O Captain, My Captain

Caught the last half of Dead Poet's Society yesterday evening (on VH1 Classic, of all channels). A great movie, one of my favorites. Then later in the night, it was referenced in How I Met Your Mother. Clearly, its a sign. For what, I don't know, but a sign none the less.

Had a solid weekend for beating rival teams. St. X beat Elder on Friday, Virginia (shockingly) beat North Carolina on Saturday, and the Bengals beat the Browns on Sunday. Is it sad that I thought the biggest win of the three was St. X? Elder is clearly X's biggest football rival right now, but it wasn't always that way. In fact, when I was in school, Elder probably ranked 3rd in terms of GCL rivalries, behind Moeller and LaSalle. Moeller was the powerhouse back in the day, LaSalle was the "King of the Road" game, and Elder was just Elder. But now, Elder's the #1 rival, dwarfing both Moeller and LaSalle. Funny how it is.

Speaking of funny, how the hell did Virginia pull off a victory? Is Carolina just that bad? As much as I would have loved to see Groh go 0-12, its always nice to beat Carolina, especially when its a year where they were supposed to be good and the Hoos are so bad.

Note to the Bengals- have a game won or lost before the final minute of regulation/overtime. Please.

Apparently, the baseball regular season ended on Sunday. I can't remember ever being less enthused about a baseball postseason than this one. I read a stat yesterday that said since August 23 (ie- the last 6 weeks of the season), the Reds were 27-13, the best in baseball. They finished 78-84, 4th place in the NL Central, 13 games out. Does this mean we (Reds fans) should be excited for next year? Does one's finish to the previous season have any real bearing on one's performance next? Some say "yes." Look at the Bengals; they were miserable last season, but they managed to finish strong and win their last 3 games. Now, they're 3-1 and tied for first place in the AFC North. Sure, its a tenuous 3-1 (they could be 4-0 as easily as they could be 1-3), but 3-1 is 3-1 at the quarter pole. So maybe there's some reason to hope next spring.

All signs point to Ken Griffey, Jr. retiring from baseball. He got a huge standing ovation from the Seattle fans on Sunday was even carried off the field by his teammates at the end of the game. Its tough to come back from getting carried off the field. I've made my thoughts known on Ken Griffey, Jr. He was the best player I ever saw (and will ever see). If this was his last year, he'll be headlining the Hall of Fame class in 2014, the first year of his eligibility.

I'm incredibly stoked for ESPN's 30 for 30 series that starts tonight. Hands down, this looks like the coolest thing ESPN's ever done. 30 documentaries by 30 filmmakers covering topics from the past 30 years (since this is ESPN's 30th anniversary). Its a complete 360 from the"me, me, me" 25th anniversary celebration, which is a good thing. The subject list for 30 for 30 just looks incredible. Tonight's doc is about the trade of Wayne Gretzky from Edmonton to Los Angeles, done by Peter Berg (director/producer of Friday Night Lights, both the movie and the TV show). I plan to watch all 30 films, but I'm particularly interested in the ones on Allen Iverson, Reggie Miller and the Knicks, fantasy sports, Terry Fox, and June 17, 1994. Again, this just looks so cool.

In other TV recommendation news, you should be watching Modern Family, Glee, and FlashForward. All good, in completely different ways.

Final thought- I read from a friend that the ideal frequency for chest compressions during CPR is 100 bpm, which happens to be the same tempo for both Stayin' Alive and Another One Bites The Dust. Now THAT'S a sign.

The De-Evolution Of Dance

Proof that the good old days weren't always that good. This is physically painful to watch:



For all the crap we give disco, how is this any better?

Just Call Me Brett Favre

I just couldn't stay away. There's too much stuff going on and I have too much time on my hands. So I'm back from retirement for a second time (which leaves me, what, 3 short of Mr. Favre?), and this time, I mean it. You know, that is, until I don't.

After 20 years of futility, the Bengals found a new way to lose:



Ladies and gentlemen, the longest game-winning play from scrimmage in the final minute of the fourth quarter in NFL history. I guess its fitting that the Bengals would be on the wrong side of a dubious record such as that. I mean, who knows who had the record was before Sunday, but everyone's going to remember that the Bengals have it now. Doesn't hurt that Gus Johnson was on the call. This might be a top 5 all-time "Gus Johnson loses his mind on the mic" moment, and if you're a fan of Gus Johnson (which I am), you know that's saying something.

