Oscar De La Hoya is in no position to criticize what anyone else is wearing
Sure, Tommy Lasorda is wearing a funny t-shirt, but Oscar De La Hoya has worn much funnier attire. Yes, I’m talking about this.
(Photo: The Sporting Blog)
Roger Clemens is a perv
From the New York Daily News:
Roger Clemens carried on a decade-long affair with country star Mindy McCready, a romance that began when McCready was a 15-year-old aspiring singer performing in a karaoke bar and Clemens was a 28-year-old Red Sox ace and married father of two, several sources have told the Daily News.
Well that’s certainly creepy. It’s not like Roger Clemens would be the first Major League Baseball player to have an extramarital affair. Why did he have to focus his attentions on a child? A 28-year old screwing a 15-year old is definitely creepy unless the 28-year old is a female teacher and the 15-year old is a boy. In that case, it’s just Florida.
Mindy McCready is the country singer that got into trouble with the law for trying to use a fake OxyContin prescriptions. I think she also tried to choke a boyfriend to death. Mindy McCready may very well be a flawed and troubled person because Roger Clemens was throwing her the high hard one when she was just a kid.
I always thought Roger Clemens was a dick. I just never realized he was a sexual deviant.
Mindy McCready has since confirmed the story.
Al Franken to pay $70,000 in back taxes
Former Saturday Night Live writer and Air America Radio host Al Franken to pay taxes he had already paid:
Senate candidate Al Franken, dogged by accusations that he failed to file tax returns in California, said Tuesday he will pay about $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating to 2003.
Most of the income at issue was from speeches and other paid appearances by the comedian-turned candidate, who said he got bad advice from his accountant but takes responsibility for the errors.
The Minnesota Democrat told The Associated Press that he and his wife, Franni, “paid taxes on every cent of income we ever had.” He said that during the years in question, he followed the accountant’s advice and paid his entire income tax bill to the city and state where he lived at the time. He lived in New York City from 2003-05 and Minnesota in 2006.
He didn’t try to avoid paying taxes. He paid the taxes. He just paid them to the states he lived in at the time and not the states where he earned the actual income. To be honest, I’ve always been lead to believe that was how it worked. You didn’t pay taxes to the state or states you earned the income, but to the state where you lived.
I live in Maryland, but I work in Pennsylvania. Other then a stupid once-a-year tax I have to pay for the right to work in Pennsylvania, I don’t pay taxes in Pennsylvania. That once-a-year tax is not based on my actual income. It’s a flat fee that everyone working in Pennsylvania must pay. It’s based on the county you are working. The only state income tax I pay is to Maryland.
Al Franken and his taxes have been under much scrutiny lately because of the fact that he is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He’s running in his home state of Minnesota. I imagine that there is a lot of pressure running for elected office in Minnesota. It is after all the state that elected former professional wrestler and current 9-11 conspiracy crackpot Jesse Ventura as it’s governor.
How embarrassing it would be to lose an election in Minnesota.
The Oakland Raiders show why they are the Oakland Raiders
The NFL held the first two rounds of it’s draft Saturday and the Oakland Raiders chose with the fourth overall pick Arkansas star running back Darren McFadden.
Dumb, dumb, dumb, and dumb.
I think this was a stupid move not just because running backs in the first round usually don’t pan out, but because this guy is just a huge messy “off the field trouble” waiting to happen.
This is the guy you let someone else draft on the first day.
It’s just not worth taking a chance. Mini Muhammad, his mother is a recovering crack addict. He has 11 brothers and sisters. One gang banging brother is a Crip, another is a Blood. He missed Arkansas’ 2006 season opener against the USC Trojans with a broken toe he suffered in a bar fight. Who brakes their toe in a bar fight? He was also involved in another bar fight earlier this year. This time it was at a piano bar. What where they fighting over? If Barry Manilow truly wrote the songs that makes the young girls girl? Then there’s the paternity suite being leveled against him by one Little Rock woman along with the statement from McFadden that he has two other children on the way.
For those keep score at home, that’s two bar fights and three baby mamas.
This is not the NFL from 10 years ago. Character is now important. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell isn’t screwing around when it comes to players committing infractions off the field. What are the chances he’s going to get into another piano bar fight? He’s about to get paid an awful lot of money and the likelihood that he’s going to screw up seem too high to me.
Cool A-10 Thunderbolt II photo
Look many of the cool pictures I find online, I was looking for something else when I stumbled upon this photo of an A-10 Thunderbolt II. I like this pic for two reasons – it shows the aircraft dropping a anti-heat seeking missile flare from an ALE-40 chaff and flare system, and the Westinghouse ALQ-119 ECM pod hanging on the port wing. Though I never got to work on the A-10, I worked with the ALE-40 and the ALQ-119.
The A-10 is a remarkable aircraft. It was one of the few combat planes ever designed with ease of maintenance incorporated right in the design. Everything is easy to get to and easy to remove and replace.
I took the original large image and cropped it down to 1680 x 1050 so I could use it as a desktop background. Though I’m a tree hugging liberal, I love combat aircraft.
