Who turned Keith Olbermann into Edward Murrow?

Some people might not be old enough to remember this (say, if
you are younger than 16), but back in the day, the mid-90s
I think, the best show on television wasn't Friends or Seinfeld,
but the 11 PM edition of ESPN's Sportcenter with Keith Olbermann
and Dan Patrick. They were utterly hilarious and had terrific
chemistry. Lets say their chemistry was better than that of
Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser by a factor of about three
hundred million. So it was a tragic, tragic day when Olbermann
left ESPN for his own show on MSNBC.

For a few years, when I would happen to catch Olbermann's show,
the material would be something trivial a la the newscasts on
the Simpsons or Anchorman, "And today's #3 story on our countdown,
the bear who was not happy with his color prints!!!" And this was
just salt in the wound. Why, Keith, why did you leave ESPN?
I looked up to you Keith. Why??

I dunno what the turning point was, or what snapped, or what
progressive masterfully pulled off a little Manchurian Candidate
magic with Keith, but today he's become the most pointed and
unapologetic critic on TV of the disastrous policies of the Bush
administration. So y'know what, Keith? I'm happy for
you. I'm OK. I forgive you. I think you're doing great work.
I know you still have, like, 1/5th the audience of that pompous
conservative windbaw O'Reilly (who does takes a good stance on
civil liberties in about 1 show out of 10; more than I can say
for Limbaugh, et. al.), but don't let that get you down. As
William Lloyd Garrison once said, "The success of any great moral
enterprise does not depend upon numbers." Keep it up.

If you're out of the loop on this turn of events, check out
Olbermann's 10 minute commentary on the Fox interview of Bill
Clinton. Its really fantastic stuff-- and the most well
constructed, intelligent, cogent, and needed political
critique on television since Murrow. {aside.. so, if the
medium of TV delivers on this every 50 years or so, is it really
worth it? I think I just answered my own question, but Olbermann's
commentaries are still better than anything I've heard on
Air America thus far}.

Olbermann Responds to the Clinton Fox Interview



If you missed it, I am sad for you. Hopefully they'll come out
with a 'greatest hits' DVD one day.

Boo Outer-Borough Overdevelopment. Hoo-Ray Brownstone Brooklyn!

I realize I've blogged about nothing but sports and movies for the past three months. So maybe its high time that I weighed in on the weighty social issues. Repercussions be damned. Here goes...

Prospect of Dems retaking House or Senate: Good
Global Warming: Bad
Term limits kicking in in 2008: Very Good
Situation in Iraq: Very bad

Dang nabit... can't help myself

College coaches coaching the US B-ball team: Good
Entourage Season Three: Bad (but I'm still watching)
Talladega Nights: Good, but not Great
Anchorman, the Legend of Ron Burgundy: Friggen Fantastic

OK, that's enough thinking globally. Lets think locally. So.. I'm coming out on a big local issue.

Ahem. The Big Apple is a great town. Nothing else like it in the good ol' US of A. The diversity. The energy. The magesty. The sterling public transportation system. Err.. check that last one.

And a big part of what makes NYC so very special are the manifold and diverse and colorful and vibrant and unique neighborhoods. These neighborhoods have many different looks, feels, and flavors. A handful --mostly in Manhattan-- are pretty dang urban, built up, and crowded in terms of how they are put together, i.e. the Upper East Side, Clinton, Battery Park City. And these are swell places home to great people leading extraordinary lives. But the tall buildings and cramped atmosphere doesn't do it for everyone as a place to live in, to retreat to after work, to wake up and fall asleep in, to spend the weekend, to raise the kids, etc. This is why we have the outer boroughs. And the Village. Whatever.

I have not lived in Brooklyn for any real length of time on any scale of anything. So call me a transplant, an interloper, an invader, whatever. Point is, I left Manhattan for the relative peace and calm, and less developed urban environment, and culture and feeling of Brooklyn. And I found exactly what I was looking for. Precisely what I was looking for. Brooklyn rocks. Brooklyn is a special place. It’s a lousy thing to play or pick favorites here, but in my opinion, Brownstone Brooklyn is the Crown Jewel of NYC’s neighborhoods.

YES. Brownstone Brooklyn has its fair share of issues and problems. Gentrification. Lack of affordable housing. But here’s the rub, the punchline, the alpha and the omega of the argument for all I am concerned: the scale of Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards project—and here I’m talking specifically about the proposed 60 story SKYSCRAPERS—would be more than just throwing the baby out with the bathwater in terms of addressing gentrification and affordable housing and jobs and whatever else. It would go beyond that. It would take the (metaphorical) baby out of the brownstone bathtub and toss it out onto the street to a most heinous demise. The baby would be no more. The monstrosity of the Atantic Yards project would destroy the spirit and essence and nature of Brooklyn, NY. Which is a damned shame. Not for everyone, directly. Not for the folks in Canarsie or Sheepshead Bay or Red Hook or Greenpoint. But symbolically, 60 story skyscrapers smack dab in the middle of brownstone Brooklyn would be a gigantic sullying embarrassing permanent blight on Brooklyn’s front lawn.

A new arena for a professional sports team for a borough where everyone over the age of 6 shows visible scarring from the Brooklyn Dodgers leaving in the 1950s would be A-OK. But currently, the Brooklyn Nets are part of a crappy package deal, so I have to vote no on the whole thing. Sorry Jay-Z.

And.. c’mon ESDC.. Atlantic Yards would be a public administration disaster. Take an afternoon, any afternoon (say, between 9 AM and 9 PM), and stand out in front of the Target on 4th Ave. and Atlantic, and imagine 5,000 more cars trying to move through the intersection. Should be fun. At any rate… New York Magazine just ran a great piece which hits on the multifaceted problems the Atlantic Yards project raises. You should read it. Yes you should. Good read. Informative. Educational. As Lavar Burton said on Reading Rainbow, read the damn thing and make up your own mind. I’ve said enough.

The Article: Mr. Ratner's Neighborhood

On the Great A-Rod Debate

The subject of Alex Rodriguez and whether he is an overpaid athlete is currently 25% of what is talked about on local sports radio and 10% on national, so I feel oblidged to chime in. I'm not even a huge baseball fan, but the subject of performance in sport is universal and widely applicable, and I feel like most of the analysis here is off-the-mark. So here goes:

"A-ROD is TEMPORARILY OVERPAID"

A-Rod is temporarily overpaid. But he can redeem himself. Here's the rub:

The success or failure of a Major League Baseball team with a $200 million dollar payroll (OK.. $198m and change to be specific) to make the playoffs over the course of a 162 game season can't be pinned on one player. If anything, the failure of a team with this bankroll to make the post-season should be pinned on the GM and maybe the manager/coach (see: the New York Knicks). But this doesn't apply to the modern-era big-buck Yanks, because they almost always make the playoffs.

Once *in* the MLB playoffs, in a 5 or a 7 game series--and kudos to MLB for not following the lead of the NBA and NHL and adopting the interminable 7 game first round series--you can sure use marquis...or just above average... performances from your high priced studs. If a key starting pitcher or fielder falters or excels in a MLB playoff series, that can make all the difference.

