Yes it’s the most wonderful time of the year… No the Christmas sales haven’t started early… yet. I’m talking about that other most wonderful time of the year: FOOTBALL SEASON!
Ah yes, the green, usually artificial turf, the drunken fans in the parking lot, cute girls in face paint. Strangely that also describes the last KISS concert I attended.
But the best thing about football season is the game of football. There’s college football, high school football, pro football and fantasy football.
I prefer the professional football to the collegiate game. I think it takes more guts to stick it out with a pro team moreso than as a fan of a college team. Who are your big college fans? They mostly gather around your USC’s your Auburn’s Texas’s and here in my own city we’ve got Ohio State.
The thing about all those teams is that they’re all perennial winners. A bad season in college football for your a-list teams 7-5 and crappy no-name bowl game. As opposed to pro football where the Superbowl champions can go 8-8 a year later and miss the playoffs.
Saying you love a team who’s going to win the majority of their games every year takes less courage than to stand by someone like say, Cleveland who always looses!
Now of course my argument has been cut down in recent weeks by two teams who would have normally been listed with the schools named above as winning schools. However meeting this week we have winless Notre Dame and Michigan meeting at the big house on Saturday. This will be one of the highest rated games of the week only because people love a train wreck and one of these teams will end up as a total train wreck.
First Michigan. Some will say that Michigan hasn’t won a game since Bo Schembechler died. Less of a coincidence and more accurately the downfall of big blue most likely stems from loosing a very close winnable game to Ohio State for a chance to go to the National Championship last year. Nearly two months later the Michigan team barely showed up to face USC in the rose bowl and were put down nicely in a 32-18 loss.
During the off-season several Michigan players skipped the NFL draft hoping to finish what they started by winning a bowl game, beating Ohio State and winning national championship.
In their first step toward these goals the #5 team in the nation was out played to a 32-34 lose to Division I-AA opponent Application State. Was it over confidence in their returning starters? Was it not taking a Division I-AA team? Whatever it was Michigan lost their competitive edge. They lost their spirit and for the rest of the season they’re the team knocked out of the top 25 by an opponent in another division.
The other half of this week’s 0-fer-bowl is the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Three years ago new coach Charlie Weis came to an embattled South Bend to guide the Irish again toward victory. In his first year the team went 9-2, the next year 10-2 effectively giving the team the same record.
Now the biggest issue I had at this point was that Charlie didn’t improve from is first to second year. Yes his pro-style coaching and unseen bag of tricks lead the team to a new start in 2005 but there was nothing new in 2006.
Also, with the highly publicized, yet unarguably mediocre Brady Quinn and many other starters left college to play on Sundays. So this is in all reality a rebuilding year in South Bend.
Who will win this Saturday? I don’t know. But I do know that since College football did away with ties somebody’s going to have to!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Base-Blogging: There’s more to baseball than Barry Bonds
Last Night in San Diego, California the ever-enlarging Barry Bonds hit his 755th home run tying Hank Aaron’s record. I was at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during this event, which was shown immediately after the Pirates lost to the Reds in extra innings in a hard-hitting contest to prove just exactly who is the worst team in baseball.
But why is it that you can have perpetually bad teams like the Pirates and Reds while the big money teams: The Yankees, Cubs and Red Sox, are paying for the smaller money teams to stay where they are.
Since Revinue Sharing in Major League Baseball started the basic principle is that the big market teams, as stated above, will share their profits with the rest of Major League Baseball. Now the flaw with this system is that there is so much money coming in because these three teams will pay the best athletes to play for them, they’re in the big cities that love baseball and get great TV ratings so commercial revenue is through the roof.
Now if you’re a small market team where your games are broadcast somewhere on basic cable and your record is such that CSI reruns get higher TV ratings in your city you can actually not bother paying quality athletes on your team, take the revenue sharing cash and operate a baseball stadium knowing that the game is just too much fun for people to not show up.
Now obviously we’re dealing with rich greedy owners and that’s the problem. But it can also be the solution. You see Greed is the easiest of the seven deadly sins to manipulate because it is quantifiable. You can put a number on greed and usually a dollar sign in front of that number.
It’s easy to compare Baseball with Football because the National Football League has a system of salary capping that keeps each team’s payroll within a certain standard deviation. The thought process behind this is that each team will have the same amount of money to spend on players so that each team gets approximately the same quality of players as determined by free market forces dictating the worth of a player.
The salary cap is not perfect but much better than the Revenue sharing system. However it is possible to revive the Revenue sharing system to bring back baseball. Even though all the money is in Boston New York and Chicago these teams aren’t running away with every World Series. Just a few years ago the Flordia Marlins took the Series from the Yankees when one player from the New York Nine was making more than the entire Florida dugout. Therefore it is possible that a team of hard working under-paid ball players can win baseball’s biggest crown.
On the other hand you have the Cubs, even being one of the top markets in the league, so much so building owners across the street from the stadium pay royalties to the team for seats sold there. Yet the Cubs have not been in the mix of winning championships recently as much as the other big money teams. This proves that it’s not a money problem in baseball; it’s a competition problem.
The reason for this is that not every owner of every baseball team is George Steinbrenner, who I would call a baseball fan first and a baseball owner second. So let’s re-organize revenue sharing so that it benefits greedy owners and their fans. At the end of each year we should reward good teams with more of the Revenue Sharing pool than bad teams. This then becomes an incentive for teams to do well. Owners would then have profits tied to their record.
I’m a Pirate fan, and it’s not that I’m asking for them to win the World Series, I just want to see them try for a change!
Speaking of the World Series I’m fairly certain that I can accurately predict the losers of this year’s fall classic. Having seen Ohio State loose both the collegiate football and basketball championships this year, the Cleveland Cavaliers loose the professional Basketball championship and recently the underdog Columbus Destroyers loose the indoor football championship, it’s pretty safe to say that Ohio is doomed to suffer many losses at a national level. Therefore with the Reds still far enough out of the mix to be inconsequential, I predict that the winner of the World Series will be the team playing the Cleveland Indians.
Even if that team is the Cubs!
But why is it that you can have perpetually bad teams like the Pirates and Reds while the big money teams: The Yankees, Cubs and Red Sox, are paying for the smaller money teams to stay where they are.
Since Revinue Sharing in Major League Baseball started the basic principle is that the big market teams, as stated above, will share their profits with the rest of Major League Baseball. Now the flaw with this system is that there is so much money coming in because these three teams will pay the best athletes to play for them, they’re in the big cities that love baseball and get great TV ratings so commercial revenue is through the roof.
Now if you’re a small market team where your games are broadcast somewhere on basic cable and your record is such that CSI reruns get higher TV ratings in your city you can actually not bother paying quality athletes on your team, take the revenue sharing cash and operate a baseball stadium knowing that the game is just too much fun for people to not show up.
Now obviously we’re dealing with rich greedy owners and that’s the problem. But it can also be the solution. You see Greed is the easiest of the seven deadly sins to manipulate because it is quantifiable. You can put a number on greed and usually a dollar sign in front of that number.
It’s easy to compare Baseball with Football because the National Football League has a system of salary capping that keeps each team’s payroll within a certain standard deviation. The thought process behind this is that each team will have the same amount of money to spend on players so that each team gets approximately the same quality of players as determined by free market forces dictating the worth of a player.
