Darth rallies some new BLOOD

So what exactly does a soulless physical embodiment of evil say at a commencement ceremony for the future leaders of our great countries military forces? Remember, Dick is a proud recipient of 5 military deferments, never quite finding the stomach and balls to match his patriotic rhetoric. (Rhetoric he long ago learned could be spun into profit by selling weapons to anyone and everyone, including both Sadam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. ) I suspect he said something like this:

Dick " Hello, future cannon fodder. It pleases me to see some of this countries best and brightest, many from families with multiple generations of men and women who have served. - I have the greatest appreciation for your willingness to accept your place in the food chain, serving as foot soldiers to advance the economic fortunes of the more important people. Those such as myself, my employee... er, I mean, boss George, and my many friends at Haliburton. Our profiteering could not continue without the support of you all, and I implore you to be fruitful and multiply, for your descendants can also serve my needs... You ask me if I have a God Complex... I AM GoD!!!! (An aide whispers into Cheney's ear, "sir, that's from Malice."

Cheney "What"
Aide " That's from Malice"
Cheney "Are you saying I'm speaking with Malice... it's Abu Gahrib time for you, punk"
Aide, (shaken) - no, sir. I'm talking about the movie, Malice. Alec Baldwin

4 men in full black regalia approach, masks over their faces. They take the aide by the arm and escort him away.

Cheney "Perhaps some waterboarding and sexual humiliation will straighten you out." - A gleam enters Darth Cheney's eyes, and he begins rubbing his hands together. - " I wonder if I still have those contacts the Duke gave me. (Duke Cunningham, one of the countless corrupt cronies associated with this regime"


As always, this is a work of fiction, in case Alberto Gonzales has his Goebbels like crews out combing for anything "unpatriotic".

"It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from the government" - Thomas Paine

Nice While it Laste, Huh Evil Empire fans?

Well yankee fans, that was a nice day there being less than 10 games back, huh? So now after getting clobbered by the Angels, and the best team in baseball (yes Marc, the best record means they are the best team, pretty basic, really) beats Texas, with Dice-K, the Monster, gutting out 5 wins and earning his league tying 7th win (joining soon to come off the DL teammate Josh Beckett and his perfect 7-0 record), and now the Yankees are 10 1/2 back.... again. I would have to favor the Angels today, with the pitching match up favoring them (Kelvin Escobar, 5-2 with a 2.82 ERA vs. Wang (3-3, 4.28 ERA). Add in a Red Sox win and we are closing in on a nice 12 game lead... but I know, Yankee fans, it's early, it's early. I'll tell you what's going to be early; the end of your season, while your overpaid, arrogant players sit and watch the Red Sox battle their way to the World Series and gain some long overdue payback by beating the N.Y. Mets!

Back Where (you) Started

As the Kinks sang, "here we go round again". The Yankees are right back to 10 1/2 back and a loss tonight to yankee killer Curt Schilling and they will be on the cusp of a 12 game deficit. Ah, the finest team that MLB's unfair spending rules will allow, well over 200 million now that Rocket is coming. Quick math - yanks are currently spending about 10 million bucks per win - plus how nice to watch Jeter watch the called 3rd strike. Red Sox magic number - 108.

Crush the Empire!

Why exactly does Jeter have a gold glove?

So the evil empireis like a writhing beast from the bowels of hell, a Lovecraftian horror with 6 heads and razor sharp teeth. However, the beast is wounded, and it's time to take the Louisville Sluggers to their remaining heads, leaving a pulpy mess of money colored ooze in the stadium.

Iowa, Baby!!!

So here I am, day 3 in lovely Iowa. The following is a brief recap of the previous 2 days and the agenda for today and tomorrow. - Apologies in advance for the gleeful thoughts that continue to press through my brain and out my fingers (10 back!).

We flew out here on Thursday for my sister-in law Coleens' wedding on Saturday. The travel itself went pretty well... no delays, both flights were smooth (yeah, there is no direct flight into Des Moines International airport, which begs the question, What international airport has almost no direct flights?, but anyway. After a long travel day, my wife decided to attend her sisters bachelorette party on Thursday, (which consisted of herself, sister, and mom!) - There was a brief tiff because I had hoped someone would pick my wife up, since we had just spent the entire day travelling, but I forgot for a second the people we are dealing with.
I decided to unwind and get some food, and the best I could find was a Bennigan's. A couple of Blue Moons and a nice tasty fried chicken salad and I was feeling better. It didn't hurt that the bartender was a Red Sox fan, and we enjoyed chatting about the evil empire being 9 1/2 back at the time. (Every day seems to add to the deficit, this is truly a wonderful time to be a REd Sox Fan/Yankee Hater. Lucky for the Yanks the Sox were rained out yesterday, or else it could be 10 1/2!

