Am I in danger of being a GRUP? Are you?

During my search for end of the internet yesterday, I came across a video game designer referring to himself as a GRUP in his blog. "A what?" I asked myself. Hating the possibility that I could be ignorant of an inane pop culture reference, I did a little research. (It's what I do.) I came across this lengthy article in New York magazine. Is it New York magazine or The New York magazine? Can I not use the "The" because it makes it too close to The New Yorker? Just wondering. So the writer, Alan Sternbergh, helps define what a GRUP is:

If being a Grup means being 35, and having a job, and using a messenger bag instead of a briefcase, and staying out too late too often, and owning more pairs of sneakers (eleven) than suits (one), and downloading a Hot Hot Heat song from iTunes because it was on a playlist titled "Saturday Errands," and generally being uneasy and slightly confused about just what it means to be an adult in these modern times-in short, if it means living your life in fundamentally the same way that you did when you were, say, 22 then, let's face it, I'm a Grup

I turn 35 this year. I'll be honest. I think I might be a Grup. Much of Sternbergh's interviews are with married Grups who have kids. I obviously don't fit in that category. Also, the examples all live in New York and have high paying jobs. Again, that's outside my category. I guess I am a poor Grup. Here are a few of my examples of why I might be a Grup.

1. Even if this TV thing doesn't work out, I can't see myself taking a job where I can't wear jeans and a ball cap. My jean to pants ratio is 4 to 1, and some of those pants still have tags on them.

2. If my little sisters are any example, I probably am going to attempt to force my musical tastes on my kids. (Not that it works. They still gravitated to show tunes. I blame the Kessler side for that.)

3. I take pride in shaving only once every blue moon.

4. I save money for video games.

5. I still buy toys.

6. I keep ridiculous hours.

Here are some of Mr. Sternbergh's examples:

Let's start with a question. A few questions, actually: When did it become normal for your average 35-year-old New Yorker to (a) walk around with an iPod plugged into his ears at all times, listening to the latest from Bloc Party; (b) regularly buy his clothes at Urban Outfitters; (c) take her toddler to a Mommy's Happy Hour at a Brooklyn bar; (d) stay out till 4 A.M. because he just can't miss the latest New Pornographers show, because who knows when Neko Case will decide to stop touring with them, and everyone knows she's the heart of the band; (e) spend $250 on a pair of jeans that are artfully shredded to look like they just fell through a wheat thresher and are designed, eventually, to artfully fall totally apart; (f) decide that Sufjan Stevens is the perfect music to play for her 2-year-old, because, let's face it, 2-year-olds have lousy taste in music, and we will not listen to the Wiggles in this house; (g) wear sneakers as a fashion statement; (h) wear the same vintage New Balance sneakers that he wore on his first day of school in the seventh grade as a fashion statement; (i) wear said sneakers to the office; (j) quit the office job because-you know what?-screw the office and screw jockeying for that promotion to VP, because isn't promotion just another word for "slavery"?; (k) and besides, now that she's a freelancer, working on her own projects, on her own terms, it's that much easier to kick off in the middle of the week for a quick snowboarding trip to Sugarbush, because she's got to have some balance, right? And she can write it off, too, because who knows? She might bump into Spike Jonze on the slopes; (l) wear a Misfits T-shirt; (m) make his 2-year-old wear a Misfits T-shirt; (n) never shave; (o) take pride in never shaving; (p) take pride in never shaving while spending $200 on a bedhead haircut and $600 on a messenger bag, because, seriously, only his grandfather or some frat-boy Wall Street flunky still carries a briefcase; or (q) all of the above?

Those items in bold are ones that I agree with. Actually, I only spent $125 on my messenger bag, but I agree about the suitcase. The other non-bold items I would hope I would never do or think. $250 on a pair of jeans? Snowboarding? Misfits T-shirt? Hell no. I'm actuasurprisedised he mentions Bloc Party numerous times in the article. I would think a Grup would consider them "sooo 2005." This article was written this month.

So, am I a Grup? Yes I am. In fact I would say I am more of a Grup than those featured in the article. At beginningning of the article, the writer adds the synonyms: yupster, yindie, and alterna-yuppie. I'm going to claim that a Grup is different than those other terms. A Grup has nothing to do with the yuppie sect. I may be wiser. I may have a little more stable job. I may be more financially responsible. I may date more, but I am living my life pretty much how I lived as a 22 year old. Actually, I'm probably living my life like I wished I lived my life when I was 22 year old. But I still hold to that mindset. I am not really growing up, which seems to be the main point of being a Grup. I am not participating in those things that are associated with being a grown up. These yupsters just seem to-

Ah screw it. I found this article interesting, which is weird because I hate labels. Anyway, I decided to write blindly about it and see where it went. I now hate the way this has turned out. I'm not worried that I might become a Grup. I know I won't. I listen, wear, and do what I like. For everything that someone does or has that puts them in a certain defined box, there is something else they do or have that takes puts them in another group. I have Grup tendencies. I have MOL tendencies. I have geek tendencies. You know what that makes me? That makes me Brad. You're you. I like you. I like me (usually). I'm sorry I wasted your time with this.

I Watched This Movie in Honor of Bobby

My favorite moments was this:
I love afternoon cable and I love having Good Friday off!

I Hate to Admit it...

But I watched a full hour of American Idol on Tuesday night. There is an American Idol semi-office pool this year. I'm sort of the commissioner, so I have to keep up with who is booted. This usually means checking the last few minutes of the show, or checking the message boards. For some reason I decided to watch a whole episode. That reason was Queen. Now I'm not a huge fan of Queen, but I was intrigued to see if anyone could possibly pull off one of their songs. I don't know what I was thinking because clearly none of them could. I'm slightly disappointed that Queen even involved themselves in such things. Actually I'm not. They did agree to the "musical" We Will Rock You. (sigh) The thing is none of the "singers" were bad enough to be enjoyably bad. The only highlight was watching gAce trying to tell Brian May and Roger Taylor how he wanted them to play their song. I was really hoping May would just take a guitar to his head. So here's a little recap from a first time viewer and first time caller.

The show begins! Wait! The number one show in America has this for an opening? Four seasons and you can't come up with something better? Tron looks better than this. The Barbie video game looks better than this. Bobby could make a flip book cartoon better than this.

Anyway, some guy appropriately named Bucky comes out and does Fat Bottomed Girls country style. This season's crop must be awesome if Bucky made this show. He's properly lambasted by Simon. I don't understand why people hate this Simon guy. I mean other than the two sizes too small T-shirt.

Then my whipping boy for the evening gAce comes out to sing We Will Rock You. Um...cop out. I don't even consider We Will Rock You a song. It's more of chant to a riff isn't it? Either way, gAce blows. Once again I'm glad I have tinnitus. gAce is clearly the male version of the stupid blonde stereotype. He gets by on his smile and hair. I hate him.

Next up: Lita Ford! Sweet! I can't believe they let Lita Ford on. And can I say that Lita Ford looks fantastic for her age? Why does everyone keep calling her Kellie? Anyway, Lita goes on and attempts Bohemian Rhapsody. Lita seems a little more happier and bouncier than her "Kiss Me Deadly" days. Lita sucks it and yet the judges all like it for some reason. Even they don't know why they like it. Nice try Lita. "If I close my eyes forever!"

One question: If Randy Jackson and Stewart Scott were in the same room, could you technically say there were still no African American's in the room? It's like watching a real life Don "No Soul" Simmons.

Curly takes to the stage. His Queen song for the night is Innuendo. Whaaaaat? When Queen says they've never played a song live, perhaps you should choose a different song. Curly sticks with it and does a rocking cover of a Scott Stapp cover of Queen. Which in the real world means it sucks, but in American Idol world is apparently good. Awful song choice.