The salary cap is not perfect but much better than the Revenue sharing system. However it is possible to revive the Revenue sharing system to bring back baseball. Even though all the money is in Boston New York and Chicago these teams aren’t running away with every World Series. Just a few years ago the Flordia Marlins took the Series from the Yankees when one player from the New York Nine was making more than the entire Florida dugout. Therefore it is possible that a team of hard working under-paid ball players can win baseball’s biggest crown.
On the other hand you have the Cubs, even being one of the top markets in the league, so much so building owners across the street from the stadium pay royalties to the team for seats sold there. Yet the Cubs have not been in the mix of winning championships recently as much as the other big money teams. This proves that it’s not a money problem in baseball; it’s a competition problem.
The reason for this is that not every owner of every baseball team is George Steinbrenner, who I would call a baseball fan first and a baseball owner second. So let’s re-organize revenue sharing so that it benefits greedy owners and their fans. At the end of each year we should reward good teams with more of the Revenue Sharing pool than bad teams. This then becomes an incentive for teams to do well. Owners would then have profits tied to their record.
I’m a Pirate fan, and it’s not that I’m asking for them to win the World Series, I just want to see them try for a change!
Speaking of the World Series I’m fairly certain that I can accurately predict the losers of this year’s fall classic. Having seen Ohio State loose both the collegiate football and basketball championships this year, the Cleveland Cavaliers loose the professional Basketball championship and recently the underdog Columbus Destroyers loose the indoor football championship, it’s pretty safe to say that Ohio is doomed to suffer many losses at a national level. Therefore with the Reds still far enough out of the mix to be inconsequential, I predict that the winner of the World Series will be the team playing the Cleveland Indians.
Even if that team is the Cubs!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Enough of the sentimental crap, here's some movie reviews
Summer movie reviews 2007:
- Shrek 3:
Third Time Is Not a Charm for Shrek.
2/5 - Spider-Man 3:
Spider-Man 3: It’s like a chick movie with a hell of a lot of action
4/5 - Fantastic Four:
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Bridezilla
2.5/5 - Transfomers:
Transformers: More action than meets the eye.
3.5/5 - The Simpsons Movie:
Believe it or not, after eighteen years there’s something that The Simpsons haven’t already done.
4/5
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Why do pretty blonde girls make such bad decisions?
In a divergence from the ordinary, I am not going to be talking about either Al Gore or the iPhone, instead one of my other favorite topics: Pretty blonde girls who make bad life decisions.
Nothing makes for better news than a pretty blonde girl in trouble, be it Jessica Lynch, Natalee Holloway or the latest cable news sensation Miss New Jersey: Amy Polumbo.
Polumbo has been at the center of controversy because someone has sent “embarrassing” photos of her to pageant officials that could cost her the title of “Miss New Jersey” and possibly her slot in the Miss America pageant.
On the Today Show Miss Polumbo said that these photos "were meant to be private" when the put them on the internet.
For those of you who do not know, the internet is a series of interconnected computers networked over the whole planet. This as opposed to something that would be considered more private like say, a room with a locked door.
Before you get your hopes up, the photos not nearly as graphic as… well, whatever you’d get your hopes up for when a pretty blonde girl is embarrassed by photos of her that would get her kicked out of the Miss America Pageant.
I will now pose a new theory: Pretty Blonde girls make bad decisions. So if you’re a pretty blonde girl here is a list of five things you should always consider before making a decision:
Nothing makes for better news than a pretty blonde girl in trouble, be it Jessica Lynch, Natalee Holloway or the latest cable news sensation Miss New Jersey: Amy Polumbo.Polumbo has been at the center of controversy because someone has sent “embarrassing” photos of her to pageant officials that could cost her the title of “Miss New Jersey” and possibly her slot in the Miss America pageant.
On the Today Show Miss Polumbo said that these photos "were meant to be private" when the put them on the internet.
For those of you who do not know, the internet is a series of interconnected computers networked over the whole planet. This as opposed to something that would be considered more private like say, a room with a locked door.
Before you get your hopes up, the photos not nearly as graphic as… well, whatever you’d get your hopes up for when a pretty blonde girl is embarrassed by photos of her that would get her kicked out of the Miss America Pageant.
I will now pose a new theory: Pretty Blonde girls make bad decisions. So if you’re a pretty blonde girl here is a list of five things you should always consider before making a decision:
- Nothing good ever came from getting drunk with foreign strangers
- Stay with your convoy when traveling through Iraq
- When being photographed getting out of your Porsche, make sure you have on underwear (clean or not)
- Don’t marry Kevin Federline
- If you want something kept private don’t put it somewhere that it can't potentially be accessed by every computer on the planet
UPDATE:
Now as an endeavor to keep my Miss New Jersey crown (a state I have never actually been to) from ever being taken away I will preemptively post embarrassing photos of myself here:
Me at a Tracy's party holding a beer with Tracy, John and sme girl I don't remember (I don't remember her not because I was drunk, she just kind of showed up about the same time John and I got there and Tracy wanted a picture, but we didn't really talk to her the rest of the night).
Me drinking one big ass margaritta. I was of legal age to drink, but not of legal age to run for president.
Me dressed as Clark Kent.
Me dressed as a laundry basket.
Me dressed as Obi-Christ Kenobi.
David Hasselhoff (some of these aren't just embarassing for me).
Friday, July 06, 2007
Drinking Al Gore’s Cool-Aid
This weekend Al Gore will be hosting rock concerts around the world on each of the Earth’s continents (Antarctica was excluded for it’s obvious lack of participation in the global warming crisis). The concert series is inappropriately titled “Live Earth” when a more appropriate title for something like this, given we’ve had Live Aid and Farm Aid, since we’re trying to cool the earth with massive amounts of electric guitars and lighting effects this concert should be called “Cool Aid” Because if you’re there you’ve obviously already had at least a sip of Al Gore’s.
The Concert venues include New York, Washington D.C., Sydney, Johannesburg, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Rio De Janeiro, Shanghai and Tokyo.
Having been inspired by pop music (something that rarely happens to people not in junior high) I have decided to do my part to help cool the Earth.
I hereby pledge to turn my air conditioner on high at least once a week and open all my windows so that cool air will fly out the windows and cool the Earth.
Now, I can’t do this alone people. I encourage everyone to do this, especially if you have a window unit. Take the unit out, turn it around so that the cool air is blowing outside. You’ll have to get a bucket to collect all the condensation that would otherwise drip on your floor.
Gore Al-colite: But that won’t help global warming.
Andy: No not just one person but everyone working together
Gore Al-colite: Even if you had hundreds of thousands of people blowing air conditioning into the air you couldn’t change the temperature of the earth?
Andy: Then how can hundreds of thousands of people blowing their air conditioners inside their houses cause global warming?
The Concert venues include New York, Washington D.C., Sydney, Johannesburg, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Rio De Janeiro, Shanghai and Tokyo.Having been inspired by pop music (something that rarely happens to people not in junior high) I have decided to do my part to help cool the Earth.
I hereby pledge to turn my air conditioner on high at least once a week and open all my windows so that cool air will fly out the windows and cool the Earth.
Now, I can’t do this alone people. I encourage everyone to do this, especially if you have a window unit. Take the unit out, turn it around so that the cool air is blowing outside. You’ll have to get a bucket to collect all the condensation that would otherwise drip on your floor.
Gore Al-colite: But that won’t help global warming.
Andy: No not just one person but everyone working together
Gore Al-colite: Even if you had hundreds of thousands of people blowing air conditioning into the air you couldn’t change the temperature of the earth?
Andy: Then how can hundreds of thousands of people blowing their air conditioners inside their houses cause global warming?
