If it all sounds oh-so-familiar!

So, I was going through the draft queue to try and clean up all the unfinished entries in there when I came across this unfinished gem from last October. What is really, really great about it is that I linked to an article in the post. You can see part of it and it’s from October ’06 but the really funny thing is, when I clicked through on the link it took me to the current article on Joe Torre’s fate! Makes me wonder if they don’t have a whole library of these things pre-written!

What have you done for me lately? dated 10/08/06

That didn’t take long now, did it?

The Yankees lost the series to the Tigers yesterday and in less than 24 hours the stories are out:

Yankees manager Joe Torre likely will be fired and replaced by Lou Piniella following another early exit from the playoffs, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.

According to sources the Daily News did not identify, Torre is expected to be fired unless he resigns first — or team officials can talk owner George Steinbrenner out of making the move.

BWAH HA HA!

Torre has managed to get the team to the playoffs in each of the 11 years he has managed but, in Yankeeland it’s not just getting to the playoffs that are considered a measure of success. No, for the Yankees (and their fans) to derive any enjoyment they have to win it all if only so to lord over the fans of all the other teams.

Let’s look at it this way: there are 30 major league baseball teams. Of those 30 teams, only 8 get a chance to make it to the playoffs, 4 from each league. It’s not an easy thing to do and the Yankees have managed to do it year in and year out for over a decade!

Believe me, that’s no small feat! I was a big fan of the Yankees from ’83 to ’95 and during that time they made it to the playoffs once. ONCE! In twelve years! Over the last 11 years they’ve played in the playoffs each and every year! I think if you asked the fans in Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Colorado, Kansas City or Baltimore if they would be happy if their teams made it to the playoffs, even if they were knocked out before or in the World Series they wouldn’t be ecstatic but, at the very least they would derive some measure of satisfaction from their teams success.

Not the Yankees.

And, this is why I stopped being a Yankee fan (that and the fact that going to games at the stadium once the team started to get better became a really obnoxious experience).

I’m sorry for the Yankees and I’m sorry for their fans too. The fact that the organization is upset because outspending all the other major league teams is in no way a guarantee of winning it all may be a big disappointment. It also is the reason why they’ll be an extensive pogrom during the off-season to find the guilty parties and hold them accountable.

It’s been said in the past, rooting for the Yankees was akin to rooting for General Motors. Well, I think this season proved that adage as both organizations were stricken by bad management, wasteful spending.

Well at the very least I got something out of the drafts queue!

More on New York’s secret past.

I came across another article on the area, really fascinating stuff considering what the area looks like today:

Far from being a desirable destination, the Far West Village, as it was known back then, was unknown territory to most New Yorkers except for butchers, neighborhood residents, and the select group of queer and kinky people who roamed the streets and filled the clubs there in the late-night hours and staggered home in the early morning as the sun was rising and most New Yorkers were heading off to work. During the day, strongmen dragged animal carcasses through the garbage-filled streets. It was a site reserved only for those with strong stomachs, given the stench of dead flesh and rotting trash that characterized the area.

Hammering down the Anvil!



Back in the olden days, the dark ages before there were desktop computers, email and cellphones, I lived another life. A life so radically different from the one I lead today it seems as if it was another person who experienced it.

Those were the days when I wrangled the yellow beast through the concrete canyons of the city. Today with things like the internet, people romanticize the whole cab driving experience (see Melissa Plaut’s New York Hack blog to see what I’m talking about) but, it’s not something I find altogether romantic.

Taxi-driving then as now, was a difficult job. The difference back then is that for the entirety of your shift you were cut off from the rest of your life. You didn’t have a cell phone (or even a two way radio) so, keeping in touch with people meant finding a pay phone and stopping. Parking was no easier to find then than it is now and constantly pumping change into a pay phone isn’t really conducive to long conversations. Plus it’s not like you could give out a number of a pay phone you knew you were going to be by at a particular time.

So, back then it was a different life.

This past weekend I was down in what was once known as the meat packing district. The area is still called the meat packing district but, it is so far removed from that the name doesn’t fit anymore. I took the picture above, late in the afternoon, of a building being demolished on 14th and 10th Avenue. This holdout is one of the last buildings to go under the wrecking ball and the transformation into something else more in line with the new character of the area.

But, I remember other days...

There’s something funny about that too, because today all the things that this cast off neighborhood offered up have become mainstream!

See, this neighborhood back then was off on the edge of the city, mostly industrial and because of that there were a certain number of establishments that gravitated there. Places that wanted to operate underneath the radar so to speak. I remember the neighborhood so well because in those wee hours of the morning when fares were scarce, this was the area you’d make your way over to. Taxi driving can be a bit like fishing at times and you always want to put your line in where the fish are biting. Late at night after most of the bars had closed down, during the week when the majority of people had long since gone home so they could get up for work, there was a whole other group of people leading very different lives. This was when New York had a true underground.

Chelsea Piers has been up and operating for a long time now but, I still vividly remember the gay bars on West Street that were overflowing on weekends. Places with names like The Glory Hole. There were straight nightclubs, gay bars and sex clubs all within blocks of one and other. Seedy motels where a room could be let for enough time to have a quickie. Hookers of every variety, women, men and men dressed as women calling out to passing cars and pedestrians.

It was nasty, I’m not saying these were days that should be glorified but, looking around today it’s hard to imagine a city like that even existed. I found an article that talked a little about it to which you can read here:

What had been a vacated industrial wasteland to most people — and a sexual playground for society’s outcasts — is now the trendiest place to live. Before it’s too late, we need to document the nightlife that once made this a vivid destination.

Video Vault Thursdays!

So, Warren Ellis had an old PiL video up and it gave me the impetus to go nosing around on YouTube just to see what I could find. These searches are a bit organic, one thing leads to another and I found this old ditty that was a favorite and I thought I would share:



*further note! - I guess they’re rooting this stuff out so I’ve posted a live performance by Lene Lovich of the song although it doesn’t have the charm of the video the song is still kick ass.

*note - so, I put the link up earlier today and then it got bounced via YouTube because as they put it, it violated a copyright claim by Viacom. Now I was able to go back and find it but, what I don’t understand and what makes absolutely no sense to me is this: it’s something from almost 20 years ago that saw regular rotation on music video channels. This is not a pay site, there is no money being made off of the display of the video and if anything it would remind people what a great tune this is and hopefully they’ll go out and buy it. I think the phrase that would apply under these circumstances is ‘free advertising?’ No one is going to seek out a song they’ve never heard or haven’t heard in a lonng, long time so aside from the artist - who do they think they’re hurting?

Idle musings on baseball.

Big news around New York has been the Yankee fade to the Cleveland Indians in the Division Series. So much so that there has been talk about Joe Torre being fired for the team’s performance. In my mind though, this is probably one of the best managing jobs Torre has done in his 12 years with the Yankees. He basically took a team everyone had written off for dead back in June and got them to the wildcard! Hell, they were even in contention for the division crown until very late in the season!

So, it is somewhat ironic Torre is being called out for the ’07 Yankees.

Let‘s talk about a couple of things relating to that though...

First off, has it occurred to anyone that the Mets decision to retain Willie Randolph had as much to do with keeping him from managing the Yankees in ’08 while the Mets were paying him? It was no secret around New York that Joe Torre’s job was very much in jeopardy if the Yankees didn’t win it all this year. Wouldn’t Willie have made a very logical choice to replace Torre given the thought that Mattingly was not yet ready for the job?

Speaking of Torre, one thing you hear about is how the Yankees are going to get rid of him. Now, Torre is admittedly the highest paid manager in all of baseball with a 2007 salary of $7.5 million and one has to wonder at times given the vast resources at any Yankee managers disposal if a manager who made only $1 million or less couldn’t get at least comparable results. So, the question becomes if it is important for the Yankees to send a message and if in fact Joe Torre does want to stay with the Yankees, why not a pay cut? Maybe if they were to reup Torre, why not give him an incentive laden contract akin to what a player would get?