Next some cute brunette is going to sing "Don't Stop Me Now." Finally, a good Queen song. This the first since Fat Bottom Girls in my opinion. I admit now that I will always picture pool cues and zombies when I hear that song. The brunette though changes her mind, and does the theme song from Highlander. She clearly didn't pick this song by herself. There is no way she even heard of this song or the movie Highlander. She must have just asked for one of their slow songs. She actually does ok for American Idol. Still I feel like she copped out. She must only be able to do slow songs.

This just in! Apparently that wasn't Lita Ford singing. It was just some girl named Kellie dressed like Lita. I apologize to Lita Ford and the Ford family.

I'm going to give this next guy a little credit. First off he does a great Queen song, and it's a bitch of a song to sing. He's passable too. He does get big points deducted for that DJ intro. You should never have admitted that…never. Unless you do a blog.

Now here comes the fan favorite. El MOL...I mean Taylor Hicks! He changes his mind too on what song to sing. He decides on Crazy Little Thing Called Love because he wants to get back to the dancing Taylor. Suhweet! Two minutes later. Suhuuuck. Somebody shoot him, or me. Are you serious? People love this guy? You know on second thought I can see why people like him. He seems nice. He's obviously just having fun. I just don't see this guy ever being an American Idol.

For the finale, straight out of prison it's Lil Kim! Apparently, I'm wrong again. Her name's Paris and she will be attempting The Show Must Go On. The song's too big for her, and I still have no idea what I actually saw. I'm sure she must do better on other songs.

Thankfully we are finished. I give my vote to the brunette and to the guy that looks like the brother of the guy who played Gollum. My one disappointment was that nobody did a song from the Flash Gordon soundtrack. That would have blown Simon's mind. They could even do some of the dialogue to the movie. Flash! Aaaaah! Somebody could have sealed this beauty pageant up if they did Flash Gordon.

Also, has nobody figured out that the judges are all animatronics? It's like the Country Bear Jamboree only with fewer words programmed in. And that's being kind. Since this is my first real viewing, has the crowd ever booed a contestant? That I'd like to see. But I assume every audience believes the contestants can do no wrong.

I am now a Pill Popper

Yesterday I decided to take advantage of this thing called health insurance. For the first time in six years I stepped into a doctor's office. I will say I take a little pleasure in listing my history of past and current ailments for new doctors. The best is when you go to the emergency room. All the doctors in training gather outside your door like you are a celebrity. If only I wasn't lying on a table in my skivvies and a paper "gown." I've thought perhaps I could rent myself out as a walking specimen to local hospitals. There's the problem of always being in the "gown."I don't have the legs or ass to pull off such a revealing outfit. Also, my scars aren't the sexy kind of scars.

So, my new doctor asked the standard question: "Have you had any previous health problems?" I gave my list, pausing for the doctor when his hand cramped. My current problem has been the recent onset of an arthritic hip. I knew it was coming. Since I have one leg shorter than the other it was unavoidable even with the shoe lift. The real problem with this ailment is that I now have to take pills. Again, I knew this would eventually happen but I thought I had a few more years. No such luck.

I realize I'm writing a post in which I'm bitching about taking pills, but you should understand this is coming for a guy who took chewable aspirin through junior high. I crushed the adult aspirin up after that. Eventually I learned to take pills, but I still hate it. Now I'm stuck taking four a day. I should say four types. Two of them I have to take multiple times a day, and they are huge. I even have to go buy one of those pill containers that breaks everything down into days. I thought for sure I had four or five more years till I had to buy one of those. I realize I have a no room to complain. I just hate taking medicine. There will never be spoonful of sugar big enough.

For those who don't know, here's the short list of ailments.

1973: Wilms' tumor
1974-current: Scoliosis that resulted in me wearing a back brace from 1985-1988. The back brace was actually kind of fun. Except that it tore holes in all my shirts and began to stink. It was then somewhat corrected in 1988 when they fused two rods to my spine.
1988: The scoliosis correction led to it being noticeable that my left leg was an inch shorter than the right.
1993-5: Ulcer-eh not that bad really
1999-current: Psoriasis (suck!)
2003-current: Tinnitus (great excuse when in boring conversations)
2006: Arthritic Hip (NEW!)


It's funny you take aways the first ailness and the most of the rest go with it. Wilms you bastard.

All Done!

I Eat This Orange in the Honor of Mandy

ESPN Might Get Me Fired!

Today has been a little rough at work. I kind of dropped the research ball, but was able to pick it up on the first bounce. The problem is I dropped it right in front of the boss. Cut to a few minutes later, and I'm watching an old "This Is Sportscenter" ads. Because it was a particularly funny one I let out a chuckle. Little did I know but the boss was talking to another employee to make sure that my research got into the next revision. Sure enough she sees me chuckle. Her response, "Brad's laughing at me." What? No! It was ESPN! But of course I can't say that. So now the boss thinks I was laughing at her, after I already dropped the ball on the topic she was discussing. Thank you ESPN. Thank you.

Ramblings (Weekend Recap)

Saturday was one of those days. By one of those days, I mean double-feature day! Hell yeah! After getting my hairs cut, I booked it to barely make the next showing of The Inside Man.

Side Note: When you go in for a haircut, how much time must elapse between sitting in the chair and the actual haircut before you can change your mind and realize you don't want this person to cut your hair? Are you locked in once you sit down in the chair? Or is it once the apron is on? How rude is it to say you don't want this person to cut your hair? Does the conversation go like this? "Look, I'm sorry I'm just not confident with you cutting my hair. It's not you. It's me. I'm certain there will be someone else walking through your door who would love to have you cut their hair. They will probably have an even better head of hair. It's just I can't understand a single word you say." That conversation never happened. I spent half an hour hoping I understood what she asked, and she understood my answers. Luckily I always wear a hat and I don't have a whole lot of hair left. Another question, how come the population of balding people still have to pay full price for a hair cut. One third of our head you don't even need to touch, yet we still pay full price? Don't we suffer enough? You have to use less electricity for the razor. You have to use your scissors less. Our haircuts don't last as long. All I'm asking is a third off the price.

Back to the movies. I saw Inside Man first. It was fine. Nothing bad, nothing spectacular. Just a solid movie. My one question, and I don't think I'm ruining anything here. When Denzel holds up the ring to Plummer, is that the worst special effects ever in a big time motion picture? I realize Lee wanted Denzel's face and the ring to both be in focus, but did you have to make the hand out of cardboard and a popsicle stick?

Leaving the theater, I realized I didn't want to go home and listen to race cars buzzing my apartment. I also didn't want the hassle of finding a parking spot. So, I went and saw V for Vendetta. Probably not the wisest choice. After reading Jiff's 3CT post, it took a good thirty minutes till I could stop picturing V shopping at Best Buy. Once I got past that it was ok. I recommend reading the comic book instead. I wish Brick was playing closer to Long Beach.

The rest of the weekend was baseball, baseball, baseball. Here are a few things I made note of during the first week of baseball.

The Cubs will not be as bad as they were last year. That is if they keep playing like they have been. I've noticed three big differences between this year's Cubs and last year's.

1. The Cubs haven't had this strong of a bullpen in years. The Cubs might have paid a lot for Eyre and Howry, but it seems to have been the right move. I still don't feel comfortable in the late innings, but it's not a complete sense of dread. This also affects the ability for the Cubs to come back. The last few years any time the opponent had a lead you knew whoever they brought in would just give up a bigger lead. Now, the Cubs have come behind in the last two games in the eighth and ninth innings because the bullpen kept them in the game.


2. Speed and Hustle. With Cedeno, Pierre, and Jacque Jones the Cubs now have some legitimate legs to run the bases. Seeing Cedeno take an extra base last night on a single, I was bewildered. The Cubs don't hustle for extra bases. At least not the Cubs of the last few years.