Yesterday I had most of the day to myself and I sort of confirmed a revelation i've arrived at... I like time to myself, a lot. It was nice to just ride around, relax, read, walk around the local (and very depressing ) mall. I found an Applebees for lunch (eating good in the neighborhood, indeed) and the only negative was the number of work phone calls I received. Suffice to say, a bunch of shit blew up, and I found myself sipping a tall Killians in the back, closed of section of Applebees talking with my boss at work, trying to fix the situation. (Maybe details later but probably not. I am not a big talk about work kind of guy)

Last night was the rehearsal dinner and that was decent. Spent most of the time talking with the "minister", a heavyset but very amiable 30 year old Iowa farm dude who obtained his ministry qualifications via internet. - oh yeah, the fun was beginning. I saw my brother in law, Mike, and that was cool. - Later we went back to the house of my sister in law and her hubbie to be and my old friend Greenie was there. It was a nice surprise, after our separation on Thursday. I told him he couldn't fly with me and promised him I would return Sunday, but he showed up anyway.!

(28-12, Red Sox on pace for approximately 112 wins - of course that won't happen, but right now with the evil empire 4 games under .500 I feel, very, very good.) Hell, the worst team 200 million bucks can buy is 6 1/2 behind the wild card leading detroit tigers, and the Sox just swept them, while missing out stud pitcher beckett.)

* Correction, I forgot about the Wafefield loss to Detroit, the Sox didn't sweep that series. However, since my last post that mentioned the amount of series (13 ) the Sox had played at that point, they have now won 2 more series, Balt. and Det. - that makes 9 of 15 series played have been won.

* 1:45 Iowa time - Red sox beating the snot out of the Atlanta Braves 7-0 in the 5th inning, well on their way to another win, and a 10 1/2 game lead on the evil empire!!! - If the Mets take care of business tonight the deficit hits 11.

Red Sox Keep Rollin!!!

Oh, By the Way, the Red Sox win..... Again. 3 in a row, 8 out of 10. An 8 1/2 game lead on the evil empire. A winning percentage over .700. How sweet it is.

In other news, I'm staring down the barrel of a stressful week . Tomorrow is probably going to be a stressful day at work, one that will likely run until 7:00. My wife and I are flying to Iowa on Thursday for her sister's wedding, and I am not a fan of flying. However, I accept the fact that flying is a necessary component of modern living, and it would be foolish to refuse to use it as an option. - The doctor has yet to fill my request for something to take the edge off the flight, (which they had provided once before, last time I flew) So ironically, I am stressing about obtaining the thing which could help me relax. - So the Iowa trip starts after an all day travel day on Thursday, we hit Friday. Could be a decent day for me since my sole responsibility that day is to be at the rehearsal dinner with my wife. Otherwise, it's a day for me to take in Des Moine!!! - Yeah - Saturday wedding, Sunday get the hell out of dodge. Monday could be a decompression sick day, still undecided.

Red Sox Winning Series

I am a big believer in the marathon aspect of a MLB season, which is why I am reluctant to get too high or drop too low based on small parts of the season. Consistency is the key, and as my good friend Woodman (evil empire fan, unfortunately, but a great guy nonetheless) are big believers in the philosophy of just winning series. Most MLB series are between 2-4 games, so the key is to never get swept and to win as many series as possible. With that in mind, here is a very optimistic look at the Sox, based on the first 20 percent of the season.

Boston has played 13 series so far. They won 9 of them, including sweeps over the Angels, Yankees, Baltimore, Seattle and Toronto. The Red Sox have split 2 series (Seattle and Oakland) and they have only lost 2 series, to Texas and a sweep to Toronto (prior to B.J. Ryan going down for the season) - This is great consistency, and with the best pitching staff in the majors (especially the starting pitching - 4 Quality starters: Schilling, Beckett (7-0) , Dice-K, and Tim Wakefield (best ERA in the AL). Thrown in Papelbon, and the return shortly of Jon Lester and I don't see this team dropping into any kind of long term losing streak. They have the wunderkid Jonathen Papelbon coming out as their stopper.

Red Sox Winning Series

I am a big believer in the marathon aspect of a MLB season, which is why I am reluctant to get too high or drop too low based on small parts of the season. Consistency is the key, and as my good friend Woodman (evil empire fan, unfortunately, but a great guy nonetheless) are big believers in the philosophy of just winning series. Most MLB series are between 2-4 games, so the key is to never get swept and to win as many series as possible. With that in mind, here is a very optimistic look at the Sox, based on the first 20 percent of the season.

