Sunday, January 28, 2001

It's No USFL

XFL.COM Cheerleaders: The USFL had Steve Young, Herschel Walker, and Jim Kelly and was a disaster. I'm starting to think the WWF-ication of American culture is nearly complete and the XFL will be just as popular as the rasslers. (link via dack)

Terror Firmer

Terror Firmer: from the company that gave us "The Toxic Avenger." This is one of those pages you don't want to surf to while you're at work, or ever, if you're Joe Lieberman 'cause it'll just make feel all mad and legislative. There's also an interview with Lloyd Kaufmann at Salon that's a good read; for a demented wing-nut, the guy makes some good points.

The Mob in New England

The New England Mob: While writing the last post, I was listening to the tv downstairs where local prosecutors were being interviewed about the connection between the Irish mob and the FBI. The linked page has a group of stories about James "Whitey" Bulger, Stephen "the Rifleman" Flemmi, and the Patriarca crime family. Living in Rhode Island, I'm getting much more accustomed to hearing the phrase "alleged mafia ties" in the evening news. If only all those guys hadn't watched violent movies and tv when they were kids ... ~sigh~ it's such a tragedy Lieberman, et al., hadn't been active back in the day.

Fake Violence Fears

Senators Lieberman, Kohl, and Brownback make some more noise about pursuing the least effective method of keeping people from shooting one another. Maybe, just maybe, we should be more concerned about the actual guns and worry a little less about movies and video games.

Brownback: "There is no longer a question as to whether exposing children to violent entertainment is a public health risk. The question is: What are we going to do about it? What does it take for the entertainment industry and its licensees and retailers to stop exposing children to poison?" Mega, Eleni, and others have already made the convincing (and in level-headed circles already pervasive) argument that the real question is, "what are parents going to do about actually parenting their children?" I don't feel like I need to expand on what others have articulated so well. Why is it the greatest form of political courage these guys can muster is to take on the merchants of representations of violence and not the actual merchants of violence?

Saturday, January 27, 2001

Friday, January 26, 2001

The Spaceman

They don't call him the Spaceman for nothing. Here's an old-ish interview with Bill Lee. You won't find the usual sports cliches.

Wednesday, January 24, 2001

Knopflerasaurus

Knopflerasaurus. When the "cool" kids in Jr. High School were listening to Def Leppard, old Led Zep records, and whatever else was big back then, I was a Dire Straits kinda guy. "Geek," I think is the term that applied. (thanks to Mike for the link)

Tuesday, January 23, 2001

Series 7

Well, I passed the Series 7 exam today, which basically means the SEC says I can keep my job and, as congratulations, I'll be getting the textbook so I can start studying for the Series 63 tomorrow.

I also just saw the notice about blogvoices shutting down. Damn! It looks like it may get hosted someplace else, so I'm not going to scrap the code yet, but if there's no news in a couple of days we'll probably have to start thinking about something new.

Monday, January 22, 2001

Soderbergh

Soderbergh Nominated Twice by Directors Guild: which will is fine, but probably means he stands no chance of winning unless the voters rally around one over the other, which seems like it would be a hard thing to do. In any event, Ang Lee really should win for Crouching Tiger IMHO. I didn't see Almost Famous (and have no desire to) so I don't have much to say about Crowe's nomination, except that he sounded like a self-aggrandizing buffoon at the Golden Globe's and I don't think he needs to win anything else. As for Ridley Scott's nod for Gladiator, I'm just puzzled -- Gladiator was uneven at best.

Downhill Fast

Bush Says Will Sign Order Blocking Abortion Money: He's not wasting any time getting 'round to undoing everything Clinton did, is he?

Wisconsin Care Package

Just as I was hitting enter on the last post, the doorbell here at c-dog Mission Control rang (scaring the bejesus out of me because I don't think anyone's ever used it before) and guess what it was? The mailman had a box for me! I love when the mail is something other than credit card bills, threatening letters from tax collectors, and suchlike. What came was a care package from Wisconsin. No, not beer and cheese, but homemade jerky and cookies! Al makes great jerky and Christi makes these little cookies with cranberries and chocolate chips in them that I love and they both came in the same box, which was a pleasant surprise. Thanks guys!!