Guy who doesn’t play football will be on the cover of Madden 09
You’d think that after their performances last year, either Ellie May Manning or perhaps Adrian Peterson would grace the cover of Madden 09. No, that would actually make sense. That would also be forgetting the amount of man-love John Madden has for recovering Vicodin addict and former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
Who cares if Favre already retired from the NFL?
It’s not like people spend a lot of time staring at the game’s cover. There’s also websites one can go to where you can make your own covers. All you have to do is upload your own photo and the website spits out a custom cover.
Frankly, I’m surprised John Madden is even still connected to this video game franchise. I used to play Madden Football back in 1991 on the Tandy. This is back when normal people didn’t own computers. Good times!
It’s not like he is the one actually writing the code for the game. There is just something funny about an 126-year old man being the front man to a video game. I’m not saying John Madden is old (yes I am), but when he first began playing football, instead of a ball, they used a severed human head.
Personally, I’m waiting for them to release Andy Rooney Baseball. Maybe Rooney’s not old enough yet to be the pitchman for a video sports game.
I like free music
Nine Inch Nails is giving away their new song Discipline. All you have to do is go to this website and enter your email address along with your zip code and through the magic of the Internets, they will email you a special code that you can enter to download an MP3 of the song.
Free is good. Long live free!
Russian MiG shoots down Georgian drone
Cool YouTube video of a Russian MiG shooting down a Georgian drone. Evidently the two countries are fighting over the Abkhazia region. I’m not sure why anyone would fight over an area that most people have never heard of.
Not to give ending away, but the MiG takes out the drone with a missile. That seems kind of expensive when the pilot could have just used the gun. Missiles are expensive.
Frank Thomas is no longer a Blue Jay
The only thing worse then somebody getting paid millions to play a game is someone getting paid millions to not pay a game. The Toronto Blue Jays have come to a “mutual agreement” with slugger Frank Thomas. They will continue paying him the remainder of his $8 million 2008 salary. He just won’t have to come to work any longer. In fact, they don’t want anything to do with him anymore. He has been released and he is now free to look for a job with another team.
Frank Thomas used to be a fantastic baseball player. He was the last player to win back-to-back MVP awards (1993 & 1994). Plus he was in that baseball movie with Tom Selleck. The one where he went to Japan to play baseball.
Derek Jeter’s never been in a Tom Selleck movie. Derek Jeter sucks.
Danica Patrick finally wins a race
Danica Patrick makes IndyCar history by becoming the first woman to win a race. She won the Japan 300 in her 50th career start.
Maybe now she can stop doing dumb stuff like pretending to take her racing suit off for the camera. It’s kind of hard to take anyone serious when they choose to demean themselves in a men’s magazine. Look! It’s Danica Patrick walking down the beach and she’ s peeling off her racing suit. As luck would have it, a photographer was there to capture the moment.
I don’t ever remember Dick Trickle ever having to take off his flame retardant racing suit for the camera.
Gordon Lee case ends with a written apology
More details have emerged concerning the case against comic book retailer Gordon Lee. The Rome-News Tribune is reporting that Floyd County District Attorney Leigh Patterson met with Lee’s defense attorneys and came to an agreement:
Patterson said the case was dismissed after the district attorney met with Lee’s counsel and decided that a measure other than prosecution could be taken in resolving the case.
“He did a written apology to the victims in the case,” said Patterson.
It’s a shame this couldn’t have happened a long time ago. I’ve long held the opinion that this case should have been settled along time ago with a plea bargain agreement. It now looks as though that is the case.
F-111 dump and burn
I blogged the other day about an Australian F-111 taking pelican damage. While discussing the F-111 in the comment section with Schooly, I remembered seeing an Australian F-111 do a flyover on Guam where the aircrew dumped fuel out the aft end and then ignited it with the afterburners. Schooly mentioned that this is referred to as a “dump and burn”.
I found this video on YouTube of a Australian F-111 doing a “dump and burn” at an air show at the Amberly airshow. Check it out.
All charges against Gorden Lee dismissed?
Word out of the New York Comic Con is that all charges against Georgia comic book retailer Gordon Lee have been dismissed. Writer Neil Gaiman and Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) board member broke the news at a panel Friday evening.
CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein spoke with Matt Brady at Newsarama about this latest development.
If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you probably know that my opinions about the Gordon Lee case differ greatly then most of the online comic book community. I don’t see Gordon Lee so much as a champion of the First Amendment, but as a comic book retailer that did something incredibly stupid. He allowed a comic book intended for adults (Alternative Comics #2) to get into the hands of a small child.
Does that mean I think he should go to prison? No, of course not. I do think he made a huge mistake.
One of my problems with this case has been that I never sensed any sort of remorse on the part of Lee. He allowed a comic that contained both male and female nudity and contained references to masturbation and oral sex to get into the trick-or-treat bag of a 6-year old child.
I believe that was an incredibly dumb thing to do.
