A Pack of Bloodhounds

"We're the Bloodhound Gang." No, no ... not that Bloodhound Gang. Not the band either.

Doctor Hero?

Casting rumor has Christopher Eccleston joining Heroes next year. It's hard to see him taking what would have to be small supporting role in an already crowded cast though.

I Fought the Law and I Won

Even though it was incredibly inconvenient, I went to hearing last night in Mansfield to appeal a parking ticket I got at the train station last month. I was in a legit spot and paid my two clams in the box but got ticketed anyways. Nice crowd at the town hall, very friendly, not the group of vaguely suspicious looking miscreants I packed in with a few years back in Woonsocket when I appealed a moving a violation. No judge this time, just an amiable clerk who didn't need to hear my theory (Susan B. Anthony dollars mistaken for quarters by a harried collector?) and waived the fine based on a double payment logged in the records that day. I suppose it's possible I paid the wrong slot, in which case anybody else who got a ticket for non-payment that day would be the off the hook as well. Justice has been served.

My branch gives me rolls of Sacajawea dollars now, instead of the Susie Bs, so if it was coin confusion, it shouldn't happen again. All of this serves to remind that the Susan B. Anthony dollar may be the unit of currency with the best song written about it: The Junkers "Susan B. Anthony Dollar Rag."

Dit le chien:

"Sonic Youth joue ce soir ... ils jouent avec Nirvana ce soir."
Lo-fi documentary of Sonic Youth touring with Nirvana in 1991.

Great News for the Blogosphere

Ethel the Blog is back in full effect. The November 10th post (no permalinks) on GOP scumbag Randy "Duke" Cunningham is just like the good ol' days. (Heads up by way of GitM)

The Morning After

I vote in RI, so I was actually a little conflicted about the Senate race. I voted for Whitehouse, who won, but our Republican, Lincoln Chafee, actually voted against the invasion of Iraq -- a vote on principle that, frankly, I doubt if Whitehouse would've cast had he been in office in then. Plus, the WEEI sports talk/hatchetmen hate Chafee (for the same reason I respect him) so he can't be all bad, for a Republican. Anyways, I feel like at least I did my part to change the direction of the Senate. Sadly, my neighbors to the west failed to elect Lamont, so Kissin' Joe the Republidependent candidate and the GOP got the last laugh after all.

The other big issue here was Question 1, which would've paved the way for a Narragansett/Harrah's casino in West Warwick. As much as I wouldn't have minded a casino closer than Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, I let Will's anti-casino propaganda sway me to a 'no' vote. The well-funded proponents gave the hard sell on property tax relief and job creation but, it all smelled like a shell game ... sure, the casino would bring money in, but who would go to Lincoln or Newport Grand anymore? So the state would lose that revenue while Harrah's loaded up the Brinks trucks for Nevada. And, as much as they talked about the benefits to restaurants, hotels, etc. near the planned site, I can't help but think about the areas around Mohegan and Foxwoods ... not exactly thriving. There are no other restaurants to speak of nearby -- just the Dunkin' Donuts. People go to the casinos to game, drink, and eat, they aren't making another stop outside. I seriously doubt tourist dollars would've gone into the surrounding area here either. Now, if Newport Grand and/or Lincoln were allowed table gaming ... that's another story.

Soap Hero

Does this crossover really make sense for either audience?

Neither Goth Nor Lolita

How to Be a Gothic Lolita - WikiHow
You know, it's wacky and disturbing, but probably not as lame as being goth or a Lolita.

Sugarcube

I could've sworn I posted this before, but I don't see where I did ... so apologies if this is a dupe. Great song, hilarious video.


Special bonus: Tom Courtenay.

A True Hero and the Worst Kind of Cowards

I don't know that I've seen such crystal examples of heroism (the kind that makes you believe in the compassionate heart of humanity) and the snivelling, gutless cowardice (the kind that makes world bleak and full of hate) side by side as this: a young Amish girl and some Marines. The two were side by side on the cnn.com frontpage just now.

The article doesn't say if Awad, the Iraqi citizen murdered by the Marines, had children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, brothers or cousins ... but I wonder how they feel about the US now. I wonder if that "insurgent" is ever caught whether, even then, if the net effect will be an increase or decrease in the number of people who support the use of terror to strike back at the US?

Disturbing On So Many Levels

Daily Kos: ESPN FAKED STADIUM CHEERS FOR BUSH SR.

Urinal Etiquette

Male Restroom Etiquette - ghettofob.com
A Sims-ish short film that takes the basics ... don't use a urinal adjacent to a urinal in use, don't talk, etc... and takes it to a a whole new level.

Mrs. C-Dog Will Appreciate This ...

"OH! My spleen!!!"

What I Like Most About This Review ...

... of Yo La Tengo's "I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass" isn't that it praises the album, which is praiseworthy if not one that I think would make new listeners love the band, rather it's how huge the picture of the reviewer is in the article.

I imagine this will be fixed, so if you follow the link and it's a normal sized picture, well ... I don't know what to tell you.

Covers

IGN: The Top 50 Marvel Comics Covers of 2006

Don't Take it Lying Down

Think Progress » VIDEO: Clinton Sets The Record Straight On Terrorism, Smacks Down Fox News
It really is time the Democrats stopped playing lapdogs and fought back. Trying to be civil obviously gets you nowhere with the right wing attack dogs. The Republicans, for all their bluster, are making the world less safe and that needs to be pointed out until it sinks in.

Is It Just Me or Does This Boyle Character Sound a Bit Like Bill Frist?

We're paticularly fond of the work of Robert Boyle, whose ethics board-baiting 17th century research includes "Observables upon a monstrous head" and "Whether a fierce dog stocked with the blood of a cowardly dog may not become more tame?"