I don't see anymore than 6 wins for the Bengals this year. Which, considering we're talking about the Bengals, isn't half bad. And its 6 more wins than I think my Virginia Cavaliers will win this year:



The ACC's bad, and Virginia's the worst team in the ACC. If this were the English Premier League, they'd be demoted to CAA (where they'd struggle against in-state rival Richmond, James Madison, and William and Mary, who's already beaten the Hoos this year). Its just pathetic. Shocking how having a marching band and making the students wear orange doesn't automatically translate into having a winning program. I know going 0-12 (or, by some miracle, 1-11) won't be cause for ditching the marching band (though we can always hope), but at the very least I hope all the students burn their "Sea of Orange" shirts and return to wearing ties and sun dresses on game day. I don't think Virginia's in the business of firing coaches mid-season, regardless of how bad it gets, so the impending winless season will be all Al Groh's to bear. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

Been to a couple of local amateur MMA fights (ICF events) with PreView and Puddin' recently. Interesting, to say the least. The 7-sided octagon (which, I guess, is technically a heptagon, but that's not as fun to say as "7-sided octagon") threw me a bit at first, but the events are fun and the people watching is outstanding (both in a good way and a bad way). Quick shout out to the guys at Fight Ribbon; good people with a great product.

Apparently, Kanye West did something outrageous at the VMAs last night. My first thought? "They still hold the VMAs?" Who knew? I wasn't watching. I was busy watching Jay Cutler rack up points for the Green Bay defense by consistently hitting the open Packer defender. Good for my fantasy team. One of them, at least. What wasn't good for my fantasy teams? Orton's BS touchdown (see above), Drew Brees throwing against a high school defense, Joe Flacco sitting on my bench, and the lack of scoring by Matt Forte, Roddy White, and Donald Driver. Not a good start of the fantasy football season. But hey, I'm currently winning my baseball league!

Speaking of baseball, are the Reds still playing? Can't recall the last game where I watched more than two innings. 82-80, huh? Might be a little off on that prediction. Thank God they're in the same division as the Pirates or else there'd be a lot more last place finishes.

The new TV season is about to start up. This, plus football, is why fall is the best time of the year. Already hooked on Glee- cheesy and hokey on the outside, subversive and sardonic on the inside. Will be definitely be checking out Flash Forward (read the book, and I think the show has a chance to be better) and will probably check out V and Community. Can't wait to see how Fringe comes back from their season finale. Wondering if Heroes can come back and just be better than "suck." And there are probably a half dozen more shows (at least) that I'll be watching as well.

So much television, so little time. Its a wonder I that I ever get anything done (which is probably why I never do).

Weekly TV Thoughts: 01/25 - 01/31

This is going up ass early on Sunday because I just got back from watching the Penn-St. Pierre fight at Puddin's house and decided to try and stay up and watch the Australian Open Men's Final between Nadal and Federer live. Its never not a good match when those two meet, especially for a grand slam title, so I figure it'd be worth staying up for. Plus, it would allow me too sleep through the morning/afternoon and thereby miss the 9+ hours of Super Bowl pregame crap. Anyway, to the week that was in TV:

-24, Monday: American lives versus Sangalan lives; which would you choose? As I watched this episode, I couldn't help but be reminded of an epsisode of The West Wing. Working with a similar plot, minus the domestic terrorist threat, President Bartlet is contemplating US involvment in a civil war that is tearing apart the country of Equitorial Kundu (think Rwanda circa 1994). Its on the eve of his second inaurgural, and while working on the speech, Bartlet asks Will Bailey, "Why is a Kudanese life worth less to me than an American life?” The question was rhetorical, but Will responded anyway with, “I don’t know, but it is.” This leads Bartlet to introduce what becomes known as "The Bartlet Doctrine", which states that American forces will intervene wherever there are humanitarian interests at stake. I think it would have been awesome if President Taylor had dropped the “Bartlet Doctrine” in her reasoning for sending troops to Sangala; afterall, it wouldn’t have been the first time these two shows have referenced each other. Once, during a crisis, President Bartlet gave the order to “mobilize CTU”, and at the beginning of this season, a suspect’s lawyers were from the law firm of Gage Whitney Pace, which was is a fictional firm used on The West Wing (and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, for that matter; Aaron Sorkin likes to reuse things). Yeah, that's the kind of junk I just know.