3. Clutch hitting. Usually if the Cubs weren't ahead by the 6th or 7th inning they were done. It always seemed like they mailed in the last few innings or everyone tried to hit home runs. Sure in the last three games the Cubs scored all their runs via the home run. But men got on base by taking walks, and being patient. This probably won't happen the rest of the season, but it's good to see a glimpse of it in a series.

Other Non Cubs observations:

Watching the Cubs, I also realized that the Cardinals need help in the bullpen, and I still hate La Russa.

The AL is a lot stronger than the NL.

With the Brewers, Tigers, and Indians being able to build a team from within, do the Pirates, Royals, and Reds have any excuse?

Why do people keep giving Clemens standing ovations where ever he goes? Why? Is that how he's going to decide which team he goes to: the Clemens Applause-O-Meter?

Did anyone see the Darren Daulton interview last night? He had those Andy Kaufman "Who's Driving" eyes going on.

Will baseball ever see teams again like the 93 Phillies, 86 Mets, or 90 Reds? If we won't, why?

I like the new baseball card graphics of ESPN's Baseball Tonight. I still hate the Trifecta though. ESPN can give me a full hour of cheerleading, but I only get 40 minutes of Baseball Tonight?

What incriminating evidence does Stuart Scott have that ESPN allows him to do those dumb poetry readings? It was ridiculously funny at first. Now that I realize how serious he is about it, it's just sad.

I love baseball season.



Oh. I also picked up Ghostface Killah's new album, Fishscale, (Stop laughing). It's the front runner for rap album of the year.

For Your Information

Since at least MOL Jr. and Wunderkind have asked more information about the Twilight Singers, I put up the old list of favorites in the music player to the right. Click play. I should also say when played live the songs are cranked up to about 11. There are also a couple new songs on their myspace page. They aren't my two favorites from the concert I went to last month, but they are solid. I also figured why stop at the Twilight Singers. Here are the links for Jeff Klein's myspace page and The Afterhours. They will both be opening up for the Twilight Singers. Dulli actually helped produce both their albums.

Twilight Singers myspace
Jeff Klein myspace
The Afterhours

Ramblings

I tried quitting Lost, but my Tivo won't let me. I missed a couple episodes. Or so I thought. Checking my Tivo I discover it recorded the episodes I missed. Sure, enough I'm kind of hooked again. I mean the blacklight map was a nice little gift to the viewers. I will also say I came up with the idea of there being a supply drop about a year ago. I know Brian will say he came up with it, but he's wrong.

With a crammed premiere episode, Thief hadn't exactly won me over. Mr. Braugher was dynamite as always, but there was something missing. This week's episode though got things going. You can see the conflicts more clearly, and really it's great just watching Braugher act.

I think 24 has blown it big time with their huge reveal at the end of this week's episode. Doesn't that completely negate the first half of the season? They've always been somewhat ridiculous and overboard with their twists and turns. That's part of the fun of the show. I think this is too much though. They have a crap load of explaining to do to make it even possible work.

Dom and I finally worked out a fantasy baseball trade.

The Twilight Singers announced the dates of their official tour. I put in bold the dates when they play close to most of the readers here. Now I really don't expect any of you readers to go (except Bob). I simply puts this up to make you think about it. Maybe you have nothing to do that night? Maybe you'll be in a particular mood to hear some rock n roll in the month of May or June? I'm just saying this is something you could do. The Italian rock group Afterhours and songwriter Jeff Klein will be opening up. Don't you want to hear some new music?

MAY

18 Minneapolis MN - Varsity Theatre
19 Chicago IL - Metro
20 Newport KY - Southgate House
21 Indianapolis IN - The Vogue
23 Columbus OH - Little Brothers
24 Cleveland OH - Grog Shop
25 Detroit MI - St. Andrews Hall
27 Toronto ON - Lee's Palace
28 Montreal QC - Cabaret du Musse Juste Pour Rire
29 Boston MA - Paradise Rock Club
30 Philadelphia PA - Theatre of Living Arts (TLA)

JUNE

01 New York NY - Irving Plaza
02 Washington DC - 9.30 Club
03 Carrboro NC - Cat's Cradle
05 Atlanta GA - Smith's Olde Bar
07 New Orleans LA - One Eyed Jacks
09 Austin TX - The Parish
10 Dallas TX - Gypsy Tea Room
12 Denver CO - Larimer Lounge
13 Salt Lake City UT - Club Sound
15 Portland OR - Doug Fir Lounge
17 Seattle WA - Neumo's
19 San Francisco CA - Great American Music Hall
21 Hollywood CA - Avalon

Speaking of the Twilight Singers. In case you didn't notice, the new guitarist commented on this blog. Yes, that might be the highlight of my blogging career. Yes, I'm a nerd.

PLW, have you seen Slither yet? It satisfied that "monster matinee" jones I often have.

A few people have asked me if I have high hopes for the Cubs this season. My response: Glendon Rusch is our #2 pitcher. Glendon Rusch! That means no.

Finally saw Fever Pitch on HBO. Many people have suggested it because I'm a Cub fan and I guess I'm supposed to relate. You know what? It sucked! If I was a Red Sox fan I'd dislike that movie even more. First of all, the baseball aspect wasn't even used well enough to disguise the fact that it's really a chick flick. Second, that is not a die hard fan. That's a nut.

Finally it's that time again for the Long Beach Indy car race. This means a couple things for me this weekend. First of all, there will be absolutely no parking. Second, the race will be less than a mile from my apartment. You might be thinking that could be cool. Yeah, I'm real close to an Indy car race. My problem. Have you heard these cars. It's like the Swarm is buzzing my front door every five seconds. Third, there will be no parking.

You Can Trust Me...maybe.

I admit I lie sometimes. I admit that I sometimes have the smile where it looks like I'm up to no good. But, I think on the whole I'm honest and not that sneaky. Right? Then why won't Dom accept a fantasy baseball trade from me? I offered him 2B Marcus Giles and closer Chad Cordero for speedster Chone Figgins and closer Keith Foulke. I know I'm overpaying for steals. Bob knows I'm overpaying for steals. Does anyone think Foulke's 90 year old knees are going to hold up through the year, or even this month? When I told Bob that it was declined, he was confused as well. So, why did Dom decline? Apparently, I'm a sneaky bastard that is always trying to pull something over on people. It could be his baseball knowledge is inferior and he's afraid to let it show. (But that doesn't really add to the theme of this post.)

This is part of the internal conflict between Good Brad and Evil Brad. When I say "Evil Brad," I mean more in a rebellious cliche "bad boy" way than a keep me away from sharp instruments and puppies way.

Evil Brad has always existed. He would sneak a Pepsi late at night when everyone was asleep even though he had his parental designated limit of two for the day. He drove too fast on the three wheeler when he was on the other side of the lake and nobody could see him. Evil Brad would try to string together as many swear words as possible even though it ended up making no sense at all. Evil Brad would ask to borrow a step-uncle's recording of some crappy move knowing that Porky's was recorded on the tape as well. He would buy Boston's debut album and hide it in his dresser. Yes, I realize that last one is actually lame as well as evil. During those days and on into undergrad Evil Brad may have existed but nobody really saw his face. Good Brad easily dominated Evil Brad those years.

The last couple years of undergrad Evil Brad began to surface. It occurred because of the old familiar teen movie problem that "I was tired of being so nice." I was tired of being viewed as always the nice guy. It would still be a few years till nerds and nice guys actually became viewed as studs. That's when Evil Brad started to surface. Evil Brad became the shell to protect Good Brad. Because Good Brad couldn't say "no" to people, Evil Brad would show his face so people wouldn't ask in the first place. Rather than shy Good Brad sitting at a party looking like a recluse, Evil Brad would show he didn't care if he was talking to anyone or not. Good Brad still at that point controlled everything.