Royal Society opens free online archive | The Register

50

Ortiz just cracked number 50, tying Jimmie Foxx for the Red Sox single season HR record.

A Message to You, Ska Fan

If you're jonesing for some fresh ska-dub-rockin' then you could do far worse than picking up a copy of The Stolen Records "Basement Songs" at CDFreedom.com. If CDFreedom sells out, try CDbaby.com. I don't know if you'll find it anywhere else, it's one of those little indie things not on iTunes ... nor even at Newbury Comics.

RIYL: Hepcat, The Slackers, Weaker Youth Ensemble, Steady Earnest.

... Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

This was not me. Excerpt:

Mulloy made it through customs, but his friend Robert Cusack was stopped by customs agents after an exotic bird flew out of his suitcase. He then admitted he had two pygmy monkeys in his pants ...


"Mulloy got through the screening process," Thom Mrozek of the U.S. Attorney's Office said. "Perhaps because of the excitement at the discovery of the monkeys."

It just sounds like a scene from a Marx Brothers movie. Shake Harpo's hand and see what else comes out of his pants.

Mess With the Bull

Well, the much anticipated (on my part) debut of the remodelled Trek got the horns. Fox's coverage of Bull Riding, I kid you not, ran long. They joined Trek in progress about 35 minutes or so in. What I saw looked OK, the changes weren't jarring, the stars, starships, and phaser fire just looked better. I didn't see any enhancements to the viewscreens around the bridge, or anything added to crumbling of the Romulan bridge scene. Maybe I'll catch it from the beginning next week. Of course, if they keep the same timeslot, it'll be right after football, so it's likely to be joined in progress again. Raw deal.

I really need Bledsoe to have a better week than last or my fantasy team is in trouble. Not too metion another bad week could mean Romo starts seeing time.
(Update: Bledsoe did just fine, but nobody else on my team came through. Bunch of sad sacks.)

Check Your Local Listings

Fox is carrying the new cgi-enhanced ST:OS in my area, starting this Sunday at 6pm. ~hangs head geekily~

The Pluckiest Companion

Sarah Jane Smith to get her own Who spin-off. Too much of a good thing, what with Torchwood and the K-9 shows also coming soon? Nah. I guess it's to Sladen's benefit the Rose spin-off didn't come together.

Poor Monkey

The Ordeal of SpongeBob the Monkey

The Impolite Phrase is "Impeachable Offense"

Olbermann skewers W's shameful use of the 5th anniversary of 9/11 to continue spinning his indefensible war.

Worth keeping in mind: the 9/11 attacks happened on W's watch, not Clinton's; five years later Osama is still free; Ground Zero is still a hole in the ground; terrorism is not the biggest problem we face -- I'd feel much more secure if my tax dollars were being funneled into cancer research, fighting poverty, and improving our public schools than wasted on invasions and occupations; and yet W wants to stay the course, continue centralizing power, continue enlarging the federal government, continue shredding the Constitution, and maybe destroy Social Security if he can find the time.

This morning, Olbermann joined Dennis & Callahan's Axis of Terrorist Appeasing Evil. I want my apolitical sports radio back!!

There Goes Any Interest I Had ...

... in seeing The Black Dahlia or Hollywoodland. Some very lackluster reviews for what I was optimistically hoping would be a nice little neo-noir double dip.

Monkey Hate Clean

Bathroom Monkey [Submitted by Fioremonkey, always on the lookout for a new system.]

Trek Again

I posted to the proof of concept earlier, now it looks like the full on digital enhancement of the original Star Trek series is coming back, as soon as September 16th, to broadcast syndication.

Bobo the Monkey Tank Goes to Mongolia

You might think it's a bedtime story I made up for the babies, but it's actual news! Which may end up being converted into a bedtime story for the babies.

Down the Stretch They Come

BaseballRace.com | Live MLB Baseball pennant races, scores, standings, stats, graphs, charts throughout Major League history

Recently Watching

Animal Planet's Meerkat Manor and FitTv's Deadly Arts. The meerkats are fascinating to watch, like dogcatmonkeyroos, they scamper around and whatnot. I'd love to see a show like this (or The Monkey Prince) about the chimps in Gombe. Animal reality tv so much more interesting than human reality tv.

Deadly Arts follows Josette, a 40 something French (or French Canadian?) with a bad knee around the world as she studies a variety of martial arts with masters in their discipline. From karate to capoeira to kalaripayattu, no method of punching or kicking another person is left unexplored. Good stuff. But, for crying out loud, if she's just going to complain every week about how much her knee hurts, can't we get someone able to actually train to do the show? Where the meerkats are at home on Animal Planet, I think someone at ESPN's original entertainment wing should be taking note and trying to get a Donnie Yen or Mark Dacascos signed on to redo this one.

Trying to find a site for Deadly Arts, I found this bit about an upcoming special on the National Geographic channel:
Martial Artists' Moves Revealed in "Fight Science" Lab

Just Because You Are A Character Doesn't Mean You Have Character

Joss Whedon lists his Top 25 TV Characters. I'd like to give that a try. Here are mine (reserving the right to revise) in no particular order:

• Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm) - I just think about the character and start laughing. Kind of like how I can't control myself when I think about the bear jumping on John Candy in "The Great Outdoors".
  
• Basil Fawlty (Fawlty Towers) - Right up there with Larry David as funniest character ever.
  
• Archie Bunker(All in the Family) - Sublime.
  
• Kramer (Seinfeld) - More funny.
  
• George Costanza - (Seinfeld) - Shaking his hands, glasses off, pleading shrinkage. Falling on the floor, pants around his ankles.
  
• Swearengen (Deadwood) - Badass. More than a little evil. Pure capitalist.
  
• Jayne (Firefly) - Badass. Goofy, but a little evil.
  