-Fringe, Tuesday: For I second there, I thought I was watching The Ring. Watch creepy video, see hallucinations, die. Seriously folks, how many times do you need to hear it- DON'T CLICK ON POP-UPS!! Sheesh.

-Lost, Wednesday: Man, where to begin? So Charles Widmore was once on the island. That explains A LOT. His knowledge about the island and his desire to find it again... its all starting to make sense. I guess the next big question with Widmore is why he left the island in the first place. Was it his choice or was he forced to do so? We get some answers on Charles Widmore and all it does it create more questions. Well done, Lost. Next, I loved the connection they made with Locke and Richard Alpert, explaining why Alpert came to see Locke as a child. I guess it was the compass that Locke was expected to pick during Alpert's little test. Now, the H-bomb. I've read that its supposed to play a big role in the story this season, so I wonder what that is. One theory out there is that the bomb gets buried in the location that would eventually become the Dharma Swan Station. Did pushing the button every 108 minutes keep the bomb from exploding? No idea, but stranger coincidences have happened. Which brings me to the last major point of the episode- the introduction of a new character named Ellie. Lots of chatter on the interwebs about her. Check it- Faraday says that she reminds him of someone he knew. The obvious choice given in this episode as to whom he is refering to is Theresa, the girl Faraday incapaticated by messing with her brain. But that, like communism, was just a red herring. So who was Faraday refering to? The rumor de jour is that Faraday was talking about his mother, who has already been rumored to be Mrs. Hawking, the lady Desmond met in the jewelry story and Ben met in the church. Her full name is Eloise Hawking. Ellie, Eloise.... its just too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence, thus I'm thinking its probably true. It would also explain why Mrs. Hawking knows so much about the island; she, like Charles Widmore, was also once living on the island. Nothing is ever incidental on Lost; everything has a meaning, everything is tied to something. I've just come to assume that everything on Lost is a Chekhov Gun.

-Psych, Friday: Just one quick note- I love that they name-checked The Mentalist this week. It reminded me of when Scrubs name-dropped Grey's Anatomy in an episode ("Its like they took our lives and put them on TV!"). The Mentalist is basically Psych plus serious.

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: Has any character fallen as far as Feliz Gaeta? No on on the show as taking a larger fall from grace than Gaeta; at one time, he was one of the most virtuous members of the crew, always, in the end, doing what was right. But then came Baltar's trial, where he purjured himself on the stand to try and enact some revenge on Baltar. It was a low, despicable move by Gaeta, but little did we know then that it wouldn't be the worst thing he was capable of; he can now add mutiny and treason to his list of wrongs. The guy lost a leg during the last mutiny attempt- we're supposed to feel sympathy torward him; and yet I doubt there's a single BSG fan who doesn't want to see Gaeta die a slow, horrible, painful death. At this point, that's all he deserves. Loved seeing Adama and Tigh go all Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at the end of the episode. From next week's promo, its clear that Adama lives, but you hear Zarek say that Tigh was killed. Again, like communism, I think this another red herring; he's just trying to convice the Cylons and Roslin that Tigh's dead. I think my favorite part of this episode was Starbuck's reaction to the mutiny. She's all business- no talk, no discussion, you're either with Adama or a traitor, and if you're a traitor, you die. Plain, simple, to the point. I hope its Starbuck that eventally takes down Gaeta. That would be fitting.

Final note- while I've been writing this, I've been listening to the 90's Music Choice channel, which is easily the greatest music channel available. A small sample of the songs I've heard while writing this post: Losing My Religion, REM, Free Fallin', Tom Petty (which, oddly enough, came out in 1989), Baby Got Back, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Black Velvet, Alannah Myles, Linger, The Cranberries, One Week, Barenaked Ladies... I should watch/listen to this channel more often.