OK, now I've messed around on the internet enough and have to get back to studying, which is ostensibly the reason I'm off work today in the first place.

Elenis

Eleni Mandell - Official Site: Another quick music post because I picked up the Feb issue of CMJ today and am liking some of the tunes by artists with whom I'm unfamiliar. Dido and the aforementioned Eleni Mandell in particular. I probably wouldn't have picked up this issue (I don't enjoy CMJ that much anymore) except that Ms. Mandell shares her given name with Eleni, who is a favorite of the TC collective.

Worth Seeking Out

GARAGELAND: Hey Mega, here's good news. The reason you haven't been able to find a Garageland album is because one just hasn't been released here yet. Although, you've probably got most or all of the upcoming CD on mp3 anyways ...

Sunday, January 21, 2001

Politically Incorrect

Maher Lands in Doghouse.
"I don't think you ought to use the word 'retarded,'" said Sarah Ferguson, who shouted "boo" to interrupt Maher's rant. "They have a heart and soul," she added.

"They have a heart and a soul and a brain that's retarded," Maher snapped back.

NBC's "Later" host Cynthia Garrett said she has a "nephew who is retarded" whom she has "never thought of as a little dog."

"Well, maybe you should," Maher said.

It's hard to fault a guy who hosts a show called "Politically Incorrect" for speaking his mind ... well, actually, no. Turns out it's not that hard after all. (link via tvtattle)

Saturday, January 20, 2001

Boozin'

Mega, J.R.. and I went to see Snatch tonight down in Warwick. Excellent movie. (I'll post a meta review to CZ tomorrow night.) Funny stuff: we went out drinking after. My buddy J.R. tried to match Mega and I drink for drink. He's never lived in Wisconsin and didn't go to UCONN, so he's what non-Cheeseheads and non-Huskies would call a lightweight. He had to sit out a round and still I had to pull over twice on the way home for him to boot on the side of my car. A cop pulled up behind me the second time, concerned for J.R.'s health. He said, "you seem fine," and really I was, "but is your friend going to be OK?" I assured the trooper he'd not be driving ... and, true to my word, J.R. is currently downstairs sawing zzz's on the pull-out sleeper. My favorite quote of the night: J.R. saying, "I don't know what was in that last shot of 151, but I'm drunk off my ass. Could you pull over so I can throw-up?" Second favorite: J.R. calling home to say, "I'm fucking hammered. I'll be homeinthemorningbye." I'm trying to remember the last time I was as drunk as J.R. is now and I think it might be the time I hurled orange all over Desrosiers' bathroom prior to the ... it wasn't the Jayhawks, maybe the Old 97's show? ... at the Student Union.

Wednesday, January 17, 2001

Hitter

Ted Williams:
Official Website: doesn't do him justice. Not even a mention of his condition in the "news" section.
Salon article: a well researched retrospective.
The most recent news from the Boston Globe.
Ted's page at the Hall of Fame site.

Ted's a fascinating guy. Driven, but "flakey." Brash and arrogant, but compassionate and big-hearted. He's 82 now and in failing health, so it's unlikely it'll ever happen, but I've always thought it would be cool, if I ever had a kid, to pass Ted Williams on the street and tell my child "there goes the greatest hitter who ever lived" just loud enough for Williams to hear, and to just keep going without bugging him for an autograph. That's how he'd like to be remembered and I hope it's how he will be, not only because it's true, but also because he deserves credit for his support of the Jimmy Fund and for helping prod the Hall of Fame into acknowledging the Negro League ballplayers who weren't in the Hall only because they weren't given a chance to play.

HOF

Following up on my earlier post about the nominees: Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I was hoping Jim Ed would make it in this year, but these are deserving players. (discovered the results via windowseat)

Tuesday, January 16, 2001

Mini Me

I made a c-dog mini-fella like all the hip bloggers have been doing. A little less square in the jaw, a little more pot in the belly, properly colored eyes, and you'd have a fair idea what I look like.
click here to make your own

BJU (Giggling)

Find out what Bob Jones University has to say for itself. I wanted to, but I got scared and I left. The creepy guy who wanted me to follow a quick link wasn't very convincing.