Saturday, June 30, 2007
The Adventures of Andy and the iPhone (with photos!)
I did it! I did It, I got the iPhone!!!
In your face Sprint!
Now for those of you who missed earlier episodes I have abandoned the Sprint Corporation over a matter of twenty dollars. So because Sprint would not discount the purchase of a phone I have switched carriers just so I could have the latest gadget and be the envy of all my nerdy friends.
So the adventure begins Friday when I left work at 4 PM to get in line at the AT&T store. Fortunately the store is just across the street so I went home picked up my camera, stopped off at the ATM. That’s when I hit my first obstacle.
The sidewalk was freshly cemented so I had to do just a bit of jay walking to get across Sawmill Road. Okay htat was a pretty lame obstacle, but what’s a story without conflict? I ended up in line at about 4:20.
As you can see I was not first in line.
I did end up making friends with my fellow gadget geeks. There was a security guard on site but the crowd was very well behaved. We all knew what we were there for, and for $500 - $600 a purchase (before optional accessories and activation fee) you’re there to drop some coin, not start a fight.
Speaking of which I had a dream earlier in the week that I had gotten in line and someone cut in front of me and got the last iPhone. In my dream I just about started a fight.
The AT&T staff was very nice. They even brought out cold drinks for people in line.
The security guy made sure we weren’t spilling over into the parking lot and made a count of people. I was about #28 and probably the first person attempting to get the 4 GB model. This just proves that I’m very secure about the size of my hard drive. They eventually gave everyone a fact sheet to fill out about why we were at the AT&T store today (duh!) what service you were going to buy etc… About 6:30 I had made it to the front of the line and was very excited.
They had a list of names and as one person left they would let another iPhon iPhanatic in the store. Inside they let you play with a demo unit. Here’s a picture of the cute girl in charge of letting you play with the display models.
She took a picture of me finally getting my hands on one!
And I took a picture of myself on the demo phone.
It really is very cool, and all the features from the commercial work just like that in real life. From the demo they let you pick out accessories. The only one I liked was a rubber sleeve for the phone, but usually that stuff is cheaper at Wal Mart than at the actually phone store so I passed.
About 7:30 I had my I Phone and was ready to plug it in. Unlike traditional phones there is already software on your computer to run it. I unpackaged everything and was impressed with what the iPhone comes with. First there’s the charger, but I was happy to see a cradle come with it. That’s such a nice feature. There’s also a set of earphones with a microphone so you don’t have to unplug to answer the phone.
The box itself is beautiful. It’s a glossy black finish with a nice organizational holder for each of the included items. There’s even a nice piece of cloth to wipe off all finger prints you can see ended up on there immediately.
The phone is small and about the size of a Motorola Q, or a late model Compaq iPaq. It’s bigger than the standard flip phone. Oh and I’m not abusive to my phones that’s just 2 years of jingling around in my pocket with keys, coins and anything else that might end up in there.
Setup was pretty simple. But I needed to do it on my desktop rather than my laptop because I don’t have XP service pack 2 on my laptop. (long unrelated story) All you do is plug in the iPhone into your PC, turn on iTunes (make sure you have the latest version) and it recognizes the new device. Then it prompts you put in your phone number, your account number and a few other items like billing information and voila… your phone is still locked!
What?!?!
Well since I was transferring my number from Sprint they emailed me saying:
AT&T is now processing your activation.You will receive an email confirmation once your activation is complete.
I got that email about 1:07 today and boy was I excited! I quickly ran upstairs, plugged back in and iTunes started the registration process. When it was done the phone was unlocked. I made the maiden call to my mom who said I sounded like I was in a tin can, but eventually sounded better.
Next it was off to YouTube to view a friend’s mini movie. Unfortunately I don’t think that all YouTube videos are available on the iPhone so I looked up Van Halen. It took a while because the typing program thought “Halen” was a typo for “Galen” But eventually I got there and here’s a photo of me watching the video for “Jump”. The only disappointing thing is that when watching videos the speakers are on only one side giving you only a mono sound. This is easily resolved by plugging in headphones.
Next I used the wireless web to look at my blog, looked up directions to my house (even though I’m already there) on Google Maps and read my email online!
There’s still plenty to figure out and I don’t think I’ll be getting any incoming calls until around 9:13 tonight but still it’s a really cool device. Everything they say it can do it does and I’m sure a lot more. My next step is to put some music and videos on there.
The guys at work were telling me that I’d come in Monday as a total Mac convert. I said probably not but don’t be surprised if I show up in a mock turtleneck and jeans like everybody’s favorite iCeo Steve Jobs.
Come to think of it, I do look good in black!
In your face Sprint!
Now for those of you who missed earlier episodes I have abandoned the Sprint Corporation over a matter of twenty dollars. So because Sprint would not discount the purchase of a phone I have switched carriers just so I could have the latest gadget and be the envy of all my nerdy friends.
So the adventure begins Friday when I left work at 4 PM to get in line at the AT&T store. Fortunately the store is just across the street so I went home picked up my camera, stopped off at the ATM. That’s when I hit my first obstacle.
The sidewalk was freshly cemented so I had to do just a bit of jay walking to get across Sawmill Road. Okay htat was a pretty lame obstacle, but what’s a story without conflict? I ended up in line at about 4:20.
As you can see I was not first in line.
I did end up making friends with my fellow gadget geeks. There was a security guard on site but the crowd was very well behaved. We all knew what we were there for, and for $500 - $600 a purchase (before optional accessories and activation fee) you’re there to drop some coin, not start a fight.
Speaking of which I had a dream earlier in the week that I had gotten in line and someone cut in front of me and got the last iPhone. In my dream I just about started a fight.
The AT&T staff was very nice. They even brought out cold drinks for people in line.
The security guy made sure we weren’t spilling over into the parking lot and made a count of people. I was about #28 and probably the first person attempting to get the 4 GB model. This just proves that I’m very secure about the size of my hard drive. They eventually gave everyone a fact sheet to fill out about why we were at the AT&T store today (duh!) what service you were going to buy etc… About 6:30 I had made it to the front of the line and was very excited.
They had a list of names and as one person left they would let another iPhon iPhanatic in the store. Inside they let you play with a demo unit. Here’s a picture of the cute girl in charge of letting you play with the display models.
She took a picture of me finally getting my hands on one!
And I took a picture of myself on the demo phone.
It really is very cool, and all the features from the commercial work just like that in real life. From the demo they let you pick out accessories. The only one I liked was a rubber sleeve for the phone, but usually that stuff is cheaper at Wal Mart than at the actually phone store so I passed.
About 7:30 I had my I Phone and was ready to plug it in. Unlike traditional phones there is already software on your computer to run it. I unpackaged everything and was impressed with what the iPhone comes with. First there’s the charger, but I was happy to see a cradle come with it. That’s such a nice feature. There’s also a set of earphones with a microphone so you don’t have to unplug to answer the phone.
The box itself is beautiful. It’s a glossy black finish with a nice organizational holder for each of the included items. There’s even a nice piece of cloth to wipe off all finger prints you can see ended up on there immediately.
The phone is small and about the size of a Motorola Q, or a late model Compaq iPaq. It’s bigger than the standard flip phone. Oh and I’m not abusive to my phones that’s just 2 years of jingling around in my pocket with keys, coins and anything else that might end up in there.