In 2004 and 2005, A-Rod had a mediocre and a bad playoff series. He batted .258 against the Redsox in 2004 and an abysmal .133 against the Angels in 2005. This for a guy with a .307 career average. In case people forget, the Yanks had three close losses to the Redsox in that epic 2004 ALCS, and three close losses to the Angels last year. No telling if whether A-Rod had hit closer to his average in both of those series, Yanks would have prevailed and moved on. But here's the problem: he's paid friggen $25 million dollars to hit close to his average in those big games.

I don't know why this is so complicated. Sports (and CEO) salaries are disproportionately high, some more than others. But there is an internal logic (albeit a flawed one) to paying someone a gazillion dollars if the goal is to win a championship or post strong earnings. If the batting average drops in the big games, or if earnings plummet in the 4th Quarter, this is a problem for the players/people at the top of the food/pay chain.

As a New York sports fan, I don't care that A-Rod had strong playoff series with the Mariners, or that he had a 3-error game last week. I want to see him putting up big hitting numbers and good-enough fielding performances IN THE PLAYOFFS. Here's the good news for New York sports fans and A-Rod: he'll have plenty of chances to do this and come up big. Here's the bad news for New York sports fans and A-Rod: he'll have plenty of chances to do this and fail.

So... my jury is out. If the guy puts in strong playoff performances over the next few seasons and the Yanks win a Championship, great... way to go super-ridiculously-highly-paid professional athlete. You have done your job. If he does not, well... this is a problem, and I'll remember him as an overpaid athlete who couldn't hack it when the heat was on, even if he bats a career .300 and knocks in 700 HR.

But we're not there yet. To be continued...



I ain't gonna post a picture of A-Rod, so instead, I offer an image hearkening back to the days of yester-year when I actually cared as much about baseball as I do the NBA. Cheers.

Link of the Week

For a thoroughly hilarious take on Pirates of the Caribbean,
Dead Mans Chest, check out the Ninja's review.

On The Wallace Signing and Roids

This post goes out to Detroit native Aaron Lewis--aka the L.B.M.--and Capital of the Midwest resident Chris Rhodes. In the case of the former, I implore you to temper your disappointment. In the case of the latter, I instruct you to restrict your enthusiasm. Either way, random superhighway visitor, the below opinion clashes with all the talking heads at espn, so you're getting a fresh perspective on life.

Now, don't get me wrong, I certainly don't think the Bulls got any worse with the addition of Ben Wallace and Tyrus Thomas. And I expect them to add to their win total this season, even while I expect Boston, Charlotte, New Jersey, and Atlanta to also improve their regular season records. (Did I just write, "I expect Atlanta to improve?" Yes. I did. Still time to erase that.. still time to erase..) I would not make this argument if they didn't have a good coach and strong guard play, but that isn't the case.

However... I'm fairly certain a $60 million dollar contract for an undersized center who can't score (on the floor or at the line) and who looked a little worn down in the playoffs this year was the answer for a young run-and-gun team that barely made the EC playoffs and beat-the-Heat a couple times on the strength of their running and gunning and shooting.

Two big concerns:

1) Can the Bulls really avoid not becoming more of a half court team in the playoffs with the addition of Wallace and Thomas? Why not pick up players that allow you to become a more effective Suns or Mavs type well oiled offensive machine? As was well documented this season, this type of team can win big in the NBA these days.
And can win it all if not for Dwayne Wade and Bennett Salvatore.

2) Pro-sports maxim: You can't give an inflated star-player contract to guys who have made a name and a career for themselves as hardworking, gritty, hustle players. Ben Wallace has to be in the NBAs top 10 or top 5 hustle players of all time. Division II school. Undrafted. Rode the pine. Then made a name for himself in Detroit by anchoring a very talented, well coached, defense oriented, half court basketball team with blood, sweat, tears, and one very famous face-shove... but not by carrying the team on his back, a la Mr. Wade again. $60 million bucks means bright lights and an imperative to succeed on an individual level. If this Bulls team can't find a way to win the big games without asking Wallace to fundamentally change his game or his role, I'm not sure this is going to turn out well. We'll see.

Trying to be constructive here... If I were Jerry Krause... I would have upgraded from Luol Deng to Al Harrington, kept Chandler (who may or may not be on this way out) and tried to find a couple of DeSagana Diop/Erik Dampier type center/forwards who are nothing to write home about, but fit more smoothly into a roster built for speed and scoring.

One last NBA note, while I'm at it. Rod Thorn. What a guy. Has made being a Nets fan for the past 5 seasons enjoyable. One of the top GMs in the league. Great draft with grabbing Marcus Williams and Josh Boone in the late first round. Yes, these players require a little babysitting/development. Williams needs some time on weightwatchers and in the weightroom to ensure he doesn't go Chris Childs on us, and Boone needs to be spending some long summer weeks in the gym with coach Cartwright learning how to score in the paint. But otherwise, job well done.

Lastly.. I'd like to give a big shout out to steroids. Back in the day (the late 80s, early 90s), as part of anti-drug D.A.R.E. primary education indoctrination, most kids would be (such as myself) subjected to a 10 minute film on the roids. It went a little something like this: HS track or football star had it all... the grades, the girl, the Camero, the loving parents, etc., etc., but one day said star is offered the roids. Next thing you know, this person is struggling in the classes, beating the girlfriend, breaking out in acne, attacking random people with baseball bats, wrecking the Camero, and then dying of cardiac arrest at the age of 17. It was all a little over-the-top, and I don't think it stuck with anyone. But then came along Jose Canseco and Rafael Palmeiro and Mr. "I'm not here to talk about the past" and the roids were really put to shame. Well. That's too bad. But I do know this: I have battled and largely lost with Poison Ivy-Oak-Sumac my whole life, and picked up a nasty case of what I think was Poison Oak while in Cali. weekend before last. Nothing was working. Not the cortisone cream, not the benadryl, nothin'. Then I went to the neighborhood doc for a prescription... that stuff put the hammer down on my insufferable rash in about 36 hours. Drugs. Hoo-ray Drugs.

OK, enough said. Happy 230th birthday, my fellow Americans. Big shout out also to the 22nd Amendment. On our 232 birthday, we're getting a new pres. Hang in there.



Big Ben/Mark Warner in 2008

Soccer!!!!!

I'm going to break ground here and be the 1,003,295th person
to blog about soccer in the past week or so. And, like, two
or three people a day will glance at this. I'm wasting my life.

OK. Soccer must be a great game. Captivates billions. And
its egalitarian. You don't need to be 6' 9" or 280 pounds
to play. You can have the dimensions of a regular normal person
and excel. Its just a matter of speed, agility, and practice,
practice, practice.

Is the game in the end better than basketball or NFL football?
I dunno. One's perception on this is likely highly culturally
bound. I was hanging out on London for several months and
spending a lot of time in pubs watching the Premiership
League and soccer-viewing became fairly captivating. Back in the
states seven years later I can't remember why I found it all so
compelling. But I did. Funny story... one of my first evenings
hanging out in London I was at this gigantic pub in Muswell
Hill called the Church... the NFC championship game between
the Vikings and the Falcons (I think) had gone into overtime.
Out of nowhere, someone up front switches channels to a Scottish
golf tournament. No one in the place batted an eyelash.

