Andy Gapin

Okay, so here are a few more cat pictures. I just couldn’t help it. She was laying there looking so cute and the lighting was the best I’ve ever seen in my apartment so I had to go for it. Be afraid for when my new (faster) lens gets here and I can get more shots in here.

We had another snow day here in New Jersey, so in between doing some work from home and digging out our cars, I did a little photoshoot with Leela while she was laying on the bed.

The Playlist last night felt like it was packed with new stuff by known bands. As much as I love finding out about new bands, it’s awesome to have a ton of stuff to play by bands that I already love; it’s easier to get excited about what I’m playing because it’s something I know. This is definitely something that came out last night for me, I felt really into it. And I feel like this is going to be a recurring theme for the year too with everything that’s going to be coming out, it seems like every single day I see another band I love announce an album for this year.

She & Him have a new album coming out next month–you can hear their new single “Thieves” on Stereogum, it rules. The Hold Steady and Murder By Death both have records coming out on May 4th and Gaslight Anthem, Minus the Bear, and a ton more bands have records coming out as well. Oh, and The Thermals posted a new single called “Canada” on their MySpace page. It’s sweet and catchy with more “woah-oh-oh-ohs” than an entire Less Than Jake album. It’s going to be a crazy year.

In the last week, I found some time to check out the new stuff by Eels, Magnetic Fields, The Watson Twins, and Hey Young Believer. All awesome. The Hey Young Believer album reminds me a lot of a band called Del Cielo that played the ZEN House a few times when I used to do shows in college, and I’m down with that. I just wish the album wasn’t 64 minutes long. It’s a bit too long.

Anyway, I went way out on a tangent, but here’s the playlist for last night’s show. I actually ended up playing the new Alkaline Trio. I wasn’t planning on it, but I had the song stuck in my head so I figured I’d just go for it. If you’re reading on Facebook, you know the drill, head on over to the original or you’ll just see a jumbled mess below.

Source: 90.3 The Core

I can’t believe it had been three weeks since my last radio show. Soooo long. I walked into the studio to a lot of great new music to check out. New stuff by The Magnetic Fields, Eels, and The Watson Twins, as well as the Spoon full-length. There was more too that I didn’t even get to check out.

The show itself was pretty decent actually. It’s nice to have a lot of music to work with, especially when you confine you show to strictly new stuff. There was a lot that I just couldn’t fit it which sucks, but it’s better than struggling to fill the time which is sometimes the case.

Unfortunately, I’ve been finding that I have very little time to listen to music anymore. Work has been too hectic to really be able to have my headphones on and I don’t have a solo commute to work anymore. So I don’t know when I’m going to get to catch up. I feel like I’m months and months behind. Oh well.

Anyway, here’s the playlist from last night. And, as always, if you’re reading this on Facebook, you’ll need to click to the original or you’ll just get a jumbled mess. Screw you, Facebook, for removing my HTML tables.

Source: 90.3 The Core

The three of these shots are completely unrelated, but I took them all this past weekend so I figured that I’d post them together.

I’m not going to get into my feelings on Valentine’s Day the holiday. I’ll just leave it at the fact that I have mixed feelings about it, there are things I like, and a lot of things I hate. What I’m making this post about is to talk about the movie Valentine’s Day.

The flick was decent, not great. I had very low expectations, so maybe that helped, but it probably didn’t hurt either that there was a huge cast of names I like. Valentine’s Day is another romantic comedy that follows around the story of a bunch of couples in love. It’s roughly the same as New York, I Love You, which in turn is a rip off of Love Actually. I should say that this film is not only slightly better than New York, I Love You, but also even more of a rip off of Love Actually, right down to the young kid who even looks the same.

The problem with Valentine’s Day, though is that none of the stories were really that great and there were too many of them. Sure, they all connected, but I feel like the connections were almost a bit forced and unrealistic. However, at the same time, there are enough little laughs and actors that I enjoy to have made the trip to the theater worth it.