It’s not like this was even the first time Lee had done something like this. He was convicted in the early 90’s of distributing obscene materials. Sandra Allen of Rome, Georgia became alarmed when her kid came home with comic books purchased from Lee’s comic book shop that she thought were pornographic.
Sandra Allen went to Gordon Lee’s comic book shop and found more of what she believed to be pornographic comic books on display to anyone entering the shop. Allen purchased two adult comics from Lee’s shop, Debbie Does Dallas and Final Taboo and took them directly to the Rome Police and filed a complaint.
My hope in all this is that Gordon Lee will be more careful when it comes to adult comic books. Is that asking too much?
Now that’s what I call a bird strike!
This is what happens when an Australian General Dynamics F-111 hits a 30 lb pelican at 340 mph. Ouch!
When I was stationed in the Philippines and assigned to the 3rd Tac Fighter Wing and on a deployment to Korea, we had one of our F-4E’s hit by a goose. Maybe it was a duck. I don’t remember. I’m supporised there was even enough of it afterwards to make any kind of identification. It hit the aircraft between the port intake and the fuselage. It ripped a hole right through the aircraft. The aircrew was able to bring the F-4 back, but I don’t think it ever flew again. Maybe it did. I don’t remember. I just remember the carnage.
Make sure to check out this site where there are more pics of this F-111.
Former Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada actually two years older then he claims
It turns out that when Miguel Tejada signed his first professional baseball contract in the Dominican Republic, he was 19 and not 17 as he claimed. He’s been lying about his age ever since.
At least to Major League Baseball. According to the Houston Astros — the team he plays for now — his green card, his driver’s license, and everything else that he uses in his personal life shows that he was born in 1974. Everything in baseball shows that he was born in 1976.
The thing I don’t understand is how his correct date of birth appears on his green card, yet none of the teams he has played for knew his correct age. Not only do they have to look at his green card, I believe they have to retain a copy of his green card.
Why didn’t anyone look at it?
If he has been lying about his age, what else could he be lying about? In 2005 Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for ten days after testing positive for steroids. Acording to ESPN, Palmeiro implicated Miguel Tejada to baseball’s arbitration panel saying that Tejada was responsible for his positive test. Palmeiro claimed the only thing he had ever injected himself with was vitamin B12 supplied by Tejada.
Could the B12 have really been the potent anabolic steroid stanozolol?
I’ll be totally honest and admit that I never liked Miguel Tejada. He always seemed too fat to be a shortstop. I thought he swung at the first pitch too much. He had decent numbers. I guess. I don’t think he was worth what the Orioles were paying him, but what else is new? I was glad when they traded him to the Astros.
Howard Dean is a big fat idiot
Former Vermont governor, failed presidential candidate, and current Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has issued an ultimatum of sorts to Democratic superdelegates; he wants them to decide now who they will be voting for at the Democratic National Convention in August.
He wants to lock down the Democratic nominee as soon as possible.
And I thought Doctor Dean was a stickler for keeping to a schedule. He disenfranchised Democrats in both Florida and Michigan because both states dared to hold their primaries before Dean said they could.
He can’t have it both ways. He can’t penalize the voters in Florida and Michigan because they supposedly voted early and then demand that superdelegates do the very same thing by declaring who they plan on voting for in August.
Decision Time, Says Dean [Yahoo]
Read any good Nazi Gnome stories lately?
I stumbled on this image today while looking for something else. Something that didn’t involve gnomes armed with bull whips and wearing swastika armbands. What really struck me with this image was not the book itself, but the snippet from a review from the New York Times.
Why would the New York Times even review a book like this?
I tried to find something about the book’s author, John Christopher. As it turns out, that is not his real name. It’s only one of the many pen names employed by British writer Samuel Youd.
They don’t write books like this anymore. Maybe if they did, someone from the New York Times would review it.
Old white guy in white dress and red shoes spotted at Washington’s new baseball stadium
Unless you’re Catholic, I don’t really understand why the Pope visiting the United States should be such a big deal. I understand Catholicism is not one of the religions that we are officially allowed to mock and ridicule. It’s not like Scientology or Mormonism. There is just something creepy about the Pope and the people that worship him.
Call me old fashioned, but I think an old pasty white guy what walks around in a fancy white dress and wears bright red shoes is more then a little strange. Plus, he sounds a lot like Colonel Klink.
What’s even more weird is how Catholics openly fawn all over him.
A list of guidelines was published in the newspaper telling people how to act if and when they run into him. As if that would ever happen. Most of the information was weird. For instance, if you are approached by the Pope, you are supposed to “bend at the knee”. If you are Catholic and he extends his hand to you, you are supposed to pucker up and kiss his ring.
A good rule of thumb when it comes to organized faiths is to avoid religions that require you to kiss any part of an old man. You don’t know where that ring has been.
You are also supposed to refer to him as “Your Holiness” or “Holy Father”. Back in the day, they didn’t even refer to Jesus as “Your Holiness” and he was raising the dead and curing leprosy. Plus, he was the Son of God.
This guy is the son of two Germans.
