tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90759802984362377332024-02-07T01:08:42.577-05:00Healthy PessimismWhen life gives you lemons, throw them out. Lemons are shit, give me an apple.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-5131386392699533512011-12-08T23:34:00.001-05:002011-12-08T23:54:27.287-05:00The NBA, Where We Do What We Want... err Happens<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The NBA and David Stern should be ashamed. This is an absolute joke. The Hornets by all accounts would have done pretty well here, getting a couple serviceable players, a solid draft pick, and good trade bait. It's unbelievable that Stern's almighty hand would come down and nix this trade. UNBELIEVABLE. This is why a league should not be allowed to own a team. Owner's of teams that would have been hurt by this trade (ahem, Marc Cuban) complained, and Stern put the kibosh on. Complete insanity. This league does not have a good track record with this kind of stuff (ahem, the MJ incident AND ahem, every draft lottery ever). Ergo, I submit to you the new NBA marketing tag: </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>The NBA where we do whatever the fuck we want.. happens. </i></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">If I was Dell Demps I would quit. Plain and simple. This is an unhealthy working environment. I'd go further, get all the VPs, coaching staff, etc. involved. This is bullshit. How could they be expected to do their jobs? A small internal coup might send a message to the league that this is unacceptable. Worst case, Dell Demps earns the reputation as a badass with standards.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">If I was a Hornets fan, I would be livid too. Sure, some fans are probably thrilled. But they're stupid. Listen, CP3 will NOT be a Hornet forever. That much is clear. If he's forced by David Stern and some loud-mouth owners to unhappily work out his contract in New Orleans, so be it. He's got all the power in the world to jump wherever he wants come free agency. Long term, this trade is a necessity for the Hornet. Look at the relative success of the Denver Nuggets after the Melo trade, fifth in the West last year. Not getting rid of CP3 will haunt this team all year, mark my words. And as a second mark of my words... it's going to be a lot harder to trade CP3 now. That's pretty much the best offer they're going to get... maybe.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-63259273267731474072010-11-19T14:09:00.003-05:002010-11-19T15:57:20.239-05:00York University: Willfully Ignorant or Just Plain Biased?<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The nasty side of York University, and frankly Canadian academia as a whole, has once again veered its ugly head. The university had invited George Galloway to speak to students. In response, and as a way to reach out to the large, ignored Jewish community at York, Rabbi Aaron Hoch of the Village Shul sent an email out to his mailing list. In the note he asked that his following "take part in protesting this outrage." He noted that York University President Mamdouh "Shoukri has again showed his amazing tolerance for anti-Semitism and lack of vigilance regarding the feeling of safety for Jewish students on campus.” The story, of course, doesn't end there as the university has now threatened to sue the Rabbi. (As if they didn't already have a bad image in the Toronto Jewish community.)</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">So who is George Galloway? A former British MP, he has been a vocal detractor of Israel and supporter of Palestine, among other things. In 2009 he organized the Viva Palestina (http://is.gd/hm3R7), an aid convoy to the Gaza Strip following the flotilla incident. He also donated £25,000 to Hamas, which he claims was for aid purposes.(http://is.gd/hm5tK) Then in March of 2009 he was deemed inadmissible to Canada on 'security grounds.' The Canadian courts upheld that his donation to Hamas constituted explicit support of a terrorist organization.(http://is.gd/hm5GV). On an American radio show he said the following regarding Zionists:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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"The reality is these people have used Jewish people, and they have used them with this ideology of Zionism, to create this little Hitler State on the Mediterranean, to act as an advance guard for their own interests in the Arab world, and we're all paying for it, the Palestinians have paid for it, the Arabs have paid for it, and now the American people are paying for it, and why should we? We don't want to live our lives in a permanent state of warfare and division." (http://is.gd/hlX2T)</div><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Eventually he was allowed into Canada, and York University's president jumped on the opportunity to invite him to speak. The man is a provocative individual and inflammatory in any sense of the word. Should he be allowed to speak in Canada? Probably, unless it can be shown that he is a security risk. Is it an outrage that York U invited him to speak? Slightly, considering their past, but definitely not shocking. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">What is <b>truly</b> outrageous is the reaction from the university. Universities <b><i>should</i></b> be about the free flow of ideas from all backgrounds, and to this end having anybody speak from a particular perspective is a good thing. But when a university repeatedly sides with one point of view and denies the other point of view protest, there is a problem. If Mr. Galloway was invited to speak for the benefit of hearing another side to a very heated and important debate, this would be acceptable. But the university's fierce reaction to the planned protest suggests otherwise. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Further, York U has a bad history of anti-Israel behaviour - with its acceptance of the incredibly hateful Israel apartheid week (http://is.gd/hmbuL) - and an even worse record of on campus anti-semitism. The Rabbi's letter has become a rallying point for York U's Jewish community. From a National Post article on the subject:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 57.0px; text-align: justify;">"Rabbi Hoch, of the Dan Family Village Shul, said he has since been flooded with emails from people who are “giving voice to their frustrations.” Those frustrations, he said, are born from the “intimidation” of Jewish students on campus, which he said culminated last year after a swarming by pro-Palestinian students of a group of Jewish students, who wound up barricaded inside the school’s Hillel lounge." (http://is.gd/hmbiE)</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 57.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Worse still, a member of this mob that attacked a group of innocent Jewish students, Krisna Saravanamuttu was elected president of the student federation. He obviously disagrees with the Rabbi’s characterization of Mr. Galloway as an “activist for terrorist organizations,” and said “those seem like baseless accusations to me.” Fact is, those accusations have a very solid base. Mr. Galloway is on record as a financial supporter of Hamas, a terrorist organization designated so by the EU, The US, Canada, and others. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Canadian universities are a joke. Bastions of hardcore leftist ideology. Our tax dollars fund these pits of humanity and its a fucking shame. It's a shame that our money funds this hateful, classless and unacademic behaviour. It's mostly a shame that York U doesn't get it. Look, I understand and believe that universities need and deserve public funding. But it's wrong to take public funding and then silence the public from protesting your activities, plain and simple. So, is York U willfully ignorant or just biased? That's a no brainer.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-71913090638380428192010-11-18T08:26:00.001-05:002010-11-18T08:40:30.070-05:00Gateway to America's Soul - Through the Eyes of a Bag of Sun Chips<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">What is wrong with America? Has she lost her way? In the season finale of <i>Real Time with Bill Maher</i> this past Friday, Maher made an excellent point about what ails America by referencing a bag of Sun Chips.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">For those not familiar the story is as follows: in early 2009 Frito-Lay introduced a biodegradable packaging for Sun Chips. Made of completely plant-based material, the bag decomposed into dirt instead of remaining a bag of chips for five hundred years. A good idea, forward thinking, great PR, etc. etc. There was one hitch: this bag was damn loud, shockingly so. But who cares, right? In both the Pacific and Atlantic ocean swirls a Texas sized "island" of garbage, which certainly contains a bag of Sun Chips or two. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic4Dd_eLOEeZHZeU4ju_OMfeQZ6zqiJhDns5EC5dAVrQNPxqewUzlpCFftolzlsaBCu9oOccr3w3GDhyLav6MI7M-tjxtDcUq-UU-hKzbdfvzckgY1GIpnI8XnIQkM7Qqm1YzkgF_1M3N5/s1600/img_Great-Pacific-Garbage-Patch_2-copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic4Dd_eLOEeZHZeU4ju_OMfeQZ6zqiJhDns5EC5dAVrQNPxqewUzlpCFftolzlsaBCu9oOccr3w3GDhyLav6MI7M-tjxtDcUq-UU-hKzbdfvzckgY1GIpnI8XnIQkM7Qqm1YzkgF_1M3N5/s400/img_Great-Pacific-Garbage-Patch_2-copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Shouldn't environmental thinking trump a loud potato chip bag? I guess not. Critics, from consumers to media commentators, descended: facebook groups and youtube videos sprouted up as a grassroots campaign against the loud bag took hold. Finally, on October 5th they pulled the packaging from America's shelves.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">It seems that what should have been hailed as a beacon of progress, and a wonderful sign of a corporation taking some initiative, has been relegated to the world of corporate misstep. Worse, it seems that the selfish nature of individual Americans was on display in its truest form. As Maher put it,</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 44.0px; text-align: justify;">"Of course we could have made the ultimate sacrifice and - I dunno - poured the chips into a bowl... Sidenote: in Canada, Sun Chips is keeping the non-earth raping bag, because they are not a nation of crack babies. They get it; that sometimes you have to give up small things in order to make the world a better place. Except in America, where 'have it your way' is the rule for everything, including volume on snacks. You think we're going to reform Social Security??? haha"</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RPmKI19-Ze8?