• Xander (Buffy) - Should I have started with two Whedon characters? So many are so good! I pick Veronica later over a strong supporting cast, so why Xander over Buffy? Maybe it's because when the show started to slide, Buffy became insufferable. And Xander was our 'in'. Willow got witchy, Cordy left, Giles was a watcher, Buffy was the Slayer, and Xander was pretty much just Xander all the time.
  
• The 4th Doctor (Doctor Who) - Tom Baker, all teeth and curls, petulant and proud.
  
• The 9th Doctor (Doctor Who) - Eccleston was brilliant for the role. Sad to see him go.
  
• #6 (The Prisoner) - So aggrieved, even when he's trying to be charming and act like he's playing along, you can see the simmering hatred and rage.
  
• Mrs. Peel (The Avengers) - I don't feel the need to justify this!
  
• Lorelai (Gilmore Girls) - Hyper-realistically charming, all that dialogue to blast through, and yet still engaging.
  
• Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars) - I can't believe Whedon picked Logan. The show could live without him, not without Veronica. I mean, c'mon, it's not just because it's named for her.
  
• Jeremy (SportsNight) - Smart and principled, his struggles with Natalie make him just right (and wrong) enough to be sympathetic.
  
• Bertie Wooster (Jeeves and Wooster) - Whedon picked Hugh Laurie for House, but as much as I like him there, I think comedy is so much harder -- and he aces Wooster.
  
• Frank Pembleton (Homicide) - Nobody was better in the box than Frank. TV is littered with cop shows but Pembleton stands out as the detective's detective.
  
• Jack McCoy (Law and Order) - An arrogant prick, dallying with ADA's, pig headed and sometimes wrong ... not a likeable person ... but the best character in the L&O franchise. Except for maybe ...
  
• Bobby Goren (Law and Order: Criminal Intent) - Sherlock Holmes of the Major Case Squad.
  
• Fox Mulder - (The X-Files) - I feel like it's too easy and obvious to take the lead character on some of these shows, but as much as I like Scully, Mulder was the show.
  
• Simon Templar (The Saint) - Going way back to my youth here.
  
• Jean Luc Picard (Star Trek: TNG) - Best of the captains.
  
• Dwight - (The Office [US]) - I know I'm supposed to take Ricky Gervais's character on the original, but Dwight kills me and I've only seen a couple eps of the original series.
  
• Bill McNeal - (NewsRadio) - Half-truths and gorilla dust.
  
• Joel Fleischman (Northern Exposure) - I see him as Mac from "Local Hero" -- one of my all time favorite movies -- translated to TV. For all the references to inspiration for this show, I'm surprised LH is never mentioned.

Revisionism

W now admits Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11. After he answers the question, "what did Iraq have to do with the attack on the World Trade Center?" by blurting out what he's known all along, "Nothing," you can actually see the neuron fire right after it comes out triggering him to start dissembling and resume the smoke and mirrors dance to get back on the "Freedom Agenda" message.

Wingnut-Colored Glasses

GitM points to this hilarious "as seen by..." NY Times front page.

Tiny Houses

Tiny houses for sale. The niche seems to be between shed and mobile home? Wealthy hermits take delight!

Thai Boe

The trailer for Tony Jaa's follow up to the amazing Ong Bak is out and looks pretty good. Not sure why they decided to give it the same name as the weak Jackie Chan/Danny Aiello movie, but I guess Tom Yung Goong wasn't marketable.

Here's a little Tony Jaa in action:

For Web 2.0 Junkies

List of "web 2.0" sites sorted by traffic.

The Axis of Liberalism

WEEI's morning sports talk hosts, Dennis & Callahan, bash and malign liberals like Ann Coulter on amphetamines. I get a kick each morning out of how they blame every bad thing that happens in the world on liberals and Democrats. Case in point, a piece of the Big Dig falls and kills someone: Tip O'Neill's fault ... I'm not kidding.

When they start going off on liberals, the names they reel off as the worst of the worst are Ted Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore, Mike Dukakis and Jimmy Carter. A new name has cracked their Rogue's Gallery of Libs ... Ned Lamont. Somebody in England questions whether some wiretaps were legal, Kerry and Ned Lamont must be behind it!

Slingshot Flying Monkey!

I think I just found some stocking stuffers for my niece and nephew.

Are You a Group of Affluent White Men ...?

Regardless of whether the AAFL is a good idea, you have to love their ideal group of owners.

UCONN Dream Team

It's been a couple years since Mega and I went to Calhoun's All-Star Charity game, so I'm glad to see it's still going strong with this year looking like the best group of alumni yet, including (It's Late, It's Great, It's) Tate George finally putting differences aside.

Looks like K-Free can still put it in the bucket just fine. Freeman remains one of my favorite Huskies, not a star, but an outstanding role-player who always seemed to play huge in the big games.

Lamont on The Colbert Report

I didn't see it, but there's an account of it here. Sounds like Ned handled it just fine.

Unbelievable

This is the loudest MVP chant I've ever heard.

Ortiz just hit a 3 run HR in the bottom of the 9th to lift the Sox over Cleveland 9-8.

I grew up with Rice, Lynn, Evans, and Yaz. Roger Clemens may be the greatest pitcher I'll ever see. Pedro is right up there *and* helped win a World Series *and* had that infectious smile. Nomar was great. Big Mo Vaughn was awesome. Manny just keeps being Manny. Ted Williams gave us .406; I've read everything about him I could lay my hands on and I believe he may well be the greatest hitter who ever played the game. But David Ortiz is becoming my favorite Red Sox player.

If Papi doesn't get the MVP this year, the award means nothing.

Update: Shaughnessy seems a little starstruck this morning as well.

Never Mind What I Do!!!

Shinjo dresses in style for the Japanese All-Star Game. Hard to tell in the video, but in addition to everything else, he's wearing gold cleats.

Imagine if WOW Crashed ...