Pope To Hold Mass at Washington Nationals Stadium on Thursday [MSNBC]
I Am Legend (2007)
Director: Francis Lawrence
Writers: Mark Protosevich, Akiva Goldsman
Staring: Will Smith, Kona the dog, Alice Braga, Salli Richardson, Emma Thompson
This movie was based on the novel by Richard Matheson. Scientists have cured cancer. Or so they think. They have taken the measles virus and reprogrammed it to destroy cancer. Unfortunately, the re-engineered virus has mutated into something that turns 10% of the human population into vampire zombies. It kills the remaining 90%.
It doesn’t kill everyone. A few people are actually immune to the virus. Most of them have been hunted down and eaten by the vampire zombies. Robert Neville — the Army research scientist superbly played by Will Smith — is immune to the virus. He is the last man alive in New York City. He also believes he is the last human on the face of the earth.
When he is not trying to shoot wild deer with his AR-15 on the streets of New York City, he is conducting experiments in his state of the art basement laboratory. He is trying to find the cure to this vampire zombie virus. Being that he was the last human left (or so he believes) I didn’t really understand his motivation.
There were a few things that never made much sense. Before Neville enters his brownstone apartment each evening, he can be seen pouring some kind of liquid from a plastic gallon dispenser. What was this liquid? Holy water? We never found out what it was. Also, flashback scenes show Neville wearing the Army insignia of a major, but other people refer to him has lieutenant-colonel.
I enjoyed the movie. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to watch it again the next day with the audio commentary track. The problem was there was no audio commentary track. I’m getting tired of DVD’s that don’t offer at least one audio commentary track. DVD’s that don’t include an audio commentary track might as well be VHS tapes.
Movies on DVD should always be in letterbox format and they should also include audio commentary tracks.
Cool looking fan made Space Mountain poster
Sheri and I are planning on heading back to California next month and one of the things we plan on doing is visiting Disneyland. One of my favorite rides out there is Space Mountain. I remember back in 1977 when it first opened, the first people to ride it for the first official ride were the surviving Mercury astronauts.
At the time that seemed very cool. Now it seems kind of sad.
Greg Maletic has created a very retro looking Space Mountain poster and made it available on his website. He also made it available for download on his website. There is a 4 x 6 inch PDF version long with a 36 x 54 inch PDF version.
Magic Online is now Magic Offline
I’ve been trying to log on to my Magic Online account for the last couple of days without success. At first I thought it was because I was trying to log on from my Windows Visa desktop computer and Magic Online doesn’t like Windows Vista too much. I then tried to log on using my Windows XP notebook computer and my results were the same.
I went over to the Magic Online website and at first didn’t see any announcements concerning the game’s status. I then clicked the link that shows the game’s server’s status and I learned the server was down. There’s a note stating to check the message boards for more updates.
So that’s what I did. I then read the following message:
Hi everyone,We’ve received the go-ahead from our senior management, as of tomorrow morning we’re going to patch the 2.5 client one last time (installing a kicker screen to direct everyone who doesn’t read the boards to www.playmagiconline.com so they know what’s going on) and turn off all public access for good to that system.This should happen around 9am PST, the system will go into no-pay Wedneday [sic] morning around 5am PST.
Approximately a week from tomorrow we will turn the new MOL III system back on a few pieces at a time, read the latest blog page for more information on that.
Thanks to all of you folks who make MOL what it is, and thanks to the MOL team for all their hard work in the past years to make this a reality.
Exciting times!
__________________
Worth Wollpert
Brand Manager, Magic Online
Wizards of the Coast
Why wasn’t this message emailed to everyone with a Magic Online account? Not everyone that has a Magic Online account has an account on the message board. I never go to the Magic Online message boards. Wizards of the Coast has to know how many people log on to Magic Online every day and how many people log onto the Magic Online message boards. The two numbers are not the same.
I’m somewhat bothered by the statements concerning when exactly it’s coming back. The word “approximately” used in relation to when it’s coming back doesn’t make me feel optimistic. It’s also bothers that the brand manager for Magic Online doesn’t know how to spell “Wednesday”.
Slashdot named most overrated blog
TIME has published a list of their 5 most overrated blogs and Slashdot comes in at #1. Not that I was suprised that Slashdot would make the list. I’ve never quite understood what was supposedly so bloody great about the site. What I thought was interesting was what TIME had to say about Slashdot:
Reading Slashdot these days is like visiting the IT guy at work. He’s infuriatingly smug and cares passionately about stuff you don’t care about, and views your lack of interest as further confirmation of his intellectual superiority. Enjoy.
Now that is funny!
A comic book panel nobody should attend
The 2008 New York Comic Con has released their schedule of events. There is a panel scheduled on Friday from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM called “Girls Who Kick Ass“.
How do the ladies creating comics do it? They’re constantly blowing us away with the most outrageous and provocative titles. Jenna Jameson (Shadow Hunter), Colleen Doran (Distant Soil, Reign of the Zodiac), Amanda Connor (Birds of Prey, Painkiller Jane, Lois Lane ), Louise Simonson (New Mutants, X-Factor, Superman) and special guests reveal why they know what Fan-Boys want.