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RPmKI19-Ze8?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;">Sun Chips Canada took full advantage of this PR opportunity</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The silver lining in this story is that, yes, Canadian shelves will remain stocked with this loud bag. As a Canadian, of course I am proud of our great sacrifice, ha! There has been a lot of talk of late about how this is Canada's moment (<a href="http://is.gd/hdzkx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">http://is.gd/hdzkx</span></a>), after battling domestic issues for decades we are now at the fore-front of international envy. Our banks have been lauded as the most stable in the world by the World Economic Forum three years running (<a href="http://is.gd/hdBm5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">http://is.gd/hdBm5</span></a>). We hosted a <i>relatively</i> successful Olympics this past winter. Et cetera. Are we perfect? Of course not. Far from it. But we are certainly in better shape than our neighbour to the south. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Thing is, we can't afford to ignore America's problems. Our greatest trading partner, best friend, and often times family, is in a near state of crisis. High unemployment, cumbersome national debt, a broken health care system, disastrous foreign policy, and a reeling economy; resulting in a broken and highly divisive political landscape. America's problems are quite large and threaten its position on top of the world. Worse, the electorate and politicians don't appear capable of getting anything done. Every election we see a sweeping shift in another direction. Imagine the cool kid being dethroned, with 300 million voices inside her head. They feel threatened as the number one country in the world, and with very good reason. Maybe the Sun Chips saga is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme. But Maher's point is that a solution to what ails America is impossible while American's are unwilling or unable to think of the bigger picture. And he is spot on.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-69697015978930320702010-10-25T21:19:00.002-04:002010-10-25T21:23:30.659-04:00Toronto Votes... Sorta<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Is nobody else shocked by the voting system used for the Toronto Mayoral election today? In this day and age (excuse the cliche) you should walk in, swipe your driver's license, or health card, or approved voters card, and tap a screen a few times to vote. Further, if you want to improve dismal turnout numbers, put the damn thing online - with obvious safeguards in place - and have an in-person option for all the luddites amongst the electorate.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">For those unaware of the brutal process today: you walked in (to wherever you were voting) and were directed to one of many lines hosted by a volunteer with a list of names for every eligible voter in the ward. After an ID check, the volunteer crossed your name off of the list and gave you an anonymous voting card. On the card you are asked to fill in the two ends of an arrow with a marker for the candidates (mayor, council member, trustee) of your choice. Are you kidding? This is the best we've got? </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">When my mother went to vote she discovered that her name was already crossed off of the list. A volunteer had made an error and crossed her name. She was eventually allowed to vote, but only after causing a stink. Is this not the most primitive of voting systems? Even the Iraqis, with the inked fingers, got it better (forgetting the violence of course). A monkey could game the system, all you would have to do is walk in and ask for a voter's card from a different desk, where your name would be clear as day. Maybe the volunteers would notice a discrepancy later, maybe not. The fact that a volunteer accidently crossed my mother's name gives me little confidence. This process was just the icing on the proverbial cake of an absolutely terrible mayoral race.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Best of luck to Mayor Ford.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-43265228402876823122010-10-15T15:40:00.000-04:002010-10-15T15:40:42.294-04:00The Toronto Raptors: Better Without Bosh?<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Via <a href="http://rapsbasketball.ca/">rapsbasketball.ca</a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">I recognize that this post is a little late to the punch. But seeing as pre-season is upon us and our roster is solidifying (for now at least) I figure it a good jumping off point for discussion. So, are the Toronto Raptors better without Chris Bosh? In the short term, the answer is no. Plain and simple; I just don't see it. How do you recover from the loss of your best player? The franchise leader in virtually every stat of significance, a career 20 and 10 guy who was the center of our offense. Fact is we just don't have anybody ready to fill the immediate void he leaves behind. Not Bargnani, as Chuck Swirksy would have us believe. Not Kleiza, Amir Johnson, Ed Davis or Solomon Alabi... not yet at least.