Now Evil Brad might have a little too much power. Evil Brad controls the tongue a little too much. Evil Brad has shortened Good Brad's tolerance of morons considerably. Evil Brad can really be a prick sometimes. Good Brad is still the core. I help my friends and family when they need it. I always over tip. I am still a nice guy. It's just the shell is maybe a little too thick. Now I'm seen as cold, a little sneaky, and sometimes mean towards those that irritate me. So maybe this whole Evil Brad shell has back fired a little. But could anyone have predicted that Emo and nerds would take over the world?

Perhaps the real problem is that Good Brad was never allowed to mature and grow. Maybe the real question is why I've associated Good with being a wuss. Clearly I have no idea where I'm going with this post. I just wanted to vent that Dom turned down two trades I offered, because he didn't trust me. Sorry I wasted your time.

Patches, feline. A cat barely alive...

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic cat. Patches will be that man. Better than it was before. Better, stronger, faster. Well, except for the tail. We can't do shit about the tail

Browsing through my photos last night for a picture of Mandy as a tyke, I came across this photo misprint that I kept. The cat in the one half of the picture is Patches. Over the years, we had many animals pass through the hallowed Kessler halls. We had cats, dogs, a bunny, and the meanest parakeet this side of the Ohio River. You have to figure there's a reason a bird is named Nipper, and it's not a good reason. Back to Patches. I don't remember how we got Patches. We lived on a nice piece of land, so most likely Patches just let herself in the front door.

Patches wasn't the friendliest cat. Though, what she lacked in interspecies skills, she made for by being a bad ass cat. She sassed. She killed for us and left their tiny carcasses on our doorstep like sacrifices. While that not really cute, it was disgustingly endearing. She also climbed really tall ladders. That's where the ladder comes in. At least once a day she would climb that ladder to sleep up in the rafters. Yes, that's pretty tough for a cat. Along with toughness though comes stupidity as well. The stupidity was that she often slept in the fan area. You see where I'm going with this? Yes, one fateful night the fan was turned on with Patches sleeping. The next morning Anne Marie ( I think) found Patches lying at the bottom of the unfinished pool. So, not only did Patches get pureed by the fan, but she basically fell the full length of the ladder plus another six feet into the bottom of the pool.

Patches though would be rebuilt except for the tail. Does anyone know what happened to it. Ok, so she didn't become a bionic cat. It's still pretty amazing that she survived. She did have a slight limp, but she still brought sacrifices to the doorstep. She was still ornery.

Happy Birthday Amanda Michelle!

Another baseball season is upon us. Yes, this is one of my favorite times of the year. There is though another reason I love the beginning of April. Amanda Michelle Kessler was born on this day. The youngest sibling of us all. It seems just a little while ago I was giving you a ride on wobbly merry-go-round in a shirt from the Michael Jackson collection. Now you're 20 years old and finishing up your first year of undergrad. I don't know how you managed being the youngest of seven. Perhaps that's why you could always be found with your nose in a book. I remember you hiding when I wanted to take your picture. I remember the late nights watching TV, working on the computer, or just talking. I may have always been that last to go to bed, but you were always the second to last. I remember you hugging me when I first walked in that door at Maine. I thank you for trusting me enough to be a confidant. I thank you for being the first sibling to visit me in California. I thank you for our little IM conversations. You make work go that much faster. I thank you for wanting to be a Cubs fan. Most of all I thank you for being the best littlest sister anyone big brother could ever have. I love you Mandy, even more than baseball season.

The Day Daredevil Brad Died

Back in the day I used to be reckless. I used to be a daredevil. I'd jump across or down from anything. Fireworks were more fun when aimed at people. I covered a little bit of my daredevil ways in this post. One day in 1986 my daredevil life came to an end.

My Dad, my brother and I had moved back to Ohio. With no woods to explore or burn down, my brother and I had to get a little more creative. We had wrestling matches in our new big house. We tried playing cops and robbers in the neighborhood. That came to an end when my brother nearly got shot by a police officer. I had the basketball hoop outside, but there was no thrill, no danger in that. Unless you count the strong layups where you often face planted into the garage door. I needed to fill that thrill vacancy. So, I decided on skateboarding. I could ride it around the town, and get my thrills with jumps and tricks.

I convinced my Dad to buy me a skateboard. I didn't know any skaters, and therefore had no clue about what made a good skateboard. This meant we went to Toys R Us and bought a skateboard that I thought looked cool. There was another flaw in my decision making. Wheels and I don't go together. With the scoliosis and one leg shorter than the other, I have the balance of a toddler. So why did I think I could possibly learn to skateboard. I have no idea.

With my new skateboard fresh out of the box, I went to the back alley to pull off some tricks. I was one of those kids who ignored the idea "crawling before walking." My little brother was out back to watch me. I think he still looked up to me at that point. Anyway, I placed the board down and stepped on it to go zooming away. My great sense of balance kicked in and nearly fell. After a few more tries, I could stand on the board. Then I decided to go fast. Placing my foot firmly on the board, I pushed off hard. Off the board went at a zippy clip. I on the other hand was a few feet in the air above the board's point of launch. I put my left arm out to break my fall, and snap. I jumped to my feet, and looked down at my forearm of which half was jutting out at a 50 degree angle. Seeing the carnage, Ben immediately began crying. I don't know why but I immediately snapped it back into place. It would turn out I did a really good job of snapping it back. If I hadn't, I would've needed the whole screw and plate ordeal. The one drawback was that my Dad didn't think it was broken. I should've pointed to Ben and said I don't think he'd be crying like that over a sprain. Anyway, It turned out I had completely broken the ulna and there was only a sliver connecting the radius. I felt bad for my Dad as my step-father showed us the X-ray. But how could he have known. With it snapped back it didn't look broken at all.

Call it luck or providence, but I had never broken a bone in my previous 16 years of living. I had bruises, scrapes, burns, and other ailments from living the life of a daredevil, but nothing as serious as a broken bone. After the arm healed, I tried going back to the daredevil life. It didn't take too well. Then after the back surgery I was pretty much done. Now I'm scared to death of heights. I'm struck with paranoia anytime my nieces or nephews go down stairs or near railings. I'm a wimp now, and all because I broke my arm.

It's Now an Epidemic!

Thanks to an entertaining email conversation between me and my siblings another family member has joined the blogging community. Ben K has started a blog. Sure that's big news and reason to go check it out. The breaking into the middle of American Idol news though is that Bulie will be posting as well. Bulie is "a spirited 20-week old fetus with a penchant for swimming and an overly active exercise life." I'm going to take the credit for recommending that Bulie start blogging. As to what I'm hoping we will read from Bulie, I leave you with what I suggested in the email:

"I want the day to day life of Bulie in the womb. 'Mom, this kick is for eating Indian food last night.' 'I'm floating! I'm floating! This is just like 2001.' 'Coldplay...again?' 'Geez it's getting cramped in here.' That's just a sampling of what I'd like to read. Or podcasts from Bulie would be cool too. Just a few ideas I'm tossing out there. "

Ramblings

I apologize for the small gap between posts. I got a new cell phone and I have been distracted with creating ring tones out of my MP3's. It's a very daunting task trying to decide what song fits each person in my contacts. I'm currently debating between "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" and "Copacabana" for MOL Jr. Thanks to the freeware Audacity the actual editing has been pretty easy.

I have also been distracted by the constant barrage of close games that have taken place during March Madness. Of course George Mason sank any chance I had of winning the office pool. I was so close. I just needed UConn to win out. That's all I needed! Alas it was not to be. I was torn between rooting for the underdog and rooting for some extra spending money. Anyway, every time I sat down to write I'd hear the announcers scream about something, and of course I'd grab my Tivo remote to see what happened. Then I'd get sucked into the game and end up watching it till the end. That's excuse No. 2.

Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector made a little over $7 mil on its opening weekend. Why and How? Come on people, you must know better. Of course this is coming from the guy who is going to pay money to see Slither. Maybe I should just shut up. I am also really looking forward to Brick which opens in LA and NY this weekend. That should be able to balance out Slither.

Another big weekend is coming up. I have another fantasy baseball draft, but there is something bigger happening this weekend. Wrestlemania! It's the only time I click the "buy now" button on my remote. Usually, it's not worth it even though it is the Super Bowl of wrestling. I will say I'm looking forward to the "Money in the Bank" ladder match. Watching the elderly Findlay and Ric Flair have to climb ladders could be highly entertaining or very frightening.

I've been playing Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence for the PS2 off and on. I've always been reluctant to pick it up because I'm not a big fan of the stealth games. But with it getting a crap load of great reviews I decided to pick it up used. I'm pretty impressed. There are still times that I just want to stop crawling in the weeds and shoot everything. The story and its characters are weird enough to keep me involved. I really didn't mind spending nearly an hour and a half trying to snipe one of the bosses. Especially since you are able to snipe the guy's parrot if you can find it.

One thing I still marvel at is how more open I am to other foods. Up until grad school I wouldn't think of eating Indian food. Now I can't get enough. I credit both my job and my selection in women. Being as accommodating as I am, I could never say "no" to where they wanted to eat. It kind of forced me into trying new things. Better than looking like a schmuck. I still may not like sushi, but I've tried it.

How long does balsamic vinegar dressing keep? I just realized I have two unopened bottles sitting on the shelf. They've been there almost a year and a half. That's probably not good.

I should probably take down my little Christmas tree too.

The Shield Season Finale

Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! I waited a day to do a post on season finale of The Shield for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to at least give people 24 hours to see it. Second, I needed to watch it for the third time. You see FX always re-airs the episode right after the original airing. Most fans tend to watch the episode again right after. Well, at least Bob and I do. After watching the season finale, I was frustrated all day because I couldn't talk with anyone about it. I had to discuss the genius of that episode and the season as a whole. Eventually, I had the time to call Bob after work. I knew he wouldn't let me down. I often go overboard in proclaiming the greatness of those things I love. Yes, I'm still buzzing on the season finale, but I don't think I'm going overboard.

The Sopranos? Lost? ER? NYPD Blue? 24? Six Feet Under? The Shield is better. The Shield is probably the best drama on TV since Homicide in my opinion. I will admit that Homicide is better. Those first four seasons of Homicide is some of the best television you will ever see. But this post is about the Shield.

Last night finale showed why this show is so good. Everything from the past couple seasons has built up to this point. You see the characters in this Shakespearian tragedy work with and against each other to cause the death of the one true good guy, Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky. Was he innocent? No, but he realized his mistakes and was willing to step forward and answer for them. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to clean his conscience. The "good" guys lied, schemed, and made deals with the devil to catch the "bad" guys, the Strike Team. The Strike Team, Lem's family, ended up sacrificing him because not only were they unwilling to answer for what they did, but they didn't trust Lem. How could they not trust Lem? Lem had given up everything to protect them. He was going to jail so they wouldn't have to. He was going to answer for everything he did, but never rat on his family. The problem was that they didn't trust themselves. This fault was most evident in Lem's best friend Shane. Shane, who was once tempted to kill Vic to save his own life. He knew what he would do in Lem's place. He would break. But is that why Shane killed his best friend? Because, he couldn't understand why Lem wouldn't run when the Strike Team had the whole plan worked out? Not in Shane's mind. Shane didn't kill out of hate. Shane saw killing his best friend as mercy and sacrifice. Watching this scene play out you actually see a near mirror "Of Mice and Men." Heck, the previous episode was titled "Of Mice and Lem." Lem was going to die in jail anyway with IAD making a deal to send Lem to the same prison as Antwon Mitchell. Antwon would've killed Lem. Only way out for Lem was to give up the Strike Team. Lem was blind in his pursuit of confession. He thought he could pay his own price, but they were all connected. But did Shane have to take the coward's way out when he killed his best friend? No quick and easy bullet to the head. Shane had to use a hand grenade and run. He couldn't even give his best friend a quick death.

The episode ends with the court culprits standing around the aftermath of their lies and schemes. They all had a hand one way or another in Lem's death. Lem, who worked in Juvie when the Team broke up at the end of season three. Lem, who was always first through the door with the battering ram. Lem, who saved Kavanaugh's life even though his death would've kept him out of jail. Now Lem's dead. It's the first major casualty for the wrongs they committed. Next season is the final season. Next season, everyone pays.

Must Resist...Must Wait...Must Hold Out!

The flood gates have opened and the rumours and news have come pouring in about the upcoming Playstation 3. From the 60 gig HD to the Xbox live like network to a differt controller (thank goodness) all of it has tempted me to throw myself into the same turmoil I experienced when the Xbox 360 came out. Again the Playstation is scheduled for "early" November with a world wide launch. Will I have learned my lesson on the Xbox 360 and wait? Right now the answer seems to be "No."

Maybe I Should Cut Back on the Video Games

I had another one of those crazy dreams last night. Yes, it involved video games. Now it wasn't me trying to escape some blue ghosts while I gobbled yellow pills. I wasn't avoiding barrels while I climbed scaffolding. I also wasn't blasting the Covenant with double SMG's. In fact it really wasn't based on any game at all. Well, maybe Resident Evil, but not really. The only similarity between my dream and RE is that it had zombies in it.

It began with me and a girl (I assume she was my girlfriend. It's my dream.) in the bottom floor of this mall with a pistol in hand. I didn't know why until a zombified security guard stepped out of the shadows of the decrepit mall. After dropping him with a bullet to the head, more and more zombies started creeping out of darkness. I quickly ran out of bullets and dragged my lady past the shoe section. I don't know why I distinctly remember the shoe section. Anyway, I hid my girlfriend. The rest of the dream consisted of me scouring the mall for weapons in an attempt to stay alive. That's what was made it so much like a video game. I would be running through the mall and stumble across a gun and ammo just sitting in the underwear section. There was a revolver, a shotgun, and a machine gun. I should also mention I must have been playing at the highest difficulty level because the number of bullets I would get was very small. The last weapon I found before I woke up was the grenade launcher. Of course the shells for it were on the other side of the mall. A nice touch that I seemed to add to these grenades was that they were on timers. On the back of each shell was a dial to the timer. It resembled one of those cooking timers. So, you'd set the timer and then shoot it into a wall that the zombies were congregating and run before it sent the whole floor crashing on you as well. Before I woke up, things got pretty hairy. I think I got rid of them all.

My point of this dream? I don't know. It means probably one of two things. Either I play too many video games, or I should've gone into developing video games because I can do it in my sleep.

The Early Favorite for Classic Song of 2006

It's only March, and I think I can safely say we already have a champ for Classic Song of 2006. Actually, I might not have the song, but I at least have the band: The Grass Roots. I'm really leaning towards "Temptation Eyes" which kick started the trip down memory lane when the DJ played it at the Twilight Singers show. I'm pretty sure they have the same DJ at all thier LA shows. At least it seems like it because at every show I end up hearing an "I Completely Forgot About That" song. I always leave with at least one song or artist scribbled on a napkin or something for me to download when I get home.

Anyway, I don't see "Temptation Eyes" being over thrown at any point this year. Though there is another Twilight Singers show coming up in the Summer. There are five Grass Roots songs in the player on the right.