Boston has played 13 series so far. They won 9 of them, including sweeps over the Angels, Yankees, Baltimore, Seattle and Toronto. The Red Sox have split 2 series (Seattle and Oakland) and they have only lost 2 series, to Texas and a sweep to Toronto (prior to B.J. Ryan going down for the season) - This is great consistency, and with the best pitching staff in the majors (especially the starting pitching - 4 Quality starters: Schilling, Beckett (7-0) , Dice-K, and Tim Wakefield (best ERA in the AL). Thrown in Papelbon, and the return shortly of Jon Lester and I don't see this team dropping into any kind of long term losing streak. They have the wunderkid Jonathen Papelbon coming out as their stopper.

Poor, Pathetic Yankees!

Woh, baby, the Yanks are definitely.... not quite back!! After 1 whole day at .500, the 200 million dollar team that couldn't now find themselves getting waxed by the Rangers! The 8th started at 6-2, went to 10-2, and then Sean (I've been henpecked today) gave up a grand slam, and the Yanks drop right back to 1 game under 500, while the BoSox start tonight's game with a chance to go up 7 games on the Yankees. - Sweet!!!

Rocket, the Sox, and hotmail

So okay, the rocket goes theatrical with the announcement he is returning to the evil empire. Well over 25 million for Roger, and the evil empires' salary now rolls over to 220 million. (Surprise, surprise, yankee problem met with more cash. Don't get me wrong, as a huge fan of the BoSox, I aso wanted Roger. There are a million things I can't stand about Roger, including his arrogance, his attempt to kill Mike Piazza, his lack of integrity, and his self aggrandizement. However, I will say this; I would have loved to have Roger on the Sox. What makes me happy here is that the evil empire, whose arrogance knows no bounds, has finally torn down the last vestige of their perceived superiority. they are giving Rocket whatever the hell he wants, and if this means the Yanks will be a team of 24 + Roger instead of a team of 25, so be it. The precedent has been set now, and I can't wait for the first major league talent who decides he will play for the Yankees, if they'll let him have long hair , a beard, sideburns, and whatever the hell else he wants. I don't care if players have these rights, I just like seeing the Yankees realize they will have to concede some arrogance in order to win.

Red Sox are 20-10, second best record in the league to the Brewers. I'll take our chances in a series with Ben Sheets and the Brewcrew!

Mariano Rivera blows another save, how freakin sweet. Yanks drop game 1 of the first official game played in the NY Yankee Roger Clemens era PT II!


I can't sign into my freakin email and it's really pissing me off!

Fun With Numbers

The Boston Red Sox have the best record in baseball right now at 19-9. The Evil Empire (aka NY Yankees) are 13-15, and that's after a win today following last night's debacle (Colter Bean, anyone?). The Yankees are 6 games back of the Sox and behind 5 other teams for the wildcard. How F'in sweet that is right now. Sure, I could post how at how over 17 pct. of the season has been played. Almost a fifth, and the Yanks are still under .500. Sure, no big deal, but at what point does it become a big deal? 1/3 of the way through (halfway to that point already). Fun to watch as a Sox fan.

What Up

What up? - Haven't checked in for a few days, and as is often the case, I have to point the finger of blame at Mr. Green. - However, he has been a blessing lately, helping me to cope with my increased frustration over the continued debacle that is the Iraq War. The decider in chief vetoed the congressional war spending bill, not because the money wasn't approved but because the congress including such unreasonable demands as an end point. (Hint, most of us are onto you guys, this never ending war stuff has rewarded you all handsomely, but eventually even enough of the sheeple catch on.



Anyway, lots more to talk about, including a possible attempt to push myself into a 36 day self improvement routine. Hmmm, I wonder what mr. green thinks - I might have to ask him.

Sox Vs. Evil Empire (Part 4, Ver. 2007)

Oh Baby, this just keeps getting better. Currently 11-4 Yankees getting crushed by the Sox. Mariano Rivera came in to get some work and got rocked! Yanks now haven't won since that miraculous comeback in their game the day before they played the Red Sox. Now facing their 7th straight loss (4th to the Boston Red Sox ) the Yanks are a mess. Meanwhile the Red Sox bullpen leads the majors in ERA, Josh Beckett is 5-0 with an under 2 ERA, and Papelbon still has a 0.00 ERA. - How sweet it would be to take a 2nd championship in the last 4 years at the same time the Yankees implode. Well, reality tells me that 20 games in is only 1/8 of a season, lots of time and many stories still to be told.