I'll say this... y'know what soccer and baseball and football
are better than? Friggen baseball. You know what I love? I
love living in a big city with limited park space and--as is the
case in Central Park and Prospect Park--having 98% of the primo field
space reserved for baseball and softball from May until October.
This activity, when played casually by the public is less of a
'sport' and of more an 'exercise in socialization,' bereft of
any exercise. Bah humbug.

At any rate, I do have one gigantic problem with soccer. And a
solution for how it can be fixed. In your typical world cup
game, the following series of events occurs about once every
5-10 minutes: player X with ball is slide tackled from behind
or from the side by opposing player Y without ball. There is
(or is sometimes not) contact between player X on the giving end
and player Y on the receiving end of the slide tackle. Player
X proceeds to hit the turf, and scream and howl and grab some
part of his lower body and give the impression that he's just
blown his MCL and broken both legs with multiple compound
fractures. And then 80% of the time player X is back upright some
moments later sprinting down the field and showing the world
that he has not, in fact, just suffered career-ending injuries.

There is no honor in this. There is no competitive spirit in
this. There is only extreme lameness and embarrassment and
poor sportsmanship in this. The good news is, I have a solution:

Import the 10-second knockdown rule from boxing. If a
player cannot get up in 10 seconds, that player must sub out
of the game for at least 10 minutes. 10 seconds down, 10 minutes
out. That simple. Players who are truly beat up get a rest
and don't risk further injury. Those who are goldbricking a
major catastrophe are penalized. This rule would instantaneously
solve soccer's drama problem. Simple as that. Trust me.

...as a compromise, I'd be willing to accept players getting
penalized with accruing yellow cards and suspensions *after* matches
are over by governing leagues which review all feigned-death-by-slide
tackle-and-miraculous-recovery incidents. But I'd prefer the 10-second rule.

OK, that's it. Sorry Poland. Go Ivory Coast.



The only thing missing from this picture? Randy Neumann callin'
out, "One!... Two!... Three!..."

Quem é meu amigo em Alcochete? + The Wedding Blog Gets Censored

I threw Site Meter on the blog a few weeks ago, and I can tell
you this free hit-tracking service is pretty fab. One gets
FBI quality info on whos viewing your site, entry links, exit
links, referral links, even a nifty world map showing global
hittage. Now, by and large, the overall news picture here is
still massively disappointing: while my hope was to communicate
with a decent number of folks, the overall site visit count
remains pitifully low. I guess some of the blame
here can be pegged to the phenomenon of 'hit fraud' and the
gazillion fake-blogs being created hourly (or so I've read about
lately)... while some explanation probably lies with the fact
that I solipsistically named the blog url after my standard,
none-too-exciting, jewish American name. If I had named it
"bigexcitement.blogspot.com" perhaps I'd be getting 50 hits a
day. Maybe 100! BTW-- its still available.

OH! But before I get on to the blog hit beacon of light, a funny
story.

So, I have this buddy living over in the Peoples Republic of
China, who tells me that he can not access my wedding blog.
My wedding blog has been censored by the Chinese government!This is fairly exciting. And puzzling. Nothing on there about
Falun Gong, Taiwanese Independence, Tiananmen Square, Harry
Wu, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, the disputed islands
near Khabarovsk, the Yuan being surreptitiously pegged to the
dollar, rural poverty and supression, industrial pollution,
political freedom, and............ whatever other taboos there
are out there. Perhaps its a translation thing. I distinctly
remember watching a gameshow back in the mid-90s where
contestants had to guess the foreign language translation of US
movie titles, and getting a real kick out of the fact that the
official Chinese translation for 'The Shawshank Redemption' was
'Big Excitement 1994'. Hmmmmmmm. Big Excitement. There it
is again. What's my coincidence, Lily Tomlin? So, maybe info
on the wed blog about hotels in Oak Park actually translates into
something rather subversive or perverse in Mandarin. Anythings
possible, I guess.

At any rate, if you're still with me, getting back to the blog
hit beacon of light... site meter tells me that someone (or
some thing) in Alcochete, Portugal, has been very faithful to
this here blog, visiting and reading fairly regularly. To
that I say, Thank You! person of Alcochete! You fill my heart
with hope and warm fuzzies. Or, "voce enche meu coracao com a
esperanca e os fuzzies mornos!" (according to babel fish).
But... I desire to know more. Who are you? What do you think of
the world? Heat or Mavericks? How did you come upon my blog,
and why the frequent visits? What did it? Do I have a future
in showbiz in Portugal? I think I could make that career
change. Drop me a line.

Ok, that's all. Good day, and good luck.



Alcochete, you had me at hello.

NBA Photo of the Year

Shots of someone getting dunked on are a dime a dozen... some
are more memorable than others, such as John Starks famous dunk
on a trio of Bulls, or the time Vince Carter lept over the dude
from France in the Olympics... but rarely do we see someone execute
such a magnificent "thunder block" such as the one Ben Wallace
threw on Shaq in the 3rd quarter of the Eastern Finals game
last night. A thing of beauty.

Cruisazy, Hoffman, the creator of Lost, and the American Action Flick Redeemed in: MI3

RottenTomatoes.com rates MI3 at 70% fresh. This is not a rating
to be proud of. About 20-30% of the 'fresh' (i.e. positive) reviews
are from sycophantic wanna-be movie critics who would slather praise
on Barry Levinson's Toys, Rob Reiner's North, or Andy Sidaris's
Hard Ticket to Hawaii. In other words, in order to drop below the 60%
threshold and be deemed 'rotten' the film must be spectacularly
bad.

Here Ye, Here Ye!: MI3 is a great action flick.

MI3 is not the best action movie ever... its not Die Hard, its not
Raiders of the Lost Arc, its not The Martix, but its very, very good.
It does all the things that a big-budget Hollywood action
flick should do: keeps the action moving, amazing stunt/action
sequences, intriguing plot twists, strong casting, strong-enough
script, & not leaving you with the feeling that the film has
basically mined action flicks of the past 20-30 years for
80% of its content.

It ain't perfect... it wraps up too quickly, and the quintuple-crossing
that goes back and forth at the agency is nonsensical, confusing,
half-baked.. even unnecessary, but I think that's the way MI
creator Bruce Geller intended for these things to unravel, so whatever.

A few salient points:

1) Tom Cruise turns in an excellent performance.

Clearly the guy has some quirky personal life issues. Or perhaps
a lifetime subscription to National Geographic quantity of
quirky personal issues. But seeing the man in a film is not
tantamount to asking him to babysit your kids. He's an actor.
And for about twenty years, from Risky Business to A Few Good Men
to Magnolia to, well, MI3, he's been turning in solid performances.
And in that time span, he has not (to my knowledge) committed
a major felony or done a self-satisfying POS like Battlefield
Earth.

2) Philip Seymour Hoffman turns in an excellent performance.

Which is great. But I needed this one, on a very self-satisfying
level. I love Philip, but, as I noted earlier on this here blog,
Capote damaged me. Hoffman turned in a high caliber,
award-deserving performance, but it wasn't the type of role
I enjoy watching him in, and shortcomings with the film on the
whole made it difficult to endure. He breaks new ground with MI3.
Add arch-evil bad guy to the resume. In short, give me Owen Davien,
Sandy Lyle, Brandt, & Scotty J., or give me death.

