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.

Online Diplomacy, Picking Up Where Fantasy Football Left Off

If the record of human history needs more evidence to
point to my fondness for and participation in nerdy activities,
add Online Diplomacy to the leger. Diplomacy is a stellar
game. In a nutshell, imagine Risk without the dice, where
all conquest and conquering is predicated on convincing
other players to support the moves of your units on the board. It
requires participants to be skilled in strategy as well as
rhetoric and, well, acting. One cannot compete in a game
of diplomacy without lying, conniving, making the sale,
playing personalities off each other, etc., And its no holds
barred. The rules of the game allow--and even encourage,
somewhat-- espionage. Its high drama, and a lot of fun.
One of my fondest diplomacy memories is watching my buddy
Josh get so worked up over my older brother crossing him, that
Josh sent older brother to the floor with a classic Ben Wallace
to Ron Artest type body-shove. Now, this type of behavior isn't
to be condoned.. just shows how involved people can become
with the game.

In the long lost golden years of the 90s, I'd play Diplomacy
with my older brother and his close-knit posse of six or seven
guys over some cheap greasy pizza and a lakesworth of Mountain
Dew. I don't know where those years went, but they're gone.
Now, we're spread all over the eastern US, and forced to play
the game online. Which is still generally a good time.
Unfortunately, in the inaugural game, I'm getting totally schooled.
The Czar of Russia, played in this scenario by one Mr. Bill Korner
(who, to my credit, does hold a law degree from Harvard...
sharp guy) crossed me in the first year of action in such a way
that one of my units was completely destroyed. This has never
happened to me in a Diplomacy game. And the fallout is such that
I think Austria/Hungary and mother Russia are going to make
quick work of me, the Turks, and that will be that. Oh well.
After drafting Jamal Lewis and Michael Clayton and failing to
move my army in Bulgaria into Greece in the fall of 1901 I'm just
riding a cold streak in the world of make-believe glory that has been
unforgiving and punishing. I should really get out today and play
some Ultimate Frisbee. Good to get some fresh air.

At any rate, if you're interested in peeking in on the game, I've
setup a website tracking the action. The url is:

http://ohgreeks.tripod.com

Fantasy Flop

Crap-ola. The 05' Fantasy Season comes to a bitter,
disappointing end with a whimper rather than a bang.
My team, with very few exceptions, crapped out. My
opponent, Phil "Mr. Buffalo" Whitman didn't do too hot,
either, but he did have Larry Johnson on the roster who,
I had expected, would not gain 160 total yards and 3 TDs
against Bill Parcell's "defense savvy" Dallas Cowboys.
Here's the irony and stupidity of fantasy. So, you'd
think as Larry went... 140 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs,
so would the Chiefs, picking up the W... but they didn't.
Go figure.

Amendment 29

We're all up to speed with and on board with Amendment 28
to the US Constitution--the abolition of daylight savings--
thanks to my post from a couple weeks ago. And by the way,
I think the Repubs successfully slipped the shortening of
the fall back period by two months into the 05' Omnibus
Energy Bill. Which is good news. Hooray. Still doesn't
help us out on a day like today, when I think the sun set
in NYC at 2:36 pm, before the soaps ended and various
"Judge TV" programs even hit the airwaves.

Here's Amendment 29:

Christmas can never fall on a weekend. It must skip
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. For example, this year, Christmas
would be observed on Monday the 26th, not Sunday the 25th.

This isn't a dig on Christianity or Santa Clause or the number
25. There are just too many logistical difficulties associated
with trying to do the holiday/religious observation-family thing
and the weekend R&R thing on a Sat. or Sun. And with New Years
falling on the next weekend, it makes for a devil of a time to try to
schedule being out of town for both events. Take this year for
example: if you want to share both holidays with family and friends
out of town, and we're designating Jan. 1 as a 'recovery' day and
not a travel/back on saddle and ready to go day, we're talking
about a commitment of about 10 days gone. Ouch. Doesn't quite jive
with el work schedule. And the first weekend is largely lost to
most non-family activities (beyond shopping perhaps. Great).