In case you don’t know, the woman receiving first billing is a porn actress. Her connection to comic books is that Virgin Comics is publishing a Shadow Hunter, comic that is supposedly co-written by Jenna Jameson and it features a character that looks remarkably just like Jenna Jameson.
The other people scheduled for this panel, Colleen Doran, Amanda Connor, Louise Simonson, and Louise Simonson are all comic book professionals who by the way, happen to be women.
I honestly don’t know what is more insulting. Referring to these comic book professionals as “girls” or lumping them in with a woman famous for being in pornography. What I do know whoever came up with the idea for this panel is a sexist idiot. I hope the comic book pros scheduled to participate with the porn actress just don’t show up for the panel. I also hope the people attending the New York Comic Con decided to do something else at 7:00 PM on Friday night.
The pessimist in me tells me that last one is not likely going to happen. I have a feeling it will be standing room only. That’s too bad.
If you do not home-school your children they will grow up to be like Hitler
Fellow Hagerstown blogger Steve Shives of Steve Likes To Curse wrote a blog post about home-schooling children. He pointed out that because these children are home-schooled by individuals — mainly their mothers — that lack a good background in science, these children shouldn’t be awarded a real high school diploma.
I thought Steve made some good points, but what do I know? I am the product of yucky government school.
Some of the mothers that home-school their children have responded to what Steve wrote. To say I enjoyed reading some of the replies is putting it mildly. Many of them were simply unintentional comedy gold.
One of these anonymous home-school mommies wrote the following:
The Germans, through their new educational system, turned the nation of Goethe and Beethoven into the nation of Bismarck and Hitler. Their students were thoroughly “socialized”; that is, they were indoctrinated to be loyal and obedient to state authority. This made them better soldiers and factory workers.
Hitler? I hereby declare Goodwin’s Law!
Hitler actually went to school in Austria, not Germany. He didn’t like school. In fact, he hated it. He never even graduated high school. He dropped out of high school when he was 16.
I think home-schooling is wrong. Not because home-schooled kids don’t learn enough science. To be honest, I could care less if a kid knows the entire periodic table of elements by heart. No, I’m against home-schooling because home-schooled kids miss out on the social aspects of school.
A big part of school is learning to get along with other people. People who you may not like and who may not like you. Not just other kids, but the teachers too.
Home-school proponents say their children get the needed socialization by interacting with other home-schooled children. Evidently many of them are members of home-school support groups and they schedule events for their kids to participate in.
In other words they get to interact with children just like themselves. Children who have been hand-selected by their mothers for the sole purpose of having someone to interact with.
What’s going to happen to these kids when they have to socialize and interact with people that aren’t just like them? People who haven’t been vetted first by their mothers?
In school you learn how to interact and hopefully get along with all sorts of people. It’s a skill children hopefully go on to utilize their entire lives. I don’t care what your career field is. If you don’t know how to deal with people, you are at a huge disadvantage.
I realize now that some home-school advocates think that if you send your child to a government school, there’s a chance they will grow up to be Adolf Hitler. I think maybe it’s worth taking that risk.
A fist full of Psoriasis
I’m now on week #4 of a new drug for my ongoing battle with psoriasis. It’s called Raptiva. Unlike the other medications I’ve taken, this is something I have to take by injection once a week. Also unlike all the other medications I’ve tried, I think this stuff is actually working.
My psoriasis seems to be better.
This is the first time in a very long time that I can remember having the ability to make a closed fist with either hand. Normally the skin on my fingers is too thick to allow me to close my hands into fists.
I often have trouble using my hands at all.
My feelings about this is somewhat mixed. On one hand (no pun intended) I’m glad that I can bend my fingers and that they aren’t cracked and bleeding. For that I am very thankful. The problem is that Raptiva is extremely expensive. Though I only have to pay a $50 co-pay for a month’s supply, my health insurance is paying over $1,600 a month for me to take Raptiva.
That is a lot of money. I don’t feel comfortable taking such a pricey medication. If I continue to take Raptiva, I worry about my health insurance eventually dropping me.
It’s raining McCain!
If you thought acid rain was bad, take a look at this YouTube video. I’m not sure if this video is made by supporters of McCain, or people that want anyone but McCain to be president.
$742 million for a full scale working Gundam
Takayuki Furuta has a dream. He wants to help promote the field of robotics to children and he thinks the best way to do it is to built a full sized, fully working Gundam. He has crunched the numbers and he thinks it will only cost a mere $742 million. Go here to see the actual blueprints.
I don’t know about the kids, but the thought of seeing one of these bad boys walking down the street appeals to me.
Link [Wired]
This is why some people think Lance Armstrong is a cheat
I’ve seen this ad appear on various websites the last few days. It’s some type of drink that allows the user to fight off tiredness and fatigue without taking a nap.
In other words, it’s cheat juice.