Rating: C

I’m not going to get into my feelings on Valentine’s Day the holiday. I’ll just leave it at the fact that I have mixed feelings about it, there are things I like, and a lot of things I hate. What I’m making this post about is to talk about the movie Valentine’s Day.

The flick was decent, not great. I had very low expectations, so maybe that helped, but it probably didn’t hurt either that there was a huge cast of names I like. Valentine’s Day is another romantic comedy that follows around the story of a bunch of couples in love. It’s roughly the same as New York, I Love You, which in turn is a rip off of Love Actually. I should say that this film is not only slightly better than New York, I Love You, but also even more of a rip off of Love Actually, right down to the young kid who even looks the same.

The problem with Valentine’s Day, though is that none of the stories were really that great and there were too many of them. Sure, they all connected, but I feel like the connections were almost a bit forced and unrealistic. However, at the same time, there are enough little laughs and actors that I enjoy to have made the trip to the theater worth it.

Rating: C

I might be in love with a burger. Is that weird? I don’t even care.

My fiance and I had a can of chipotles left over from the chipotle chocolate cupcakes she made yesterday that we were trying to figure out what to do with when it hit us that we should chop them up and mix them into some ground beef for some burgers. So we got a full pound of ground beef, chopped up a chipotle, and mixed it all in. We made two eight-ounce burgers from this and instead of cooking them in a pan, on a grill, or any other way that most people do, we steamed them, which is something that I’ve been all about lately.

We discovered the idea of steaming burgers after watching an episode of Man vs. Food a couple of months ago and we haven’t looked back since. I knew that steaming would end up coming out great if we tried it, but I did not expect the actual results we got. It was incredible. All of the juice and moistness stuck with the burger. The burger cooked the same way all the way through. As much as I like the taste of a grilled burger, it just can’t compete. A slight char that I used to love just can’t compare with a burger that is the same on the inside as it is on the outside. And the only flavor in the burger is from the burger itself instead of being a mix from the grill, the flame, and the meat. It’s just simply incredible the taste you get.

So this was our first time with chipotles mixed in and I was blown away from the first bite. I have never tasted a burger with this much flavor before. It was juicy and spicy. Everything I could have hoped for. And it was huge. Steaming the burger helps it retain more without shrinking so these burgers were as big after being cooked as they were before.  What is even more incredible about the amazing level of flavor is that it was achieved with just ground beef, chipotle, and cheese. Nothing else. Even the gourmet burgers that you get at most restaurants that have various rubs, spices, and toppings can’t compete with this. The difference is that most of these places just treat the outside of the burger and don’t get the flavor all the way through. Or they rely on piling a bunch of, albeit delicious, toppings on. Our burgers didn’t need any of them, they spoke for themselves.

Bottom line, if you’re not steaming your burgers at home, you’re missing out.

It’s been a while since I’ve done my radio show. Last week I was in Disney and I couldn’t make it last night either because of the snow. I think I’m getting withdrawal, I’m missing it a lot, but barring Snowmageddon 3, I will be there next week . Anyway instead of making it to my radio show, I stood outside in the street in front of my house and took some pictures of the snow. I took about ten of them, but there was just one that I actually liked.

Last week, I took a trip to Disney World and it was absolutely amazing. It truly is the place where dreams come true! Maybe I’m just saying that because I asked my girlfriend to marry me there (more on that in a soon-to-come post) and she said yes, but that place is way too much fun.

Rather than go on and on about how much I love Disney World and how we’re already planning our next trip in just slightly less than a year, I decided to just post some of the pictures that I took while there. Overall, I took almost 1,250 pictures between my SLR, my point-and-shoot, and both of our iPhones. That was a lot to go through and I did a lot of touching up on the exposures and coloring and such. It took a few days of just sitting here on the couch with my laptop, but I’m glad I did it. I didn’t take the time to do any noise reduction or spot removal or anything fancy like that that I don’t know how to do yet, but oh well.

So here are my favorite shots from the trip. You should be able to click for a bigger version.