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.

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.