Just curious.

Meanwhile, in regard to free agents...

Why do I shudder when I think of Mariano Rivera in a Braves uniform? Better still why do I think the Red Sox would make a big push for Rivera (if only as an eighth inning guy)? Those are just two of the teams I’m thinking of right off the bat although the Phillies, Orioles, Blue Jays and even the Mets should be interested.

Speaking of the Mets being interested in a Yankee free agent, is there any way you don’t see the Mets making a big push for Jorge Posada?

A-Rod? C’mon if not Chicago, there are a host of other teams - the Angels, the Dodgers, the Red Sox who would love to have him.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.

Back on August 3rd I started writing this incomplete entry, I started writing the rest on Sunday:

How you liking me now?

Roger Clemens was booed off the mound Thursday after he allowed eight runs and nine hits in the second inning of the Yankees’ game against the Chicago White Sox.

Only three of the runs were earned. Second baseman Robinson Cano mishandled Jerry Owens’ grounder near the bag with one out, and Clemens threw out Darin Erstad at the plate on Alex Cintron’s dribbler, but the next four batters all got hits off Clemens before manager Joe Torre replaced him.

Somehow, when the Yankees signed the Rocket, I don’t think they imagined him giving up moonshots to opposing players. Since coming up to face the juggernaut that is this year’s Pittsburgh Pirates team and winning his inaugural game of the ’07 season, the Rocket has won two additional games in 11 starts and the team has won one more game that Roger has started making the Yankees record 4 wins and 8 losses in games where the Rocket was on the mound.

Tomorrow is the Rocket’s birthday and he’ll be 45. I guess it’s hard to expect much more from a pitcher at that point in his career. Thing is, the Rocket is baseball’s highest paid player and his pro-rated salary equates to slightly more than what the Yankees are paying Alex Rodriquez. I keep hearing Yankee broadcasters kill the recently demoted Kei Igawa but the funny thing is that the Yankees have a record of 7 and 5 in the games Igawa has appeared in.

As things have turned out, the entire Yankee season is on the line with tomorrow’s game against Cleveland. The Yankees have an alarming 8 and 10 record in the games 45-year-old Clemens has started. Clemens made 17 starts for the Yankees this season ending up with a mediocre 6 and 6 record and a very pedestrian 4.18 era. Hardly the stuff of stoppers and a big dropoff from his 18 and 4 record he had in his last Cy Young season just three short years ago.

Pitchers are funny in a way because sometimes a pitcher’s skills can slowly diminish over the course of time while others the process can happen seemingly overnight. As Clemens takes the mound tomorrow, I have to wonder how secure the Yankee fan feels betting their future on the arm of ‘The Rocket.’

Normally, when the highest paid pitcher in baseball takes the mound for any team it would be a no brainer but, in Yankeeland things don’t operate on a normal scale. Yankeeland is akin to the Bizarro World of baseball where mistakes can be covered over by signing a 45-year-old pitcher for just over $263,636 an inning.

---

Now that was where I had gotten to on Sunday and then that evening the Rocket went out and pitched three mediocre innings. So, the question for all the Yankee fans on the day after the season ended is this: was he worth it?

Clemens will cost the Yankees $26.1 million this year - his salary of $18.7 million plus a $7.5 million tax the team will pay MLB for exceeding a certain salary threshold, the so-called luxury tax. Gennaro estimates that Clemens will add six wins to the team. The model is based on the assumption Clemens will perform as he has in the recent past - an admittedly iffy proposition for a soon-to-be 45-year-old pitcher.

Looking back on the season, did bringing Roger Clemens back for a shortened period really make that much of a difference? Was he worth all that money? I’m just curious (more of me being Devil’s Advocate here) because that amazing excess that the Yankees showed cost them nearly half of what three of the four playoff teams spent in total payroll!

Cleveland Indians	$61,673,267
Colorado Rockies	$54,424,000
Arizona Diamondbacks	$52,067,546

Going through the change.

I got sick somehow over the weekend – somewhere in my travels, someone must have had something or been getting over something because round about Saturday I noticed a slight tickle in the throat. The tickle became soreness on Sunday (getting progressively worse as the day went on) and then Monday was just full blown sore.

Throughout all of it, I didn’t have any kind of runny nose to speak of, no coughing really but I was (am) definitely sick. Yesterday was one of those days where you walk around not quite sure if it’s that oppressively humid during the day or if you have a fever (I get a sense it was the latter). All things considered though, I only took a couple of aspirins and just slept when I felt the need. The only part of the day where it really became an issue was when I had to make some phone calls and I kept hearing my voice crack while I was talking - puberty all over again. Kind of funny though, I have to admit.

Today the voice is still raspy but I feel scads better so whatever it is seems to have run it’s course and is abating. Just a reminder of how amazingly good I feel the majority of the time.

The mandate.

I keep remembering last year how there were a bunch of people crowing over the mandate that the American electorate had given by returning to the Democrats control of the House and a gain of 5 seats in the Senate.

Everyone was talking about a groundswell of change that would sweep our country - my question a year later is: what happened?

The reason I ask is because it sure seems like business as usual. Considering all the rhetoric that was thrown around prior to and immediately after the election it speaks volumes about the effectiveness of the current Congress, don’t you think?

Terror filled Mondays.

Today’s entry into terror filed Mondays is one of those movies you just have to have seen to appreciate.

The evil alien “Ro-Man” has destroyed all but eight humans with his death ray, the “Calcinator.” Survivors include a family of five, a scientist and two unseen men in a spacecraft bound for the orbiting space platform. All eight have developed immunity to the death ray as a side effect of an antibiotic serum developed by the scientist. Ro-Man must destroy these survivors before his invasion of earth is complete.

Aside from the fact that Ro-Man has the mien of someone I used to know, they just don’t get much badder than this! So bad as a matter of fact, that it’s good. This is the movie that should be on a double feature with the earlier terror filled Mondays entry Attack of the Crab Monsters

The poor quality of the movie gave rise to a long-lived rumor within the film industry that the poor reception from audiences caused director Phil Tucker to attempt suicide. According to Keep Watching the Skies!, a comprehensive history of 1950s American science fiction films, author Bill Warren claims Tucker’s attempted suicide was actually due to depression and a dispute with the film’s distributor, who had allegedly refused to pay Tucker his contracted percentage of the film’s profits.

Terror filled Mondays will go back and forth between the truly great movies of the golden age of scifi and horror to the truly terrible to behold. Certainly Robot Monster is one of those truly terrible to behold but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a watch – you just can’t get dialog this bad in too many movies!

Fairytales come to life.

Anytime, anywhere, anyplace.

Someone made the mistake of thinking a situation is different than they think it is - they made an empty threat (one of many) and of course then did the cowardly thing by running away and hiding. Like the title says anytime, anywhere, anyplace - you may wind up getting what you want but you may not be all that happy when you get it. I can say though it will be a pleasure to give it to you because it’s been a long time coming.


LOOK FAMILIAR?
You know who you are - and to think
they even named and based a character on you!

Terror filled Mondays.³

Well, here we are three out! I’m not sure if anyone is amazed by the selection of movies but, I have gotten email from others who also fondly remember some of those movies of yesteryear.

Today’s entry into terror filed Mondays is celebrating its golden anniversary this year!

That‘s right! Today’s jewel is half a century old! Simply amazing but, fortunately for me it isn’t a flick I saw during it’s original run in theaters. However, it was a delightful film that harkened back to a day when the Cold War was at its height and the power of the atom was all the range.

Dr. Wainwright, you’re a scientist, you know what grasshoppers can do. I’m a soldier, I know what guns can do.

Yes, those were heady days back in the 50's (and through to the early 60s) where the forces released by the atom could do wonderful and remarkable things. Also, they could cause nature to run amok, challenging man’s very existence as a species! The atom would power incredible rocket ships that would challenge the laws of time and space, or they would mutate people and animals giving them incredible new powers.