Monday, January 15, 2001

Huskies Tipped

Omigosh. UConn's losing 75-59 with 5 minutes to go! They have a 30 game win streak on the line and traditionally whoop up on Notre Dame. This is more shocking than the Giants spanking Minnesota.

Super Bowl Prediction

My question is: can you really call it a "Super" Bowl if the opposing quarterbacks are Trent "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, Trent Dilfer Is From Uranus" Dilfer and Kerry "I'm only racist when I'm liquored up" Collins? Prediction: Ravens win 2-0.

Saturday, January 13, 2001

Best of 2000

Mega and I went into Providence last night to see Frank Black play the Met Cafe but we didn't plan ahead and the show was sold out. Bummer. I'll come back and add links if I can find good ones to the following list of my favorite albums of 2000; I'll trust until then you are capable of using google if you're curious.

My Top Albums of 2000 (in no particular order):

Cinerama, Disco Volante.
Death Cab for Cutie, We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes.
The Halo Benders, The Rebels Not In.
The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones, Pay Attention.
Modest Mouse, The Moon and Antarctica.
Wyclef Jean, Ecleftic.
Yo La Tengo, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.

Friday, January 12, 2001

The Art of the Commercial

I'm puzzled by the new-ish McDonald's commercial with the guy that uses his soiled food wrapper to wrap other things, including a chair in his workshop? What does he have a school desk in his garage/workshop for anyways? What the hell is that commercial about?? All I get from it is: "if you eat our tainted meat products, you will develop a disgusting obsessive-compulsive disorder."

Hall Voting

The writers vote for entry into The Hall this weekend. Of the current crop, I'm for: Blyleven, Concepcion, Garvey, Guidry, Morris, Murphy, Puckett, Rice, Stewart, Tiant, Whitaker, and Winfield with most preference for the bolds and some minor reservations about the others. Andy Van Slyke???? I don't know how some of these guys got on the ballot.

Baby Pix

This is making the rounds: search a database for your nursery photo from the hospital where you were born.

O'Cayz Is Not Okay

Christi sent me a link to photos of post-apocalypse O'Cayz.

Wednesday, January 10, 2001

Sorkin Characters

Dana was on the West Wing tonight! The more like Sports Night, the better. (I can't wait for the anti-SN rant from Mega to show in the comment box.) Found the Who Would You Kill? site until tonight when I was searching for a relevant link. I wonder how Peter feels about Tara coming in 4th at the Buffy kill page?

Tuesday, January 9, 2001

Saturday, January 6, 2001

UCONN Squeaker

After dogging it for a half, our boys are stepping up. Selvie's getting plenty of opportunities to do his patented little bicep pat after making a strong bucket. As Arizona found out, St. John's is learning that it is going to be awful hard to beat UConn at Storrs. Every entry pass has been an adventure for the Johnnies in the last five minutes, if UConn's interior D holds together, I'm liking their chances of keeping this lead ...
OT now. I got one new grey hair with each tenth of a second those last four seconds when it wasn't clear Butler knew how little time he had to shoot. What a clutch 3. Amazing.
Done now, 82-80 UConn. Whew. Not in the mood to study now.

Missing Khalid

I'm watching the UConn game and losing my temper. Had to listen to the BC debacle on the radio and following it up with this poor start is working my nerves. Where is Mouring's outside shot to stretch the D? The Huskies just don't look like a disciplined team out there. El-Amin is sorely missed.

Wednesday, January 3, 2001

Tuesday, January 2, 2001

O'Cayz Burns

First the Barber's Closet, now this ... everything cool in Madison, WI is burning to the ground. Fond O'Cayz memories: booting between mosh pit sessions at the Vanilla Trainwreck show & seeing Sally Timms play there. The Mekons did a good set there, too. (Thanks to Christi for the link.)
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