This might be Mega, only it'd be Polish and there'd be a goatee.

(Haven't seen Mega post in a while, so it's probably safe to make fun of him here.)

The Bullpen

The Bullpen
Baseball Reference has a new wiki adjunct that covers international baseball, the minor leagues, the negro leagues, and features player bios, trivia, and a number of other topics that wouldn't fit neatly into pure stats format of the parent site. It still has that 'new wiki' roughness to it,but it looks like it should provide lots of interesting reading for baseball fans.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Since my Lucky # Slevin suggestion turned out to be tepid, let me briefly yet unreservedly recommend Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Like the pulp detective novels so prominent in the story, it's got plenty of witty banter, gaudy patter, tough guys, gunfights, severed fingers, dogs eating severed fingers, dames with nice gams, and a twisty plot to hang it all on.

Morning Cuteness

Not sure how well the embedding from Y!Video will work, here's a little Blake and Amelia to test it out ...

Memo to TV Writers ...

"Electrocution" doesn't mean what you think it does. If someone is electrocuted they're dead. Characters who receive an electric shock shouldn't say, "I got electrocuted," unless you are trying to make the point they don't know what "electrocuted" means. It's especially irritating when you have doctors say "the electrocution put a strain on his heart, but he'll be OK in a few days."

Where'd You Go?

How is it I'm just now finding out that Dicky Barrett is the announcer for the Jimmie Kimmel Show? Next somebody's going to tell me King Django is a guest host on The View or something.

"You Gotta Have Flava to Talk About Big Papi"

This is not an endorsement, just pointing out that Come to Papi is out there. It's really weak.

You Can't Bet a Dime at Jai-Alai

"You gotta bet the Super'!"

Bring It On!

The W Stands for "Whateva!"
Also, stands for "yet."

Fractured Lullabies by C-Dog

Hush little baby don't you cry,
Daddy's gonna sing you a lullaby.
If his lullaby's no good,
Daddy will make a carving from a block of wood.

Since your daddy cannot carve,
He'll give you a bottle so you don't starve.
If that bottle doesn't help you sleep,
Daddy's gonna bang his head on that wooly sheep.

How about if we go for a drive?
Maybe you'll like the streets at quarter to five.
If the neighborhood is lit too bright,
Daddy will smash up all the street lights.

If smashing up lights brings the coppers around,
you and Daddy can go underground.
If underground living gets to rough,
I'll try to think of some other stuff.

We can play poker to make some dough,
Just hope the money don't roll in slow.
If the river treats Daddy cruel,
We'll make ends meet by hustling pool.

If the nine ball won't go down,
Daddy will have to hang paper all over town.
With our ill-gotten gains we'll go on the lamb,
maybe drive to Florida in a minvan.

If Tampa weather gets too muggy,
I'll take you to Austin in a dune buggy.
If Uncle Jim won't open his door,
We'll huff like the wolf until it falls on the floor.

Auntie might not like us outlaws crashing there,
So we'll fly to Europe in the air.
If soccer hooligans disrupt our plane,
I'll sing this song to drive them insane ...

Instead of Rebooting, Refurbishing

A MeFi-er points out some original Trek with new CGI. Not bad.

Back to the Future

Kiss my shiny metal ass! Comedy Central is reviving Futurama. Also, there are Iron Man and Watchmen movie updates on the wire this morning.

I'd skipped over the blurb about Matt Damon being eyed for the young James T. Kirk role in Abrams's upcoming Star Trek movie -- based on his Bourne movie roles and ability to chew scenery, I think he could handle the action convincingly and Shatner it up a bit -- but I have wondered who might be in line for the Spock and McCoy roles.

For Spock, the first few faces that popped to mind, in no particular order, were Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Dacascos, John Cho (Harold in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle), and Josh Hartnett.

For young McCoy I think Vince Vaughn would've been great ... 10 years ago (and McCoy probably shouldn't tower over Kirk) ... and for some reason Neil Patrick Harris comes to mind. That could just be on account of his recent run of mentions on this blog. If Kevin Spacey were younger, he'd be great too. Who's the next Kevin Spacey? That's who I'd see as Bones.

Vitamin S

Bosox Short-Timer Paxton Crawford Talks HGH and Steroids
I think more and more teams are going to have guys coming out and saying, "yeah, I did it and I wasn't the only one, lots of guys were." When these guys start naming the bigger names, the question is no longer going to be "who's doing it?" it's going to be "was anyone not doing it?" More choppy seas ahead for the national pasttime. I don't think Selig will survive this scandal by the time it's done blowing up. Costas for commish!

Hanuman Roams the Earth?

"He climbs up trees, behaves like a monkey and is a strict vegetarian, but he is no god ..."

Death Star

Funny. "I'll tell everyone what a whiney b!tch you were about Padamomay, or Panda Bear, or whatever the hell her name is." Like Palpitation, or Palomine, or whatever his name is, is one to talk!

Dolphins Like What They Like

Jessica Alba and Susan Sarandon Agitate Dolphins

I Wasn't the Only One Thinking Reboot

I've blogged a couple times about how I feel the best thing for the Star Trek franchise would be a reboot ... unbeknownst to me, at least one pretty big name was thinking along the same lines -- J. Michael Stracyznski wanted to create a Universe B and reset the mythology.

Here's the post on Zabel's (Stracyznski's collaborator) blog with a link to the treatment. One strength of the treatment is that it has a clear vision for limited series, just as I had proposed, with a five year mission and each season being one year of that mission. My thinking was to cherry pick and remake the best episodes, which is an element in this vision, but they have the idea of the Enterprise crew seeking out advanced race that seeded the universe being the driving story arch, which I feel is too remniscent of Stargate (although there's plenty of precedent in the Star Trek universe for this already as well) and detracts from the pioneer spirt that made the original so compelling. The universe as frontier, as wild, untamed nature is so much more engaging than the universe as the garden of an advanced race, at least to my thinking.