That's It, Done With The Snow

I like snow, I really do. I like living in an area where it snows (at least a little bit) every year. Its an important part of the season. It should be cold in the winter with snow and ice; it should be nice and mild in the spring with plenty of rain; the summer should be hot, humid, hazy, and muggy; and the leaves should turn color when its cool and crisp in the fall. Yes, it can all be a pain in the ass, but the changing of the seasons is important.

That being said, I'm done with the fucking snow for this year. Snow is good on the other side of the holiday season, as you're building up toward Christmas and New Years (and possibly even Thanksgiving). On this side, at the end of January? Not so much. Sure, it's supposed to be cold, I can live with that. But 4 inches of snow with more on the way? Please, pitchers and catchers report in a few weeks; I don't need anymore snow.

Now, some random Super Bowl thoughts on this frakkin' snow day:

-Big Arizona Cardinals fan right now. I've never even really like Kurt Warner, but I'm all for him now. Yes, it would be depressing to see the Cardinals win a Super Bowl before the Bengals, but it would be more depressing to see the Steelers win their sixth, and when given the choice, I always root against Pittsburgh.

-I don't think there's anyone in sports I hate more than Hines Ward. I've given this a lot of thought, and I can't think of anyone else. And its not just because he plays for the Steelers; I'm pretty sure I'd hate him if played for the Tampa Bay Storm of the AFL. One tool I use as a barometer in deciding things like this is I try to judge how I'd feel if I found out Player X had suddenly died. Would I feel sad, happy, or neutral? With Ward, I'm pretty sure I'd feel ecstatic. Completely overjoyed. Potentially moved to tears. Does that make me a bad person? Oh well. Fuck him.

-I love Super Bowl Prop bets. If you can think of it, you can bet on it. And I'm not talking about the little things like "which team will score first" or "how long will the first field goal attempt be"; that stuff's junk. I'm talking about manly man bets like "over/under number of food items mentioned by John Madden during the broadcast" and "color of Gatorade dumped on winning coach". Picking those winners takes real skill.

-The Mike Tomlin-Omar Epps thing never gets old. Never. Ever.

-Have to admit, I'm stoked for Bruce Springsteen's halftime performance. I'm a huge Springsteen fan, and I think he's a great choice for this gig. And speaking of The Boss, he's got a new album out today. Working On A Dream, that's just phenomenal (random aside- how the hell did The Wrestler not get nominated for an Academy Award? Insanity.). No, I didn't brave out into the snow today just to buy it; it leaked online about two weeks ago. And that brings me to this question- Springsteen's halftime setlist. I think the recent standard has been 4 songs, so with that in mind, and taking into account the release of the new album, my picks for the setlist (in order) are: Born To Run, Working On A Dream (off the new disc), My Lucky Day (another new track), The Rising. Given the shortness of the playlist, I think its possible he could opt out of playing the relatively mellow Working On A Dream and replace it with something like Radio Nowhere or even something older, like Glory Days. Either way, I think he stays away Born In The USA.

Last football game of the season; that's sad. But the end of football should mean the end of snow, so no more. Baseball's just around the corner, and hope springs eternal. Go Reds. Fuck the Steelers.

Weekly TV Thoughts: 01/18 - 01/24

I watched a lot of TV this week, which makes it absolutely no different than any other week.

-We Are One, Sunday: Interesting mix of speakers and performers. Weird set up, too, switching back and forth between celebrity speaker reciting lines from past presidents and musical performances. Some speakers made sense (Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Martin Luther King III); others not so much (Jack Black, Steve Carrell, Tiger Woods). Loved Jamie Foxx dropping some humor into the proceedings with his spot-on Obama impersonation. Enjoyed most of the music as well, though not the opening piece. I'm a big Bruce Springsteen fan, and I love The Rising, but that version was terrible. Acoustic version of The Rising, good. Gospel chior singing backup on The Rising, good. Acoustic version plus gospel chior, fail. At least Springsteen got a chance at redemption with the This Land Is Your Land perforamce with Pete Seeger. That was the highlight of the show.

-Steelers vs. Ravens, Sunday: I've read this elsewhere (Bill Simmons, Dan Patrick), and I'm glad I wasn't the only one that caught this: what the hell was the Heinz Field PA guy thinking when he let Creedence Clearwater Revival play over the stadium while Willis McGhee and Ryan Clark were laid out on the field? Monster helmet-to-helmet hit, medical staff on the field, players gathered around, stretcher rolled out.... sounds like a time for CCR! You stay classy, PA guy.