Ramblings (TV Edition)

Remember the days when you couldn't wait till September or October because that was when the new show would debut? You would get all excited seeing ads for new shows and teasers of the new season of your favorite show. It hasn't been that way for awhile. Sure, I was anticipating Lost, but that's about it. I guess due to my contract I have to put CSI: Miami in there. But that's really about it. The Shield and 24 don't start till January. Rescue Me is a summer show. This got me thinking. Why can't the new TV season start in January? Clearly the old belief that nobody watches TV during the summer is incorrect. What else comes out during January and February? Nothing. It's a dumping ground for movies. Maybe one or two decent albums are released. TV should take full advantage of this and start shows mid January. I realize with the industry there would be a big hubbub raised about not getting their summers off. My answer is that they can still have the same shooting schedule just don't air them till January. This way we don't have to have extended runs of repeats. Most of the shows will be in the can, and they just have to shuffle them out. 24 should be the production model for TV shows. They start production early and air their shows back to back. No reruns! I realize this wouldn't be possible for all shows. I'm just getting tired of having one new episode a month for shows like Lost. Maybe the best would be to break the year into two seasons?

Anyway, let's catch up with what I'm watching and what you should be watching. For all you Tivo people who wait months till watching the episodes there will be spoilers for the following shows: The Shield, 24, Lost, etc.

The Shield: The season finale is this Tuesday. Usually in a Shield season the second to last episode is the climax in the arc and the last episode deals with the aftermath. It's different this time around. I have no idea what's going to happen. Someone is going to die...I think. Everything is up in the air. Are Kavanaugh and Acevedo finally going to get the Strike Team behind bars? What is Antwon Mitchell up to? Who's the father of Danny's kid? How is the new recruit, Tina, going to screw up and get someone killed? My biggest question is: What's going to happen to Lemonhead? Is he going to die? Is he going to finally rat on the team? Is he going to make it to Mexico? It all leads to at least him not coming back next season. It's a shame because I loved Lemonhead's tortured conscience and his ulcer. Man I love this show.

24: 24 has become TV's Florida Marlins? They've nixed nearly every veteran of the show. President Palmer, Tony and Michelle, and Edgar are all dead. They even killed Rudy! Only Jack and Miss Potato Face are left. Poor Edgar Stiles. His death scene may be one of my favorites in awhile. No screaming and hollering. He just had that "Oh crap!" look on his face, and then he tumbled over. The thing is we are only halfway through the season. What the hell else can happen? Is Jack going to die? I keep thinking they are cleaning house, so they can start over. Maybe they'll make Chloe the next star of 24? Maybe not.

Lost: If they actually aired back to back new episodes maybe I might start caring. I will give them props for at least giving me a little something to think on with Australian chick finding out what happened to her during her abduction.

Sopranos: Wow! What a dump they took with the second episode. To start off with a death/dream sequence and then scrap it halfway through the episode? I imagine the conversation went like this:

Chase: Hey. How far along are you with the episode?
Writer: Um, I'm about 25 pages in. Why?
Chase: It seems we already did a crappy dream episode last season.
Writer: What?
Chase: It's been two years. I can't remember everything.
Writer: What am I supposed to do?
Chase: Just end the dream sequence now and have the family standing around crying and stuff for the rest of the episode. At least the actors can work on their crying.
Writer: Ok.
Chase: Oh! Oh! Oh! Throw in a terrorist subplot!
Writer: But we haven't set-up anything about terrorists.
Chase: Just introduce some new characters out of the blue. Think of the residuals you'll get when they show up the rest of the season.
Writer: Yeah! Hey. With all the crying do you think we can submit this to the Emmys?
Chase: I've already made room on my mantle.

Also, who's the guy that hung himself and why am I supposed to care?

Thief: I have pretty high hopes for this show that replaces the Shield on FX. It has a solid cast headed by acting stud Braugher. It looks slick. If Thief pans out, FX will be the best network on TV. If they can improve Nip/Tuck, or get a better replacement that will be a full year of quality television. Maybe these 12 episode seasons aren't so bad.

Invasion: Nearly having the same problem as Lost. It makes me think this scheduling is ABC trying to milk as much as they can out of these shows. They are screwing the fans over. New episodes of Invasion aren't going to air till May I think. May! Still, I can't wait to see what that crazy dead girl is going to give birth to.

Finally, I was flipping through the channels Saturday night, and suddenly had an 80's flashback. Saturday Night's Main Event was once again on NBC. What is up? Is NBC that desperate to fill their slots? They even went with the same old school logo. How could I not watch it? Oh the times I'd be so thrilled to have wrestling on NBC at night. It was almost like free pay-per-view matches. Almost. Of course, this is all a build up to Wrestlemania which is two weeks away. The matches were basically all stunt matches. I still got a kick out of Shawn Michaels back dropping Shane McMahon from the top of a ladder into a couple tables.

working...working...working...

We're getting there. The banner at the top is probably going to change. I need to balance out the columns. Any other advice?

I'm Taking Credit

My sister in-law has now joined the blogging universe, and you know what I'm taking the credit. I know she saw my brother's blog and became jealous. I know Mandy was actually the first in our family to have a blog. I know Anne Marie's blog might not be called a blog since she doesn't blog. I don't care. I'm taking the credit for my family's recent love of blogging. Why? In case you haven't been able to tell, I'm clearly the coolest sibling. I pretty much determine what is hip and cool for my family. I get a car. Everyone else need to get a car. I go to college. Everyone in my family ends up going to college. I start losing my hair. Everyone else has to start losing their hair. (Except for Ben I. Come one get with it.) That's just the tip of how much of a trailblazer I've been for my family. Anyway. My point is that Jaime now has a blog, and like most of them out there it's better written than mine.

Big Ups to Paula Faris!

A few weeks ago I was helping one of the writers hook up his HD set. On the TV while I was checking the picture was the Olympics. It was some spot about these athletes having a shopping spree in Torino. On the fringe of the picture I thought I kept seeing someone I thought I knew. I even mentioned to the writer that I think I might know that person, but she never came on the screen again. Still, she was a sports broadcaster in Cincinnati. I guess they could've sent her for the Olympics, but NBC and national coverage? Anyway, I forgot about it.

Cut to Monday night, and I'm talking to Eric. During our conversation he mentions he's been staying contact with Paula, who I thought I saw at the Olympics. Turns out it was her on TV. She apparently took a new job as a sports anchor at an NBC affiliate in a top 5 media market. Can you guess what city she's in now? That's right Chicago. Chicago! Sure I'm little bit jealous. It's Chicago! Paula also completely deserves it. As Eric stated, she has always worked her ass off. Ever since I first met her at Cedarville she's always worked hard. It's a few months late, but congratulations Paula. You really do deserve it. Now, can you do something about getting Dusty fired?

Do You Know What M.U.S.C.L.E. Stands For?

Way back in October I wrote a post about toys of my childhood. It seems I've forgotten one of my biggest toy addictions in middle school. They where only beaten out by my G.I. Joe and Star Wars collection. What could possibly keep pace with such classic toys? Only those Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere!That's right! M.U.S.C.L.E. They're pink, and they're wrestlers, and they're weird. My brother, our friend Andrew, and I collected numerous of these little figures. How bad did this collecting get? Not only did I have around a hundred of these, but I had the wrestling ring. But that's not all! I also had the Nintendo video game.

















It blew chunks, but my brother and I played it to death. My favorite part was that sometimes the ropes of the ring were electrified. So when you threw your opponent into the ropes, he would go into seizures while he was electrocuted. The lame finishing moves were wonderfully awful as well. I think I need to call my Dad and see if he kept any of these.

Ramblings

So Saturday was the Twilight Singers Pre-SXSW show. It was at a small place called The Scene up in Glendale. The place only holds around 100 plus people which isn't bad for a concert like this. Of course there was a moment where it looked like I might not get in because they couldn't find my name on the will call list. I thought there was going to be an opening band, but apparently I was wrong. This meant I had to kill 3 hours in a bar by myself. Bob I wish you were there.