Instant Trivia

Quick, no Googling ...
Who is the Stupendous Yappi?

No prize for winning, just pop culture geek kudos.

"I left some Love Stains in the back seat. You'll see."

Neil Patrick Harris has a great cameo in Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. (SVU's Christopher Meloni is unrecognizable and hilarious in his cameo as well.) It's one of the those stupid, vulgar comedies in the vein of 40 Year Old Virgin and Wedding Crashers, so I figured it would make sense to watch it at 6am this morning with my mom while we tried to get Blake to sleep. I lmao. It could've just been the exhaustion. Oh, and my mom thought it was funny too.

It occurs to me, suddenly, that it's a surreal life I'm living these days ... I'm eating bagels that were fedexed direct from Manhattan to the woods of rural Rhode Island while I watch dope-smoking, titty movies with my newborn son and my mom at the crack of dawn.

Let's Not Get Ahead of Ourselves

New York Daily News - Home - Earth's days are numbered, Hawking says
Hawking suggests we colonize Mars to guarantee our survival against the possibility of a cataclysm on Earth. Kim Stanley Robinson disagrees. He suggests we treat this planet like it's the only one we have. " ... Mars is poisonous," he points out.

Where Have the Organ Grinders Gone?

Where Have the Organ Grinders Gone?

only 10 other organ grinders in the country still use live monkeys — four in California, others in Boston, Virginia, Ohio, Texas, North Carolina and Florida. That number probably won’t grow. Many states take a dim view of entertainment involving capuchin monkeys, which are categorized as dangerous, exotic animals.

Just for the heck of it, I decided to see how organ grinders are represented on Flickr ... results.

C-Dog Family Additions

As many of you know, Mrs. C-Dog gave birth to twins on Saturday, May 20th. All are healthy and happy, at least when not turning bright red and howling.

It's been kind of a roller coaster so, if you're one of the many people to whom I've forgotten to send pictures, just drop me a line -- cdogzilla [at] yahoo [dot] com -- and I'll make sure to get some out to you as soon as possible. (If you're one of my flickr contacts, you can also see them here ... let me know if you'd like to be added as a contact as that is where most pictures will go as opposed to mass emails.)

If you're one of those who had a wager at your local parimutuel or just like stats: Blake Connor was born 9:53am, 6lbs, 19.5" with a little light reddish brown hair; Amelia Claire was born 9:55am, 6lbs 8ozs, 19.5" with slightly more, slightly darker hair.

Thanks for all the well wishes and support, we truly appreciate every bit of it!

Humanzee

All I can think is that there must have been some Helena Bonham Carter-ish proto-chimps back when the proto-humans were broadening their horizons, so to speak.

Pyow hack hack! Pyow hack hack!

That's a Putty-Nosed Monkey telling you it's time to roll out.

Bear vs. Monkey

I don't know why but this article made me think that it's time to update Rock-Paper-Scissors and do Bear-Monkey-Shark or something like that. Bear obviously beats Monkey. Monkey would beat Shark (sharks would be helpless in the jungle, totally unable to swing through the trees -- and I never heard of Shark Kung Fu). Bear vs. Shark is tricky though ... can anything beat Bear? Bears can swim and, if dolphins can beat sharks, I'm sure a bear would maul a shark. Maybe the game should be Bear-Monkey-Ditka?

"Troubadors are personae non gratae around here."

As Bonedaddy alerted us a month or so back, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, and Chloe from 24 were singing it up on the streets in tonight's Gilmore Girls. Thurston Moore looks goofier than ever.

New Monkey!

Kipunjis: closer to baboons than mangabeys (the last "new monkey").

I Feel Sick

Balance of power, rule of law, separation of church and state ... those were the good old days.

There's no such thing as "bypassing" the law! There is a fundamental problem with a President saying he gets to pick and choose which laws apply to him. We have a Supreme Court (who don't seem to understand their role any better than he does, but that's another sad story) that decides if laws are constititutional or not, the President doesn't get to do that. And, this should be fairly obvious to a sixth grader after the first week of social studies class, shouldn't need to get legal scholars to debate the issue.

The President is not above the law. We have a Constitution that was written expressly to prevent what this President is doing and yet still it's like it's an open question whether he has the powers he claims he has. He does not. Sadly, Congress and the Supreme Court have no respect the Constitution either, so here we are.

(I'm taking a page from Steinbrenner's book. When A-Rod commits costly errors, Big Stein bashes him in the press and refers to him as "the third basemen," as if his name is too distasteful to let pass his lips. That's how I feel about "this President," so ashamed I can't bring myself to utter his name.)

Yo!

There's something oddly Jack La Lanne-ish about Rocky Balboa these days ...

Female Doctor Next?

Billie Piper apparently would like the role and may have a good shot at it. I think she'd do well. And there is a precedent for a Time Lord regenerating in the form of someone else -- back when Romana regenerated during the 4th Doctor era.

No hurry to boot Tennant though, I hope. He's settling in as well as Eccleston did ... and those weren't easy footsteps to follow in.

It's been a bear getting a complete episode off usenet and YouTube has been a spotty resource as well. Keeping an eye out now to Sci-Fi will pick up the second season. They're doing a woeful job promoting the show and the ratings don't look that hot, despite the fact it's the best thing they've got going.

Or Is It The Other Way 'Round?

Discovery Channel :: News :: Drunk Monkeys Mirror People

Of Egg Creams and Phosphates

The egg cream is documented but not the vanilla phosphate? I suspect the ones we got at Shelly's Deli were just seltzer and vanilla syrup but it would be nice to confirm it.

Gorilla Babies

4 New Baby Gorillas Meet the Public at the Bronx Zoo

(Thanks to Mrs. C-Dog for the heads up!)