-24, Monday: Might be wrong about Agent Moss being the mole in the FBI. Now, I'm going with the blond chick that Hillinger (Rhys Coiro) apparently hooked up with. She's got the perfect setup to be a traitor- a seemingly incidental background character with ties to someone important that starts off with only a few throw away lines but is eventually exposed to be working for the bad guys. Its a twist I've seen waaaay too many times. Hopefully they're more creative than that. I don't care at all for the president's dead son storyline. I know it ties into the whole Sangala story, but they need to advance that story and get Jon Voight into the fold. I also don't know if I like evil Secret Services guys. I mean, they're the ones that have to jump infront of bullets; I don't know if I like villifying them. Another random thought- why was the silent clock used at the end of the episode? I thought that was only used when someone either dies or appears to have died (ie- it creates tension); what tension was there at the end of this episode? Jack didn't actually shoot Agent Walker, and Jack and Tony aren't going to bury her alive, so what gives?

-Inaguration Ceremonies, Tuesday: I'll just say, there was something fitting and seriously funny about Dick Cheney leaving office in a wheelchair. "MEIN FUHRER!! I CAN WALK!!" Dr. Strangelove indeed.

-Lost, Wednesday: Thank God this show is back. I wasn't sure what a "flash-present" was; know I know. So which moving through time, the people or the island? I think the people are the ones moving, Quantum Leap-style, but I'm not entirely certain it makes a difference. And what's up with Desmond? Why is he special, why can his past be changed? Was it because he was exposed to the island's energy when he turned the fail safe key? If so, what exactly does it mean? We've already seen Faraday interact with Desmond in the past to create a new "memory" for Desmond in the future. I wonder how often they can exploit that. So Desmond is now on a quest to find Faraday's mother at Oxford; could she potentially be Ms. Whitaker, a.k.a. the lady he meet in the jewelry store and the same lady Ben talked to in the church? I don't think so, but its a popular theory. And speaking of Faraday, what was he doing as a worker helping to build the Orchid station? I think its part of the time traveling being experienced by the survivors; at some point, they travel to the time of the Dharma Initiative, and Faraday, being knowledgable of the island's workings, infiltrates the work force to get a closer look. Why? No idea, but I'm sure it has something to do with stopping all the time travel. And a quick note about Hot Pockets. This was the second show this week where I saw a character pull a Hot Pocket of a microwave (the other being on TNT's Leverage). There, it was dropped because, hey, it was hot, and on Lost, Hurely turned and chucked it at Ben (to which he apparently said, "What a waste of a Hot Pocket", but the line got cut). My point is, in neither case was the Hot Pocket cooked in the crisping sleeve or on a plate; what's up with that? Does anyone else cook a Hot Pocket that way?

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: So Gaeta and Zarek are going to start a revolution. Story-wise, its the next logical step. Without any outside conflict, you have to create it from within. Nothing does that like a little mutiny. I think it'll last until the Cavil-led Cylons return and force the fleet to reunite under Adama to survive. I like the ret-conning out of baby Nicky. When they made Tryol a Cylon, it instantly raised questions about his hybrid son. We already have an important hybrid child in Hera, so if she's special, why isn't Nicky? Well, that's because Tryol isn't actually the boy's father; that would be Hotdog. That does two things- not only does it eliminate any hybrid questions, it also frees Tryol up to be more involved in the story. Now he can do things without the spector of "gee, what about Nicky?" hanging over his head. Finally, I wonder how Baltar is going to figure into all of this. With discovery Earth and essentially debunking the prophecy, will more and more of the fleet turn away from the old religion and embrace Baltar's monotheistic message? If so, how would effect the fleet's mission of finding a new home? Don't know. I guess there are bigger issues to deal with right now, like mutiny.

New Favorite Work Timekiller

MTV Music

MTV"s entire music video archive. All of it. Every video. Ever.

My new favorite spot in the internet.

(Thanks to my brother, BrotherofGiantAsianMan, for the head's up on this one).