3) The dude who created Lost earns some points with the Davester.

J.J. Abrams created ABC's hit series Lost, and also directed MI3.
Lots of people can't stop talking up the genius of Lost.
Like 24, I just don't get it. Without going on here, let me just
say at the outset, I can't take a show about a group of people
stranded on an island seriously when, in the second season, the
characters look more or less as dapper as the cast of The Young
and The Restless, or The Real World. So... I'm glad on some level
Mr. Abrams and I have bonded. PS-- Anyone who suggests that Lost
is on the same level as The Sopranos, even in its 5th and
puttering-out season, should do hard time. OK, maybe, like
18 months. More than a year.

Enough already. Don't believe the hype. Two thumbs up for MI3.



Time out, time out... lets take another look at this thing.

Music Recommendation: Wilco's Kicking Television

I very belatedly got my hands on a live Wilco recording,
and discovered what I thought might be the case for some
time now: I appreciate Wilco about 50% more hearing
them live vs. their studio albums. Which has vaulted
Wilco from a band I generally enjoyed and certainly respected
to one that I am actively highly ecstatic about. I have
seen the light. Not planning on taking a road trip to
Calgary to see them this summer, but the time will come.
At any rate, without blathering about the nuances of why
I like the sound of their live stuff so much more, I will
simply highly recommend the band's new live release,
Kicking Television. 4.5 Stars out of 5. Certainly, from a
sound recording and engineering perspective, some one..
people.. did a really good job with this one. So do what
you will. I say, run out and buy it this afternoon.
Instant gratification. Makes the world go round.


Apologies to Ben Tevelin. You were right.

Celebrity Sighting in NYC: No Joke

I've spent about 30 minutes of my life in Hollywood, California,
and didn't see a thing. I had a miserable hangover and stomach
ache from drinking too much rum the night before (this was about
five years ago, don't think I've had a big rum night since), and
a footlong hotdog from Pinks with everything including the
kitchen sink on it did make me feel much better. But that's
neither here nor there. At any rate, I've seen a boatload of
celebrities here in NYC. As I was walking to the West 4th St.
subway today, I passed Alec Baldwin talking rather pointedly to
an uber-attractive woman who looked to be about 30 years his
younger. I'm guessing the conversation didn't have anything to
do with custody of his daughter, Ireland. Or maybe it did, in a
roundabout kind of way... In these minutes before I head out
on the town for another Saturday night, I will now chronicle the
big names I've seen here in the Big Apple:

Tom Cruise -- Riding in car hooked up to a production truck
in Harlem, 120th St. and Morningside.

Kevin Bacon -- Sat across from me on the M3 NYC Bus heading
up Madison Avenue (only time a person has been a prick...
announced to the whole bus after he got on, without anyone saying
anything, that "we don't know you." I wanted to be, like,
dude, you're the guy from Tremors and My Dog Skip.)

Philip Seymour Hoffman -- Ran into this fellow like 3 times
in the span of a few months. First at a Halloween party with
the Atlantic Theater Company, then at the Nader Rally at MSG,
then at an anti-war event at Cooper Union. By the way,
upon first viewing, I found Capote to be boring and uninspired
with a bland script that didn't allow for a shred of character
development outside of Hoffman's character. I enjoyed P.S.H.
much more in boogie Nights and The Big Lebowski, and have a
feeling that he'll redeem himself in MI3.

Tim Robbins -- City Hall. All the above guys so far are about
5' 8". Robbins could play power forward in the NBA.

Jon Stewart -- Again, on 6th Ave, around West 4th. Guy is
like 5' 6". Not kidding.

Jeff Daniels -- Right outside the Christopher St. MTA stop.

Mike Gordon -- Cruising down Church Ave. in Tribeca

(B-/C list... Sam Rockwell on Court St. in my hood, Chris
Matthews with his NYU teenage son on St. Marks Place,
Steve Forbes at a Yankee game, Mandy Patinkin on Broadway
on the UWS, Jesse Martin at a Mos Def concert at the Bowery,
+ I partied with Anthony Mackie at my place in Harlem before
he got famous (OK... I was DJing, and he was hanging out in
the kitchen, not like we were doing kegstands together)).

OK, will expand this list as memories come to me. Clearly,
I have not had as much luck with the ladies. But I was
stoked to see Baldwin today... a fine actor in my opinion,
and I have loved his older, hardened roles in recent
flicks such as The Cooler and Along Came Polly. 10 4.

My August & Controversal Thoughts on the NBA Playoffs and NFL Draft

NBA Playoffs: So far, so good. Actually... we're only
a little more than halfway through the first round, and
I think the 06' playoffs have the makings of being the best
in a very long time. The exciting/interesting stories and
plotlines are numerous:

1) Last second buzzer-beating heroics, starring Brent Barry,
Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Martin
2) Unexpectedly tight/thrilling series in Spurs/Kings and Bulls/Lakers
3) LeBron James
4) LA Lakers stepping up + riveting game 4
5) Clips winning first playoff series in 30 years and impending
Battle of LA
6) Mavs finally getting their playoff act together
7) Udonis Haslem throwing mouthpiece at Joey Crawford and
Reggie Evans, Reggie Evans.

OK, now here's my commentary which the majority sportwriters and
talking heads have been missing. Has to do with point #4...

Steve Nash was a fine MVP candidate, if we're going by the regular
season. He improved his already impressive stats, and led a retooled
team to 50 wins. Maybe Bryant or Billups or LeBron was more
deserving, but not by a significant margin. The key thing to keep in
mind here is the award is based on the reg. season, not the playoffs,
and that the playoffs are a completely different animal than the
reg. season.

I have been very impressed with improved play of LA Lakers, and
believe that Kobe and Phil Jackson deserve a lot of credit. The
heat Steve Nash is taking, however, is not deserved. He is playing
on a team with essentially no inside players. With Kurt
Thomas going down with injury, Tim Thomas, who was playing
basketball at the Y a few months ago, is the closest thing the Suns
have to a big man. This makes winning in the playoffs almost
impossibly difficult. Nash has no big body to dish to in the paint,
and the lack of big men on defense has allowed Lamar Odom and
friggen Kwame Brown to be effective. That the Suns have won a
game and kept others close is a testament to Nash's effectiveness--
and I don't count them out of this series as most other pundits do.
He missed a lot of shots in Game 5 and committed some key
turnovers, but then again, perhaps he was also clearly calling for
a timeout at the end of OT and got screwed. I predict that the
Lakeshow will get stomped by the Clips in the Battle of LA.
Brand and Kaman will be the difference.

NFL Draft: I have two things to say, which I've not read
in print or heard on the airwaves or the tube.

1) The Texans drafted the wrong guy, but not for the reason
everyone is saying.

Last year I watched a Texan team with a good RB in Dominic Davis
and a good WR in Andre Johnson and a decent defense. I also
remember watching an offensive line that couldn't stop Pee-Wee
Herman or Verne Troyer, which led to QB David Carr getting
sacked on every other play. Call me crazy, but if I am the Texans,
I am drafting D'Brickashaw Ferguson and signing a couple other OTs
in the off season and trying to run an offense that isn't 3-and-out
80% of the time.