Beast

BoSox 2, Evil Empire 0

What a great weekend so far for the heroic BoSox, once again fighting the Evil Empire and their newly christened star, A-Hole. Friday night was looking rough, especially after A -Hole (the hottest freaking hitter on the planet right now) blasted a 3 run homer in the 5th inning. However, even at this dark moment I saw something I liked; Coco Crisp's tumble into the bullpen while attempting to catch the HR. (As my friend Salad texted me "Ha Ha, Coco go boom=!" Well , Mr. Yankee fan, Coco did indeed go boom then, but his heart and guts showed through in the 8th inning when his 2 run triple against Uber-Closer Mariano Rivera blew the game against the Sox. Again. - (9 Blown saves out of 29 chances against the Sox) - Following up his blown game against Oakland a few days earlier against a player batting .059, Mo gives up the triple to the struggling Crisp (.192). 5 runs in the 8th, and then Hideki Okajima, an unknown dude signed primarily to help Dice-K be as comfortable as possible with his adjustment to Boston, gets a sweet 22 pitch save since Wunderkid Jonathen Papelbon had already pitched back to back games. Of course, the amazing A-Rod didn't come up with the big hit at the end of the game.

Yesterday another Sox win, 4th of the year for Beckett. A note to Yankee fans - if you want to remember prime Mo, just watch Paps. (0.00 ERA) So now the Yankees are a .500 team with a 195 million dollar payroll!. (The beauty of being a Sox fan is that even with our payroll at 142 million the Yanks are still higher by 53 million dollars. In other words the Yanks spend approximately 37 percent more on payroll than the Sox, so don't believe the hype about the Yankees cutting payroll. They are 1 mid season signing away from the 200 million mark!

Objectively I believe a ceiling and basement established for MLB teams would be a good first step and I've always considered the 60 to 120 million dollar range to be fair. Parameters like this would only affect the Yanks and Sox at the top end. San Diego, Colorado and Arizona are all over 50 million, with S.D. at 58 so spending a little more for these teams would keep them in the mix. Pittsburgh, Washington, Florida, and Tampa Bay would either have to pay up or get out. I would rather have 26 teams making a legit effort to compete than 30 teams with bottom feeders. MLB was disgraceful with the manner in which they handled the Nationals, the Marlins have shown they can win when they spend, Tampa Bay will never generate real revenue, even with a dome, and I don't know what to say about Pittsburgh. They supposedly have a beautiful park but until they become respectable they will continue to be a bottom feeder.

Test II

Big Papi - 2 on, 2 out. 1-1. Advantage Pettite, so any Sox runs a plus. Ground out, pass.

Test Time

Yanks Sox. Yanks with 2 on and 1 out. Men on 2nd and 3rd. Advantage Yanks. If they get no runs, big win for Sox. 1 run is a draw. More than 1 advantage Yanks. - Shit, Damon RBI and Yanks score! Oh shit, walk to Jeter. Runners on the corners, he gets Bobby Abreu , Yanks get a run, I consider that a draw for the skirmish, but Yanks winning the battle.

Sox Vs. Evil Empire

Here we go, the first of 18 opportunities for the heroic BoSox to go up against the evil empire and their new leader, A-HOle. Apparently A-Hole has sold his soul to the devil "Damn(ed) Yankee?" and he is absolutely on fire. Too bad 2 of the empires starters will be Wright and Karstens, up against Beckett (3-0) and Dice-K (The Monster has arrived!)

Sox take 2 out of 3, and a sweep is quite possible if the Sox get to Pettite tonight.

A Regular TV Week (April Edition)

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I spend my time. I believe that aging leads any introspective sort to become more attentive to the quality of their time , because it increases in value as it lessens in size. So, without further ado, here is my breakdown of how I spend some of my most precious time, in front of the TV! (Like that seque??)

Sunday nights start with Sopranos at 9 PM, followed by Entourage. HBO has long been a Sunday night contender and must watch for us, between shows like Carnivale, Six Feet Under, Extras, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire, Deadwood, Rome, and probably some I've forgotten at this moment. VCR comes into play when American Dad and Family Guy are on. (Both are huge faves and must owns for our DVD collection, the highest honor a movie or show can achieve.

Monday Nights - Heroes at 9 PM, when it finally returns from it's long hiatus. Otherwise, nothing.

Tuesday Nights - THe Shield at 10 PM on FX. Best Cop show not on HBO (That's the Wire, BTW)..

Wed. Nights - Currently only new episodes of South Park at 10 pm on comedy central, preceded by an earlier South Park, many of which I have not seen yet, . Basically a weak night.

Thur Nights - The Office and 30 Rock both major faves for me and the wife. Otherwise nothing.
Friday - nothing, although interested in checking out Painkiller Jane on Sci Fi.

Sat- not that old yet.

The only addendum here would be sports. Any Red Sox games (in full) and pieces of Mets and evil empire.