Anyway it was worth it. Dulli and company rocked it like they do. They have a new guitarist. I really liked their last guitarist, but the new guy won me over. Their new keyboardist on this tour Scott Bennett is the musical director for Brian Wilson. Yeah, I don't need to add anything else to that. The two cornerstones, Scott Ford on bass, and Bobby McIntyre on drums were outstanding as always. If Dulli ever replaces them I'd feel a little sad. But on to the important stuff. This concert was a warm up for their SXSW show and to debut songs for their new album. He performed six songs (*) from upcoming Powder Burns album. They all sounded great. My favorites came in the encore. Candy Cane Crawl had Dulli in full on soul man mode. Considering is was in the hospital two days before for some unstated reason, he gave it all. That's the thing with Dulli he will always give you his best show. There were sometimes his voice seemed to fail him, but he still tore through the set like a man posessed. They then went into Underneath the Waves which was a straight up rock n roll. Dulli lead the song off by saying "keep your hands up, you won't regret it." He was right. It should also be noted that they didn't play a single Afghan Whigs song. I really didn't mind not hearing them. The Twilight Singers catalogue has become so strong the Whigs songs aren't necessary. This week I put some of my favorite Twilight Singers songs in the player. They have one of the new songs up on their myspace page.

3/11/06 Setlist-Glendale, CA - The Scene (from summerskiss.com)

toward the waves*
i'm ready*
esta noche
too tough to die
teenage wristband
bonnie brae*
dream on/love
annie mae
that bird sings
early today(and later that night)
martin eden
decatur st.
forty dollars*

encore-
candy cane crawl*
underneath the waves*
the twilite kid

This might be my favorite time of year in sports, with March Madness and the beginning of baseball season. Sunday I had my fantasy baseball draft. I'm pretty happy with it. I am a little short on pitching, but my bench is strong enough that I think I can swing a trade or two. There are a couple new things this year, since I switched over to yahoo. I like the designation of outfielders. You have to pick a RF, LF, and CF, not just a bunch of outfielders. I also like that Holds are being counted, and not just saves. Below is my team. We'll see how this turns out.

C: M. Barrett
1B: P. Fielder
2B: M. Giles
3B: A. Ramirez
SS: J. Rollins
LF: J. Bay
CF: J. Edmonds
RF: B. Giles
UTIL: M. Holliday
Bench: M. Jacobs, N. Johnson, R. Church, M. Murton

SP: B. Sheets
SP: C. Capuano
SP: D. Lowe
SP: A. Harang
RP: R. Dempster
RP: C. Reitsma
RP: S. Linebrink
P: M. Morris

I watched Sopranos last night. The most surprising thing was seeing Axl Rose at the Sopranos' premiere party.

And Corinne Marrinan's week just keeps getting better. After snagging an Oscar, her speech made an appearance on Best Week Ever. Perhaps I would win an Oscar if I didn't watch such pointless TV.

Speaking of pointless TV, I Love Toys ranked the hula hoop as the greatest toy ever. How can hula hoop beat out Legos? What can you do with a hula hoop except swing your hips and nearly choke yourself when you try to swing it around your neck. With Legos you can do anything.

The rest of my weekend was spent trying to find a good pair of earbuds for my Nano. I was tired of the crappy ones they give you. It's like having two speakers out of my '74 Maverick. So, I did a little research, and bough a pair. It's ridiculous how much I spent on them, but they are fantastic.

The Blog Family...Family Grows

It seems I've started quite a trend in my family. My sister Anne Marie has now joined the blogging community. With that making three family websites, I can now add another section in my side column dedicated to family blogs and websites. So, go visit. I want to make sure she keeps up with it. I know Mandy has a blog out there somewhere, but she won't share.

Ramblings

I hope this week flies by faster than last week. I have a big weekend coming up. Saturday, I get to experience the genius of the Twilight Singers in their pre-SXSW show. Sunday is draft day. That's right it is Fantasy Baseball time once again. Please try to keep your enthusiasm in check. This year I'm trying something a little different. I'm still doing NL only keeper league, but I'm using yahoo this time. It has gotten to the point that I'm tired of selling out cash to play and never being able to play with my friends. This year I get to play with Bob. We've already set the draft order, and I got the shitty middle position. I prefer the beginning or end of the draft order. Anyway, more to come on how the draft goes, and why they should just give me the trophy now.

With the past week being a frustrating mess, I decided I needed to treat myself with a video game. I decided on Black for the Xbox (also available for the PS2). I bought it for basically one reason it's called gun porn. Basically, you just shoot the crap out of everything. At least that's what I had heard. Don't get me wrong it's a solid game. Actually it's a beautiful game, particularly if you find particle effects and the rag doll physics of a man flying through the air out of the second story window and doing a face plant beautiful. The game is basically you living a five-six hour Bruckheimer film. I do have a couple problems with it. First, it's too short. Second, the guns seemed designed to cause more damage to the environment than the guy you're trying to shoot. There were many times I've unloaded the big daddy machine gun into the guy, and one shell might hit him. But it is pretty watching the dust and bits of concrete wall fly around him. That's why I stuck with the shotgun. Third, the whole destruction of environments that I was being sold on really doesn’t come into play often enough. There are only a few set pieces where you really feel like you are in the shit. For example there is a confrontation with the enemy in a bathroom stall. You can take cover behind the stall walls for only a second till enemy fire completely obliterates it. Once the firefight is finished the whole room is decimated. I wanted that to happen through the whole game. I realize this is limited by the technology, but I would eventually like to see a game with completely destructive environments. When I send a rocket launcher into a watch tower I want to blow out the stilts and watch it tumble. If I fire a mortar and it lands in some woods I want to see those trees coming down. I want to pay the price of having the roof cave in if I'm dumb enough to fire a rocket launcher while inside a building. I would accept a lower frame rate on the next generation consoles if such a game could be made. Still, Black is fun, and there are a few "Oh shit!" moments. I would recommend it as a rental though because it's so short.

Commercial Hip-hop has proved once again their lack of creativity. Remember back in the day when the "fish-eye" lens dominated their videos? Well, now rap videos have their new favorite technique. It's the widescreen/full screen combo. I didn't like it the first time I saw it, and now that every other video seems to use it I detest it. I hate to give even more props to Kanye West, but even though it doesn't always work (i.e. both "Heard Em Say" videos) at least he tries to do something different each time out. I'm currently digging his "Touch the Sky" video where he plays Evel Knievel.

I'm sure most of you have seen this story on the autistic kid who plays his first high school basketball game after being the team manager for years. I think every station including ESPN has done a piece on it. In case you haven't read the story and watch the video here. Also, compare the first clip "Autistic Teen's Hoop Dreams" to the third related clip called "Hoop Dreams for Autistic Player." The first piece works much better than the third one. I think it's because it follows the whole progress of the final minutes of the game. I get dust in my eye when you see the coach point to put the kid in. I'm also sure Disney is salivating over the rights to the kid's story.

I admit it. I'm a closet Buffalo Bills fan. I didn't always though keep my love for the Buffalo Bills such a guarded secret. After the Music City Miracle I decided to place my Bill fandom in the closet along with my wrestling videos and Journey box set. Why do I hide it? Because I'm a Cubs fan. It became fairly annoying when I would admit my love for both the Cubs and Bills, and people would view as some kind of sports masochist. How much sports pain can one fan endure? Apparently a lot. Here's the thing: I might actually be a masochist.