OK. I'll just come out and say it. A 'Christmas Weekend' and
a fun weekend to catch up with an extended network of friends
and family are pretty much mutually exclusive. Both are or should
be sacrosanct. But problems are spawned on the homefront as
well. There's the guilt of being homebound and pretending that you
wouldn't prefer to be watching Spurs vs. Pistons or NFL Football
instead of playing Scategories with the fam... whatever.
You're getting the general gist of my point here. And the religion
thing... just read an article online today that many Mega-churches
are bumping Sunday services this year. So I'm not even going out
on a limb on that one. (though our stated reasons are very different.
Yes. Who cares).

Swell. Out of the way. Call your state legislative leaders today.

Up next: Amendment Thir-tay.


Happy Holidays Ya'll 

Be Great, Alexander. Be Great.

Monday night football. Before we get to fantasy implications...

If you do not read Bill Simmons on espn.com, make a habit of
reading Bill Simmons on espn.com. It will improve how you feel
and your outlook on life. He's establishing himself as the
Mark Twain of comedy writers. Sports and pop culture are his
chosen vehicles for column-writing, but that's beside the point.
An excerpt from his Friday NFL-predictions, spoofing the
ever-changing country song MNF on ABC has been running this
NFL season:

Chad Johnson did a special dance in the Steel City
J.P. Losman murdered the Bills once again, it's such a pity
In Minnesota the Ewing Theory replaced the Sex Cruise
In Baltimore Billick sees Boller and thinks about booze

Harrington gunned down Matt Millen in the locker room
Vick went into Carolina and he lowered the boom
Because I like it, I love it, I want some more of it
I try so hard, I can't rise above it.
Don't know what it is 'bout the pushin' and the shovin'
But I like it, I love it, I want some more of it

At any rate, I'm going to get this guy's most recent book
signed on Thursday. I plan on asking him to write something
self-ingratiating in it like, "I'm the Bill Shakespeare of
Sportswriters" or "I'm Bill Simmons, and I'm a National
Treasure." The book is about the Red Sox and the "sport"
of Major League Baseball, which I am caring less and less about
by the 'Carlos Delgado to the Mets for three guys in the stands'
day.. so I might not even read the thing. The columns on
espn are the real gems.

Back to fantasy. My season has blown chunks. From Jamal
Lewis turning in ONE worthy performance, Michael Clayton
turning in NO worthy performances, Issac Bruce's turf toe,
Stephen Davis's Robocop knee, Peyton Manning allowing the
defense to steal his spotlight for the first five weeks,
etc., etc., its been a long and unsuccessful affair.
Ironically, I'll still be able to limp into my league's
playoffs at 5-7-1 if Shaun Alexander outperforms Brian
Westbrook tonight (and not because Shaun or Brian are on my
team... this is about another guy loosing). Vegas would
probably give me 25-1 odds on this, but the fantasy winds of
strange fate and fortune blow hard, and I wouldn't be shocked
if Shaun missed the first half because he locked himself in
the team's hotel bathroom.

But I feel good about the playoffs if I can sneak in tonight.
Peyton is on fire. Mike Anderson is fairly dependable. The
matchups for my receivers are good. The Ds and my kickers
are solid. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Earlier in the season I had been predicted a Broncos vs.
Panthers Superbowl. I am now officially changing that prediction
to:

Colts: 45 NFC Team: Less than 45 points.

***UPDATE***

Shaun Rumbled for 2 TDs and the Eagles looked like the worst
team in the NFL. I'm officially in the playoffs, and going against
Phil Whitmam from Buffalo, NY this Sun. My player matchups are
ridiculously favorable this week, and I think I have a great
shot at winning. This will be rough for Phil. Four consecutive
Super Bowl losses in the 90s aside, fate will be cruel once again
for this fan from Buffalo. From last week's real-world collapse on
a last second TD from the unstoppable SAGE ROSENFELS, to
fake-world defeat at the hands of my 5-7-1 squad I renamed after the
NBA team that fled Buffalo, a level 8.5 stomach punch is headed
westward on I-90 at breakneck speed. But again, Phil belongs to a
tortured class, and should be used to these by now. Strap a
leatherstocking helmet on the Wrigley Field Billygoat, and you'll
find that critter playing pigskin on the eastern shores of Lake Erie.