Reporter Audrey Ames is driving along a highway in Illinois when she is stopped by the military. She then finds out that a small town was destroyed and everyone has seemingly disappeared. She then goes to a lab run by the Department of Agriculture. While she is there she meets the lab’s director, Dr. Ed Wainwright. Ed then tells her that strange things have been happening ever since he discovered that a bunch of grasshoppers managed to get into a silo containing a batch of radioactive wheat.

And if anyone ever wondered how Peter Graves could lead the IMF taskforce, it’s finally obvious that after defeating a horde of giant grasshoppers descending on Chicago, anything else was a cakewalk!

%*$$*%###*$$**%*#*$$ Mets!

It’s sad to watch a team just flush a season down the toilet. The most painful part will be suffering through a long winter having to listen to the fans of that other New York team. Thank God though that even as bad as this collapse was, it still doesn’t set the standard for all time chokes, not when you have:

THIS!

I will give the Yankees all the credit they deserve for playing terrific ball the second half of the season when I (and a lot of other people) thought for sure they were dead. This is the year I would give Joe Torre a manager of the year award if ever because even though he has the talent on the team he has, no one thought he would be able to pull off the magic he pulled off this season.

I will probably write something about the season after it stops smarting so much. In a sense, it was a good year but, even as a Mets fan, there was something about this team that didn’t excite me. I didn’t even go to a game at Shea this year and that’s a telling sign.

I know there are going to be big changes in the off-season and there definitely should be. I’m still not happy with the way the pitching staff was handled throughout the season and that directly speaks to the manager. There are a bunch of guys who will be gone next year too - Tom Glavine, Mota, Delgado, Alou, Green and even Lo Duca (from what I understand). So, it will be interesting to see what direction the team takes.

For now though, the thing to figure out is what team to root for in the post-season. Oh, and also to give the Phillies their due as well because if they hadn’t been so hot over the last two weeks they wouldn’t have won and what they did was no small feat!

Ewwwwwwwwww! Crusty!

You just can’t make these things up, I have to imagine this is one of those subtle jokes someone slipped in:

Christie’s to auction Marie Antoinette's pearl necklace



You mean... SHE SAVED THOSE THINGS!?!?

Yes, it was right there on the page this morning and when I saw it I couldn’t help but laugh. For the uninitiated who don’t understand the joke, Wikipedia even has a page devoted to the term here.

A well spent day.



I marked another year today; I try to keep these days low-key.

I am less about building a big event and more about enjoying and having a good day. It’s a lot easier to have a great day when the weather is as glorious as it was today. Sunny and very warm (I think we crested 85°) it was the kind of day that hinted more at summer than the onset of fall.

I don't like fall so much because I’m not really crazy about the cold weather or the shorter days. The baseball season ends soon and I find nothing provides as wonderful a backdrop to the day as a ballgame on the radio. So, it’s not any one thing but a bunch of things that make me like September less.

Still, today was beautiful!

And since I was marking another year and I keep trying to stress in life how important it is to continue to do new things, it was time to go for the inaugural ride on the new scooter. Admittedly, I was a little nervous. I didn’t want to be out riding the thing in heavy traffic but I did want to ride it and I had put of riding it for over a week now since it was delivered.

So, riding today was going to be my treat - a bit of a gift to myself.

And I rode over 33 miles! And it was WAAAAYYYYYY FUUUUUNNNNN!

I’m still learning and I will take it easy on the thing, I’ve no desire to injure myself - although I did fall off the thing already. I kind of think of the falling as a good thing, I didn’t hurt myself but it was a good reminder of how much I could hurt myself if I’m not careful. Still the thing is perfect for what I need it for! All those small errands around town to the post office, to the supermarket, to get the paper are just much more fun when done riding the scooter.

Plus, the weather being so nice and all, riding around the back roads up here is such a treat. Everything is so very beautiful! I enjoyed it so much, I had a stupid smile plastered to my face throughout most of the ride and couldn’t help myself with the occasional celebratory laugh - that’s a recipe for a good day in my book!

Terror filled Mondays.²

Well, trying to keep with event days (and still trying to figure out what to do with the other six days of the week), let’s hit up another one of those fright filled films of yore.

These are deliciously bad movies - fun, but bad.

This one sticks in my mind as one of those films I think I saw at around 10 or so and subsequently had nightmares from it.

Looking back, it‘s hard to figure out what exactly it was, maybe because the monsters were invisible for a large part of the movie, talk about your money-saving special effects! Maybe it was the sound the creatures made when they were around? I don’t know but it was a glorious black and white scary movie for a Saturday night.

Mysterious deaths begin to occur in the small town near the base, and postmortems reveal that the victims’ brains have disappeared. The locals become convinced that fallout from radiation at the base is causing the deaths. But Jeff Cummings, an air force major, becomes suspicious of Professor Walgate, a British scientist who is experimenting with telekinetics.

I had thought Van Johnson was in this flick but, doing a little looking around it turned out the lead in the movie was Marshall Thompson. The name might not ring any bells but if you were a kid during the sixties, you may remember Marshall Thompson as the lead actor on Daktari!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?

So, tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day and all. A good warm day, perfect to go to a baseball game and as fate would have it the Yankees are playing their last home game of the season and it’s a day game to boot! (I’ll never understand why they don’t play more day games)

I thought just on a whim I would see if there are tickets available for the game. You go to the online ticket application and search for tickets and the option is to look for the best available seats:



Somehow, I think I’ll be passing. What I do want to know is what idiot would actually pay this much?!?!

It’s gotten that bad.

Like many Mets fans I have become so nervous that I had the game on for the last three innings today but with the sound off. It’s just too nail-biting to watch.

NO FOOD!!!

I don’t know if it’s a trend or not but, I have gotten food stuff for my upcoming bday - I can’t eat any of it! No food!

Deep inside...

So, the other day I was having a conversation with a guy I hadn’t spoken to in a bit. He was relaying how he had been the subject of a bizarre attack by a mutual acquaintance and how it came out of left field.

These things happen and I counseled him to just ignore it. I’ve dealt with the same thing myself at times - sometimes you can say something in a totally innocuous way and it can be taken entirely the wrong way. I’ve done it myself. Something touches a nerve in a person and all the insecurities swell forth and raise their ugly head. It’s embarrassing when I succumb to that kind of behavior and it’s sad to witness it in others.

Then again, I wonder if some people aren’t more susceptible to it.

Maybe they aren’t susceptible; maybe there is a small part of them that relishes this conflict because it gives them a chance to disrupt other people’s lives. There are people like that too, people who feed on drama and discord, who can only feel secure or satisfied at the misfortune or consternation of others. It makes me think back to those days in high school where self-image is based so strongly in one’s relationship within a group. If you’ve seen Mean Girls, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

In this instance during the course of the conversation I could only postulate that the instigator of all of this discord really had a fourteen-year-old girl trapped inside of them. That led to me getting this cartoon a little afterward that can be summed up only by the word wicked and that the cartoon had me laughing hysterically.

What a great idea!

Beautiful Alix passed along a great link that I checked out and I want to pass along to all the other cat lovers/cat owners:

How to turn an old sweatshirt into a no-sew cuddly pet blanket.

Putting the whiff in whiffle ball.

I came across this via Jeff Passan’s column over at Yahoo Sports where it was described as the coolest thing ever and I have to admit if it isn’t it is pretty damn close!

Ready to give the hall-of-famers a run for their money.

Terror filled Mondays.

Maybe making ‘event days’ is more the way to go in terms of blog content?

So, let’s start of the week (a gruesome task as it is) by looking back at the films I remember fondly as staples of Saturday evening fright shows hosted on local channels (or it could be Saturday afternoons as well). First up is this classic of American Cinema that as the poster says, brings you a ‘TIDAL WAVE OF TERROR:’

A group of scientists land on a remote island in the Pacific to search for a previous expedition that disappeared and to continue research about the effects of radiation from the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests on the island’s plant and sea life. They learn to their horror that the earlier group of scientists have been eaten by mutated giant crabs that have gained intelligence by absorbing the minds of their victims.