Now lets get real provocative-like. I might receive my first
e-threats of physical harm for writing this. So be it.

Reggie Bush was not the answer for Texas, unless the goal was
simply to sell more tickets. I see the career track for Reggie
Bush playing out not like Barry Sanders or Priest Holmes, but
more like Warrick Dunn. That is, I see him breaking 1,000
yards most seasons, but not going much above that, and not racking
up a load of TDs. In USC's big games against formidable D-lines
last year, it was LenDale White who was doing the dirty work and
breaking the goal line, and Bush getting tackled around the line
of scrimmage, or ripping off a Willie Parker-esque run or two.
I'll say it... mixing in Reggie Bush with D. Davis, or simply
giving Bush the starting job, would not have made the Texans
much better this season or next if the O-line was not addressed.

In a similar vein

2) The NY Jets did NOT have a good draft.

There is a fairly simple explanation for this. The Jets QB
plan for the 2006-2007 is, unless I am mistaken, Chad Pennington
backed up by Pat Ramsey. This is a little problematic as:

A) Pennington has a bum throwing shoulder, and
B) Patrick Ramsey sucks.

I'm not saying Matt Leinart was the answer, but having him as
an option in week 4 after Chad has had his 3rd season ending
shoulder surgery and Ramsey has completely bungled a couple
starting attempts, after what happened last season (read: major
problems at QB), I think this would have been the wise
decision. If the Jets had been able to sign Matt Schawb in the
off-season then, fine, this was a great draft. But it won't
pay dividends in the short-term. I predict 7 Jet wins in 06.

Of course, part of the problem here is that we'll never know
if Leinart was good, as he is heading to the Arizona Cardinals.
And I'm guessing I'm not the first person who opines
about the NFL to throw that one out...


Pop Quiz: Which person shown above is your Imported-From-Canada 2005 and 2006 NBA MVP???

The 6th Annual Jammys: The Surreal Life

Last Thursday evening, April 20th, I attended the 6th Annual
Jammy Awards at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Well,
"rocked out at" the Jammys is probably more appropriate
language. It was a stellar production.

A hallmark of the Jammys is the strange combo of musicians one
sees perform. The last set was delightful, and ludicrous.
It was the band Little Feat joined by Mickey Hart on percussion,
Bela Fleck on banjo, Steve Kimock and Peter Frampton on guitar,
Ky-Mani Marley on vocals, and DJ Logic on the turntables.
They played Dixie Chicken into One Love into Iko Iko. Add to
the evening a Chinese Dragon dancing to the opening band and
Manute Bol giving a World Music award and you get the sense
that this wasn't your everyday music/award show event.

I've found myself needing to explain the concept of 'jam-band'
music to more friends and acquaintances than I would have expected
over the past few days... on a highly specific level the term
'jam-band' can be traced to the likes of the Grateful Dead and
Phish, groups that incorporate an element of free form
improvisational rock into their studio recordings but moreso their
live performances (trending on the longer-side of things... not 16
or 32 measures of improvising, as found in Jazz, but upwards of 16
or 32 minutes of improvising)... but the category has also come to
embrace whatever spirit of classic rock survives in these times,
as well as genres of music that are high on musicianship and
instrumentation but do not fit in well with the commercial...
uhh... crap? that dominates the airwaves, including reggae and folk.
Another staple of these bands is that they tour a lot. Which is great,
cus its great to go hear quality music live. But with record contracts
being what they are and media conglomeration being what it is and
the racket of payola-play that leads to only commercial... crap...
going out on the airwaves as it is, bands must tour incessantly to
make a name and a living for themselves.

Other random observations from the Jammys:

>First time seeing Blues Traveler. Didn't enjoy their set until
they brought out a petite female African American blues singer
with a powerhouse voice to do the singing. Then I found the act
quite enjoyable.

>Watching Savion Glover tap-dance to Bela Fleck and the Fleck Tones
was a pleasure, but watching Glover lose about 10 liters of fluids
in the process from about 15 feet away in the GA section was not
as much of a turn on.

>First time seeing Moe. Honestly, didn't like anything they were
doing until they got real deep like into their noodle-jam. Then
I found the sound quite agreeable.

>New Groove award winner Grace Potter is the Danica Patrick of the
Jamband Circuit. She's wicked talented, and awfully cute. Not
much more one can ask for. If someone reading this has her
contact info, please send along. Just kidding.

>Dweezil Zappa appeared to be giving the Zappa cover band and
playing guitar well thing the good college try, but I would have
appreciated his choosing better known Zappa tunes to play after his
pop was given a Lifetime Achievement Award. I feel
like the joint was primed for a little "Peaches En Regalia," and
that this would have brought the house down. Instead, I'm
reading that many believe the highlight of the night was
Frampton playing "Do You Feel Like I Do" with the band Guster.
For all you folks out there (myself included) who have been on
a long car trip, and sat through that 10 minute live version
of this song recorded sometime in the latter half of the 70s
and felt uninspired throughout, you didn't miss anything here.
But I don't want to trash Frampton... he was doing a nice job
at jamming during this set and in other collaborations.
And as the lead guitarist from Guster said, "Ladies and Gentlemen,
its Peter F**King Frampton!"

And that's all I've got to say.

Buy This Album

Support musicians who write and perform music that
showcases a love for songwriting, instrumentation, and
harmonization, and produce a unique sound that celebrates
the human spirit. In an era when much of the music
that is being produced commercially serves as advertising
inasmuch as art, and fails to leave a mark that will
resonate with future listeners and future generations,
Scotland's Belle and Sebastian stand out as a welcome
and exceptional exception to this trend. In my opinion,
they are head and shoulders above the field right now in
terms of talent, creativity, and passion for the craft.
Their most recent album, The Life Pursuit, is nothing short
of phenomenal, and I highly recommend it.

Now don't get me wrong... the album is pop-y and feel-good.
If you're looking for something morose, look elsewhere. If
you're looking for the hardstuff, such as the new Ghostface LP
or some speed metal, keep searching. And don't take my word for
it on quality. Rolling Stone, that musical font of worldly
wisdom, gave it an average three starts out of five, right
there with Rob Zombie and The Little Willies.

NCAA Tourney Analysis: I Was Wrong + the Genius of Matt Stone and Trey Parker

On B-ball

Billy Packer of CBS and I were wrong about the NCAA tourney.
He was wrong about how too many mid-majors were let in,
I was wrong about how not enough mid-majors were let in.
We were both wrong about what would transpire thereafter.

The NCAA invited a good number of mid-majors to the dance this
year, and despite the lousy seedings, these teams have been
kicking ass and taking names. Northwestern State, Montana,
Bradley... hell, 16 seed University of Albany was up 12 points
on UConn in the second half last night. Wha Happen???
Sadly, Kent State still got creamed by Pitt, but I guess the
underdog/little guy can't win them all.

Needless to say, my bracket (like most of America's, I'm assuming,
unless you've gotten lucky or watched wwwaaayyy too much
college ball over the past four months) is shot to hell. Oh well.