Response to Jeff

Jeff said...
"but something super-special was discovered in classic rock, and
has largely been lost, ignored, or subdued. It can be found
from time to time in "jam" music, pop, or the blues, but not as often
as one might think. "

I wonder sometimes, though, if for us and those who are 10-20 years older than we are, classic rock is great at least partly because we heard it young--not because it's the greatest music ever.

The test of time will be interesting. What will be "classic" popular music to those who are babies now?

5:29 PM


David Weinberg said...
Jeff,

You make a good point. It is my understanding that the emergence of punk music and the aesthetic that came along with it in the mid and late 70s was in some sense a bitter reaction to classic rock, which dominated the airwaves for years. The classic case and point is that Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' is the most-played song of all time, and must've worn people out (particularly those not into rock music) back in the day. However, songs get overplayed on the airwaves today just the same, but most of those will not stand the test of time as well as Zeppelin tunes (not to mention Zeppelin put out great albums from start to finish; the I-Pod and downloading may be the final nail in the coffin for that convention).

Call me crazy, but I think the era of classic rock, led by such titans as the Beatles, Stones, Doors, Floyd, & Zeppelin, to name a few, marked a musical renaissance as great as any in human history (though, of course, the Blues are never given enough credit as a progenitor), and will be appreciated for many generations to come.. not just by our kids..

I feel somewhat for contemporary Indyrock.. the totalizing perversion and subversion of music by advertising today did not exist in the 70s or 80s.. much of Indyrock sounds as if it were composed to be immune or impervious to this subversion. Alas, what we're left with is something that-- I personally, at least-- don't find overly enjoyable to listen too. I cringe everytime I hear that commercial for Cadillac that uses Zeppelin's 'Rock and Roll' but I wouldn't vote to sacrifice my deep appreciation and enjoyment Zeppelin's oeuvre just because some worthless schmucks at an ad firm are getting paid 200K a year to think up this stuff, and record industry contracts grant virtually no artists (Eric Clapton and Tom Petty are notable exceptions) exclusive rights over commercial use of their music.

We may be turning a corner. Get satellite radio.. tune out commercials. Download and just listen to your I-pod incessantly (we have an army millions strong here in NYC who fall in to that camp). TiVo out your commercials, or better yet.. kill your television. Unplug from the corporate massage, enjoy good music unabated.

You can do it!

Mike Anderson: What A Guy (and music ramblins')

Finally, finally, f-i-n-a-l-l-y my long fantasy football
slump/nightmare season came abruptly to an end yesterday,
and right as the playoff seedings are shaking out (yes, I
am a nerd. Repeat, I am a nerd). While P. Manning, Chris
Brown (who I acquired in a trade of Chad Johnson... yes,
I traded the gold toothed tiger... this might not work out
in the end), and the Broncos D put in admirable performances,
the biggest thanks goes to the blog-aforementioned Mike
Anderson, running back for the Denver Broncos. Along with
his 113 rushing yards, Anderson had a hat-trick of rushing
TDs. Making me look good for not drafting man-child Shaun
Alexander with the #2 pick. At the end of the day, LA
Clippers (that's me) 140 fantasy points, Hippie Haters (that's
my opponent) 44. Woo-hoo. Boo-ya. Hell yeah.
Last time... I'm a nerd.

And now for something completely different:

My top three fav active (cranking out LPs... touring) bands:

1) White Stripes
2) Medeski, Martin and Wood
3) Tea Leaf Green

Honorable Mentions/On The Bubble: Shins, Belle & Sebastian,
Blackalicious, Talib Kweli, Fiona Apple........ just kidding.