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">I have held the belief for a while that Bosh was not a good/vocal leader, and could have never brought a championship to this city on his own. He implicitly confirmed this thinking when he moved to South Beach. And further proof has come out from the likes of Triano and Jarrett Jack this summer. From Triano:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 57.0px; text-align: justify;">"When you talk about Chris being the leader in the lockeroom, I think it's the one thing that he wasn't for us. He did a great job of getting 24 points and 10, 11 rebounds on a regular basis, but Chris did not really take the leadership role into the locker room. He's not a vocal person, he's not a guy who really did that. I think in the years that he's been here, he's almost deferred to different people: Jermaine O'Neal, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba/players/21923/jalen-rose">Jalen Rose</a>, and <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba/players/21546/vince-carter">Vince Carter</a> in his earlier years, didn't really defer to anyone last year and everybody kind of waited for him to take the reigns last year and it could've been been part of the issues we had." </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">With the current state of the East I don't foresee a playoff birth from the Raps this season. But in my opinion, we got rid of our biggest impediment to future success in CB4. If he re-signed, Bosh would have weighed down the team for years and years. Again, not that Chris is a bad dude or bad player (in fact he is a consummate professional and great basketball player), he is just not a franchise player caliber leader. And in losing him the club has gained much needed and valued flexibility going forward. Flexibility is nice, but only if it leads somewhere. The club does have a lot of interesting, disparate talent and potential and even though we will likely struggle this year, it is still an interesting time to be a Raps fan. The speed of our recovery from the loss of CB4 will depend on a bunch of factors:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;"><li style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Is Bargnani up to the task as a number one option?</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">How will the duo of Jose/Jack pan out this season?</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">How good can players like Kleiza, Barbosa and Julian Wright be and where do they fit in?</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">What is DeRozan's ceiling?</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">How will the developing swagger in the <i>Young Gunz</i> translate onto the court?</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Where will Ed Davis fit in...</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Will BC use the TPE and how?</li>
</ul><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Look forward to posts on all of these questions and more; including a "State of the Eastern Conference and Where the Raps Fit in" and an "Expose on Why Players Don't Like to Play in Canada." Anyways, that was a thriller the other night in double OT, looking forward to tonight's game.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlqMBTqKBJF71drAlw7wig9bVsZr4KYL-y85lI2IUb28BlvlTQx6nDvRMhnjULocWbkTg0yojzWE5xYlAhvpmxwvlnJbkgpt527nBCRrF_8_YopEIpFzLTagwedLQdo5Mm_GTLjvmyzVYK/s1600/zm031k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlqMBTqKBJF71drAlw7wig9bVsZr4KYL-y85lI2IUb28BlvlTQx6nDvRMhnjULocWbkTg0yojzWE5xYlAhvpmxwvlnJbkgpt527nBCRrF_8_YopEIpFzLTagwedLQdo5Mm_GTLjvmyzVYK/s320/zm031k.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-22483387646691019522010-06-29T17:38:00.000-04:002010-06-29T17:38:24.090-04:00The Toronto Raptors: The Miami Summit, or Lack Thereof<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyF7WUq_LZlfB8lWxvXnkoJ_66yO_wp4_s9EoDRaoOKRSdP4xdtg0gfgIONlED_AufCf33p-Lx-L_EFXyAjIBoU8aNKRfPNC6KA0dAza7NjK4izDfHcgl5V6xRPVz2obvb9_swASg8ewiy/s1600/nba_team_usa1_sw_576.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyF7WUq_LZlfB8lWxvXnkoJ_66yO_wp4_s9EoDRaoOKRSdP4xdtg0gfgIONlED_AufCf33p-Lx-L_EFXyAjIBoU8aNKRfPNC6KA0dAza7NjK4izDfHcgl5V6xRPVz2obvb9_swASg8ewiy/s400/nba_team_usa1_sw_576.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Steve Aschburner wrote an excellent piece yesterday on NBA.com (<a href="http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/steve_aschburner/06/28/trio.in.miami/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1">linked here</a>) on the free agent summit in Miami. He postulates several great thoughts on its cultural, social, and scientific significance...