Setup was pretty simple. But I needed to do it on my desktop rather than my laptop because I don’t have XP service pack 2 on my laptop. (long unrelated story) All you do is plug in the iPhone into your PC, turn on iTunes (make sure you have the latest version) and it recognizes the new device. Then it prompts you put in your phone number, your account number and a few other items like billing information and voila… your phone is still locked!
What?!?!
Well since I was transferring my number from Sprint they emailed me saying:
AT&T is now processing your activation.You will receive an email confirmation once your activation is complete.
I got that email about 1:07 today and boy was I excited! I quickly ran upstairs, plugged back in and iTunes started the registration process. When it was done the phone was unlocked. I made the maiden call to my mom who said I sounded like I was in a tin can, but eventually sounded better.
Next it was off to YouTube to view a friend’s mini movie. Unfortunately I don’t think that all YouTube videos are available on the iPhone so I looked up Van Halen. It took a while because the typing program thought “Halen” was a typo for “Galen” But eventually I got there and here’s a photo of me watching the video for “Jump”. The only disappointing thing is that when watching videos the speakers are on only one side giving you only a mono sound. This is easily resolved by plugging in headphones.
Next I used the wireless web to look at my blog, looked up directions to my house (even though I’m already there) on Google Maps and read my email online!
There’s still plenty to figure out and I don’t think I’ll be getting any incoming calls until around 9:13 tonight but still it’s a really cool device. Everything they say it can do it does and I’m sure a lot more. My next step is to put some music and videos on there.
The guys at work were telling me that I’d come in Monday as a total Mac convert. I said probably not but don’t be surprised if I show up in a mock turtleneck and jeans like everybody’s favorite iCeo Steve Jobs.
Come to think of it, I do look good in black!
Friday, June 29, 2007
"But it's an iPhone!"
Excerpt from an IM conversation with Kelly
Need I say more?andy: I'm getting an iPhone
Kelly: you should see the look of shock on my face
andy: Save it, and I'll take a picture with the iPhone's camera LOL
Kelly: and that's different from my FREE Verizon camera phone HOW?
andy: it's an iPhone!
andy: :D
Kelly: its hundreds of dollars
andy: but it's an iPhone
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
The pot calling the kettle black
I heard a review on the radio about a new book depicting the Reagan presidency. The radio personality gave it a great review and said it was the best book he’s ever read.
Having my interest grabbed I did about thirty seconds of Googling (the maximum allowed given my internet-age attention span) I found what I was looking for on a list of New York Times Best Sellers.
The book was #2 on the nonfiction list and the synopsis reads as follows:
Now if you told me that Al Gore had a book called “The Assault on Reason” I would have assumed it was a how-to tome detailing techniques for dodging scientific analysis of global warming propaganda.
Of course Gore refuses to debate anyone on global warming which is sad because he is a good debater. He’s taken on impassioned opponents like Ross Perot on NAFTA and had strong showings in the 2000 presidential debates. Yet when someone of intellect like Michael Chriton challenges Gore’s beliefs the former Vice President is nowhere to be found.
Mr. Gore, Reason is not a buffet line. You can’t pick and choose where you apply it.
Having my interest grabbed I did about thirty seconds of Googling (the maximum allowed given my internet-age attention span) I found what I was looking for on a list of New York Times Best Sellers.
The book was #2 on the nonfiction list and the synopsis reads as follows:
2. The Reagan Diaries, by Ronald Reagan. Edited by Douglas Brinkley.What shocked me was not that my beloved Ronny was #2 but what exactly was #1, and not so much that it was #1 but the title of the book.
(HarperCollins, $35.) Selections from the 40th president's daily White House
diaries.
1. The Assault on Reason, by Al Gore. (Penguin Press, $25.95.) How the Bush
administration has degraded the political environment through secrecy, fear, and
rejection of fact-based reasoning.
Now if you told me that Al Gore had a book called “The Assault on Reason” I would have assumed it was a how-to tome detailing techniques for dodging scientific analysis of global warming propaganda.
Of course Gore refuses to debate anyone on global warming which is sad because he is a good debater. He’s taken on impassioned opponents like Ross Perot on NAFTA and had strong showings in the 2000 presidential debates. Yet when someone of intellect like Michael Chriton challenges Gore’s beliefs the former Vice President is nowhere to be found.
Mr. Gore, Reason is not a buffet line. You can’t pick and choose where you apply it.
Friday, June 08, 2007
How to make an otherwise reasonable individual want a $500 cell phone.
My current Cellular carrier is Sprint. They’ve never done me wrong, in fact through my former employer I got a little discount on my bill so I’m getting more service than I need for what I’m paying.
However my contract is up and, honestly, I was just waiting for a new phone to come along that I liked. Currently I’ve got an LG something-or-other that is without a doubt the best phone I’ve ever owned. I even have a custom AC/DC ring tone. In the office everyone knows I’m getting a call because Back in Black starts playing.
So last weekend I got a flier in the mail for the new LG Fusic for $29.99. It’s like my phone but is also an MP3 Player, has a camera and does all the multimedia crap that has somehow become associated with telephones in the 21st century. I have yet to explore the option of still getting the company discount by taking the flier into the store, but more on that later.
I decided to do my research and looked up the Fusic online. On Sprint’s website it’s selling for $9.99. When I first became a Sprint customer I found the phone I currently have online, printed out the online deal and took it to the store and got a new phone for the low, low price of $1.99 (plus tax). Trying to leverage the same buying power again I do the same thing.
My first mistake may have been going at noon when everyone on their lunch break was at the Sprint Store buying cell phones. I was a little put off by the attitude of the customer service people. Now I’m not one who likes to be hounded by sales people the moment I walk into a store, but this day I was virtually ignored.
I walked around the store a couple times, stood by the demo of the Fusic, with a smile as if to say “I’m here to give you money!” Then I realized that instead of helping people who were willing to pay for such help there was a rather uninspired kid standing at a podium taking names and putting them up on a big TV screen so you know who is next to be helped.
Finally a tall woman called my name and I told her about the $9.99 deal and how I wanted that phone and to renew my contract. Overwhelmed by the possibility of a new phone for $9.99 (after rebate of course) I forgot to try and leverage my former employer’s name.
But that was a moot point as the girl told me that as of June first they were no longer honoring website deals in the store.
Why not? It’s the same [expletive] company!
Still, twenty bucks is twenty bucks so I try to buy the phone online. Fortunately for me (the sarcasm becomes apparent at the end of this paragraph) there are two options for purchasing the phone online. The first one I tried was for current customers to replace or add a phone. I go through the process, choose my plan and am ready to check out when I notice that this will cost me a total of $60.
I'd like to point out that at this point the only thing keeping me on my quest is the fact that NFL network is an exclusive feature to Sprint.
So next I try to purchase a new phone. Again, I choose my plan, and attempt to check out when they ask my area code so they can assign me a new number.
[Expletive]!
At this point I ask myself, if I’m an AT&T shareholder why am I using Sprint’s product? So I start browsing the AT&T website, remember they used to be Cingular. And find a very similar phone, a similar plan and at a similar price (actually the phone would be free). Then I realize that if I only wait until June 29 the Apple iPhone would be available.
Somehow this experience has made me long for the days when everybody had AT&T phone service. You rented your phone from the phone company and it weighed about fifty pounds and if you missed a call you had to wait for the person to call back. Sure there was only one choice but you didn’t have to go through the hassle of comparing every phone plan out there and using the word [Expletive] out loud in otherwise polite company.