I always watched football, but growing up in Columbus football came in only Scarlet and Grey. Eventually, I came to the decision that I needed to pick a NFL football team to follow. This is where the masochism could come into play. I basically picked the Bills by looking at the 1986 USA Today pre-season rankings and selecting them because they were near the bottom of the list. Like I've said before: I like the underdogs. Jersey, team history, and other factors went into play as well, but mainly I consciously picked from the bottom of the barrel. We all know what happened after that. Four straight Super Bowls: One "wide right" field goal attempt in 1991, two blow outs in 1992 & 93, and then a promising first half in 1994 only to see it come crumbling down. Some would point to the come from behind win in the 1993 wild card playoff game against the Oilers as a highlight. I would look to it as the crest of a wave before it crashes against the rocks.

Now add all that up with the years and years of misery as a Cubs fan, and you can see why some would think I was a sports masochist. Some would say that I might in fact be the curse for both teams and should retire my fan membership for both teams. To those people I would like to point out the 2002 BCS Championship in which my Buckeyes won. Some will debate that the refs won it for them.

Finally, watching the Oscars proves once again that Nicholson will always be the coolest guy in the room.

Big Ups to Corinne Marrinan!

I personally know an Oscar winner! Congrats to Corinne Marrinan who produced the winning documentary short "A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin."

Joy On Celluloid

Last night I saw the movie The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. I highly recommend the film, but I want to tell you about another movie. Waiting in line to buy my tickets, I noticed a couple debating on what to see. They were talking to one of the movie employees asking about Dave Chappelle's Block Party. The employee hadn't seen it, and gave complaints he heard from other people. After he left, I felt I needed to step in. Throwing out my fear of talking to strangers, I told them, "It's a great movie. I saw it last night. Chappelle's funny and the live performances are outstanding." They didn't listen. I hope they will eventually change their mind and see this movie. If they don't, they will miss out on one of the most joyful films I've seen in awhile.

A month after signing his $50 million contract with Comedy Central Chappelle organized a block party in Brooklyn. This is the documentary covering not only the concert, but organizing the block party, and Chappelle in his home town passing out tickets to the party. Now I should let you know that Chapelle grew up in Yellow Springs, OH which is maybe five miles from Cedarville. So, I got a personal kick out seeing him walk around places I recognize. The personal highlights for me being him at Ha Ha Pizza talking about how you used to be able to order "special" mushrooms for your pizza, and offering a trip to Brooklyn for the Central State drum line. The same drum line I would go watch every now and then.

There are two stars in the movie. The first obviously being Chappelle and his easy going manner with everyone. Everyone loves Chappelle and it's clear why. It's not just because he's so damn funny. The second star is also the live performances which show the power and what the good in Hip-hop. Chappelle has recruited his favorite acts that include, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Kool G. Rap, Cody Chestnutt, Dead Prez, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Kanye West, Big Daddy Kane, Jill Scott, Common, and a reunited Fugees. My one complaint is that the performances are cut a little to fit the film. This isn't just a bunch of bands playing their hits and leaving. This is a democratic concert. All the groups work together to show the genius and passion of live Hip-hop. The biggest goose-bump moment was having Kanye West in the throws of "Jesus Walks" while the Central State drum line backs him up. This is what hip-hop is, and it's not what you see on MTV.

Joy is seen in the faces through this whole movie from Chappelle hanging with kids at a care center, to the audience, to those visiting New York for the first time. Those aren't the only faces that will be smiling with joy. Yours will too.

Watch the trailer here.

Since I have the albums of most of those in the film, I put them up in the player on the right. I also threw in some other songs that are great. I guess I should also warn you there is some strong language.

Semi-great Achievements (Undergrad Edition)

Since we've hit the low points, let's look back to some of the good things that happened during my years at Cedarville. Just to let you know, this will be the last Cedarville post for awhile.

It took till my sophomore year for me to actually just ask a girl out on an official date. I've gone through blind dates, and other awkward setups. But for this date I actually just asked the girl out. Ok, it was a sort of triple date, but I did straight up ask her out. It was just too bad that she didn't enjoy our idea of a progressive dinner. It may have been mean to ask them to dress up a bit, and then take them to McDonalds for the salad. We did progress on to better restaurants for the soup and main course. I guess she just didn't have a sense of fun. Actually, it turned out she was crazy…literally. But the point I'm trying to make is that I asked a girl out.

I actually graduated. I know I don't usually rank these lists, but this was probably the biggest achievement. You see there is a reason it took me five years to graduate. The first two and half years I did all I could to not graduate. I attribute part of it to ego and a part to being lazy. The reality was that I had a cumulative GPA under 2.0 for about three years. I eventually came to my senses and actually started working. After a couple quarters of 4.0's I finally got it over the 2.0 and could graduate. I'm not proud of the GPA, but I'm proud of what I did those last two years to get it over the hump.

I know I make it sound completely awkward, but this was a pretty big moment in my "romantic life."

Feedback! That was the name of the radio show I co-hosted with Amy Cartzendafner. Other than graduating, one of the reasons I worked to get my grades up was to get back on the student radio. My fifth year I finally got a late night show. Luckily, I had Amy as my co-host, and the characters Buffy and Biff came to life. This is also where the writing bug really took hold. I started writing bits for the show, promos, and commercials. They weren't all golden comedy moments, but it gave me some confidence in writing. It should also be mentioned that through my working on the show and in other facets with the radio station I earned the "Purple Heart" award for dedicated service. Not the best name, but I had made up my mind when I saw the plaque that I was going to get my name on there. In the long run it's not really much. It is though one of those nice set a goal and achieve it moments.

My greatest classroom accomplishment was surprisingly enough Oral Interpretation. That's right it happened in a speech class. In all reality it was more of hybrid of a speech and acting class. You took play cuttings, poetry, or literature and then stood up in front of the class and performed them. Still, me and public speaking do not mix well. There were two types of students in the class: the black sheep broadcasters and the snotty theater majors. I know the theater geeks at first held a little grudge because we were obviously taking the class for an easy grade. What we didn't know was that the professor, Dr. Robey, was not going to let this be an easy class. He consistently tore me apart during every one of my run throughs of the performances. This did kick the broadcasters in gear, and we pretty much dominated the class. My highlight could've been my performance of a scene from "No Time for Sergeants." There I had the audience rolling, and pushed the envelope a little by not cutting a questionable joke in the scene. Ok, it was questionable by Cedarville standards. There was also my crowd pleasing performance of "Puss in Boots." The real highlight though was my "Elephant Man" monologue. After the trial run, Dr. Robey really lit into me and I was pretty devastated. I thought I was screwed. The day of the actual performance I was on the verge of puking. Actually, that happened for every one of my performances. I can't exactly remember how, but I pretty much nailed the performance. It was like Jordan hitting "The Shot," or Ali beating Liston, or Comaneci scoring a perfect 10. I was clearly in that zone. The final result was seeing Dr. Robey's score sheet being handed to me with a perfect score. He only passed out two of those that quarter and got one of them. I came close to repeating with "No Time for Sergeants" but I came up on point shy. Yet, I still hate talking to groups of three or more.

This isn't really an achievement, but getting Rich Mullins to come wake up the boring people during GMA week was kind of cool.

Good Gravy

Well, I planned on posting tonight. This is what actually happened:

-Saw that you could put a music player on my blog. I thought that'd be a good idea.

-An hour later I feel like a moron that I can't figure this crap out.

-I drive home.

-An hour and a half later after downloading two pointless programs I have an "Aha!" moment.

-Three seconds later it turns into a "Mother Hubbard!" moment.

-An hour later later I finally kind of understand.

-Finally I've done it, and realize it's "eh."

Anyway, this will probably be where I will be putting the "Bits O' Music" from now on. No more stupid downloading. They should just instantly play. Enjoy those that care. What's in the player now is a few songs from the Teenline series and some other songs I'm digging right now.