From Doctor #9 to Prisoner #6

From Doctor #9 to Prisoner #6
Christopher Eccleston will play the McGoohan role in the new Prisoner series. He was brilliant as the Doctor. HD, if you weren't already looking forward to this, I think the Eccleston casting means it's safe to start now.

As far as the Doctor goes, Tennant has not dropped the ball. I've seen the first two episodes and a large chunk of "School Reunion" (which featured the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 [about to get his own animated series, btw] as well as Anthony Stewart Head in a decidedly un-Gilesish role) and I think the series is actually getting better!

Nelson News

Ed Nelson, UConn's Country Rappin' Rebounder, has signed a free agent contract with the St. Louis Rams as a TE.

Green Day and the Timelords

Dr. Who on Holiday - Green Day and the Timelords. The missus hates it when I crank up the Timelords version, maybe this one will be more to her liking.

Speaking Truthiness

Colbert at the Correspondents' Dinner looks hilarious but unfortunately I can neither get my laptop to play sound, find my headphones, nor find the rebroadcast on the CSPAN schedule. Maybe you'll have more luck than I did. Still, just reading about it was entertaining.

Da Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na

Swingin' Jon Favreau to helm Iron Man. Thor is getting a movie a too? Shaun of the Dead was wicked good, so I wouldn't be surprised if Ant Man turned out to be the best of that lot.

The Kansas City Shuffle

Saw Lucky Number Slevin today. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying what easily could've been Bruce Willis trying to cash in on some more of that Pulp Fiction magic, a man's wristwatch being a key ingredient and all. If you're looking for a Saturday matinee with some twists and turns and dose of bloody violence, this is one of the better action movies to come along since, well, Pulp Fiction.

OK, a day later, -- and this is spoilerish -- what bugged me a little now bugs me more. The idea that someone, even a coroner, can get a bulletproof vest and fake blood packets on short notice then be willing to risk that someone who's intending to shoot them will hit the packets and not decide to shoot them between the eyes, not to mention the unlikelihood that nobody would notice they're wearing a freaking bulletproof vest, it's all just a bit much. To me, it seems like they decided to take a lazy shortcut and didn't have enough respect for the audience to even try to pretend otherwise. There are probably more glaring credulity straining elements, but they were masked better, or at least an attempt was made to explain them.

From SD-6 to ST:11

J.J. (Alias, MI:III) Abrams to Direct 11th Star Trek movie. My feeling for a while has been that what Star Trek needs is a reboot. While this isn't that drastic, I'm liking the idea of revisiting the original characters with new actors. It was a bad idea to go back to the (future) past with Enterprise, but this movie does seem like step in the right direction.

I still feel a full on reboot of the original series, cherry picking the best episodes, grabbing the best stories from the novels, planning the five year mission and doing it as a closed-end series so it could have a proper story arch is the only way to revive the series short of pushing it ahead another couple hundred years or so.

As far as Abrams goes, I liked some of Alias and will probably check out MI:III even though Tom Cruise freaks me out. It never would've occurred to me to look in that direction for Trek and maybe that's not a bad thing. Bryan Singer looked like an inspired choice for the X-Men and that's turned out to be be pretty forgettable, but I would've rather seen someone with a less commercial vision at the helm.

Still, it's new Star Trek and for whatever reason that still gets my inner geek all stirred up.

(link via Ghost in the Machine)

50 Greatest Film Adaptations

The titles that leapt off the page.
Nitpick with the list: several were made into films at least twice and the list doesn't reference which version is supposedly the best ... for example which "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"?

It's been a long time since I read "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (Mr. Raccagni's class) but with Muriel Spark's recent passing and now the inclusion here, I guess I'll throw it on the Netflix list.

via Robot Wisdom

May Not Have Played a Great Game ...

... of Phase 10 last night but I sure showed our guests how to eat pistachios with ruthless efficiency.

Another web fave

... is the Washington Post's online sudoku. It's got the best notes system, at least for my solving style, and I think it's the easiest to use without a mouse. I'll usually do the Times and the Daily Sudoku as well, but I'll always work the Post first. There's also websudoku and a speed challenge one at sudoku fun that I haven't tried yet. Am I missing any good ones?

They're not extinct!

New dinosaur a turkey - World - theage.com.au
Turkzilla is out there. I've seen it.

This Is A Rant I've Ranted Before

But people are still paying with checks and I'm going to keep ranting until it stops. Is it not 2006? Which makes this the 21st Freaking Century, yeah? Because I feel like I should be stocking up on powdered wigs and knee breeches when I go to the store. When we got calculators, we stopped using abaci (yeah, I looked it up to be sure), didn't we? Cars replaced horse drawn carriages. CDs knocked out lps and tapes. Video killed the radio star, then was subsequently killed by reality tv and we all rolled with it. So why in the world are people still writing checks???

I go to Target at lunch to pick up laundry detergent on sale. I have three items at checkout, go the shortest line, and end up watching streams of people with dozens of items zip out the store because the woman in front of me in line wants to write a check and didn't have the decency to have her bank preprint her license number on it.

I go to the gas station next and get in the shortest line again. Again, cars are whipping in and out while I sit and wait for the lady (again, it's the fairer sex that perpetrates this crime 99% of the time) with the the "Marriage = Man + Woman" bumpersticker surrounded by red, white and blue ribbon magnets (direct correllation between excess of homophobic patriotism and mental defectiveness?) to walk up to the booth with her checkbook to buy her gas and smokes.

Then, as if that weren't enough, I need to stop at the grocery store on the way home. Why am I stuck in line this time? Wait for it ... because the woman I got behind forgot her checkbook in the car and had to walk out to get it, then walk back in, rejoin the line, then open it, find the next available check under the fifty carbons, the write it out, then sloooooowly tear it out ...