However my contract is up and, honestly, I was just waiting for a new phone to come along that I liked. Currently I’ve got an LG something-or-other that is without a doubt the best phone I’ve ever owned. I even have a custom AC/DC ring tone. In the office everyone knows I’m getting a call because Back in Black starts playing.
So last weekend I got a flier in the mail for the new LG Fusic for $29.99. It’s like my phone but is also an MP3 Player, has a camera and does all the multimedia crap that has somehow become associated with telephones in the 21st century. I have yet to explore the option of still getting the company discount by taking the flier into the store, but more on that later.I decided to do my research and looked up the Fusic online. On Sprint’s website it’s selling for $9.99. When I first became a Sprint customer I found the phone I currently have online, printed out the online deal and took it to the store and got a new phone for the low, low price of $1.99 (plus tax). Trying to leverage the same buying power again I do the same thing.
My first mistake may have been going at noon when everyone on their lunch break was at the Sprint Store buying cell phones. I was a little put off by the attitude of the customer service people. Now I’m not one who likes to be hounded by sales people the moment I walk into a store, but this day I was virtually ignored.
I walked around the store a couple times, stood by the demo of the Fusic, with a smile as if to say “I’m here to give you money!” Then I realized that instead of helping people who were willing to pay for such help there was a rather uninspired kid standing at a podium taking names and putting them up on a big TV screen so you know who is next to be helped.
Finally a tall woman called my name and I told her about the $9.99 deal and how I wanted that phone and to renew my contract. Overwhelmed by the possibility of a new phone for $9.99 (after rebate of course) I forgot to try and leverage my former employer’s name.
But that was a moot point as the girl told me that as of June first they were no longer honoring website deals in the store.
Why not? It’s the same [expletive] company!
Still, twenty bucks is twenty bucks so I try to buy the phone online. Fortunately for me (the sarcasm becomes apparent at the end of this paragraph) there are two options for purchasing the phone online. The first one I tried was for current customers to replace or add a phone. I go through the process, choose my plan and am ready to check out when I notice that this will cost me a total of $60.
I'd like to point out that at this point the only thing keeping me on my quest is the fact that NFL network is an exclusive feature to Sprint.
So next I try to purchase a new phone. Again, I choose my plan, and attempt to check out when they ask my area code so they can assign me a new number.
[Expletive]!
At this point I ask myself, if I’m an AT&T shareholder why am I using Sprint’s product? So I start browsing the AT&T website, remember they used to be Cingular. And find a very similar phone, a similar plan and at a similar price (actually the phone would be free). Then I realize that if I only wait until June 29 the Apple iPhone would be available.
Somehow this experience has made me long for the days when everybody had AT&T phone service. You rented your phone from the phone company and it weighed about fifty pounds and if you missed a call you had to wait for the person to call back. Sure there was only one choice but you didn’t have to go through the hassle of comparing every phone plan out there and using the word [Expletive] out loud in otherwise polite company.
Monday, May 21, 2007
The Adventures of Andy at the Movies
Friday night I went to see the third installment of Shrek. I was not too surprised when half the movie staff was already decked out in special Shrek 3 gear. However when we got into the theatre itself the isles were lined with people in costumes from the film and somebody in front for the screen was asking trivia questions to the two-thirds full audience.
Having found a seat for myself and my date the next question was the grand prize, but nobody knew the constellation that Shrek points out to Donkey in the first movie. It was Bloodnut the flatulent.
I did know the flatulent part.
So the alternate grand prize question was “Who was originally cast as Shrek”.
Knowing this as hearsay, but never actually seeing it in print somewhere I shot my arm into the air. When prompted I said, “Chris Farley!”
The grand prize: 2 tickets to a future movie at the same theatre.
So I paid for Shrek and I get to go to either “Pirates of the Caribbean 3”, “The Simpsons”, “Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer”, “Transformers” or “Live Free or Die Hard”. One thing’s for sure I won’t be going to see “La Vie En Rose”.
But for my Shrek Review: Click here!
Having found a seat for myself and my date the next question was the grand prize, but nobody knew the constellation that Shrek points out to Donkey in the first movie. It was Bloodnut the flatulent.
I did know the flatulent part.
So the alternate grand prize question was “Who was originally cast as Shrek”.
Knowing this as hearsay, but never actually seeing it in print somewhere I shot my arm into the air. When prompted I said, “Chris Farley!”
The grand prize: 2 tickets to a future movie at the same theatre.
So I paid for Shrek and I get to go to either “Pirates of the Caribbean 3”, “The Simpsons”, “Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer”, “Transformers” or “Live Free or Die Hard”. One thing’s for sure I won’t be going to see “La Vie En Rose”.
But for my Shrek Review: Click here!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
French deal deathblow to US in war on terror
The French, this week, elected new Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, (Full Story) replacing international dissenter from the war on terror, Jacques Chirac.With the French opposed to the international effort to defeat terrorism worldwide, the path has been clear for the U.S. lead coalition to vanquish evildoers worldwide.
However, upon achieving victory for the highest office in France, Sarkozy said of the United States, "I want to tell them that France will always be by their side when they need."
With France on the side of the US this means that there will be French soldiers soon in Iraq fighting the insurgency. French soldiers fighting with US soldiers will only hinder the effort for freedom and thus causing major setbacks… even defeat in the war on terror.
Alas, having the french as an ally is a sad turn of events for all freedom loving Americans.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Spider-Man 3: It’s like a chick movie with a hell of a lot of action
Typically in a movie franchise the third sequel is where the series does a nosedive in entertainment quality. This happened in such famed films as “Return of the Jedi”, “The Matrix Revolutions,” Superman III (Richard Pryor and superman does not make a good buddy picture), and any Batman movies not directed by either Tim Burton or Chris Nolan. However with the spider-flop having been in 2004’s Spiderman 2 the bar was set low enough for the tertiary movie to be comparatively better. And it is!
After years of turmoil, everything is going right for our hero. Peter Parker is doing well in school, he’s ready to propose to Mary-Jane and the city loves Spider-Man. How could life get any better?
Well it can’t. And that would make for a really short movie, so instead everything goes downhill quickly for our hero. Spidey not only has to finally face his long-time friend Harry Osborne (James Franco) who is still bitter about his father’s death, the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) also makes his presence known, meanwhile Pete gets a new rival at the Daily Bugle and a mysterious black alien goo somehow gets involved too. Sound complicated? Well unlike the jump-the-shark moment in the batman franchise when we were thrown villain after villain to compensate for lack of plot, each supplementary character added to this film as a purpose, and it all ties together quite well.
From the opening of the film it’s obvious that Tobey McGuire has improved his acting skills by being more charismatic as Peter. Kirsten Dunst reprises her role as the lovely Mary-Jane Watson. Cast mostly for her looks she is convincing enough as the love of Pete’s life and we also get to hear her sing. Aside from sounding like the average first-round American Idol contestant (which plays into a plot element) she is unlikely to leave Hollywood for Broadway anytime soon.
The new additions were perfectly cast, and in some cases you wonder why they don’t have larger roles in bigger movies. First there is Thomas Haden Church. Yes the very same man who played Lowell, the slow-witted mechanic on TV’s “Wings”. Since the show was canceled he’s spent a lot of time in the gym. And once he puts on a green shirt it’s as if he stepped right out of a campy 70’s comic book to become the big-screen Sandman.
Topher Grace (That 70’s Show) joins the cast as Eddie Brock, a hotshot photographer who rivals Peter at the Daily Bugle. Finally in a role where he doesn’t play a total dork, Grace, is immediately charming, witty and a scene-stealer; just enough that you’re not afraid to think of him as the jerk he turns out to be.