Man, can't say enough good things about Tea Leaf. Saw them
against last Sat. night for an Album Release Party/Concert at
Coda in Manhattan. Was talking with my buddy John Flanigan
at the show (who's recent interview of the band will appear on
an upcoming DVD... will link to product info when I have it)
about who the band sounds like. From that conversation and
my own musings, I'd say TLG is an agreeable, albeit bizarre,
intersection of the sounds of Phish, The Allman Brothers Band,
and James Taylor. They are talented musicians, play well
together, but most important... keyboardist/songwriter Trevor
Garrod can actually write superb, melodic, inspired songs.
Sure, there are other people out there... Ben Folds, Gavin Degraw,
friggen Fiona... but either they're too sapped out or angst ridden
or flyin-solo to re-capture the long lost beauty of rock ballads
from the 60s and 70s. YES, other forms of music (Country,
Hip Hop, Techno, Jazz, Pop) have their place and are important,
but something super-special was discovered in classic rock, and
has largely been lost, ignored, or subdued. It can be found
from time to time in "jam" music, pop, or the blues, but not as often
as one might think. So you go, Tervor Garrod. Keep them creative
juices floating. For a taste of what I'm talking about, pick up
the band's new album Taught to be Proud and listen to the first
two tracks multiple times at maximum volume. You'll get the idea.
Unlike previous albums, this one can actually be found in some
record stores. Living In Between is also good, but you'll need to
buy it online.

Later,

Dave



I haven't been this up on a band (uhh... we'll say "of up bands"...
Radiohead not much of an upper) since the boys from Vermont. Yee-haw.
Its been too long.

I F***ing Hate Daylight Savings

Yay! Its getting dark at 5 o'clock! Yay! Right when
you get out of work. Maybe. Maybe you got out of work
and it was dark two or three hours ago. BONUS: its
also getting cold and grey. So if the lack of light
wasn't enough to send your seratonin levels into a
hellish depressing tailspin, try winter!

This sucks.

There's a longer blog in the pipeline that outlines my
3 Amendments to the US Constitution, but here's one of them:

Abolish Daylight Savings

Replace it with something that keeps the evening lit,
forever and always.

THE REPUBLICANS, whose policy ideas I infrequently agree
with, have floated a proposal to shorten the 'fall back'
period by two months. This is A-OK, like raising the speed
limits in the mid-90s. Official, on the record justification
is that it would save billions on energy costs. Which it
probably would. But the real reason its being pushed is
because the retail industry supports it. Whatever. Lets
stop being coy.

It reallllly sucks for the sun to set at 4:37 PM. Life no
fun. Lets do away with this. Why not? As far as I can
tell, because of the poor kids and farmers. To that I say:
balderdash. Thems not good reasons. Here's why...

(1) Let the kids go to school in the dark. Builds character.
Teaches survival skills. Everything is so posh these days.
Life is served up on a silver platter. Kids got no expectations
on them beyond doing well on silly standardized tests, playing
the violin or soccer, maybe graduating from high school or
going to college. Well, here's a challenge... try finding
your way to the busstop at 6:43 am when its not mid-afternoon
bright outside. Save some of that allowance and buy a flash-
light. Tie a string. We didn't win the Revolutionary War
and write The Constitution getting driven around in SUVs and
watching Chicken Little. Sacrifice. Ingenuity. Perseverance.
I'm finishing my coffee.

Of course I'm kidding. But only a little.

(2) The poor dairy farmers. Without daylight savings, wouldn't
know what time to milk the cows (like, with the mega-
corporatization of farming, are there more than 4 people
in the US on any given day who are actually milking animals
by hand??). Here's an idea. Milk the cows when you can see
them. Buy a cow-themed clock and set the alarm to when it gets
bright outside (in my world, this would be about 90 minutes to
2 hours after it does currently: you don't even need a new
clock). When the alarm goes off, roll out of bed, throw on the
Carhartts, and go milk the cows. They're not going to stop giving
milk, and I'm not going to stop taking milk in my coffee.
Trust me.

