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	<title>Ryan Egan.com &#187; Random Thoughts</title>
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	<link>http://www.ryanegan.com</link>
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		<title>Missing London</title>
		<link>http://www.ryanegan.com/2007/04/06/missing-london/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ryanegan.com/2007/04/06/missing-london/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:07:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ryan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ryanegan.com/2007/04/06/missing-london/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m speechless. This is beyond awesome. &#8211; I love england.
Although, I can easily see how some people would fail to see the humor.  :-p
Flash Mob Dancers Startle Commuters @ Victoria
-Cheers
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m speechless. This is beyond awesome. &#8211; I love england.</p>
<p>Although, I can easily see how some people would fail to see the humor.  :-p</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23391632-details/4%2C000+flash+mob+dancers+startle+commuters+at+Victoria/article.do" title="Flash Mob Dancers - thisislondon.co.uk">Flash Mob Dancers Startle Commuters @ Victoria</a></p>
<p>-Cheers</p>
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		<title>Ebay Extortion</title>
		<link>http://www.ryanegan.com/2007/02/27/ebay-extortion/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ryanegan.com/2007/02/27/ebay-extortion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:52:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ryan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rants]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ryanegan.com/2007/02/27/ebay-extortion/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As the title would suggest, I have recently fallen victim to some vicious extortion on ebay. Granted&#8230; My own stupidity is to blame&#8230;
Last night while I was browsing around online, one of my favorite songs made its way to the front of the pack on my shuffled playlist. Despite it being performed by one of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As the title would suggest, I have recently fallen victim to some <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/10/ebays-place-in-the-dirty-world-of-ticket-scalping/" title="Ebay and Ticket Scalping">vicious extortion</a> on ebay. Granted&#8230; My own stupidity is to blame&#8230;</p>
<p>Last night while I was browsing around online, one of my favorite songs made its way to the front of the pack on my shuffled playlist. Despite it being performed by one of my favorite bands, it was a song which I hadn&#8217;t heard in quite a while. Instinctively I began to hum along to the tune as I caught up on some overdue <a href="http://digg.com/" title="Digg.com">Digg</a> reading. Its catchy lyrics and slightly uplifting beat mixed with a touch of melodrama make <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMO3iLq_kAU" title="Naive - The Kooks - YouTube Vid!">Naive</a> one of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kooks" title="The Kooks Wikipedia Article">The Kooks</a> most adored <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kooks#Singles" title="The Kooks Singles - Wikipedia">singles</a>.</p>
<p>I had first heard of <a href="http://www.thekooks.co.uk/" title="The Kooks Homepage">The Kooks</a> while I was <a href="http://www.kingston.ac.uk/" title="Kingston University Homepage">studying abroad</a> in <a href="http://www.earth-photography.com/Countries/England" title="Pictures of England">England</a>. Although their debut album <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_In/Inside_Out" title="Inside In/Inside Out - Wikipedia">Inside In/Inside Out</a> was released in January of 2006, they were entirely unknown to me before I had studied abroad. When I arrived in the UK in September of 2006 I was fortunate that the band was still on the <a href="http://theofficialcharts.com/" title="Official UK Charts Company Homepage">UK charts</a> and <a href="http://www.theofficialcharts.com/top40_singles_last.php?week=25&amp;end=03/09/2006%20-%2009/09/2006" title="UK Charts Company - Archive Week 36">getting major airplay</a> (<em>see #26</em>). After listening to a few more of their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kooks#Singles" title="Inside In/Inside Out Singles - Wikipedia">hit singles</a>, I was hooked. Almost overnight The Kooks had become my new favorite band.</p>
<p>Flash forward.</p>
<p>After humming along to Naive for a short while I decided I should check to see if The Kooks would be playing an American tour anytime soon. A quick glance at <a href="http://www.ticketmaster.com/" title="Ticketmaster Homepage">Ticketmaster</a> revealed that I may have <a href="http://musicslut.blogspot.com/2007/02/kooks-refused-to-get-bullied-around.html" title="The Kooks Refuse To Get Bullied">underestimated</a> their <a href="http://www.rockinducedlabor.com/labor-inducer/the-kooks" title="The Kooks Interview - Success">American popularity</a>&#8230; Not only were The Kooks <a href="http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/40681" title="The Kooks Return To North America">touring in America</a>, but they were coming to Boston in May. I found this quite surprising considering none of my friends have even heard of them. I couldn&#8217;t pass up the opportunity. Not only were The Kooks coming to Boston on their second American tour (<em>their first was only for two weeks</em>) but they were playing at the <a href="http://www.thedise.com/rockclub/index.html" title="Paradise Rock Club Homepage">Paradise Rock Club</a>! <a href="http://www.lupos.com/" title="Lupos Heartbreak Hotel">Small venues</a> are always more exciting and have a much more personal feel when compared to their <a href="http://www.dcucenter.com/" title="DCU Center">larger rivals</a>. While struggling to contain my excitement, I frantically clicked purchase on Ticketmaster&#8230; after all $12 seemed like tiny price to pay to see my favorite band perform during their second tour in the US&#8230;</p>
<p>SOLD OUT.</p>
<p>I felt exasperated, disappointed and completely surprised that anyone here had even heard of The Kooks, let alone snatch up all the tickets to their show before I even had a chance of purchasing them. Undeterred, I decided I would try my luck elsewhere. My first though was<a href="http://www.soldout.com/" title="Sold Out.com"> sold out.com</a> or <a href="http://www.stubhub.com/" title="Stub Hub">StubHub</a>. I have a few friends who have had luck with these in the past. After finding nothing, I desperately turned to the last place I could think of&#8230; <a href="http://www.ebay.com/" title="Ebay Homepage">Ebay</a>.</p>
<p>Now don&#8217;t get me wrong, Ebay is perfectly respectable and is a fantastic place to purchase just about anything. Except for concert tickets that is. Swallowing my pride in <a href="http://www.dodtracker.com/" title="Deal of Day Tracker">online deal hunting</a>, I committed myself to going to the show no matter what price I had to pay&#8230; and pay I did. Heavily. $120 later I got two tickets to go see The Kooks on <a href="http://www.last.fm/event/121626" title="The Kooks Coming To Boston">Sunday, May 13th</a> and honestly, I think it&#8217;s money well spent. I don&#8217;t usually enjoy being <a href="http://www.edlotterman.com/PriceGouging.htm" title="Price Gouging">raped financially</a> but I have a feeling the show will be well worth it. I&#8217;m just disappointed I didn&#8217;t check sooner and grab a few tickets while they were <a href="http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/01003E39EEB5BF77?artistid=1098959&amp;majorcatid=10001&amp;minorcatid=60" title="The Kooks Boston - Ticketmaster">$12</a>. I also feel shamefully stupid for not checking to see if they were touring in the UK when I was there.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, lesson learned.</p>
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