Makes me think with a title like that it could have very well been one of those old Army training films you hear about.

A new way for the candidates to get their message out:

The ’08 Democratic Candidate Mashup, a pretty interesting thing if you ask me:

Welcome to the first online debate. Charlie Rose interviews the candidates, but you get to compare them. Step 1, pick as many candidates as you want; Step 2, pick one issue. Then, watch your mashup. Don’t forget to vote for who you like best.

I’m getting this strange sense of déjà vu.

Police said Sunday that Simpson asked to speak with his lawyer before proceeding with an interview, although he spoke several times with investigators before his arrest. The attorney, Yale Galanter, said that he was attempting to get Simpson released.

“Obviously we intend to fight these charges vigorously. We believe it is an extremely defensible case based on conflicting witness statements, flip-flopping by witnesses and witnesses making deals with the government to flip,” he said.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Make it go away!

Another Viagra advertisement?



I just caught this picture when I was looking at the baseball scores and my first thought was I had somehow stumbled on another of those Viagra ads. The headline for the article was: Moore’s single lifts Orioles over Blue Jays 8-6 in 12 innings. I’m just not sure whether or not the guys in the copy room were having a good laugh over that one.

A tip of the hat.

I just wanted to take the time out to mention and point people over to Vince Musacchia’s wonderful blog Soup2Nutz. I had the pleasure of meeting Vince many, many years ago. He still lived on the east coast and I got to spend a wonderful afternoon seeing his studio. Afterwards we were treated to the delicious fare at a small neighborhood Italian restaurant that was a throwback to another era.



Vince has what can best be described as ‘chops’ (meaning he can draw like all get out) and he’s versatile in that he can work in many different mediums and different styles (managing all with a high level of skill). Don’t take my word for it though, take a short trip over to his blog and see for yourself, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

New member of the family.



Just arrived today, mine looks a little different - pictures to come.

Another flick I’m eagerly anticipating:



Go ahead, I dare you to watch the trailer and not get excited by it! Damn, I am so envious of J.J. Abrams.

Getting rid of the junkie.

Today OPEC announced they were increasing production of oil by as much as 500,000 barrels a day.

So, that’s a good thing, no?

I mean if there is more of anything on the market, well it weakens the market and the price should go down, right?

Crude oil for October delivery climbed as high as $79.80 a barrel in regular trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That’s the highest level a front-month contract has ever reached on the exchange. The previous record was $78.70 from the regular trading session on Aug. 1.

See, there’s this great shell game going on and until enough people get pissed off about it, things are only going to get worse.

Tight global energy supplies are expected to keep energy prices high through 2008, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s reporting arm, said Tuesday in a monthly report.

On Nymex, October reformulated gasoline closed up 0.25 cent at $1.9811 a gallon. October heating oil closed at $2.1827 a gallon, adding 1.11 cents.

People who don’t own cars think they’ll avoid getting hit by this but they couldn’t be more wrong because goods are shipped around the country and if it costs more to ship them you can be assured that the increase will be passed along to the consumer as well.

Plus, people always seem to forget about plastic.

...For this and many other uses, the oil needs to be separated into parts and refined before use in fuels and lubricants, and before some of the byproducts could be used in petrochemical processes to form materials such as plastics, and foams.

Petrochemicals are used to make plastic. Look around you, use any plastic?

Plastic is ubiquitous, it’s everywhere! Whether it’s garbage bags or toys or juice containers, plastic is all around us. If the price of oil goes up don’t you think the price of making plastic goes up too? Think companies will just eat those added costs?

Think again.

Back in the 70’s during those gas shortages, the obvious villain was those diabolical schemers at OPEC. Today though, the member nations of OPEC realize that a slowdown on the world economy will hurt them as well, so they are less inclined to take draconian measures and limit supply.

What’s the problem then?

Well, oil companies have gotten smart now. They realize as long as the price of oil stays high, they make money and lots of it! The convenient excuse oil companies use is that there is limited refining capacity to process the crude oil into other grades of fuel.

In the United States, there is strong pressure to prevent the development of new refineries, and no major refinery has been built in the country since Marathon’s Garyville, Louisiana facility in 1976. However, many existing refineries have been expanded during that time. Environmental restrictions and pressure to prevent construction of new refineries may have also contributed to rising fuel prices in the United States[8]. Additionally, many refineries (over 100 since the 1980s) have closed due to obsolescence and/or merger activity within the industry itself. This activity has been reported to Congress and in specialized studies not widely publicized.

Wow! That’s just tough for those poor oil companies, isn’t it?

“Consumer demand just continues to grow, and we can’t grow as fast at the refining level,” said Charlie Drevna, executive vice president at the national Petrochemical and Refiners Association, which includes companies like Valero, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillip. “But there are plenty of economic reasons why that hasn't happened.”

They just are at the mercy of their refining capacity and as long as they can only refine a certain amount of oil prices will just stay high and keep getting higher.

Now, I think it would be a good thing to wean this nation off of its oil jones - we had taken major steps in that direction until the early nineties when the SUV made the scene. Truth of it was, we had taken the kind of steps that dropped the value of oil and had the oil companies hurting and worried. It gave oil companies a great excuse to not increase refining capacity because the commodity oil had such a diminished value. Nowadays though, oil companies are reporting record profits but strangely enough you don’t hear about them taking any of that money and putting it into building new refineries.

I shouldn’t complain I imagine because I bought oil stock and it’s been good the last few years but, hell! I don’t want to see the economy go down the tubes anymore than anyone else. Never mind we have the cold weather coming. Even if you don’t own a home and the cost of heating oil goes up you don’t think your landlord isn’t going to raise your rent?

Wake up people.

Who’d thunk it?!?!

When I heard they were making an Iron Man movie, I thought to myself... ‘Ouch! Here comes another comic movie suckfest!’ Then I heard they were casting Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark and it only made me cringe even more. Marvel has a decent record with films of their characters since the first X-Men hit but, there is still major suck factor floating around these things.

Yeah, the X-Men movies have been pretty good and the Spidey films good too but, there’s that Hulk movie. FF was passable (I’ve yet to see the second one), Ghost Rider was decent, Man-Thing straight to video (surprising because it was okay) and then there was that Punisher flick - if I never see Travolta in another one of these kinds of movies again it’ll be fine with me.

Overall, sometimes these things translate well and sometimes they don’t. Iron Man is one of those things where it just looked like it would have too much to overcome to be a decent film. Today though, I took a look at the preview (click on the image):



AWESOME!

Money where my mouth is.

A few posts back I suggested how much better it would be if we remembered September 11th by giving back to our communities. Ever since the EYOC has been gone, I’ve toyed with the idea of giving over some time to the local food pantry. It’s a bit nostalgic in a way and in another it would honor the memory of the EYOC.

I donated cash to the food pantry (as well as some other charities) but, it didn’t seem like enough and when I sent off the last donation to them recently, I checked off the box saying I would be willing to volunteer. I got a call from them a week back and just hadn’t gotten around to returning the call but, keeping the thought in mind of how volunteerism is a good way to mark 9/11, I called today.

I start tomorrow.

Does anyone else ever wonder?

Just where we would be if the events of 6 years ago never happened?

I know it’s a bit pointless but, I have to wonder what the country (or the planet for that matter) would be like. A lot of times you’ll hear about all the planning that went into carrying out the attacks but, did you ever get the sense these idiots didn’t really follow through? By follow through I mean, they didn’t think about what would happen AFTER the attacks. It was more a like the goal of carrying out the things was the be all and end all. I guess it just speaks to how stupid the people behind the damn thing are: ‘WE WILL ATTACK AND THEY WILL DO... NOTHING!’