Feeling tired is just your body’s way of letting you know you need some sleep. The more tired you are, the more sleep you need. There is no substitute for sleep. Not only does it combat tiredness and fatigue better then anything else, it’s completely natural.
I don’t know what goes in a bottle of FRS, but I know it’s not as natural as good old fashioned sleep.
Quite a few people believe that Lance Armstrong cheated when he won all those Tour de France races. He denies it. In fact, he gets quite adamant about it. I would be more inclined to believe him if he didn’t do stuff like endorse a product like FRS. It doesn’t make sense that a guy who wouldn’t use blood doping to get an edge would endorse a product like this.
The Fountain (2006)
The Fountain
Directed By: Darren Aronofsky
Writen By: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel
Staring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz
I didn’t think a movie staring Wolverine and the girl from The Mummy could be so difficult to understand. I have to admit this movie went right over my head. I’m not saying I didn’t like it. I would have stopped watching it if that were the case. I just didn’t understand a whole lot of what was going on.
The story takes place during three totally different periods. The time of the Spanish conquistadors, modern day, and the far, far, future. Hugh Jackman plays the part of a conquistador, a modern day medical researcher, and a Moby looking guy traveling through space with the Tree of Life. I think all three characters were the same person. Rachel Weisz plays the queen of Spain and Jackman’s dying wife in the present. She also appears in the far, far future as Jackman’s dead wife.
I think.
The DVD doesn’t contain an audio commentary track. To help make up for that, the directer released a free audio commentary MP3 on his website. Actually, he released a torrent that people can download through BitTorrent. The audio commentary clears up a lot of the stuff I didn’t originally understand.
I plan on watching this movie again. It’s a very good movie.
CNN’s Jim Acosta calls that a heckler?
Episcopal High School in northern Virgina held a mandatory political rally so presidential hopeful John McCain could be seen interacting with young people. Normally when he speaks to kids, it’s to tell them to get off his lawn.
During the ‘Question and Answer’ session, 16-year-old student Katelyn Halldorson asked a question. For this she is labeled by CNN’s Jim Acosta as a “heckler”.
CNN’s Jim Acosta is a raging douche. Instead of calling Katelyn Halldorson names, he ought to take notes. She clearly knows more about doing his job then he does.
Media Matters has a lot more about this “incident”.
The art of Greg Staples
I stumbled upon a website of artist Greg Staples. He has done a lot of artwork for Magic: The Gathering and comic books including 2000AD and Judge Dredd. I don’t know a lot about art, but I know what I like. I like the art of Greg Staples.
Michael George seeks to have convictions nullified
Convicted murderer and Pittsburgh Comicon organizer Michael George is seeking to have his murder and insurance fraud convictions nullified by the judge. His lawyers are seeking to have Judge James Biernat throw the convictions out.
He faces a mandatory penalty of life in prison without a chance for parole for the murder conviction alone.
Judge Biernat will decide on April 25 if defense attorneys can even file a motion to have the conviction nullified before George is even sentenced. Prosecutors contend that they can only request a new trial after he has been sentenced.
April 25 is also the first day the Pittsburgh Comicon. George’s photo still appears on the Pittsburgh Comicon website. George’s name still prominently appears on the Pittsburgh Comicon website.
Though Jurors didn’t hear George testify during his trial, they listened to an audio recording of a police interview conducted last August in his comic book shop in Pennsylvania. Police claim that George changed his story. The jurors heard George speak that at the time of his late wife’s murder, someone “was out to get him”. He claimed that instead of killing him, they chose to kill his wife. He failed to say anything about this at the time of the murder.
Why would someone out to get Michael George murder his wife Barbara? By all accounts, Michael George wanted out of his marriage with Barbara. He wanted to begin a new life with his then employee and now current wife Renee George. Because of Barbara’s death, he was able to do just that.
Comic books used to really suck
I haven’t been keeping up with the events in the Marvel Universe, but I wanted to read the Secret Invasion event that kicked off this week. Luckily for people like me, Marvel released a special trade paperback that collected key comics that chronicled events leading up to the Skrull invasion. The first story was from FANTASTIC FOUR #2. It was originally published in 1962 and features the very first appearance of the evil Skrulls.
Wow, I forgot how utterly kooky comic books were back in the early 60’s. I think I actually got deuce chills while trying to read that first story featuring the Skrulls. In the above image, we see a Skrull masquerading as Reed Richards plunging the city of New York into complete darkness by literally flipping switches. I don’t know why the workman can’t just turn the power back on.
I flip switches on and off all day long. It’s easy.
Charlton Heston 1924 – 2008
From this morning’s Washington Post:
Oscar-winning actor Charlton Heston, whose chiseled features and commanding presence won him epic roles from Moses to Michelangelo, died on Saturday night at the age of 84, his family said. Heston, a former president of the influential National Rifle Association lobbying group, died at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, the family said in a statement.
I guess when you have to go, dying in your own home in Beverly Hills with your wife of 64 years at your side ain’t a bad way to go.