Amidst all of this going on, the main focus of the movie is the relationship between Peter and Mary-Jane. This is where the movie becomes a romance with action. Fortunately, unlike “Attack of the Clones” all the romance isn’t done all at once loosing the whole pace of the film. Each action sequence is toggled against a romance scene. It’s clear that Director Sam Raimi believes that it’s the acceleration, not the speed that moves a moviegoer to the edge of his seat. These relationship scenes do serve as a pause between action for a mental, an visual breath catcher, but also because this really is a movie about a romance (with tons of action happening all around the sappy stuff).
An unaccredited character is the special effects department. “Spider-Man 2” lacked any progress their computer generated animation from the first film. It was fairly obvious what was animated and what wasn’t. On top of this the CG was not done very well at all. From the sandman’s transition between a man and being a cloud of dust and the oozing alien symbiant, which becomes the evil Venom, visual effects are seamless, aesthetic and realistic.
True to the vision of creator Stan Lee, each of these new characters has a sympathetic cause. Nobody is evil for the sake of being evil. Something happens to them that becomes their reason for their malicious ways.
There is one pivotal scene in a church where two characters swap sides between good and bad. However despite the setting there is no religious context for the change. Instead the real theme here is Karma. While each of these characters has good intentions, good things happen to them, on the other side of the coin bad things happen to them when they have bad intentions.
Spider-Man 3 does have its problems, though. There are two music montages almost immediately following each other. While both serve to explain character personality transitions the fact that there are two end up negating each other. Finally, between the black spider-suit, all the romantic scenes, and the simple fact that Pete can’t seem to keep his mask on (my biggest problem with Spider-Man 2), you begin to think, “Gee, there’s not much spider-man in this movie”.
There was a lot expected of this movie, and everything got delivered. Take a date, there’s plenty of romance between MJ and Pete, Lots of action because everyone wants a piece of Spidey. Karma, retribution and redemption all tied up in one brightly colored, spandex-wearing package.
After years of turmoil, everything is going right for our hero. Peter Parker is doing well in school, he’s ready to propose to Mary-Jane and the city loves Spider-Man. How could life get any better?
Well it can’t. And that would make for a really short movie, so instead everything goes downhill quickly for our hero. Spidey not only has to finally face his long-time friend Harry Osborne (James Franco) who is still bitter about his father’s death, the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) also makes his presence known, meanwhile Pete gets a new rival at the Daily Bugle and a mysterious black alien goo somehow gets involved too. Sound complicated? Well unlike the jump-the-shark moment in the batman franchise when we were thrown villain after villain to compensate for lack of plot, each supplementary character added to this film as a purpose, and it all ties together quite well.From the opening of the film it’s obvious that Tobey McGuire has improved his acting skills by being more charismatic as Peter. Kirsten Dunst reprises her role as the lovely Mary-Jane Watson. Cast mostly for her looks she is convincing enough as the love of Pete’s life and we also get to hear her sing. Aside from sounding like the average first-round American Idol contestant (which plays into a plot element) she is unlikely to leave Hollywood for Broadway anytime soon.
The new additions were perfectly cast, and in some cases you wonder why they don’t have larger roles in bigger movies. First there is Thomas Haden Church. Yes the very same man who played Lowell, the slow-witted mechanic on TV’s “Wings”. Since the show was canceled he’s spent a lot of time in the gym. And once he puts on a green shirt it’s as if he stepped right out of a campy 70’s comic book to become the big-screen Sandman.
Topher Grace (That 70’s Show) joins the cast as Eddie Brock, a hotshot photographer who rivals Peter at the Daily Bugle. Finally in a role where he doesn’t play a total dork, Grace, is immediately charming, witty and a scene-stealer; just enough that you’re not afraid to think of him as the jerk he turns out to be.
Amidst all of this going on, the main focus of the movie is the relationship between Peter and Mary-Jane. This is where the movie becomes a romance with action. Fortunately, unlike “Attack of the Clones” all the romance isn’t done all at once loosing the whole pace of the film. Each action sequence is toggled against a romance scene. It’s clear that Director Sam Raimi believes that it’s the acceleration, not the speed that moves a moviegoer to the edge of his seat. These relationship scenes do serve as a pause between action for a mental, an visual breath catcher, but also because this really is a movie about a romance (with tons of action happening all around the sappy stuff).
An unaccredited character is the special effects department. “Spider-Man 2” lacked any progress their computer generated animation from the first film. It was fairly obvious what was animated and what wasn’t. On top of this the CG was not done very well at all. From the sandman’s transition between a man and being a cloud of dust and the oozing alien symbiant, which becomes the evil Venom, visual effects are seamless, aesthetic and realistic.
True to the vision of creator Stan Lee, each of these new characters has a sympathetic cause. Nobody is evil for the sake of being evil. Something happens to them that becomes their reason for their malicious ways.
There is one pivotal scene in a church where two characters swap sides between good and bad. However despite the setting there is no religious context for the change. Instead the real theme here is Karma. While each of these characters has good intentions, good things happen to them, on the other side of the coin bad things happen to them when they have bad intentions.
Spider-Man 3 does have its problems, though. There are two music montages almost immediately following each other. While both serve to explain character personality transitions the fact that there are two end up negating each other. Finally, between the black spider-suit, all the romantic scenes, and the simple fact that Pete can’t seem to keep his mask on (my biggest problem with Spider-Man 2), you begin to think, “Gee, there’s not much spider-man in this movie”.
There was a lot expected of this movie, and everything got delivered. Take a date, there’s plenty of romance between MJ and Pete, Lots of action because everyone wants a piece of Spidey. Karma, retribution and redemption all tied up in one brightly colored, spandex-wearing package.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
A case for using more toilet paper
This week Pop Singer Sheryl Crowe proposed: "I think we are an industrious-enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit."But, she adds on her website: "Except, of course, for those pesky occasions where two or three could be required." (Full article)
Sheryl, you ignorant slut…
IF (remember I start these things with big if's) Global warming is caused by carbon being released into the atmosphere and carbon is offset by the planting of trees and toilet paper comes from trees then the right thing to do is use MORE toilet paper.
If you use more toilet paper then the demand goes up. If the demand goes up the cost of supply goes up, if the cost of supply goes up it then becomes more profitable for tree farmers to increase their tree production which means more trees get planted.
The free market will always find a way to supply for what is demanded.
If you want to save the dolphins we need to make burgers out of them.
There are no cows, chickens, pigs or any other animal you might find slaughtered and sliced for sale at your local grocery store on the endangered species list. The reason being is that the free market has ensured their survival because they are popular food items.
With no real purpose to the dolphin, there are no economic forces keeping it alive.
If dolphin burgers ever caught on, then there would be gigantic sea farms built because raising dolphins for meat would be a profitable business. With dolphins as a delicacy they would join cows, chickens, pigs and other animals raised for the slaughter, and consequently abundant in numbers.
(Special thanks to Dustin for inspiring much of this through our daily email correspondences)
Monday, April 23, 2007
In The News Quickie
The Adventures of Andy Presents:
IN THE NEWS
IN THE NEWS
Baldwin calls daughter a 'pig' in phone outburst
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4035798a1860.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4035798a1860.html
Alec Baldwin called his 11-year-old daughter a "rude, thoughtless little pig"
when she failed to answer the phone to him.