I’m trying to think what would Afghanistan look like? Iraq? Would Bush have gotten a second term? Would Guiliani even be running for president? You have to think about how different the world would be and then at the end of the day I’ve got to think the only thing that the people who carried out the attacks managed to accomplish was the exact opposite of what they wanted.

I could live without that irony.

I should’ve copyrighted it!

It’s all the rage now but, if you went back a bunch of years and haunted the boards over at Comicon (when Newsrama was still hosted there) you’d find I was the first person to coin the phrase ‘Marvel Zombies’ in reference to the blind zealotry displayed by some of the posters on that board.

Ah f**k, if only I had known!

(actually, thinking about it now it’s not the first time something like this has happened)

F*ck freecreditreportdotcom!

File this under the ‘don’t say I never did anything for you.’ Yeah, you probably heard those ads with that jingle that roles around in your head for awhile but, how about this:

YOU ARE ENTITLED TO GET A ONE FREE COPY OF YOUR CREDIT REPORT FROM EACH OF THE MAJOR CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES EACH YEAR!

To top it off, it’s not the inordinate hassle it used to be. Thanks to the wonders of the web all you have to do is to direct your browser over to ANNUALCREDITREPORTDOTCOM and you can easily and quickly get your credit report from Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.

It’s so amazingly simple I am not surprised more people don’t know about it. Check it out for yourself.

Bad anniversaries.

September 11th is just about upon us again so, we will commemorate the day with a reading of names of the victims of the attacks at Ground Zero but, I wonder when the time will come when we don’t mark the day in such a manner anymore. We don’t do it for Pearl Harbor, when do we stop doing it for September 11th?

It’s not that I’ll forget that day, I don’t think anyone will forget it but, when do we move on?

It might sound crass but, I imagine we as a nation or a society could spend every single day of the calendar year commemorating lives lost whether through earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, bridge collapses, fires, shooting sprees or even terrorist attacks. When do we stop indulging ourselves by wallowing in our grief and just go forward?

The other thing I think too, if we are going to mark the day, if we are going to make it some kind of day of national memoriam, we should take the best that came out of that day and use it to make us a better people.

What do I mean you might ask?

Well, if we can say there was one good thing that came out of the day, it was how we as a nation showed our love and support of one and other. I can tell you for sure, people here in New York City were just a helluva lot nicer to each other in the weeks after the attacks. There was a civility, courtesy and compassion during those days that spoke a lot about what New Yorkers are made of. Beyond that, people from around the country rallied together in a show of solidarity and community.

If we are to take anything away from that horrible day, let it not be the senseless violence of the event but rather, the example set by the people who went out of their way to help absolute strangers; fireman, policeman, even ordinary office workers who did their level best to cope with a terrible situation and to put others ahead of themselves.

Maybe, instead of reading the names of the dead, if we must mark that horrible morning, can’t we use the example of those brave people and transform the day into a kind of National Service Day? By National Service Day, I mean a day when we volunteer a bit of our time to help out people in our community showing the same spirit of the people who set such an incredible example for us through their actions?

It’s a small gesture on the part of each of us but, I can’t help but think that the people who sacrificed their lives trying to save others would appreciate it. Meanwhile, it would make something wonderful out of that anniversary and at the same time make a statement to the people that carried out such a despicable act that we will never be defeated.

Fond memories of a misspent youth:

The problems of the penis.

So, it’s Sunday morning! What better time to talk about dicks!

Over the last few months, I have been responsible for seeing to a friend’s Flickr account. Basically, I had my dear Alix start a Flickr account to generate traffic to her website and it has worked. Men just can’t seem to get enough of looking at her charms. This is fine, in a way because part of what Alix has to do is to project an image to the world of this desirable, always horny women who is just insatiable and can’t get enough (by enough I think you should know what I mean).

It’s part of an overall strategy to build her brand and to increase her fanbase for some other projects that should be happening a little further down the road. I do it mainly because it means it’s one less thing for her to deal with. It’s really about the promotion and that’s how I’m involved in the process - promoting and packaging her. I want her to be successful and I don’t mind helping her, it’s a learning experience for me. Maybe that sounds stupid but, marketing is still marketing and at the end of the day the lessons learned here can still be applied in other areas and for other clients.

One thing though has bothered me - I have begun to get a really thorough distaste for my own gender.

Look, I’m a guy so I’m susceptible to the same urges that any guy is. I’m not raising myself above the pack (and we are talking about pack mentality here). Thing is, I was raised with manners - there really is no other way to put it. A lot of being polite is just not making assumptions about total strangers. It’s about showing them a certain level of courtesy and respect.

It doesn’t mean I can’t joke about things or be crass because anyone that knows me knows full well I am very crass but, at the same time I honestly don’t go out in the world looking to say or do something that would make someone feel uncomfortable. It’s just not... for lack of a better word, cool. I don’t know how else to explain it.

So, dealing with the whole Flickr thing over the last few months has exposed me in a way to what female members of Flickr go through on a pretty regular basis. See, if a woman shows any flesh, any flesh at all, it is taken as an invitation by the male of the species to reciprocate in kind, even if it is unsolicited. I know it happens frequently because I have friends on Flickr who have complained about it. Their photos are generally just artful nude photography, nothing garish or X-rated. Just shots that show a bit of skin.

The photos I’ve released through Flickr for Alix, always have a certain sense of decorum. They are not explicit, rather they are suggestive meaning they aren’t these horrific anatomical close-ups that would be better served as illustrations in a medical text than as a means of arousal. That’s a problem on Flickr sometimes is that there are people out there who can’t tell the difference between the two.

Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand: I cannot begin to tell you how many pictures of penis I have seen over the last few months dealing with this. Now, I’m an artist (or at the very least I have drawn from life) and I can appreciate a good body. By that I mean a body that has been well taken care of, someone who is in shape or at the very least someone who cares about their grooming. For the life of me though, I cannot understand how some of these guys could even think someone would want to see them nude!

It’s like... COVER UP, DUDE! I mean, really!

You don’t look good and you’re not taking care of yourself and no one wants to see!

It happens a lot too! I resist the urge to write them a short note telling them hey, I’m a guy that is getting this not the woman you think is getting this and I have to tell you even if I was a woman, I cannot imagine any woman getting the least bit aroused by your display. No, no, we’ve got to keep the fantasy going.

I just have to say though, ladies... I am so sorry! I just hope you don’t brand us all that way. Even I have to go EEEEEWWWWWW!

The trade the Mets should make.

If you hear about this over the coming months, just remember where it originated...

Here’s my letter to a writer over at the Pioneer Press:

As a baseball fan I cannot help but be fascinated by the saga of Johan Santana - a two time Cy Young Award winner reaching the market?! It makes me salivate.

Then again, isn’t this the kind of thing that baseball dreams are made of? Isn’t Santana the kind of player that can bring back significant value in a trade if moved well ahead of free agency or moved with a sign and trade kind of deal?

Besides, do Twins fans really want to see Johan Santana in a Yankees uniform? Does any baseball fan outside of the Yankee fan really want to see that? I know I don't!

That's because I’m a Mets fan and if I had my way, I'd be banging on Omar Minaya’s door right now to do everything in his power to put together a deal that makes sense for both teams.

Since salary is an issue for the Twins and they need to get value back, what would it sound like on your end for a trade of Johan Santana for Lastings Milledge, Mike Pelfrey and Aaron Heilman? That's a 22 year old outfielder who looks to only get better (and is a base stealing threat), a 23 rookie righthanded pitcher with a big upside and a 29 year old righty reliever who has worked as a swing man but could slot into a starting rotation or potentially close.

I think it’s one of those trades that make sense for both teams.

Then again, maybe I should be wary - the last time the Mets made a deal like that with the Twins, the Twins walked away with an All-Star closer (Rick Aguilera).

Still, I wonder if you put it out there for Twins fans, what they would think of the trade. These things have to start somewhere.