One quick note on the NBA... exciting happening is the
development and emergence of Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets
and Nenad Krstic of the New Jersey Nets as quality centers
with a finesse game. They can play the post and rebound,
but more importantly cut to the basket, pass, and spot up
to shoot the jump shot. Watching these players adds a
level of quality and legitimacy to the league found more
often if not almost exclusively at the college level.

On Stone and Parker:

In case you've missed it... Comedy Central yanked a South
Park episode poking fun at Tom Cruise, supposedly because
Cruise told Viacom parent company Paramount he wouldn't
hype MI:III if the episode aired again, to which Southpark
creators Stone and Parker issued the following response:

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the
million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily
anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping
Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses
and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble
bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!" Signed,
"Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."

Ladies and gentlemen, make up your own minds about the
humor value and/or appropriateness of this exchange, but I
will go out on a limb and write that the promulgation of this
retort and the peaceful public response make protections of speech
and tolerant societies a bright and beautiful thing.

  

Are Andy McGinn & EA Sports paying royalties on the
J.T. Smith piece? Inquiring mind wants to know.

Checking In

Greetings and salutations my fellow information superhighway
globe-trekkers. I realize I've been fairly remiss in posting
here for about a month... which, if my hit counter is to be
believed, represents about 1.2 people visiting per day with
no newish material to gaze upon. What an awful thing.

So, some updates.

1) Thanks to the modern day miracles of craigslist and
consulting work, I was able to sit courtside at Madison Square
Garden for what coach Jim Beoheim called one of the best basketball
games in the history of Syracuse's 44 year program. It was,
in fact, a fantastically thrilling event, with Gerry "The
Pride of Scranton" McNamara sending the game into OT with a
dramatic 3-pointer, and the hitherto mediocre Cuse hanging
on to beat the #1 team in the country, thus sending the squad
to the NCAA tournament. And when I write "courtside" I mean
courtside. Barring a highschool or division III contest, I've
never had such a good seat at a b-ball game. And there I
was, first row dead center behind the press corp in the 'Most
Famous Arena on Earth.' How good was my seat? So good that
Clifford "Uncle Spliffy" Robinson--UConn's most famous, and
infamous-- graduate to the NBA, had a worse view, sitting one
row behind me and one section off to the side. Good times.

2) If you scroll down just a bit you'll see some spiffy photos
of Brooklyn covered in a lot of snow. Some climate we have
here in the Northeast. One month to the day (last Sat.) from
that blast of snow, I was playing frisbee in Prospect Park
under clear skies and 70 degree temperatures. Can't say we've
had much of a winter here in NYC. This doesn't bode well for
global ecological sustainability, but I can't complain
too much about this in the moment. When I gaze upon a polar bear
cruising down the East River on a makeshift raft, then it will be
time to dedicate my life to a cause. I expect this to happen
sometime in the next 10 years. Stay tuned.

3) I want to send a big Thank You out to two buddies from
college, Eli Reusch and Bill Hickey, for making it down from
Boston for a friend's surprise birthday party. For the number
of times we've seen each other in the past five years, one
might think Boston is as far from NYC as Capetown, South Africa.
It is, however, about 4 hours and $20 dollars via the Chinatown
bus. I'll return the favor and come up to visit you guys
sometime soon. Promise. Be right there.

Now... lets get political for a second, because these are not
apolitical times. Three ruminations:

A) I'm not sure how long it will take Scott McClellan and
Fox News to use to use "Iraq" and "Civil War" in the same
sentence, but for all intents and purposes, I think we're
there. Ahem: US Forces are fighting a bloody insurgency
in Iraq, a nation that is also gripped by civil war. Can't
you see McClellan tapping Lincoln on the shoulder at
Gettysburg and asking him to refer to the battle as a
'domestic disturbance' or some such thing? I can.

B) Global warming is a real big problem, and needs to be
addressed in terms of individual and collective behavior.
People who drive H2s, for example, are behaving irresponsibly
and amorally. All of them.

C) The NCAA Tournament should come with the tag-line of:
'despite our claims to objectivity, and nifty computer generated
stats like RPI and Strength of Schedule, the whole affair is
a silly subjective exercise in creatively giving lots of teams
the shaft.' Big Conference teams are at the same time over
represented and underrepresented (see Seton Hall and Cincinnati),
a few token charity cases are let in to give the illusion
of equality (see Air Force and the Northeast Utah Valley
Conference Championship winner), and deserving Mid-Major teams
who have a tough time scheduling games with the big-dogs
are hamstrung with impossibly tough seedings and pairings
(see George Washington and Kent St.). Kent State, for example,
a solid Mid-Major team with an impressive record, must,
with the coveted 12 seed, defeat Pitt, Kansas, and then Memphis
(presumably) TO ADVANCE TO THE ELITE EIGHT. Good Luck!!!

Until next time,

DMW.



The NCAA selection committee: friend of the man,
destroyer of dreams.

Snowperbole and D. D. Lewis

OK, so maybe Brooklyn didn't get 27 inches of snow, as was
reported in Central Park. And maybe Central Park didn't get
27 inches, cus its the Central Park Zoo security guards who
are reporting the figure, not Al Roper and the God Grothar
from their Almighty Big Apple Weather Center. For the record.

Random observation: Watched 'Gangs of New York' for the first
time the other night. Flawed movie in a number of respects, but
one of film's most egregious offenses was pairing Daniel Day
Lewis with Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz in the leading
roles. Lewis's performance utterly blew DiCaprio and Diaz
out of the water. DiCaprio looked like a dazed Jack White, who
had stumbled onto the set from shooting his last Michel Gondry
video, delivering lines with an ability that ranged from confusion
to disinterest. Diaz proved why her range should keep her
confined to the likes of, 'Something About Mary' and 'Charlies
Angels.' A big smile and a lot of raw enthusiasm has its utility,
but not necessarily in a gruesome trying-to-be-serious period piece.
This raises an interesting question, for me (though perhaps
I've just answered it)... why in the hell isn't Daniel Day Lewis
in more movies? What was wrong with My Left Foot or Last of
the Mohicans or the Bill Cutting character? I would pay $10 to
see Lewis in a starring role as Abraham Lincoln or a LeCarre or
Grisham protagonist or the newly anointed captain of some version
of the Starship Enterprise. Someone please explain this to me.
Instead Hollywood gives us Steve Martin as a recycled Pink Panther,
Harrison Ford as a computer geek, Martin Lawrence an obese
elderly woman and Tim Allen as a g** damn dog. Thank you for
enriching our lives and our imaginations, Hollywood.



Why have you gone so underutilized, Dan DiMaggio?

27 Inches Baby!!! (Blizzard of 06' Report)

The Winter that Wasn't ended in dramatic fashion over
the weekend, with NYC getting belted with a record 27
inches of snow. Good times. J and I hit Prospect
Park yesterday... I tell ya, you can't have much more
fun in life than playing Ultimate Frisbee in two feet
of snow, laying out for nearly every catch and block in
dramatic fashion. I normally gripe about winter, but this
felt good. Now, as long as I don't get ticketed for
not moving the totally buried Honda for Alternate Side
Parking tomorrow.....