I apologize to the world and all those who actually have to
spend time with me for my elevated level of crankiness until
we do away with this monkey business sometime in April. April.
Ugg. Long live sport. If we didn't have the interminable
NBA season, NFL, and March Madness, I don't know how I'd get
through this stretch. Please people, we can put an end to this.
Abolish daylight savings. Keep it light late.

Thanks.

October: Fall Foliage, German Beer, Indictments Galore

I'm having a pretty good day today. Better than Lewis Libby,
I'm guessing. Didn't get indicted on five felony charges and
subsequently had to resign from my job.

Lets not let another interesting GOP indictment story slip
through the Delay/Libby cracks, here:

In my good ol' home state of Ohia, Thomas W. Noe has been indicted
by a grand jury in Toledo for illegally funneling $45,400 to
W's re-election campaign. Remember that election? Ohio's
decisive electoral votes went to Bush, while Ohio's Secretary of
State Ken Blackwell was pulling dirty tricks including disallowing
voter registration cards which were not submitted on hard stock;
the Diabold machines in one precinct were awarding W thousands
more votes than there were voters; African Americans voters in
Cuyahoga County were waiting upwards of 10 hours to cast a vote.
That someone has been indicted for illegally funneling money
into Bush's relection coffers makes me feel much better about
that whole affair.

One last thought, and then I'll get off the politics-kick:

I don't think the war in Iraq, as a matter of policy, does anything
to make the US safer from the threat of terrorism. On some level, I
believe it raises the long-term risks. So too does Bloomberg's
recent break with federal agencies on the threat of a terrorist
attack within NYC's subway system-- and the leak of this intelligence
from federal employees to well connected individuals in NYC--
signal a complete failure in the righting our pre 9/11 mistakes
in the administration of homeland security. Off course abroad
and off course at home. High time for a new political leadership.

Alright. Enough. Next week: all pop-culture all the time.
Have a great weekend.

Post Redux

Huh. On the heels of numerous posts on Gulf War II and war
in general-- including a plug for Apocalypse Now-- there appears
in this month's Harper's Magazine an article by Lawrence
Weschler which argues that 'anti-war' movies are problemmatic
because most end up serving as pro-war inspiration for young
soldiers heading into battle. The article focuses on Gulf War Vet.
Anthony Swofford's book Jarhead as well as Apolcalypse. Interesting
piece, but I'm not sure I agree with the thesis... and now I'm
doubly weary of Jarhead the movie: trailer looks like a ripoff
of Full Metal Jacket and Three Kings bereft of important messages
about the current conflict. And if part of this film, featuring
Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx and directed by the guy responsible
for American Beauty, spends some portion rehashing Apolcalypse,
well, this could qualify as cinematic blasphemy. But I'll withhold
final judgement until I've seen the film...

Iraq and Vietnam

New York Times Magazine, October 23, 2005:

In most of the 20th century's guerrilla wars, the armies of
the countries battling the insurgents have suffered serious
breakdowns in discipline. This was true of the Americans in
Vietnam, the French in Algeria and the Soviets in Afghanistan.
Martin van Creveld, a historian at Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, says that soldiers in the dominant army often
became demoralized by the frustrations of trying to defeat
guerrillas. Nearly every major counterinsurgency in the
20th century failed. "The soldiers fighting the insurgents
became demoralized because because they were the strong
fighting the weak," van Creveld says. "Everything they did
seemed to be wrong. If they let the weaker amry kill them,
they were idiots. If they attacked the smaller army, they
were seen as killers. The effect, in nearly every case, is
demoralization and breakdowns in discipline."