Beast Out

Red Sox Looking Good!

how Sweet the Sox are looking right now. They've won 5 of their last 6, Schilling has thrown 2 gems, Paplebon shows no soph. slump as the closer, Beckett is 3-0, and Dice-K has been as advertised. Oh, and the team is finally beginning to hit. Meanwhile, over at the Evil Empire's quarters, Pavano is on the DL (shocker!), Wang and Mussina are out, Jeter is throwing balls over the place (6 errors!, I love it.) Hell, if it weren't for A-Hole and Pettite where would this team be? (Below .500, oh, that's right, they already are). Oh, and ubercloser Mo Rivera served up a 3 run walk off homer on Sun., to a guy batting .059. This was after Mo gave up a single and a walk, thus blowing a 2 run lead in the 9th, with 2 out and nobody on.

Good stuff, for now.

Go BoSox!

Quick morning post here. Boston RedSox now 4-3, tied with the evil empire, but what pleases me the most is the last few pitching performances for the Sox. Schill goes 7 strong on Easter Sunday and Paps comes in to undo the damage caused by one time possible closer(?) Joel Piniero. Paps glared in and got 5 outs against the heart of the Texas Rangers batting order, including 3 strike outs. Yesterday Beckett goes 7 strong, 2 hit baseball to move to 2-0 on the season. Beckett adds 9 K.O.'s and now today we get the second performance by Dice-K, who only had 10 K.O.'s and a win over 7 strong in his MLB debut . At his point I would pick Boston's pitching over the evil empire's slugging.

Quick Movie Review - "God Told Me To"

Well, after one whole day in a row, I missed yesterday. So in an attempt to catch up, I will offer 2 quick posts today, starting with this review.

God Told Me To is a 1974 film written and directed by Larry Cohen. Cohen is well know amongst film geeks and had developed a cult following for putting together oddball, low budget films that are always stuffed with ideas and never follow a boring, by the numbers screenplay.

I do not want to say too much about the plot, because I found the many twists and turns to be outstanding and fascinating. The basic set up is as follows: various people in NYC go berserk and kill other people, including a cop who shoots up the St. Patrick's day parade (and his own family at home!). Othes include a rooftop sniper, a crazed older lady, and others. Each say that God told them to do the shooting/killing. The cop is obsessed with finding out more and from there the plot begins to shift into some bizarre, unanticipated directions. Highly recommended, and available on Netflix.

I'm Back

All right, O.K., due to popular demand, I'm back. It's been pointed out to me that I haven't posted since Feb. 26, so here is my promise to you, faithful readers. A post a day is the goal, and while I can't promise quality every day, I will do my best to deliver the product. (Like Bush promising a war to his business cronies looking for some nice profiteering, i.e. Haliburton - results not guarenteed, but war will be had)

If my good buddy Woodman reads this (great to see you for dinner) I still disagree with you. I stated that my frustration in most of my arguments with people is simple; I am right and they have no facts on their side. You stated that sometimes I am wrong yet couldn't cite any examples. How about this - my shots at the Yankees over the years for spending so much and the competitive imbalance this breeds is not necessarily a fact. We have argued about this many times but the truth is that there is no definitive answer to the salary cap (or lack of one) and its impact in MLB. However, in things like the Bush administrations performance, and the entire farce that has been the Iraq war, the facts back me up. This is why I choose not to engage with anyone who disagrees with me on those issues. I am right, and the facts are definitive. Anyone who thinks otherwise is self deluded and practicing spin, playing with semantics and their own sad ignorance.

Happy Easter - 653 days left of the Bush regime. (depressing, I know, but after being appointed by the Supreme Court (thank you, Antonin Scalia), he had 2880 days. We've made it through 2227 of them (I know, it feels longer) so keep the faith.

Comic Reviews

This week I wanted to offer up some brief write-ups on comics that have recently caught my eye. I read a lot of comics and cover a pretty diverse variety of books. I love the Archive editions of classic old works, especially silver age DC and the recent line of EC Archives. Great stuff, but at $50 a pop ($33 on Amazon) I can only afford so many. I have decided to purchase the entire line of the EC books, since I consider these to be the some of the best stories ever published in the field. I enjoy the cheaper Essential and Showcase printings (particularly the Marvel stuff. It seems to me that DC's Silver Age stuff is superior to most of the early Marvel stuff but Marvel's 70's output had so many talented creators just throwing stuff out there that it's easy to get caught up in their energy and forgive the mistakes. - Hell, one of my favorite books, recently reprinted in a full color version was the Champions, a West Coast based Marvel super team made up of Russian super spy defector the Black Widow, Hercules (from Greek Myth), former X-Men Iceman and the Angel, and satanically cursed motorcyclist Ghost Rider! There is no logical reason whatsoever that this grouping of people should exist, yet they were damned entertaining.