</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; text-align: justify;">As a basketball experiment, it would be fascinating to see the Xs and Os brought to life by such remarkable talents. Who would initiate the action? How would their skills mesh? Where would the outside shooting come from? Then again, with double-teams demanded at three spots, simple math says there would be 2 ½ guys left mostly open much of the time.</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; text-align: justify;">As chemistry and psychology experiments, we could learn much about the dynamics of ego, the power of sacrifice and the ingredients needed to bind together such strong personalities. What would the pecking order be? We pretty much know who'd be No. 3, but how would Nos. 1 and 2 get divvied up? Would Wade have squatter's rights because it was <i>his</i> town first? If so, what's higher in the royal flow-chart than King?</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; text-align: justify;">As a financial experiment, we might finally get to see how the New York Yankees' methodology of team-building works in pro basketball. The NBA largely has been protected from that by its salary cap, but this would be as close as a hoops team can get to opening the wallet for the best of the best.</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; text-align: justify;">Even if a spend-spend-spend approach isn't quite what the Yankees do (they're more like spend-spend-spend-spend to about the 25th power), it would force Miami and the rest of the league to find out what happens when most of the remaining players are brought in on minimum contracts. Would the Gee, Three! be surrounded by marginal talent? Or would they, on their reputations and expectations of success, lure enough solid teammates who'd take serious pay cuts to nail down rings themselves?</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; text-align: justify;">As a cultural experiment, seeing how such a galaxy of stars would shine away from the gyms would be fascinating, too. Would they hang together? Would they share off-court opportunities? In other words, would Bosh get a puppet and would Charles Barkley be elbowed out of the T-Mobile spots?</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; text-align: justify;">Finally, as a political and competitive experiment ... well, here's where things get dicey. We'd start by assuming that Cleveland and Toronto, abandoned by James and Bosh respectively, would be toast. At least for a (long) while. But what about other markets and their preference for building toward a championship the old-fashioned way? Could they compete with the instant mix of superstars, money and minimal stirring?</div><div style="color: #676767; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 85.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">I have always written off the possibility that these three end up together as preposterous. Each has earned the right to carry a team on his own (some more than others). And, in their own ways, each has stated that he wants to be the man in a respective uniform. For about 24 hours now this rumor has been swirling out of control, and it appears (of course, this comes out while I'm writing this piece) that it might be just that: a rumor. But the point of it being picked up so virally by many fans and pundits alike, is that it is such a tantalizing thought. So, even if this is not going to happen, I will finish my article as if it were a done deal. Mostly because I want to, but also because - as the reason for the virility in the first place - I'm sure the three stars have given much thought about packing up and moving to South Beach together.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Firstly, I don't care if Bosh leaves Toronto, frankly I want to see him gone. In his seven years here, he has managed to lead his team to 3 playoffs wins. That's games, not series. He has put up fantastic personal numbers, but has never really been able to get more from various and talented teammates. While he says he wants to be the man for a franchise, I think he is better suited as the Robin to a Lebron/Wade Batman. He is not suited to lead, and if we kept him in TO, it would be Garnett in Minny, or Pau in Memphis all over again. Moreover, Bosh ending up in Miami with Lebron and Wade would be bittersweet. I love Miami, have a second home there and consider them to be my second team (whatever the hell that means). Further, I could chalk it up as a situation that Bosh could not pass up. Unlike if he went to, say, Houston, where there is only slightly better talent, and he would still be the franchise guy. I am grateful for his service to the City of Toronto's basketball fans, but it is time to part ways. For the benefit of both parties. If we can return a Michael Beasley, then great. Either way, the Raps move to rebuild mode immediately, so I am fairly indifferent.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GsrHndIlTl6GJ5B_yf18GLLNcdDUizRdRBHUrDKvEs1K4ZYyuLqYbAcMyJ9eZx11yEdETiQfJxJmXFTq7DiLk60NLqw9patNw66sOUo9JmpQmkyoVxL-m0Eh3KAACNv-G6GyAJ4QnzOE/s1600/john-daly-shirtless-putting.