Over 50,000 names are listed on the Vietnam memorial.
The number of deaths of US soldiers in Iraq will soon reach 2,000.
While this number is far less than Vietnam, I fear the lasting
psychological damage on the tens of thousands of young men
and women who have served or will serve in Iraq will be
similarly widespread, and will leave a lasting mark on my generation,
as the Vietnam war did on my parents generation. Such is one legacy
of the misguided and corrupt regime... or cabal... of Bush, Rumsfeld,
Wolfowitz, Rove, Cheney, et. al.. May history remember their
arrogence, their folly, and their failure to learn a critical
lesson in foreign policy and humanity taken from their own past.

Feeling Down? No worries. Try getting indicted on a Felony Money Laundering charge.

Looks to have pepped up Tom "The Hammer" Delay.
(see Tom's mugshot below, if you haven't already)

Just heard a rumor that Dick Cheney is going to resign.
Maybe its a health thing. Maybe its a Valerie Plame thing.
Maybe its a "OK, now my boss has run off and nominated a
totally unqualified croney to the SC, which has Bill Kristol,
George Will and even Ann Coulter screaming bloody murder.
I can see my sage advice is no longer appreciated in this
office. Screw this, I'd be happier duck hunting" thing.

Things just keep looking up for the GOP. Not that I disdain
everyone in the party. I might vote for Bloomberg next
month. I think Arlen Specter has been very even handed
with the judicial nominations. I believe that John McCain
or Chuck Hagel could make for pretty good Chief Executives.
But this current Administration and House Leadership are
simply rotten to the core and need to go. Too bad that the
Dems aren't offering the American people a sound alternative,
but I'll take some internal collapse born of the weight of
folly, hubris, and corruption that drives Bush, Delay, et. al.
I don't know what more the Republicans could offer the Dems
to build a populist movement to retake the Congress: this
week alone we saw the Republicans nix a rise to the paltry
minimum wage, and the passage of bills granting immunity to
gun manufacturers and the fast food industry. The current
power structure in Washington does not have in interests of
the American people in mind: they do the bidding of the
corporate interests that fill their coffers. This message is
not too tough to understand or communicate. Please, Dems,
find some folks with charisma and public speaking skills for
2006/2008, and hand them the microphone.

You Can Do It!



Hey Kids! Crime might not pay, but hell'if it won't put a
smarmy smile on your face!

Odds and Ends

Word. Its been a while. No major over-arching themes here.
Just ramblins. Like it was a live journal thing. But its
blogspot.

The sun is shining through the skylight. Prior to this happening,
it was raining for 7 days. Constantly. Nonstop. Not kidding.
It was a real hoot. I was watching a movie earlier in the week,
and peered up at one point to see a small portion of the skylight
underwater. Kind of a cool effect, but rather troubling. Found
a way up on the roof, and discovered about two feet of standing
water in one area. Could have stocked it with Carp. Strange.

I have a job. Woo hoo. Good stuff. Doing policy and inter-
governmental affairs. Right up my alley (though I'm still waiting
for that NBA/NFL GM call).. However, as I'm rapping with Mayors,
Mayor Wannabees, Councilmembers, Commissioners, etc., we're
gonna stick with Weintraub from Dallas for a while.

So I don't have cable, and my DVD watching has gone up accordingly.
I own about 10 DVDs. One is the extended version of Apocalypse
Now, which I watched again this week. Holy Crap, what an amazing
piece of work. I know as the 27 year old white dude from USA I'm
not beating any stereotypes loving that film, but its just such
a priceless thing. Coppola is totally on top of his game, although
I guess the project nearly drove him nuts. Read on the internet that
this extended version still left about an hour of footage on the
cutting room floor. I dunno... when a director has all the right
supporting cast and is on a roll, I have a lot of patience for longer
length films. I think I could happily watch a 7 hour long
Apocalypse Now. One of the most moving and captivating scenes in
the film for me is the scene where Sheen's character is passing
through the last US military outpost heading upriver to Cambodia,
and asks, for the final time, if a soldier knows who the CO is,
and the guy turns to him and says, "Yeah." I swear, its the most
dramatic one-word line delivered in any movie I know of.
Speaks volumes. If you have not seen this film, you must.