A few recent books have stood out for me. First up is Batman 663, written by Grant Morrison with art by John Van Fleet. As is often the case, Morrison defies traditional comic book layout for a slick pulpy feel with painted images accompanied by large chunks of text. The most important issue is his introduction of the newest incarnation of the Joker, and while I read the book I shivered with chills. really. Grant's Joker is a vision of true criminal insanity, genius wed to sadism and evil. No logic, no reasoning, no endgame or purpose, just pathological violence and gleeful mayhem. Disturbing and compelling, it is an absolute must read. (As a one issue vision of the Joker, it brings to mind The Killing Joke, by Alan Moore, another must read. That version has a twisted Joker, but one who is still trying to make a point (the thin line of sanity we all tread, and how easily any man can be pushed across that line.) - Morrison's issue was so good I pulled out my hardcover version of Arkham Asylum to reread, (eventually, but with a small box of unread comics, trades, GN's and Doc Savage pulp reprints, pluse a stack of DVDS, and prose reading... well, you get the picture.

Blade 6 - I'm not a huge fan of Blade the vampire slayer. I've read his appearances in Essential Tomb of Dracula, and I saw the movies. The selling point for me on this new Blade series was initially the Howard Chaykin art (although I still prefer Chaykin when he operates in auteur mode, pencilling, writing, and inking his own work). I've been pleasantly surprised with Marc Guggenheims writing, as he has worked hard to integrate Blade into some level of interaction with the Marvel Universe proper (without resorting to shameless guest starring shots to boost sales). He also does a nice job utilizing a split screen style of storytelling, telling bits of Blade's past and intercutting with current events that spring from or are connected to the past scenes. This technique could (and will) eventually grow old, but it continues to work quite well for now.

Family Guy Rules!

Family Guy freaking rocks. I made myself stay up far too late, partly prompted by Mr. Greens urging, and find myself sequestered in the attic, sitting on a desk chair, watching the TV. The little cat is howling pointlessly and Peter Griffin is facing a foreclosure on his home.

I love Wednesdays, as any self respecting comic fan can tell you, because it's the new comic day. If you combine comic book day with Friday's new big screen releases (less important to me than ever, but still bears mentioning). Tuesday is new release day for DVD's, a big day for purchasers of DVD's or renters. ( I fondly remember the rough Savannah years, when I was miserable, but a late monday night managing Blockbusters ended with me bringing home the newest releases, and if I were lucky enough to not have to be up early the next morning for one of my two crappy jobs, I would stop at a 7/11 and buy a few cheap 40 oz. budweisers, come home, stay up really late watching flix and passing out on the couch or living room floor (ah, good times!!!) -

Thursdays, not so much.

Beast Out

Sick Day

I have taken a sick day today. My sinuses have been bothering me since Sat. afternoon and it was really sapping my energy, but the truth is that if I had something scheduled today I would have went in. The annoying thing is the mental process I go through whenever I use a sick day of choice (S.D.O.C.) (minor illness) vs. a sick day when you are running a fever, vomiting, lying in a cold sweat wrapped up in the blankets. Those are easy, because the decision is made for you, but the S.D.O.C. is a tougher call. Here is a brief walk through of the process.

1) Don't want to go to work, feeling sort of sick, but definitely something you could fight through if you absolutely had to. The mind begins figuring out some of the variables; such as how many days do I have, when is the last time I used one, do I have anything scheduled today. (I don't believe in missing if there are meetings are appointments scheduled)

2) If there is reasonable time (after thinking through the rest of year and mentally noting future days off (vacation time, long weekends, etc.) and nothing is scheduled, the next thought is whether or not this day is worth using the personal time on. This is the toughest call, because a day off is precious, something to be savored and appreciated. I remember that when I was a kid, my dad busted his ass and always went to work. He worked night crew for a Grocery chain, and he had an immense work ethic. He struggled through snow and ice, through exhaustion and sickness, and his reward was a company that made the last decade of his work life miserable, fought against his medical rights when his body finally broke down, and demoted him when he stood up for the workers under his authority. Valuable lessons to learn, for me.

I am lucky enough to work in an office where people are treated well, so I never want to take advantage. On the other hand, the cliche of lying on one's death bed and not wishing to have worked more and spend less quality personal time holds substantial weight.

It must be the Catholic upbringing in me that makes decisions so agonizing. The classic Catholic model; make a decision, worry about it, feel guilt about it, have your enjoyment of the fruits of the decision compromised, go the bed.

Beast out

Evil Dead

I'm currently watching The Evil Dead. This was one of those 5 buck DVD's that Circuit City and Best Buy occasionally drop on sale. I think it was probably in the fall, and I remember picking up Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead and Evil Dead II for 5 bucks apiece. Classic example of me not needing those flix but decided that it was worth it to me to pay that price to have these movies in my house, ready to watch whenever I wanted. Plus they could be nicely stacked with my other DVDS, and would fulfill some of my obsessive collector ways. (Sam
Raimi films, like Spider-Man I and II, Army of Darkness, A Simple Plan, Darkman. Movies that have comic book translations. Collecting can be a sad sorry disease.