Look, next time you're walking past your bank with your checkbook, do me a favor, take $50 or so out and carry it the f@ck with you. Here's a thing I like to do, carry a credit card that pays 5% back on purchases you make at grocery stores and gas stations, pay it in full every month, and have them send you a bunch of money every couple months to buy yourself something nice.

Purple Chimps

My Aunt Linda painted this for us. It's on the shelf in the living room now but once I get it framed we're going to hang it in the nursery.

Program Alert

BBC - Doctor Who - Episode Guide - The Unquiet Dead
Tonight's as good a time as any to start watching Dr. Who on Sci-Fi. Don't cheat yourself!

Somebody at Coca-Cola Must've Been Watching Old Drew Carey Reruns

think Buzz Cola instead of Buzz Beer.

Purported Sasquatch Video

Just me or does the Sasquatch here look like a drunk college student in a wookie suit stopped to take a leak on a tree and then stumbled off into the woods?

(link via Boing Boing)

The Monty Hall Problem

Finally got around to reading Mark Haddon's the curious incident of the dog in the night-time today. "Autism" is a word that seems to describe a wide range of symptoms and I don't pretend to know nearly enough to judge whether the novel is in any way realistic but it is an engaging read. It took me a few rereads of the Monty Hall Problem before it finally made sense ... but, if nothing else, the click of that making sense made the book worthwhile.

Sort of related video ...

Don't Cross Dick Cheney If You Know What's Good For You

I hear he's strutting around telling people the last guy that gave him lip got shot in the face.

Quail hunting with multimillionaires, just another day in the life for DC. Imagine, if Gore had done this during Clinton's presidency, how the right wing media would be on the attack, fabricating all kinds of conspiracies ("I hear the guy was sleeping with Hillary and she ordered Gore to do the hit after he threatened to tell all to Bill O'Reilly") and calling for Clinton to be impeached. Oh, and they'd be saying he was 'out of touch' (like Kerry was during the campaign) for engaging in such dandified exploits as quail hunting while working people were home pining for a cut in the capital gains tax, domestic spying programs, and prayer in school.

Update: This via Boing Boing ...

Monorail 451

I know Ray Bradbury is being serious here [L.A.'s future is up in the air - Los Angeles Times] but you have to admit that when you hear "monorail" all you can think of is the Simpsons episode, yeah?

Rebate Check

All I want to do is deposit the silly little $10 check from Linksys on my lunch break, which is already a little long because I went home and dozed off watching Sportscenter. So I go into scenic downtown Pascoag ("It's safe to drink the water now!") to our local branch. I prefer to use the ATM instead of waiting for a teller and there's only one person at the ATM vs. 4 or so inside. I wait for a minute while the lady hits buttons and stuff, politely staring in other directions, observing the unspoken rule that you give the person at the machine as much privacy as possible ... but it gradually becomes evident she's puzzled. It's like the lady at the gas pump a few weeks ago who couldn't figure out her Stop & Shop card and credit card do different things, but that's neither here nor there. This lady finally turns to me and says "I don't know why I can't get money out."

Well, a number of things tell me I'm going to be late getting back. For one, the machine is at the start screen, indicating a card was never put into it. For another, this woman has two teeth, very far apart. And not many women would leave the house with hair that looked like that: rubber bands in odd places and a wacky part. So she starts telling me how she can't get the money, but she knows the PIN and she'll tell it to me, can I help her?

Look, I don't mind helping out in certain situations, but crazy people (like the one who wanted to use my cellphone outside the convenience store a few weeks back) sometimes forget that they asked for help and start thinking they're being scammed or something and I don't want to touch her card, know her PIN, any of it, so I calmly (but persistently talking over her attempts to give me her PIN and SSN) explain it would be best if a teller helped her, since they're experts at operating the machine. After several minutes of these negoatiations I finally get a teller to come out and help her, and then the real fun starts as we are treated to the story of why she's getting money, how she can't remember whether she is supposed to take from the checking or savings account, demonstrating how she tried to put her card in the deposit envelope drawer, etc... and somehow I'm part of the story as the nice gentleman who tried to help but couldn't figure it out either -- I give the teller a look that says "believe me, I can operate an ATM" -- and several people have come and gone in the meantime, obviously entertained by the proceedings.

The moral of the story is, if you are are going to get gas where you can use your discount card, attempting to deposit a rebate check, or leaving the convenience store with a gallon of milk and an impulse purchase of some Hostess Cupcakes ... don't get behind the car where the person operating the pump is inserting numerous cards and punching buttons seemingly at random, don't let anyone tell you their ATM card PIN, and don't give anyone your phone unless you want it back vaguely sticky and smelling of stale cigarette smoke. Here endeth the lesson.

"Those charts are upside-down, we lost money last quarter..."

They are my favorite commercials and now I can send emails with custom audio using their likeness. Ah, good times. I would have called them Chimp-o-grams instead of Monk-e-mails though. Mine has ipod headphones and is sitting in a cube, just like me!

Second Wave

Lazy Monday: Didn't take long for the second wave. Maybe rap is a little harder than the SNL guys made it look? (First link is to the Google Video, it's from www.narniarapbattle.com)

Oh boy, the midwest needs a better entrant ... these guys make it look real hard [Lazy River]. But the poker and Chuck Norris refs are ok. People need to stop this now.

Gonna experiment with embedding the Lazy Monday below. Feel free to leave a comment if it blows up your browser. I won't do anything about it, but it may make you feel better to vent.

The Daily Monkey

The Daily Monkey is exceptional this morning. Dig the tune as well as the video.

Monkey vs. Dog

Monkey Vs. Dog - Google Video
I think they're just playing, I mean, if the monkey weren't having fun he could've just climbed the fence.
You'll need the Google Video player to watch it.