Anyone down for a little backyard BBQ???



View of the block.



Shot of the action from Ultimate Snowbowl 06'

NFL Update

I'm reading on espn.com this morning that the refs who
worked the Superbowl were in some way graded, 'best at
their position during the regular season.' Well, that's
encouraging that they're trying to get the A talent to
the big game. I guess the challenge now is overhauling
the whole ref core and finding some dudes who don't suck
at the job.

On the "24" Phenom and a Disappointing Superbowl XL

On the "24" Phenomenon: I just don't get it. Count me out.
I find it hokey, contrived, and uncompelling. At the same time
slot, I have more fun watching "Vegas" or even "Mad Money"
I've done my part for cable television in pledging allegiance
to some epic shows... down with X-Files, Law & Order, ST:TNG,
Seinfeld, Cosby Show, etc., I just don't see it with Jack
Bauer & Co. What gives, people?

On Superbowl XL: OK, absent Willie Parker's 75-yard mad
dash and the TD throw from Randel El, this was a fairly sloppy effort
from both sides and therefore not a great game.. though better than
the occasional 45-10 SB blowout. HOWEVER, my story line is that the
absolutely, positively, unabashedly TERRIBLE officiating really
diminished my appreciation of the event. OK, that's a polite way of
putting it. Pretty much ruined it.

I have only been a fan of the NFL in a big way for the past three
seasons, but now I'm fairly locked in, with only Pro-hoops captivating
more of my sports-enthusiast attention. I'm used to crappy
officiating in the NBA, and disdain it with equal passion, but at
least in that league it has some consistency in terms of bias: the
home team will get a slight edge in the calls, the big-market
favorite-son of the league (the Bulls in the 90's, the Lakers in the
early 00's) will get a moderate-to-infuriating edge in the calls.
What made the 2005/2006 NFL playoffs so deeply disappointing is
that the same damn team was given opposite treatments. In the
P-Burgh vs. Indy game, the calls went disproportionately against
the Steelers, and affected the outcome of the game. In the
Superbowl, the Steelers got all the calls, and this had a significant
outcome on the game. I read this to mean either, (1) the league
is so rotten, they will capriciously send a lousy ref crew to
call a game to the benefit of any given team on any given Sunday,
or (2) the refs are so inconsistent and incompetent, you, the fan,
are rolling the dice every weekend with whether you'll get a fair
shake. In the NBA/MLB/NHL 7-Game series, this isn't as much
of a problem. In the one-and-done NFL, its a huge problem.

Before we write off possibility (1), which tilts heavily in the
direction of the conspiracy-theory and corruption, I'd like to
write that I've thought a lot (way too much, obviously) about
this, and think its a viable explanation for the following
reason: To me, for the admittedly tough job of head-ref in a
football game, I see in the NFL head-ref ranks a clear
bell-curve distribution in terms of talent, skill, and ability
for the position. I.e., not a lot of parity, but rather guys
who are clearly capable in knowing the rulebook, making good
calls, and running the show, and those who are not. Two head-refs
I'll use as an example for high-percentile winners are Ed Hochlui
and Mike Carey. So... might make sense to assess the competency
of your head refs and assign them to the real marquis matchups,
including the SB. But rather, in the Colts vs. P-Burgh game and
SB we have a 45 year old white guy who looks like he played
high school lacrosse and was pulled out of Ponderosa an hour before
the game and handed a striped shirt and a whistle. They were
terrible. Awful. Inspired 0 confidence. Almost looked
disingenuous after trotting back onto the field from a review.

So... NFL... clean up your act. Get better head refs all-around,
or make sure you are sending the good apples to the big games.
Absent this, and the sport risks taking up the same level of
intrigue as the WWE. And a last word of warning for you Steelers
fans: serious Karma deficit ahead. I'll say it: Kemo Van
Ohfen doesn't take out Carson Palmer's knees on the second play
of that game, and you don't make it out of the first round.

Prediction... Superbowl XLI MVP: Ricky Williams

6 More Weeks of Winter? (& music, music, MUU-sak!)

We've had about 2 weeks of winter, total. A few of those
wintry days were during the transit strike, but I still can't
complain. It has been m-i-l-d. Another factoid about J & I's
excellent snowboarding adventure: it felt like Bali out there
on Hunter Mountain. We're not out of the woods yet. In 2003
it snowed 20 inches on President's Day (and was cool and rainy
until late June... damn you 2003!), but I have a feeling the
Long Island Groundhog that didn't see its shadow got it right.

Some music updates:

Got my first issue of Relix magazine yesterday. Super-cool
feature of this mag is that it comes with a mix-CD of the
artists in the issue... very nice. Some tracks I'm really
getting into: songs by Brothers Past, the New Mastersound,
and the Derek Trucks band with this new gospel guy
leading the vocals. Add to this my recent, and extremely
belated, warming up to The Flaming Lips, and I am very satisfied
with recent discoveries and enjoyment in music land.

Trends I'm not getting into (too much): the Bluegrass trend.
Nothing personal here. Keep up the good work y'all. Just
not my thing.

Trends I'm really not getting into (at all): Indie rock.
Which 98% of NYC music critics have pledged a blood allegiance
too. I'm tryin' folks... downloaded the Bravery, the Kills,
Brian Jonestown, the New Pornographers... its just not sinking
in. And the aesthetic overlap of some of these groups is
kinda funny. Take that Franz Ferdinand song, "Take Me Out."
Snappy, lively piece, but the first 60 seconds sound like a
pretty heavy lift from the Strokes, the latter 2 minutes an
Vanilla-Iceesque sampling of Modest Mouse.

Anyway.. getting back to the greener pastures of jammy-land..
I'd really like to hit this Langerado Music Festival in early
March. Killer lineup. My little bro went last year and had
a ball. Only hangup is that it is 1270 miles away from
Brooklyn, NY. We'll see...

www.langerado.com

Arendt and Snowboarding

This is a post on Hannah Arendt and Snowboarding.

I'm not trying to draw a witty parallel between the two; if one
should serendipitously present itself, well, shucks, we'll run
with it. Board with it. Whatever.

Chapter 1: Arendt

I would like to send a big thank you out to the Detroit Pistons
and the New Jersey Nets for providing sucha satisfying media
alternative to the State of the Union last night.. and for my
favored Nets showing some life and toughness and handing the Stones
big L #6. Not that I would have watched the SOTU anyhow. I
find W to be completely unbearable to watch/listen to. Beyond the
3rd grade level vocabulary conveying a far right agenda, if I
thought one scintilla of what he was saying was original thought
I might feel differently... knowing that he takes his cues and
direction from a small circle of insiders whom former White House
associates have aptly labeled a "cabal" I'm just as happy to
read about the thing in the news. I am aware of the many fun
drinking games one can play during these things, but I had an early
hour conference call this morning, so that was not an option.