Real work versus pretend work.

So, things have been very busy lately. The problem is it has been a question of pretend work versus real work.

Whatever do I mean?

Real work pays you money, pretend work holds out the prospect of money but it’s a gamble at best. I have been focused almost exclusively on pretend work the past few weeks and I come to realize that has to change. My pocketbook just won’t allow me to focus on pretend work for too long so, back to the world of real work.

And it’s not a bad thing.

On other matters, you may or may not have noticed things have been awfully quiet around here of late. Well, that’s going to start changing real soon. I have a bunch of unfinished entries in the drafts queue that are screaming at me to be finished and I am getting them done. While things have been quiet around here (the blog), everywhere else they have been busy, busy, busy!

Lots of stuff to write/talk about.

In the meantime, I have to give a big shout out to both Ragnell and the wonderful Elayne. Ragnell posted a link on my entry about the Bendis lettercol contest and I got more hits in a day than ever before (so that’s what it’s like to have something that people read). I had honestly hoped I would have gotten more of a dialog going but, that didn’t seem to happen. As it was, it seems like the story has just died down and that surprises me a bit because I honestly thought there would have been more of an uproar over the incident.

Still, at the very least people know about it. I imagine that counts for something.

So goofy, it had to be shared.

Calling all feminists.

Okay ladies, time to put your money where your mouth is. I picked up the latest issue of Powers, a book that I love. I was thumbing through the letters column when I came across the following jewel:

And now after months of stalling and padding my letter columnn with entries; after months of holding back every snotty remark I have building inside me; after, literally thousands of entries (which was cool. it was cool to hear from so many of you long time readers, you should write more often!)

The winner is...

MARYPANTS

25 word essay

I love all of your stuff. That is all.

Oh, and by the way I am a girl, hot and I’ll have sex with you and your wife. Shit, I’ll move into your basement and be your au pair to boot.

And thanks for Powers and Spidey. I fucking love you. Cry myself to sleep. Think of Bendis fucking me.

Now that is how you win a contest!!! Thanks for playing. I will sic Mary on all of you in a couple of issues. And yes, I have seen the pics, and yes, she is hot.

So, in the scope of things, this is okay with you guys... how? You’re giving a pass on this one? What amazes me is for all the talk about Power Girl and female heroes and costumes, this slips by unnoticed? Does Bendis walk on water? Is it the fact a woman writes a note offering up herself (even if it is in jest) that makes it okay? Just trying to figure out where the line gets drawn.

Listen, do you want to know a secret?



So, maybe you haven’t seen the documentary, WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price.


It’s a shocking indictment of capitalism run wild and unchecked. The funny thing is, there just doesn’t seem to be any stopping this juggernaut. What’s even better is this latest tidbit that comes out of Mexico:

Wal-Mart is Mexico’s largest private-sector employer in the nation today, with nearly 150,000 local residents on its payroll. An additional 19,000 youngsters between the ages of 14 and 16 work after school in hundreds of Wal-Mart stores, mostly as grocery baggers, throughout Mexico—and none of them receives a red cent in wages or fringe benefits. The company doesn’t try to conceal this practice: its 62 Superama supermarkets display blue signs with white letters that tell shoppers: OUR VOLUNTEER PACKERS COLLECT NO SALARY, ONLY THE GRATUITY THAT YOU GIVE THEM. SUPERAMA THANKS YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.

Nothing like having people work for free to enable a company to turn a profit, huh?

It’s even better when the Walton family, can get even richer by using taxpayer’s dollars to pay for operating costs.

Don’t believe me?

Well, have a look at this: WAL-MART Subsidy Watch

It smacks of the kind of corporate welfare that makes working class Americans sick to their stomachs. The kind of governmental largess that always seems to come at the expense of the American middle class - does the American middle class even exist anymore, I wonder.

All these characteristics would be clearly ascribed to one political party, right? I mean, let’s face facts, we know the party in this country that stands for big business and the one we can attribute all the wrongs of the world to.

So, imagine my surprise when I found this jewel:

Clinton’s six-year tenure as a director of Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retail company, remains a little known chapter in her closely scrutinized career. And it is little known for a reason. Clinton rarely, if ever, discusses it, leaving her board membership out of her speeches and off her campaign website.

Fellow board members and company executives, who have rarely discussed her role in Wal-Mart, say Clinton used her position to champion personal causes, like the need for more women in management and a comprehensive environmental program. At the time, she was Wal-Mart's only female director, the youngest and arguably the least experienced in business. On other topics, like Wal-Mart’s vehement antiunionism, for example, she was largely silent, they said.

The end result is Hillary walked away from Wal-Mart with about the same impact she had on Health Care Reform (see the movie and you’ll understand what I’m talking about) but, what’s interesting is how the fact that she served FOR SIX YEARS on the board of Wal-Mart isn’t common knowledge.



And before anyone starts screaming about bias, take the time out to look at a very calculated voting record during the New York Junior Senator’s term in the Senate - you might find yourself a bit surprised. It’s very clear the Senator never met a popular position she didn’t like.

Sounds like a Silver Age tale.

I was reading this today and all I could think about was the many comic book origins that ran along these lines - sounds like something out of the X-Men:

Sharapova’s mother, Yelena, was pregnant with her only child when the plant in Ukraine exploded and spewed radioactive clouds over the western Soviet Union and northern Europe...


...Sharapova’s father, Yuri, and her mother fled the city of Gomel in Belarus — about 80 miles north of Chernobyl — shortly before she was born in Nyagan, Siberia.

Gomel was one of the areas most affected by radiation. Sharapova said she still has family there, including grandparents.

The quiet man.

I care about experiencing the little moments of daily routine.
I am curious about how all things are related to one another
and how they are part of a bigger event that is out there.

I live in a small moment.
We live in a chain of time.
Every fraction of a second is valid.
The day always starts from a small decision.
The small decision can dictate my whole life.
The little tweaks and changes will most likely affect
the outcome of an event more substantial.

When I try - I mean seriously try - to see what I’m looking at;
what is heroic and what is not;
what is significant and what is not;
what is political and what is not;
what is successful and what is not;
the borderline between those things becomes rather obscure.

It occurs to me that the role of a tiny little insect crawling on the dirt
is equally important as my role in this universe.

My friend Sung and I have worked together now for four different companies.

We met almost a decade ago although it doesn’t seem that long and somehow we keep winding up in the same places. Some of that is happenstance and some of it design (I hired Sung to work for me in one company). I just really, really like being around him though. He appears as one of the quietest people to strangers but, when you get to know him you realize he has a wicked sense of humor, is incredibly warm and extremely talented. I worked with him again recently and it reminded me of just how much nicer the day is when you work around people you like.

My Miller moment.



Over the weekend I saw this picture taken by Phillip Marco Vallentin and couldn’t help but be reminded of Frank Miller’s Sin City. A few emails back and forth between Marco and I, resulted in me doing some quick fooling around with his photo to show him what I was talking about and I thought I would share the results.

Sending out well-wishes to my doppelganger.

“He will be leaving hospital imminently,” Robson said. “He is looking forward to getting back to teaching his young singing pupils as soon as he is out of hospital and next month plans to get back into his Modena recording studio to resume work on his new album of sacred songs.”

You’d have to read some of the comments to understand the in-joke but, nonetheless sending out get-well wishes to the man.

Smut dressed up as art.

So, I came across this item while I was looking around for the Phil Rizzuto stuff:

Zoo Weekly, a magazine which regularly features pictures of skimpily-dressed women, offered readers A$10,000 ($8,400) for “a boob job for your girlfriend.”

But the competition drew the ire of New South Wales state Gaming and Racing Minister Graham West, who ordered an investigation into whether the magazine had broken Lotteries laws forbidding the offer of cosmetic surgery as a prize.

So, I went around to the website and they had this little jewel posted (NSFW!):


http://view.break.com/346896 - Watch more free videos
Now, from the title of this entry, you would think I have a problem with Smut.