Tube Sock: $4.00

MacGyver spot in advance of the Super Bowl from the priceless.com - Film Festival (via digg)

Monkey U

Boing Boing: Helper monkeys for the disabled

When it is time for their training, monkeys come to live at the Monkey College in Boston. During their time at the College, monkeys are taught a wide variety of helping tasks and behaviors they will use to assist their human partners.

Tranghese should be looking into getting Monkey College into the Big East before the America East swoops up the Mighty Capuchins.

Torture

Christianity Today on Torture and "Torture Lite"

So I do not write to demonize those who believe that protecting our nation's security requires the use of interrogation techniques that could be classified as borderline torture. Nor do I want to get into a technical and detailed argument about particular interrogation techniques to determine if they are torture. What I want to focus on is the idea that, given the war on terror, the gloves should be taken off. Simply put, should our government have the option - even if used only rarely and in extreme circumstances - of torturing?

I believe Christians should say no, on the following five grounds ...
1. Torture violates the dignity of the human being. Every inch of the human body and every aspect of the human spirit comes from God and bears witness to his handiwork. We are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-28)...
2. Torture mistreats the vulnerable and violates the demands of justice. In the Scriptures, God's understanding of justice tilts toward the vulnerable. "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry" (Ex. 22:21-23)...
3. Authorizing torture trusts government too much. Human beings are sinful through and through (Rom. 3:10-18). We are not to be trusted, and we are especially dangerous when in possession of unchecked power. This applies to all of us...
4. Torture dehumanizes the torturer...
5. Torture erodes the character of the nation that tortures. A nation is a collective moral entity with a character, an identity that carries across time. Causes come and go, threats come and go, but the enduring question for any social entity is who we are as a people. This is true of a family, a church, a school, a civic club, or a town. It is certainly true of a nation.

Sen. John McCain, who has led the Republican charge against torture, recently said, "This isn't about who they are. This is about who we are. These are the values that distinguish us from our enemies." ...

Those Who Would Sacrifice Liberty for Security Deserve Neither

Boing Boing: Future American lawyers protest Attorney General's speech

Seems Relevant

A Shocker: Partisan Thought Is Unconscious - New York Times

neuroscientists have now tracked what happens in the politically partisan brain when it tries to digest damning facts about favored candidates or criticisms of them. The process is almost entirely emotional and unconscious, the researchers report, and there are flares of activity in the brain's pleasure centers when unwelcome information is being rejected. [Emphasis mine. Highlights the futility of arguing with someone who enjoys being wrong.]

Link via mefi

The Three Brothers Reuniting?

Jackie Chan Begins Shooting "Baby" didn't give me high hopes until revealing at the very end that Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung will also be in it. No mention of whether they're making cameos or co-starring though.

Which Side Are You On?

The New York Review of Books: ON NSA SPYING: A LETTER TO CONGRESS

In conclusion, the DOJ letter fails to offer a plausible legal defense of the NSA domestic spying program. If the administration felt that FISA was insufficient, the proper course was to seek legislative amendment, as it did with other aspects of FISA in the Patriot Act, and as Congress expressly contemplated when it enacted the wartime wiretap provision in FISA. One of the crucial features of a constitutional democracy is that it is always open to the President - or anyone else - to seek to change the law. But it is also beyond dispute that, in such a democracy, the President cannot simply violate criminal laws behind closed doors because he deems them obsolete or impracticable. [Emphasis mine.]

You either support the Rule of Law or Authoritarianism. Which side are you on?

Comprehensive Chuck Norris Facts

This list of Chuck Norris Facts neatly sums up the email chain phenomenon of the last month or so. Relevant related material is the official Chuck Norris response to the Facts.

I've emailed this, and the Mr. T equivalent, to a bunch of folks and it occurs to me I may have linked this already, if so, my bad. Just read it again and stop your whining.

Unfairly Maligned

A Case Can Be Made for Jimmy Carter being the only President to serve during my lifetime (start with Nixon) who was actually a decent human being. The rest are or were better suited to serve the country as inmates pounding out license plates.
[Update: link fixed]

MDDB

Movie Deaths Database: fairly new site, so it's utility will doubtless improve in time. Already fun to surf. The first death I looked for to test the site out was Jim (Sean Connery) Malone's in "The Untouchables."

I'm curious, if you check it out, which one you look for first ...

[link via metafilter]

This Is To That

Tic Tac Toe : Hollywood Squares :: Sudoku : ???

How 'Bout Some Lists?

To the best of my recollection, I saw fifteen movies that were released in 2005. Doing a Top Ten list seems like a dirty compromise between narrowing it down to a Favorite Five or just listing all fifteen, so I'll force myself to work a little and narrow it down to ...

C-Dog's Top Five Movies of 2005
1. Serenity -- This was an easy choice. Well-written sci-fi actioner that delivers on the humor and the thrills. Adam Baldwin should win Best Supporting Actor. [RT=80%]
2. The Wedding Crashers -- Flawed (for example, Will Ferrell's weak, bloated cameo) but far and away the funniest movie I've seen in a long time. [RT=74%]
3. Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior -- Low budget, the soundtrack sounds like the canned tune that comes out of the box with a low end Casio synthesizer, but it kicks ass. [RT=84%]
4. The 40 Year Old Virgin -- More funny. [RT=84%]
5. King Kong -- The ape is awesome. [RT=83%]
Just Missed the Cut: Batman Begins [RT=83%]
Other Notable Kung Fu Flicks: Kung Fu Hustle [RT=90%]& Unleashed [RT=67%]
Movies I Thought I'd Like More Than I Did: Syriana, Sin City, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

And then there's a bunch of movies I wanted to see and will netflix eventually: Crash, The Aristocrats, March of the Penguins, Transporter 2, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and possibly The Matador if only because the ads use one of my all-time favorite songs, The Jam's "A Town Called Malice."