Fantasy football team: Sucks. But I pulled off the most improbable
win last week over the grand daddy grump of our league, Todd S.
That made me feel a bit better as a human being.

Oh, yeah... not attending the college 5 year. Sorry, E-ham class
of two-thou, I'll make it up to you, at some point.

Later peeps.

Is It Wrong To Miss Class Reunions??

My grad school roommate watched Michelle and Romi's High School
Reunion about 10 times last academic year ... for which I'll
never forgive her.

So, uh, I've already missed my 5-year HS Reunion, and am now
trying to decide whether to attend or blow off the college 5 year.
The decision on the HS reunion was fairly easy: I have no
interest in catching up with most of those folks, on any cosmic
timeline. My HS class was uncanny in its utter worthlessness.
The class before and after mine had about 11 Rhodes and National
Merit Scholars, and the GPA cutoff to take advantage of the state
concurrent HS/College enrollment thing was, like, 3.6. My class
laid a big goose egg on the scholarships, and the GPA cutoff for
college classes was on the order of 2.34. Not that good grades
make the man, or woman. But my class was also waaaay too into life
projects such as football, Beavis & Butthead, Oasis, and, most
important, behaving as if HS was the highlight of their life.
For many, it was. I think the Bureau of Justice Statistics keeps
a separate file on the AHS class of 96'. OK... so I'm being
pretty harsh. But I'm also from a small town that has a
moderate-collective-leaning towards the drink, and with the
clustering of bars uptown, the time uptown around
Christmas/New Years serves pretty effectively as reunion-time
with anyone you might care to see, whether you grew up with them
or not.

The college 5-year is a tougher nut to crack. Gut feeling tells
me I should go, but I can also think of a dozen reasons and
incentives not to go. First, you have to understand, I went to
a small school that was all about 'intentional community'. So,
while I didn't take a blood oath or anything, I guess the idea is
that I should remain vigilant in keeping up with the community
post-grad-uation. But, ugg.. a few of the reasons not to go are
fairly compelling. 1) I keep in touch with a lot of my best
buddies from college, and others have informed me they can't make
it out 2) This college is not located in Vegas. Or Annapolis
or Ithaca... or Athens, for that matter. Its just not an uber-fun
place to get fired up about spending $300 to get to. But I know
and love a number of folks who live there, including a cousin,
so I won't harp on this too long 3) Unlike HS, I actually had
girlfriends in college, and while I am stupendously happy with
the EC woman I ended up with for the long haul, I harbor immense
feelings of regret and trepidation toward all the others and
reconnecting with any of them would be about as much fun as going
under the knife for hernia surgery again...

Lastly: call me a goof, but my favorite holidays are
July 4, New Years, and Halloween, with Halloween at the top of
the list. I really hate missing Halloween. If I went out to the
alma mater, instead of attending one or two swell costume parties
or events, I'd be holed up in some crappy smoke filled bar, or at
a Sinbad performance (memo to college: ol' S-bad burned out on the
new material back in 98'). Human life and social organization can
be, on the whole, pretty banal and disappointing and feckless.
I find a well attended, with high rates of attendee-participation
Halloween party an absolutely priceless thing. Its good to see
so many people let loose and let go of their everyday identities--
its also a heck of a lot of fun to discuss, say, Supreme Court
Nominee Mier with Richard Nixon, Napoleon, a Grateful Dead bear,
and a lifesize container of Palmolive.

Luckily..... if I do go, I still have an opportunity to do the
costume thing the weekend before at the 5th Annual Lebowski Fest
NYC. For those of you who are not familiar, Lebowski fest is a theme
party based off the Greatest Movie In Cinematic History, The Big
Lebowski. Check it out at:

http://www.lebowskifest.com/newyork2005.asp

So maybe I'll see you at Lebowski Fest. Or my college 5-year. Or
my HS 10-year. Somewhere down the road. The dude abides.