up fighting in the stands, pulling a ladder out (resulting in high-flying German suplexes and a 'mistimed' flying headbutt by Benoit) and finally, Edge sneaking a real brick out of his briefcase and knocking Benoit out with it.  Good match for both guys, but being a story-line match, you could see where it was going.  Up next was a match for people who like "huge friggin' guys."  The always impressive Kane came out with his usual grandiose pyrotechnics.  His opponent was Viscera, AKA Mabel to those of us who remember him a long time ago, AKA a seven foot, 500 pound black man with a white mohawk to everyone else.  Kane won in satisfying fashion in a sort of "winner gets the girl" match.

But next up was the big one that got people in the seats, a tag team match that united Shawn Michaels with the immortal Hulk Hogan.  The place went nuts for Michaels, half because he's a legend in his own right, half because we all knew Hogan was coming out in about one more minute.  When the Hulkster appeared, the roof went off the place.  He was in top form, too, working the crowd to the point where he could get the same reaction out of people up front as he could people as high up as we were.  They took on Mohammed Hassan and Daivari, two Arab-Americans who have been beating up everyone's favorite guys because they are being "racially profiled" at the supermarket.  Gimme a break, who do you think was going to win this match?  I've seen enough of these to know exactly how the match would play out, and it went right along those lines.  Hogan got the pinfall, but seeing as how we were in New Hampshire and he didn't even bother to try a Leg Drop, this won't be his final match.

The main event was a slow, lumbering match between the new World Champ, Dave Batista, and Triple H, the son-in-law of Vince McMahon and most over-hyped wrestler in the business.  These guys are actually quite capable of doing great things in the ring, but the match depended on a lot of "ref bumps" and Ric Flair spazzing out at the right times.  So seeing that, the two guys had nothing to do but grapple for a while before it was time to hit a couple of good spots and conveniently knock out referees.  However, the match ended just how we wanted it to, with Batista winning and Trips and Flair beating up refs left and right.  After the bell rang, we decided to beat the traffic, but the rest of the arena had the same idea.

Overall, it was a good night out with some old pals.  I might watch RAW tonight for recaps if I can get back from Channel 11 in time.