Honestly I assume anyone with the last name of Baldwin is a "rude, thoughtless little pig"
Singer proposes toilet paper limits
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21606753-2,00.html
SINGER Sheryl Crowe has proposed a unique way in which to beat global warming
- limit the use of toilet paper."I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be
used in any one sitting."
Crowe had no comments on weather or not she will be buying toilet paper offsets. Also in the works: Banning the Burrito.
That's the news, I hope it was as good for you as it was for me!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Drive: Fox puts the petal to the metal
Fox’s new action thriller series Drive is the story of a race. This race has a thirty-two million dollar prize and for at least one man, the chance to reunite with his missing wife.
The Fox Network does two things well, action and cartoons. While 24 re-defined action television, Drive seems to be the next logical step forward after Prison Break. This series looks like once again Fox is will deliver a high-octane (pun intended) thrill ride (another pun) with intricate story driven character development.
The most important part of a series premier is the segment before the first commercial break. Clocking in at roughly 18 minutes we are bombarded with information about the series plot and three driver back stories.
First there is Alex Tully (Nathan Fillion) whose wife has mysteriously disappeared one week ago in Nebraska. Next we get the motivation for Wendy Patrakas (Melanie Lynskey). She just had a baby and immediately joins this road race from Ohio. Finally we are introduced to Winston Salazar (Kevin Alejandro) on the day he is released from prison in Maryland.
These three have absolutely nothing in common save that on this particular day they all received a mysterious black cell phone. When it rings the voice on the other end gives each of them instructions to drive to Key West.
This takes care of the first eight minutes of the series. As we were introduced to three characters, the opening credits list no less than ten drivers are credited.
While the show will get it’s pacing comparisons to 24, the series is shaping up to be more like Lost. An ensemble cast drawn together through one common twist of fate. Like Lost each character not have a flashback to their life before the race, but in an unintended comment on society, they are also connected back to the world from which they came via personal cell phone (as opposed to the one provided to them for the race). Those conversations serve to shed light on the motivation for each character’s involvement with the race.
The premier episode focuses on the story of Tully the character with the most sympathetic cause: A missing wife who may or may not be at the end of the race.
While driving, Tully picks up a passenger who is another contestant. Now with multiple people in each car we have the means for conversational plot development.
On the other side of the circumstance of the show are those mysterious cell phones offering instructions. In what would otherwise be some sadistic reality show the phones serve to take the place of Phil Keoghan who introduces each week’s new challenge on The Amazing Race.
The cast, who is likely better looking than ten reality show contestants, is full of some recognizable faces and fine actors. Among the most recognizable is Nathan Fillion who has endeared audiences of nearly everything he has done. He is the classic blue-collar everyman.
Getting a chance to spread her dramatic wings is Melanie Lynskey who was most recently seen as the crazy neighbor on Two and a Half Men. Nowhere closer to resolving any romantic issues, she’s on the run from an abusive husband.
The most recognizable face on this road would be that of Dylan Baker who plays Peter Parker’s mentor and professor in the Spider-Man Movies. Here again he is an engineer who winds up in the race with his seventeen-year-old daughter.
One interesting stylistic decision made for the series is the music. Instead of promoting popular music to set the scene, the series soundtrack features highly recognizable classic rock remakes. Of course each song has a driving theme such as The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues and Golden Earring’s Radar Love.
Drive is somewhere between NASCAR, Lost and your choice of reality show. For those who will adopt the series as a favorite the fortunate thing is that this format will allow the writers to wrap up the series in a couple episodes should the show not live past the first season. On the other hand, as another serialized action/drama if you missed the first two-hour episode you’ll likely never see it until the DVD release.
The Fox Network does two things well, action and cartoons. While 24 re-defined action television, Drive seems to be the next logical step forward after Prison Break. This series looks like once again Fox is will deliver a high-octane (pun intended) thrill ride (another pun) with intricate story driven character development.
The most important part of a series premier is the segment before the first commercial break. Clocking in at roughly 18 minutes we are bombarded with information about the series plot and three driver back stories.
First there is Alex Tully (Nathan Fillion) whose wife has mysteriously disappeared one week ago in Nebraska. Next we get the motivation for Wendy Patrakas (Melanie Lynskey). She just had a baby and immediately joins this road race from Ohio. Finally we are introduced to Winston Salazar (Kevin Alejandro) on the day he is released from prison in Maryland.
These three have absolutely nothing in common save that on this particular day they all received a mysterious black cell phone. When it rings the voice on the other end gives each of them instructions to drive to Key West.
This takes care of the first eight minutes of the series. As we were introduced to three characters, the opening credits list no less than ten drivers are credited.
While the show will get it’s pacing comparisons to 24, the series is shaping up to be more like Lost. An ensemble cast drawn together through one common twist of fate. Like Lost each character not have a flashback to their life before the race, but in an unintended comment on society, they are also connected back to the world from which they came via personal cell phone (as opposed to the one provided to them for the race). Those conversations serve to shed light on the motivation for each character’s involvement with the race.
The premier episode focuses on the story of Tully the character with the most sympathetic cause: A missing wife who may or may not be at the end of the race.
While driving, Tully picks up a passenger who is another contestant. Now with multiple people in each car we have the means for conversational plot development.
On the other side of the circumstance of the show are those mysterious cell phones offering instructions. In what would otherwise be some sadistic reality show the phones serve to take the place of Phil Keoghan who introduces each week’s new challenge on The Amazing Race.
The cast, who is likely better looking than ten reality show contestants, is full of some recognizable faces and fine actors. Among the most recognizable is Nathan Fillion who has endeared audiences of nearly everything he has done. He is the classic blue-collar everyman.
Getting a chance to spread her dramatic wings is Melanie Lynskey who was most recently seen as the crazy neighbor on Two and a Half Men. Nowhere closer to resolving any romantic issues, she’s on the run from an abusive husband.
The most recognizable face on this road would be that of Dylan Baker who plays Peter Parker’s mentor and professor in the Spider-Man Movies. Here again he is an engineer who winds up in the race with his seventeen-year-old daughter.
One interesting stylistic decision made for the series is the music. Instead of promoting popular music to set the scene, the series soundtrack features highly recognizable classic rock remakes. Of course each song has a driving theme such as The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues and Golden Earring’s Radar Love.
Drive is somewhere between NASCAR, Lost and your choice of reality show. For those who will adopt the series as a favorite the fortunate thing is that this format will allow the writers to wrap up the series in a couple episodes should the show not live past the first season. On the other hand, as another serialized action/drama if you missed the first two-hour episode you’ll likely never see it until the DVD release.
Friday, April 06, 2007
I’m not really Jesus but I play him at church
For those of you not old enough to remember, or just never took a marketing class there once was a medicine commercial starring an actor from a TV medical show. The actor started out “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV…” He then leverages his credibility as an actor playing a doctor not an actual doctor to recommend some sort of medicine.
That being said, I will now be leveraging my portrayal as Jesus during my church’s Easter Week services to recommend hat you believe everything on my blog.
Yes I have now followed in the steps of Jim Caviezel, and… well I don’t know anyone else who has played Jesus. But since Jim Caviezel also played Bobby Jones, the amateur golfer who started Augusta National Golf Club and subsequently the Masters (which also wraps up Easter Sunday this year) I think that’s enough credibility for one Blog Post.
So this week I made my debut as a thespian at church. Each night between Monday and Thursday we had a narrator read scripture while actors mimed the motions of the day’s readings.