Surprisingly enough, that’s not at all the case, I don’t have a problem with naked pics or naked pics that are meant to arouse. I don’t have a problem with art (except I wasn’t crazy about that poop Virgin Mary thing a few years back). Everything has its place in the world, certainly there is a discussion to be made about objectification, I seem to remember having a talk along those lines with a good friend recently.

I know there are groups of people in this world who simply don’t want to acknowledge that each of us has our own hard wiring when it comes to these things but, I figure if no one is getting hurt its okay - you can play dress up, pretend or what have you as long as all parties are agreeable to the situation.

What I really hate though is cheese.

Poorly executed, poorly done, unimaginative work done behind a veneer of high-mindedness. Plopping a guy down in a strange surrounding with a sketch pad and playing classical music underneath a running monologue does not elevate something to the level of ‘art.’ The only thing the video above made me do was go WTF?! But then, you can take a look for yourself and make your own decision.

Talk about your bad weeks.

He played for the New York Yankees for his entire 13-year career, one of the team’s most famous shortstops. His tenure with the Yankees was interrupted after 11 seasons, when he left to serve in World War II. His next career was a long and memorable one. From the Yankees broadcast booth, he called games on radio and television for the next 40 years.

I don’t like to make the blog into one of those things where I just talk about people who died, I like to think that every day brings into the world another person who will have great impact and make our planet a better place. It isn’t about being disrespectful or not missing people after their gone, as much as it is about looking towards a better future and keeping a more hopeful outlook on the world.

I loved Phil Rizzuto though.

I cannot tell you how many fond memories I have of listening to The Scooter broadcast Yankee games. He was so familiar, his humor and quirks so very endearing. Maybe he didn’t always get a player’s name right, maybe he flubbed on calling a play but, he always had a good humor about him and could manage to laugh at his own mistakes.

I’m really spoiled, I got to grow up listening to Phil Rizzuto, Bill White and Frank Messer broadcast the Yankees and Bob Murphy, Lindsay Nelson and Ralph Kiner broadcast Mets games. I can’t tell you what a treat that was.

Even in later years when the Yankees paired Phil Rizzuto with Tom Seaver, you could always hear the reverance and respect Seaver had for Rizzuto during the broadcast, Seaver playfully ribbing Rizzuto like an much beloved elder uncle. Whether it was the signature Holy Cow call, Phil’s mysterious 7th inning trips for coffee (to take him over the GW bridge to beat the traffic), his stories about his beloved Cora or even the way he managed to slip in the names of people and places that treated him well in his broadcasts - Phil was a special treasure to Yankee fans.

My cousin met him many years ago at a function and still talks about that day, a highpoint in his life. He said Phil Rizzuto was every bit as charming, every bit as gracious as the man we all got to know through his radio and TV broadcasts.

I’m not at all surprised and he’s another good soul who’ll I’ll miss.

Awwww... CRAP!

Days just pass by sometimes and I have been so busy today running around. It wasn’t until a short time ago I finally got around to checking out those places I usually surf over to on a daily basis. One such place is Mike Wieringo’s blog (you’ll see it in the sidebar). He’s a guy whose art I’ve loved for years and I haunt the blog regularly posting comments and such. A genuinely nice guy from all I hear and read, I was both shocked and very saddened to hear he died on Sunday of a heart attack at the age of 44! As a vegetarian and a man that took good care of himself it’s just shocking news. I guess it proves just how precious each and every day is. All I know though is I will miss a guy I never met, a person who bought a little brightness into my days with his artwork and who was taken from us way too soon. My prayers go out to his family, it is just sad news.

The parade begins!

Well, this week the first in a series of people coming to visit the Fortress of Solitude is about to arrive. Between people visiting and trips scheduled the next few months promise to be busy to say the least. The first guest up though is the lovely Alix who will be modeling for me and as a bit of a treat sent along the shot below guaranteed to make the heads of geeks everywhere explode with envy.


I thought it was funny as hell when I got it!

Cheapest iPhone ever?

Apple iPhones will be sold for only 99 cents to the first nine customers at the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the first 99 Cents Only Stores® on Thursday, August 9th, 2007. That's right, an Apple iPhone - $500 value - will be sold for only 99 cents, to emphasize that for twenty-five years, 99 Cents Only Stores® has never sold anything for more than 99 cents or raised its price! There is a limit of one iPhone per family/household and this special sale will only occur at the first 99 Cents Only Stores® located in Westchester, CA at 6854 La Tijera Boulevard.

The shape of things to come?

“While Wasp III weighs only 1 pound, it provides many advanced technologies proven to be of extraordinary value across U.S. military services. The Wasp III system can be operated with the same common ground control and user interface as AV’s Raven and Puma small UAS. This IDIQ is designed to enable other U.S. armed services to order these systems through the BLOS program, in addition to facilitating the procurement of BATMAV systems by the Air Force.”

I saw something of this on one of the History Channel shows (Mail Call I think) and have been tracking the company. Seems like an interesting solution but at the same time I wonder how long it will be before something like this is put into use by the police and organizations like the CIA.

No new tale to tell.

I’ve been so busy of late there hasn’t been so much time to post.

Generally it’s just added up to being too stressed out or too tired to get around to completing the big entries.

I could talk about the many houseguests scheduled to make their way to what has been characterized as the Fortress of Solitude and my frantic attempts to get at least a semblance of order around here in preparation for visitors. I could spend more time commenting on the lurker who still hasn’t taken the hint and haunts these environs from time to time (of course there are a few big guns in that regard, waiting for use). I could talk about the very serious prospect of going on staff at either of the places who seem very serious about coming to some kind of arrangement. I might even talk about the few freelance writing gigs I have to get moving on and get out the door but, right now just thinking about all these things makes me want to do one thing and that’s just take a nap.

One last one!



Mr. Green, he’s so serene, he’s got a TV in every room!

Another old favorite.



That still sounds pretty good!

PLAY! MAGIC FINGERS!


Purchased a bunch of Monkees songs through iTunes and just have to admit to loving this song. A little bit of fun for a Friday afternoon.

More about printers.

Did you know that many (in fact, most) color laser printers are spying on you whenever you print a document? Though you may not have heard the news, the discovery was announced in late 2005. Manufacturers embed a pattern of tiny yellow dots on printed pages. The dots are too small to be seen with the naked eye (especially since they’re yellow, see the above photo to see what they actually look like), but under a microscope and blue light they’re revealed.

All you would be counterfeiters should take pause or at the very least check out the list.

Makes a lot of sense.

I was reading this article today and if you are regularly in and around computers and printers you should check it out:

The upshot is that printer emissions should potentially be regulated much the way that auto emissions are, but even in the absence of government intervention, use common sense around your printer: Limit use when possible (tell the guy that prints out every single email to cut it out), sequester printers in their own rooms and away from workers, ventilate offices appropriately, and have your own air and printer tested before it becomes a serious health problem.

Rockstars of the future, volume 1.



My friend has two boys and the last time I was over the house, the boys came out and showed off their bass and guitar looking for all the world like up and coming rock stars. Thing is, they are both at that perfect age just on the precipice of junior high/high school and playing an instrument and being in a band just seems to me like it will wind up being so much fun for them! And the rub is that they’re good too! So this is the younger boy Nick and he’s now learning the drums as well. His older brother Chris plays bass among other instruments and I can’t help but think they will soon be awash in groupies, I am a bit envious! I told them I fully expect them to get me passes to their show once they make the big time!

Have you always been this cute, or did you have to work at it?

So, someone asked me for the cheesiest pickup line I had ever heard/used. I don’t use pickup lines but, I’ve heard some clinkers. Thing is, since I don’t really use them it’s difficult to remember the exact wording of these things. Fortunately, we live in a day and age when there’s a thing like Wikipedia to point one in the right direction:

A pick-up line is intended to be short and easy method of “picking up” (i.e., engaging) another person for sex, romance,or dating. They are usually used to initiate a conversation (an opener). The line is usually brief, and is intended to display wit and arousal to its targeted listener. However, the very nature of pick-up lines, short and often crude, means that there is a low chance of success when they are used.