Beast

Boston College - Thug University of New England

Future Mug Shot for Master Thug, loud mouthed Punk, Sean Marshall



Currently watching the incredibly classy Duke Blue Devils, the class of college basketball over the last decade and probably the last two decades. They are competing with Boston College, and I remembered the games last year, in which Sean Marshall, (picture above) the street urchin, hollering and screaming, street style, no class scumbag who talked lots of garbage last year while trying to shut down J.J. Reddick (He failed, and Duke won ). I've noticed today that Marshall has some stupid head shaving logo look going on, and half of his team bitches and moans on almost every call they don't like in the game.

Hmm, reminds me of my youth, playing pick up ball in the park. Street ballers were impossible toplay with, because no on passes, every play leads to a bunch of bitching and moaning, the talking is non stop. Way to go, coach Skinner, you are building the Miami University football team of ACC Hoops.

Update: with under 12 minutes left, Duke is up 20, at BC. Duke, fighing against a 4 game losing streak, and trying not to lose 5 in a row for the first time ever . BC has given up multiple lay ups, fast breaks, with nobody even hustiling back. that is the difference between teams with class and character like Duke. They hyu7stle no matter what the score, while the street urchin thug teams like B.C. pack it in when things get tough.

Beast out

State of the Union commentary

So here we are as a country in the year 2007. I think it is an important time to point out a brief review of what is the worst presidential regime since Nixon and quite easily one of the worst administrations ever.

1) 2000 - George Bush runs for the presidency against Al Gore. The country was coming off of 8 blissful and exciting years with one of our country's greatest presidents, Bill Clinton. Clinton faced 6 years of a hostile congress yet still managed to rework the welfare system, keep the economy humming along like gangbusters and maintain positive international relations with both our allies and enemies. A true diplomat whose only real weakness was his sexual appetite, a classic trait for an accomplished alpha male. Sadly, the republicans cared little about the positive state of the country and desperately attempted to destabilize our country by dragging President Clinton through a bs impeachment attempt. This is important to remember, especially when Bush and his appointed court of neocons express outrage over the lack of support for the president as being "unpatriotic".

Bush loses the popular vote in 2000 to Al Gore and it appears the country is headed for at least 4 more positive years under the even, smooth leadership of the Democrats. However, little did any of us know that the coup was in motion, and after a dizzying period of back and forth nonsense and an incredibly polarized country, the supreme court (led by Bush regime buddy Antonin Scalia) stops the recounts and declares Bush the winner. The trouble was beginning.

2) The Bush regime disregards an enormous amount of security info passed to them from the Clinton Administration, including warnings about Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. Clearly Osama was not a new name... many of the neocons had been involved with arming Osama during the 80's in order to encourage the lengthening war between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. The Bushies ignored all warnings, and the terrible events of Sept. 11 was the result. - While most of the country reacted with anger, outrage, and sadness, the Bush regime reacted with a sense of optimistic opportunity - finally a chance to bamboozle the country into a war with Iraq, a country with a vile leader that had absolutely nothing to do with the attacks of Sept. 11. This mattered little to the chicken hawks in the Bush regime. These armchair soldiers viewed the middle east as the central point in their visions of a New World Order, and a sweet side benefit would be the enormous profits that could be directed to their favorite companies. (Bechtel, KBR , Haliburton, etc.)

3) The Bush boys sent the U.S. armed forces into Afghanistan and after a quick pit stop for show (do some reading on the state of Afghanistan today - the war lords are returned to power, opium production is through the roof, and the infrastructure remains in tatters.) The regime continued to eye Iraq but desperately needed to sell fear to the american public to support this war. The litany of lies began and the ministers of propaganda (Rove, Ari Fleisher, Andrew Card, Cheney,) began to beat the drums of war. Terms like WMD's and mushroom clouds began floating through the public consciousness. The talking heads eagerly picked up the chant, and soon Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, and the many others echoed whatever their marching orders were each day. - Of course the bush regime needed more, and those pesky weapons inspectors were becoming a real problem, with their factual non findings of no WMD's. No chemical weapons or mobile death mobiles either. The administration pulled out their ace card, Token regime member Colin Powell, a man of great credibilty (not anymore) blatantly lied to the U.N. The only question is whether he willfully lied or was a patsy, but the damage (and responsibility) ultimately rests with Mr. Powell. Finally bush pulls the weapons inspectors out and sends in the invading forces in 2003. March 20th the invasion begins, leading to ...