Anyway, getting to Arendt. Last night's speech was interesting
insofar as the buzz about what the man would say suggested that
an honest description of the above mentioned far right agenda
(i.e., 2005: the state should dismantle its most successful
social program at alleviating poverty, see, SOCIAL SECURITY, while
cutting taxes for the uber-rich and exploding the deficit such that
paying for such entitlement programs down the road will be a big
hassle) would be replaced in favor of an Orwellian program of
double-speak. Not to be confused with the deception-speak of
2003, which relied heavily upon the ol' boldface lie (WMDs in
Iraq, Uranium in Africa, etc.,).. but rather the embrace of
principles and maxims that are, in fact, antithetical to the
current actions of the state. The crux of the sermon seemed to
rest heavily upon two premises or ideas:

1) The US is overly dependent on foreign oil, and
2) The US should be weary of pursuing policies of isolationism

Hrm.....

Call me crazy, but this strikes me as akin to Jessica Simpson
talking up not-being-image-conscious to a classroom of middle
school females, or Jerome Bettis addressing a Jenny Craig class
on the finer points of staying fit and trim, or a certain unnamed
20th Century European leader... say, around the year 1939...
telling a country, maybe Poland, to pick one out of thin air,
that non-aggression is the way to go.

Lets see here.. US overly dependent on foreign oil.. US should
be weary of isolationism.. the correct course is that the US
should be a world leader.. embrace principles of multilateralism
and cooperation.. not drag itself into a bloody prolonged conflict
based on false premises with no exit strategy in an oil-rich
country while in the process burning numerous diplomatic bridges
and earning the US worldwide enmity.

WHOA. Whoa buddy. I was loosing the script there for a second.
I don't think that was the value lesson W was trying to impart
last night. Maybe I should have actually watched the thing instead
of watching basketball. My bad people. My bad.

Anyway.. I am, frankly, fairly glad that W chose.. err.. was directed..
to go the way of HYPOCRISY last night, because it allows me to evoke
one of my favorite quotes that I will now attribute directly to the
Bush Administration. Its by Arendt, and it goes, ahem, a little
something like this:

The hypocrite's crime is that he bears false witness against himself.
What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of
vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other
vices except this one. Only crime and the criminal, it is true,
confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite
is really rotten to the core. ~Hannah Arendt, On Revolution, 1963

Deep breath

OK.. moving on..

No, wait!.. jus one.. err.. two more comments here on the political
scene. (1) I watched enough of the SOTU last night to catch some
good shots of Roberts and Alito and, I must say, going on the facial
expressions alone, I'm 'flip-flopping' and beginning to worry alot
more about Roberts. Alito looked like a guy who couldn't believe
he was actually in the room wearing the robe, etc., thinking to
himself, "holy crap, I'm the son of an Italian immigrant, I'm on the
Supreme Court!" Roberts, on the other hand, had this Norman
Rockwell look painted on his face, conveying a crusading spirit that
will not rest until the indignities and injustice born of liberal
precedent are laid to rest. I'm not going to use the "A" word here,
but you can use your imagination. (2) Democrats. Man. The Loyal
Opposition. Making a statement by having the guy who lost the
Presidential Election by 3 million votes dialing up from Davos to
orchestrate a feeble filibuster attempt. I'm feeling confident
about the November elections. Yes, that's the word, confident.

Right. Now we're done. Really.

Chapter 2: Snowboarding

The monkey is off the back. I finally did it. Hopped in the
car, drove up to the lovely Catskill Park in Upstate New York,
snapped? into the snowboard, and snowboarded. Yee-haw...

...and that's about as much of a positive spin I can put on the
occasion. Ben Folds has that, "Rocking the Suburbs" tune. My
theme song for the day was, "Rocking the Bunnyhill. Well, sort
of rocking the bunny hill. Mainly lucking out with the bunny
hill from time to time, mainly just falling on my ass."

Don't think I have the jist of it quite yet. But that's OK.
It ain't easy. There's a saying with these activites, "you
aren't having fun until the third day." So be it. I want to
go back, but the second day will have to wait until all the
swelling goes down somewhat, but there will be a second day.
And a third. And then we'll be thick in the fun.

I have to say.. some folks told me that the basics of
snowboarding are easier to learn than skiing. I think that
is, more or less, completely inaccurate. There were two year
old kids effortlessly skiing the single diamond slopes at Hunter
Mountain.. I think there's something to be said for being
able to move both legs separately and stopping fairly
easily. But I haven't skiied yet, so what do I know.

What I do know if that I can tell the world that I have rocked
the board. Good stuff. Below is proof of fact.



10 4. The test is over.

Skiing vs. Snowboarding: Your Take

I think its finally happening. After 28+ years on
the planet, I am at long last getting up off my lazy arse
and "hitting the slopes" this weekend. 20.. 10?.. years ago,
this would have been easy: you go skiing. But now, no
thanks to some shaggy haired hippy types who weren't content
sticking to the beach or skate park, we have snow*boarding* to
greatly complicate the picture. To ski or to board, that
is the question.

I'm sure there are folks out there who enjoy and promote each
equally, but I haven't meet any of them. Neither are the
allegiances too vehement: people I've met who prefer skiing won't
say, "snowboarding sucks. snow boarding is ruining the scene.
I hope all those snowboarding freaks who pollute the mountainside
die in grizzly accidents involving Zamboni" and vice versa.
But individuals do seem to take different tacks on which is more fun,
and which is easier to learn.

I'm gonna start with the board. Its a gut-feeling more than
anything. But I'm still looking for feedback. This is where
you come in. Post a comment on the great debate here, or let
me know your thoughts by zipping an email to dmweinberg1@gmail.com.

I await your sage advice and opines.

Things That Suck

1) January
2) February

The blog has come full circle. We are back to the depths
of north North American winter, and my persistent whining
has returned. Yes, I could move to Miami or Los Angeles.
This has not yet happened, but I'm not sure why.

Here's the bummer about global warming. Heck yeah, its for
real. Its happening. We're destroying life on earth, though
life in one form or another will survive our trashing the place,
that's my august prediction. BUT.. while the negatories of
global warming are racking up, the positives are not. The
permafrost in Alaska is melting, frogs in Latin America are
dying, Hurricanes are slamming the Gulf Cost and Florida with
amazing ferocity.. but winter in where I've lived for all my
life still blows. And sometimes its bitterly cold and crappy.
Like today. If I could go out sunbathing at Coney Island this
weekend, I'd feel differently. That's not happening. The
damage continues to subtly accrue.

I could be doing more. Not to stop global warming. Well, yes,
to stop global warming, but also to not be such a curmudgeon
about the cold weather. The Onion has rolled out a new tee-shirt.
It reads: "I wish somebody would do something about how fat
I am." I need a tee-shirt that reads, "I wish somebody would do
something about how I've never gone skiing." I could be
doing more to get the most out of the cold weather times.

Alright. Wrapping up here. Two random observations:

1. SNL skit featuring Duluth rock band last night: legitimately
pretty hilarious. The guy who played the lead singer doesn't do a great
job as George W. But in other situations, he's pretty solid.

2. If the Colts win today, well, they did it with a LOT of help
from the refs. Not sure I've *ever* seen this lead ref before.
That non-call pass interference in the 1st half that would have
put Pitt up (likely) 21-3 was incredible. Ruling that Troy P.
didn't intercept Payton in the 2nd half was even more incredible.
We'll see what happens... 2:55 left. Pitt up by 3. Punting to
the Colts.