Charlton Heston was an interesting guy. During the civil right movement, he was a tree hugging liberal. He once picketed a premiere of his own movie because it was segregated. He also marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington D. C. He later became a Republican and opposed affirmative action and gun control. He eventually became the figure head for the National Rifle Association (NRA). Most people go their entire life without taking a stand for something. Charlton Heston took many stands. His views were all over the place.
As a kid, I was a big fan of the Planet of the Apes. Mostly it was because it featured people made up to look like apes. Not only could they speak English, they used guns and rode horses. That appealed to me. Charlton Heston was also one of the reasons I dug the movie so much.
How long does it take to investigate someone for child pornography?
It’s now been 65 days since Washington County Sheriff deputies raided the home of former Maryland state delegate Robert A. McKee (R) and child pornography. Investigators seized two computers, 30 videotapes and a “significant amount” of printed material, including magazines showing naked children.
He has yet to be charged. Why not?
Even after deputies hauled the massive kiddie porn collection from McKee’s home, they didn’t bother notifying anyone. When McKee wasn’t in Annapolous helping to craft new state laws, he was the executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County. He was also quite active in the local Little League.
Maybe steps should have been taken to make sure he stays away from children.
I just don’t understand why things are being delayed in this case. At the very least he should be placed under arrest and charged for possession of child pornography. If I didn’t know any better, I would think McKee is getting special treatment.
Is Randi Rhodes an alcoholic?
Air America has suspended host Randi Rhodes for offensive comments made about Democratic Presidential nomination candidate Hillary Clinton and former Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. She referred to Clinton as a “Fucking Whore” and made the comment that Ferraro was David Duke in drag.
She didn’t make these comments on the radio. She said them at an Air America event in San Francisco.
Was she drunk? Do a Google search for photos of Randi Rhodes and a good majority of them show her holding a drink of some kind. She has also been involved in some stuff off the air that would make a lot more sense if she was constantly blitzed. Things like calling Clinton a derogatory, sexist name. There was the time in 2007 when she had been drinking all day at a Irish pub in New York City and blacked out and hit her head. She initially informed Air America that she was mugged. It was then said by some liberal bloggers that she had been attacked by a right-wing hit squad. The whole thing was more then a little goofy. She was off the air for a few days because of it.
Listening to Randi Rhodes speak is a lot like listening to fingernails on the chalkboard. She speaks with a heavy Brooklyn accent that seems to be, well, amplified for effect. It’s so bad it sounds fake.
She also often has her facts completely wrong. I once heard her refer to the Iran-Contra scandal as though the hostages involved were the 52 American hostages taken in 1979 when the Shah of Iran was overthrown and the American Embassy seized. It’s that type of gross factual inaccuracy you would expect to hear on Sean Hannity.
My hope is that the suspension turns out to be permanent. In the world of talk radio, suspensions usually are.
Website title spam
I’m getting tired of websites that have keyword spam in the title. For example, go to MSNBC and bookmark it. Instead of it simply displayed as MSNBC in your bookmarks, it appears as the following:
Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News – msnbc.com- msnbc.com
They have combined what should be the description with the title. This results in a very lengthy and confusing title in your bookmarks. It’s lengthy, unsightly, and totally unnecessary. It’s hard enough keeping bookmarks organized and efficient without content providers junking up the title with spam words. They’ve spent millions of dollars over the years creating the MSNBC brand name. People already associate MSNBC with the news. They don’t need to beat people over the head with it.
MSNBC isn’t the only one doing this. Too many websites do this. I wish they would all stop.
Lenore Skenazy is an awful mother
You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, but Lenore Skenazy is an awful mother. If you didn’t know any better, you might think she was just another woman with a mullet.
When she isn’t needlessly risking the life of her 9-year old son, she is a columnist for the New York Sun.
In her latest column, she talks about how she left her 9-year old son at Bloomingdale’s in New York City with a subway map, a MetroCard, a $20 bill, and a fist full of quarters in case he had to make a call.
She points out that she didn’t give him a cell phone because she didn’t want it to get lost.
She seems to care more about her cell phone then she does about her own son. To be fair, maybe she doesn’t like her son, but she really likes her cell phone.
Skenazy goes on to refer to people that protect their children “wimps”. She even points to crime statistics from the Justice Department that show that the number of children abducted by strangers has been going down over the years.
Gee, I wonder why that is?
I would argue that this is because parents are being more careful about exposing their kids to unnecessary risks. It’s not because there are fewer child predators. It’s because parents have heard the story of Adam Walsh. It’s because parents are being smarter.
Parents not named Lenore Skenazy.
Hopefully for her next column, she drops in at the local AIDS hospice and has unprotected sex with some of the patients. She can then take an AIDS test and if the results comes back negative, she can write another column. She can say that people who think unprotected sex with numerous AIDS patients is dangerous are wimps.
Maybe she is only brave when she is risking someone else’s life.
The undeniable popularity of Manga is hard to ignore
A list of the top 20 selling graphic novels sold by book retailers in the United States shows something that is beyond dispute – manga is popular and superhero comics are not. It’s not even close.