Monday I got to turn over the moneychanger’s table. Tuesday Judas betrayed me, Wednesday I washed disciple’s feet and Thursday I broke bread and did a perp walk (Yes I used the term “perp walk” when referring to the arrest of Jesus).
Now there are a few things you should remember when playing Jesus.
That being said, I will now be leveraging my portrayal as Jesus during my church’s Easter Week services to recommend hat you believe everything on my blog.Yes I have now followed in the steps of Jim Caviezel, and… well I don’t know anyone else who has played Jesus. But since Jim Caviezel also played Bobby Jones, the amateur golfer who started Augusta National Golf Club and subsequently the Masters (which also wraps up Easter Sunday this year) I think that’s enough credibility for one Blog Post.
So this week I made my debut as a thespian at church. Each night between Monday and Thursday we had a narrator read scripture while actors mimed the motions of the day’s readings.
Monday I got to turn over the moneychanger’s table. Tuesday Judas betrayed me, Wednesday I washed disciple’s feet and Thursday I broke bread and did a perp walk (Yes I used the term “perp walk” when referring to the arrest of Jesus).
Now there are a few things you should remember when playing Jesus.
- Remember to take off your digital watch. Jesus acted impatient by tapping a sundial strapped to his wrist.
- Be sure to silence your cel phone. Nothing breaks the mood like Jesus postponing the Sermon on the Mount to take a call. Especially if his ringtone is AC/DC’s Back in Black like mine is.
- That beard is itchy. So as soon as my final performance was over I took the clippers and a razor to my face for the first time in two weeks. I also got a haircut the next morning and I’m back to my clean-cut self. Now I know how Ben Roethlisberger (the savior of the Pittsburgh Steelers) felt when he couldn’t shave through the 2006 NFL Playoffs.
All in all it’s Easter weekend. Don’t forget to color some eggs, eat a chocolate rabbit and remember just why this is the most important weekend for Christians (and golf fans but that’s another blog post).
Thursday, April 05, 2007
The Last Breakfast
It's Maunday Thursday which in the Christian calendar is traditionally when Jesus and his disciples broke bread in what is called "The Last Supper"
What is lesser known is that they also met earlier in the day for what history has forgotten: The Last Breakfast.
Peter scrambled eggs while Judas (remember he betrayed Jesus for several pieces of silver) went out and bought steaks for the eggs. No bacon at this breakfast, they were all Jewish.
Jesus, not being a morning person, didn't have much to say during breakfast, hence why it was left out of the Bible. But afterwards they all went out and played hacky sack for an hour or so.
What is lesser known is that they also met earlier in the day for what history has forgotten: The Last Breakfast.
Peter scrambled eggs while Judas (remember he betrayed Jesus for several pieces of silver) went out and bought steaks for the eggs. No bacon at this breakfast, they were all Jewish.
Jesus, not being a morning person, didn't have much to say during breakfast, hence why it was left out of the Bible. But afterwards they all went out and played hacky sack for an hour or so.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The Hot Blonde Quota
No more than 2 hot blondes alloed on the Lost island at a time.
First there was Shannon and Claire.
Then Libby showed up and Shannon got shot.
Then Libby got shot and we got Niki, but we knew that wasn't going to work out because Juliette was on the other side of the island.
Now with Niki gone the island is back to normal.
Only 2 Hot blondes on the island at a time. It's a Lost rule!
First there was Shannon and Claire.
Then Libby showed up and Shannon got shot.
Then Libby got shot and we got Niki, but we knew that wasn't going to work out because Juliette was on the other side of the island.
Now with Niki gone the island is back to normal.
Only 2 Hot blondes on the island at a time. It's a Lost rule!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The Adventures of Andy and the Office Refrigerator
Where I work everybody takes a week to handle all the basic chores of the office. This usually includes taking out the trash, washing the used coffee cups, which by the way has happened 3 times since Monday. We don’t have that many people in our office, we don’t even have that many coffee mugs!
One little task I took upon myself was to clean out the office fridge. It’s one of those larger model college dorm refrigerators and usually just as full of beer. One problem with this particular model is that after a while, say ten minutes or so, the freezer part starts to ice over. If you don’t keep up with scraping off of ice, say every twenty minutes or so you get a block of ice in the upper part of the device.
Having once de-iced the refrigerator once before, and this being my week to clean I took it upon myself to once again free the freezer part of the fridge from ice and release that lean cuisine meal that’s been sitting there for months from it’s icy bondage.
Phase 1: Bring in a cooler and Ice to keep all the beer and other items cold
This happened flawlessly, however all the beer was gone when I got in this morning there was one. Which means that after the one I had yesterday afternoon everyone else in the office kept drinking! Nonetheless the other refrigerated contents needed to be put on ice.
After moving everything to the cooler and adding ice, it was time to thaw the fridge. This happened nicely as it was warm and there was some heat coming off the dishwasher as explained above.
It seems over time the upper hinge on the door has worked itself loose, and today with the door ajar long enough it finally wiggled loose.
This lead to a more thorough cleaning than I had intended since I had to take the refrigerator out into the hall where I had more room to try and reattach the door.
This turned up unsuccessful as the two bolt-like objects that make up the hinge of the fridge (hey, that rimes!) are spaced such that you can’t have them attached to the main part of it and still get the door on. You can’t have them both attached to either the door or the big part and still get the door on. This lead to Bryce asking what I was doing. To which I replied just loud enough for Bob (who seems too cheap to hire a cleaning service) “Just giving myself a chance to clean under the fridge”.
But what comes next is I need to find a wrench so I can take off the bottom hinge, attach the top hinge to the main unit and then slide the door on that and finally re-attach the bottom hinge.
This is all so we have a clean place to keep our beer.
One little task I took upon myself was to clean out the office fridge. It’s one of those larger model college dorm refrigerators and usually just as full of beer. One problem with this particular model is that after a while, say ten minutes or so, the freezer part starts to ice over. If you don’t keep up with scraping off of ice, say every twenty minutes or so you get a block of ice in the upper part of the device.
Having once de-iced the refrigerator once before, and this being my week to clean I took it upon myself to once again free the freezer part of the fridge from ice and release that lean cuisine meal that’s been sitting there for months from it’s icy bondage.
Phase 1: Bring in a cooler and Ice to keep all the beer and other items cold
This happened flawlessly, however all the beer was gone when I got in this morning there was one. Which means that after the one I had yesterday afternoon everyone else in the office kept drinking! Nonetheless the other refrigerated contents needed to be put on ice.
After moving everything to the cooler and adding ice, it was time to thaw the fridge. This happened nicely as it was warm and there was some heat coming off the dishwasher as explained above.
It seems over time the upper hinge on the door has worked itself loose, and today with the door ajar long enough it finally wiggled loose.
This lead to a more thorough cleaning than I had intended since I had to take the refrigerator out into the hall where I had more room to try and reattach the door.
This turned up unsuccessful as the two bolt-like objects that make up the hinge of the fridge (hey, that rimes!) are spaced such that you can’t have them attached to the main part of it and still get the door on. You can’t have them both attached to either the door or the big part and still get the door on. This lead to Bryce asking what I was doing. To which I replied just loud enough for Bob (who seems too cheap to hire a cleaning service) “Just giving myself a chance to clean under the fridge”.
But what comes next is I need to find a wrench so I can take off the bottom hinge, attach the top hinge to the main unit and then slide the door on that and finally re-attach the bottom hinge.
This is all so we have a clean place to keep our beer.
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