It was through Wikipedia that I came across The worst pick-up lines, if you have a few moments you’ll want to check it out. If you’re a guy just to see if you’ve used any of these in your arsenal and if your a gal if you’ve been subjected to these clunkers.

Seen recently, highly recommended.


Yes, it was termed a ‘chick flick’ but, it’s the kind of character driven movie Hollywood doesn’t seem to make much today and it’s a highly enjoyable watch.

There’s no getting around it: In Her Shoes is a “chick flick” — a term that even women use, if less pejoratively than men. Three top-billed actresses dominate, several early scenes are spent rooting around in clothes closets, and the key words in the movie's title are “her” and “shoes.” But even for the disinclined of the opposite sex, this is the most enjoyable film of its type in recent memory.

You don’t mess with Oscar.



“He doesn’t make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die,” said Dr. David Dosa in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

More fodder for the eternal argument as to which domesticated creature is smarter, the cat or the dog.

Speaking of...



Well, I was going to use a certain word as a double entendre but, I’ll leave it up to the imagination. In the meantime, I’ll just open up a fresh box of kitty goodness! There is no escaping the gleeful enjoyment of the furry beast!

On a somewhat related note.

Before giving too much attention over to the stalker, I recently came across an article. It wasn’t altogether that surprising outside of the fact that it took as long as it did to come to light. You can only watch so many ‘To Catch A Predator’ segments on Dateline before being forced to acknowledge there is some kind of problem.

I had a discussion with a friend a short time ago. The mother of three kids - a teenage boy, a teenage girl and a young boy - she was talking about the plans the teenage daughter had for the summer. The plans included a trip to Paris and a prolonged stay out in the Hamptons serving as a babysitter. While my friend was more concerned about the Paris trip, specifically the plane ride, I was a bit surprised she hadn’t given much thought to the time spent by the girl unsupervised out in the Hamptons.

The discussion wound it’s way around to things like MySpace. I have to admit to being a bit amazed at the kind of things you will find on MySpace. This was more a confirmation of what I suspected and it should serve as a bit of a warning for any parent.

MySpace.com has found more than 29,000 registered sex offenders with profiles on the popular social networking Web site — more than four times the number cited by the company two months ago...

Get a life.

Date & Time: Jul/25 3:23 AM – Jul/24 11:01 PM – Jul/24 8:44 PM – Jul/24 6:55 PM – Jul/24 5:14 PM – Jul/24 5:04 PM

I mean honestly? Are you that needy? Do you really crave my attention so much? Don’t you think it’s time you sought out some kind of professional help?

Apples.


You like apples? How do you like them apples you nosy f**k?

Who you gonna call?


Driving around the other night, I was stunned when I found myself driving past the Ghostbuster’s car. I always wondered what happened to those guys after the second movie.

Baba O’Reilly speaks.

For me, you know that notion of teenage wasteland, it is about waste!

It’s not about getting wasted, it’s about waste!

It’s about wasted life, wasted opportunity, wasted years and I take full responsibility for the fact that my generation complained about the state of the planet and did nothing... to change it.

I was watching a DVD today on the story behind Who’s Next and Pete Townshend at one point was talking about Baba O’Reilly.

Crazy like a fox.

One day after Carlos Zambrano and Michael Barrett fought, Piniella got ejected after Angel Pagan got caught stealing third base in the eighth inning. The manager kicked dirt and tossed his cap several times.

Question is: Did he kick third-base umpire Mark Wegner, too?

Crew chief Bruce Froemming said yes. Piniella said no.

“He made physical contact with the third-base umpire,” Froemming told a pool reporter. “He made physical contact with his foot, and he kicked dirt on (Wegner) several times, and the rest was show-and-tell.”

Piniella countered: “Froemming is the one that put his hands on me.”

Froemming said he was simply trying to calm Piniella, who “just wouldn’t stop.” And Froemming planned to call Major League Baseball’s headquarters “immediately.”

That issue aside, Piniella did say this about the call against Pagan: “He looked safe from the dugout, but after I saw the play, the umpire had it right.”

After the game on June 2nd, the Cubs record was 22 and 31. They were a team 9 games below .500 with a long season ahead of them that was getting longer with each loss. The question was whether or not Sweet Lou had lost some of his magic. Could Lou’s act have already grown old and tired in Chicago? Were the years of managing Tampa Bay just too much to overcome?

It certainly didn’t look good for the Cubs. All that money spent in the off-season; resigning Wade Miller and Mark Prior, signing Alfonso Soriano for 8 years, signing Mark DeRosa, Jason Marquis, Cliff Floyd and Ted Lilly. Losing Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Wade Miller for significant amounts of time. It certainly seemed as if no amount of money or change in the manager’s office would be able to get the Cubs back on course.

Four weeks though has a way of changing perspectives: One of the strangest months in recent Cubs history, which included fights among teammates, fights with other teams, ejections, suspensions and almost as many wins as they had the first two months of the season combined.

So, one of the most interesting stories of the ’07 baseball season may be the fortunes of Chicago’s team from the North Side. In a year when the Brewers are leading the NL Central it seems only fitting that the Cubbies should be nipping at their heels in the race for the division title and people in Chicago are starting to take notice:

This is all about the vintage work and relentless tinkering of Piniella, who surveyed the scene, took mental notes, weeded out undesirables, rewarded hustle and consistency and ignored clubhouse whispers that he was losing his club. He easily could have chucked it all and returned to the broadcast booth, but as he said when he was hired, this is his final job in a potential Hall of Fame managerial career. He left Seattle early and returned home to Tampa Bay. He left Tampa Bay early because the player payroll was lower than promised. But he wasn’t going to quit Cubdom, even if the scrutiny and pressures of a 98-year plague drove him daffy. “I didn’t come here just to make a little more money and go home when the time comes,” he said.

It’s a long way to September but, boy won’t it be fun if the Cubs are this season’s surprise team.

A far eastern meme.

Interesting.

Illegal immigrants in this country, like any other criminal, have an excuse for why they committed a crime. But if the tale is sad enough, should we forgive them for their original criminal act because they decide to behave? Should we allow them to take jobs away from law-abiding Americans and call them noble for doing so? How about we offer to pay their medical bills and send their children to college? If, in the course of providing these things, we find ourselves going broke, and we say to them, “Enough is enough, we cannot ignore your crimes any longer because it only encourages more criminals,” should we be surprised when these violators take to the streets demanding they be allowed to continue the way of life they have become accustomed to?

I was looking at a baseball article (on an ex-Met of all things) when I saw a sidebar link to a story labeled ‘I am a racist?’ It’s an interesting read if only because the author doesn’t fit into the box you would imagine them to. I think it emphasizes the broad range of views held in this country and how difficult it is to speculate on the opinions of segments of the population based around our own preconceptions.

In case you were wondering.

“There is a common misperception about how methane gets into the atmosphere,” he said. “It is actually through belching rather than the other end.”

Some of the information you find on the internet is just fascinating.

If you’ve got an extra 20 grand lying around.

Here’s a little more proof that you can buy just about anything on the internet. I came across this on Amazon.com, I was looking for information on a Segway and came across this:


he JL421 Badonkadonk is a completely unique, extremely rare land vehicle and battle tank. Designed with versatility in mind, the Donk can transport cargo or a crew of five internally or on the roof, and can be piloted from within the armored shell or from an exposed standing position through the hatch, thanks to special one-way steel mesh armor windows and a control stick that pivots up and down to allow piloting from the standing or seated positions. The interior is fully carpeted and cozy, with accent lighting and room for up to five people. A 400 watt premium sound system with PA is mounted to project sound both into the cabin and outward from behind the windows...