If I worked over at Marvel or DC, I would be worried. In fact, I would be very worried. Out of the top 20 graphic novels sold in books stores, only two (2) come from Marvel and DC.
The one lone book from Marvel is an adaption from a Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novel. The characters don’t belong to Marvel. Both the author and the series has an existing fan base that automatically resulted in sales with readers that may have never read a graphic novel before.
The lone DC book was the acclaimed Alan Moore’s Watchmen. It was first published in 1986 and is considered by almost everyone to be the greatest graphic novel ever written.
Eighteen of the top 20 graphic novels sold in book stores did not come from either Marvel or DC. How can both companies just continue to ignore that? If I was in charge of either Marvel or DC, I would mimic the manga model. I find it remarkable that they don’t.
Metra Reid’s kids are smarter then your kids
Washington County’s newest public school, Rockland Woods Elementary School, will be open to all kids that live in the county. It doesn’t matter where they live. If they live in the county, they can attend the school.
This is not good news to some.
From Hagerstown’s one and only crap newspaper, The Herald-Mail:
Metra Reid, who lives with her husband and two children in the Westfields housing development, said during Tuesday’s public meeting that open enrollment at the school will be a disservice to her children. When her family moved to the development three years ago, she said they were promised that the school would offer a high quality of education.”It’s not fair to penalize those of us who live in the development by just sending in whoever,” Reid said. “We had such high expectations for the school.”
She said children from families in other parts of the county do not value education as much as families in her neighborhood.
“When you buy a home in a neighborhood, you want people like yourselves,” Reid said. “It’s not fair to just let anyone just ship in whoever. Think about it before you let everyone and anybody go to that school.”
Reid said her daughter attends a private preschool in Hagerstown and will attend Rockland Woods in its second year. Her son would enroll in the school’s third year, she said.
Reid said her daughter is able to count into the hundreds and is learning to write. She said students from other areas of Washington County would not be at the same level when they enter kindergarten.
“It’s not fair to put her in the classroom with 20 other children who won’t know their alphabet,” she said.
I’ve got to say that her daughter sounds like a big dork. She’s not even five and she’s counting into the hundreds? Who makes their kid count that high? I’m not saying it’s comparable to water boarding or making them listen to Jimmy Buffet music, but can’t she think of some other way to torture her kids?
Better yet, can’t she come up with some other way of feeling good about herself without living vicariously through her children? Just because she forces her kids to learn how to count or learn their alphabet before they should doesn’t make them any smarter.
Kids should be allowed to be kids. The alphabet and counting to a thousand will wait.
Health care in this county is ridiculous
I woke up yesterday morning with an eye infection. My right eye is red and very itchy. I called my doctor’s office to make an appointment. He’s all booked up this week. Same with the PA (physicians assistant) he has in the office. She too is all booked up. I asked if he could then call my pharmacy with a prescription for some eye drops. The woman I spoke to said she would have to ask and that she would get back with me.
I tried calling again today. I explained my predicament and that I needed a prescription for antibiotic eye drops. After telling them my date of birth, I was placed on hold. After 6 minutes, I hung up.
Why do they constantly ask my date of birth? Don’t they have it somewhere in my file? I’m always afraid I’m going to get it wrong.
Health care in this county is ridiculous. If you get sick and need to be seen by a physician, you pretty much have to just go to the emergency room. If you try to actually go to your doctor, you will have to compete with all the people that want the latest cholesterol drug advertised on the evening news. They all made appointments weeks ago. Want to lower your cholesterol?
Stop eating fried animals.
I don’t even really need to see a physician. I just need some eye drops. Being that we Americans are not trusted with purchasing antibiotic eye drops on our own, we have to go through a doctor and get his or her permission. It’s a stupid system. Why can’t I just buy antibiotic eye drops? Is there some weird recreational use for the stuff that I’m not aware of? I can buy antibiotic soap. Why not antibiotic eye drops?
Pretzels that look like they were found on the front lawn
If you’ve ever wanted a hot pretzel that looked remarkably like a piece of dog doodie, you need to get over to the new Washington Nationals ballpark. Whoever designed this piece of salted junk food never had a dog.
I think whoever took this pic has the pretzel backwards. It would look much more like the “W” shown on the napkin if it was flipped the other way.
(Pic: Nats 320)
-
Recent Comments
-
siriunsun: Well, Rick.........you know how it is: John McSame just LOOKS the same as lots of people who were born in the United States. And his name is a lot more in line with certain stereotypes that make lots of sheep in this country feel happy and com...
-
Ryan: Matt Damon? Matt Damon!...
-
Rick: Ryan: ‘Cause this here’s America!We play real football not that pussy European shit! Putting the "F" back in Freedom! ht...
-
-
Sören: Yes I am for real ;-) Never thought that my name is that cool. Actually I would rather change my name if I could......
-
-
Books I Am Reading
-
Music I Am Listening To
-
- Peter Graves has died - http://bit.ly/blfTde #cnn
- Courage? Really? http://is.gd/axTwj
- I just ordered my iPad! http://is.gd/auerZ
Follow me @rickrottman