4) "Major Combat Operations are completed" says a smiling Bush on May 1, 2003. Hmmm, that means all is well now, right? Oh, that's right, we are only a few months away from celebrating the end of combat, the 4 year anniversary. I'm sure all of our soldiers still dodging bullets from angry Iraqi's will be in a partying mood. Furthermore, the decider in chief is sending another 21 thousand troops, and given his enormous track record of success I am optimistic.

5) Dick Cheney chastises Wolf Blitzer on CNN, basically stating that things continue to go well in Iraq, and he can't comprehend where this negative view is coming from.

This brief overview is why I do not even bother with anyone still pro bush. The world has become a much less stable during the last 6 years, and there is still 2 more years left. Are you worried yet?

Greatest Movie Ever!!

True Romance. My favorite movie, ever by far. I remember the first time I saw this flick. Sparta theater, in Sparta, N.J. A small movie theater, with two movies playing, roating weekly. I saw some trailers, the movie looked cool. The movie came out in 93. I was 22 years old, heading into my last year of college. For whatever reason I was at my parents and not my college house. I don't remember when the movie opened. I do remember getting a bottle of rum and driving over to the theater with my buddy the salamander. Mixing down rum with coke, I watched this hyper adrenalized, super violent, over the top fan boy action fantasy, mixing every hipster you could ever imagine with lots of hip things you didn't even realize were hip, I decided I wanted to write stories like movies. The perfect mix of words, actors and cinematography just blew me away. (A perfect combination of material and director, as Tony Scott did justice to Tarantino's words. While Scott certainly didn't do the film the way I suspect Tarantino would have, there were some strong similarities.

I write of this for a variety of reasons, not least of which is a long chat tonight with the Salamander. One of my best buds in the world, and shared memories of fun times is the bond that pulls people together. (Family, friends, loved ones of all kinds ultimately are connected by their shared experiences and their inteprations of those experiences. )

This movie makes me want to write, so therefore all 4 readers of this blog will get to enjoy some late night, wine and mr. g fueled rants like tonight.

Beast out

Duke Looking Good!

I've been lucky lately as a big time Duke fan. They are on a 2 game winning streak and well on their way to beating NC State on the road right now. Most impressive to me has been how hard and aggressive Duke has looked today and against Wake Forest on Thursday. This is an incredibly young team and they looked terrible in losses to Va. Tech at home and at Ga. Tech.

This may turn out to be one of Coach K's best coaching jobs. His team responded to those losses with 2 wins by 20 or more, and if they hold on today for a win, their next game is #16 Clemson at home, followed by games with a depleted Boston College Squad and Va. prior to playing North Carolina. It would be nice to see them reel off 6 in a row prior ot the North Carolina game.

Despite my good buddy Barce's love affair with Robert "I'm a big hypocrite" Knight, even he has to accept that Coach K's a better coach.

Great Directors Underperforming

So I pulled out my nail clippers and used the filing extension to open one of my many unwatched DVD's. Miller's Crossing. Classic Coen Brothers movie from 1990 with Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turtorro, and Marcia Gay Harden. (Marcia Gay Harden is a criminally underrated actress; if you don't believe me check her out in Pollock and Spitfire Grill.) Anyway, Millers Crossing is classic filmmaking , a gangster film with a complex plot and some superb performances. Haunting musical score and superb character actors fill in all the kick ass Coen parts I've come to love. I would easily put this film up with Fargo, Barton Fink, and The Big Lebowski. Intolerable Cruelty and Ladykillers are so far beneath their talent.

First Post of 2007

Movie Reviews -

Dazed and Confused - Man, I love this movie. I've watched it a bunch of times, saw it in the theater, owned the VHS, and recently bought the DVD dirt cheap in a bargain bin. So freakin awesome, more entertaining every time. :) Especially enjoyable with Mr. Green.

Alias Season 1 ( Recently watched through the first season with my wife. I love taking a show like this, which we never watched, and starting from the beginning - fast moving, with only a couple of unlikeabe characters (the annoying tech guy, the annoying reporter guy). There is also one of the best character actors around, the awesome Ron Rifkin. His character has a bazillion layers to him, and this is only season 1!

Venture Brothers Season 1 - Every once in awhile you take a chance on a purchase and it pays off in a big way. Purchasing Venture Brothers on Amazon.com was a great call. I read a brief review of this box set, a show that runs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. It's an odd mix of characters that draws from many different archetypes and pop cultural elements from the past, including a Dr. Strange parody character, an FF parody, some hysterical villians, and one of the all time greatest characters in animation, BrockSampson. An insane, killing machine bodyguard who for no apparent reason is insanely loyal to Dr. thaddeus venture and his two kids, Hank and Brock.

Maybe more later, if you're all lucky