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GsrHndIlTl6GJ5B_yf18GLLNcdDUizRdRBHUrDKvEs1K4ZYyuLqYbAcMyJ9eZx11yEdETiQfJxJmXFTq7DiLk60NLqw9patNw66sOUo9JmpQmkyoVxL-m0Eh3KAACNv-G6GyAJ4QnzOE/s320/john-daly-shirtless-putting.JPG" /></a>Secondly, regarding the 'done deal', "massive 3" (big 3 seems to small for me) in HEAT uniforms. Some might question whether they would be dominant. Whether they would mesh well together. But the question in my mind isn't if, but how many championships they would win. Yes, bringing the three together means that the team will have to do with nine to twelve minimum salary guys, but who cares? You could put John Daly in at the five, and he would average 10, 5 and 5 (boards, dimes, if you were wondering). Especially given that Pat Riley would likely move down from his front office perch, I put the vegas over/under championship total at 5.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Thirdly, at the end of the article, Aschburner goes on to question their competitive drive if they decide to sign together. That's ludicrous. They would still have to go up against the Lakers, Celts, Mavs, Magic, Nuggs, etc. These are the three biggest names in the sport right now only by virtue of the free agency, not because they are the only talent in the league. There is no question that this would be a seismic shift and leave the Cavs and Raps high and dry (the Cavs would be worse off IMHO). But in no way is this a sign of a lack of will for competition. I would say the exact opposite. League wide talent is at an all-time high and the three would be saying that they want to pair up to face this talent. If anything I would question their competitiveness if they didn't decide to pair up.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Lastly, and most importantly, with Bosh all but gone, where do the Raps stand? We can try a patch-work for one season to see if we can salvage anything from this shipwreck... maybe Beasley comes to town. Maybe we get some interesting pieces in return for Turkoglu or Calderon. Marcus Banks and Reggie Evans are expiring deals too, maybe we can package them into a deal and return some value. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Either way, it looks like the team will be handed to Bargnani. He's had plenty of time in the league and it's time to see what he's made of. If he can't handle it, get rid of him and blow up the team. The roster next year will be drastically different, and probably not great. Jose needs to go, he's not good enough. His body is weak, and injury prone. His defense is weak. He handles the offense perfectly and its a pleasure to watch him dime Amir for the alley, but his deficiencies are too big to ignore. Ship him, for expiring contracts even. Jack gets the starting the job. With Jose out of the picture, Turk's job as a ball handler becomes much more important and I could see him being sold to stay a Raptor. Further, I would bite that he would be useful once more. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A starting five of Bargs, Amir (Re-Signing him is absolutely necessary) Turk, Sonny and Jack is interesting, but still pretty shit. Demar and Ed Davis off the bench are a pretty big wild-card at this point. Add in a player or two from the Calderon deal, and maybe Beasley, and the team might be alright. Do they make the playoffs? Likely not. Do they make for some entertaining games throughout the season? Sure, but few. If Demar and Bargnani, and Triano for that matter, have great off-seasons, the team might not be in bad shape. If they maintain the status quo (more likely in my mind), the situation in Raptors land looks pretty bleak. If that's the case, blow it up. Clean house. Get rid of Colangelo et al. and start fresh with the core of Demar, Sonny, Davis, Amir. The Raps can only give it a year though, and this is key. If they don't make the playoffs, BLOW IT UP! I do not want the Raptors to become mediocre hacks wadding in the middle of the pack, which a lineup of Bargs, Amir/Davis, Turk, Sonny/Demar, Jack has written all over it. We would win thirty five games, and everybody would be like, "oh well we had an alright season, let's give these guys another shot." That's not good enough. Specifically because I don't believe Toronto is a draw for major star power... unfortunately. Our success needs to come from organic growth. The Raptors need to be really bad to be really good. And we need to draft well in the process.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-29243667590767498092010-06-29T16:31:00.000-04:002010-06-29T16:31:03.013-04:00Two Urinals<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3FJyRy3VqBJnp0SudWYvM-XUdFzVrRM33nOcmPg2GgsLBqD_bho25XcgSs1Y9W5zMW6jmINqDHHFfe2mjzMoM40wkcsNnWC3POIf6gF99fgeJxprggk0s9L07Kp90R0mq687NCDsMK7BJ/s1600/two_urinals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3FJyRy3VqBJnp0SudWYvM-XUdFzVrRM33nOcmPg2GgsLBqD_bho25XcgSs1Y9W5zMW6jmINqDHHFfe2mjzMoM40wkcsNnWC3POIf6gF99fgeJxprggk0s9L07Kp90R0mq687NCDsMK7BJ/s320/two_urinals.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">At my place of work, in the men’s room, there are two urinals. Based on the erosion of the urinal cakes I have noticed that people tend to choose to pee in the right urinal. The puck is always the first to erode, and I wonder why? When I go pee I don’t really think about which urinal I choose, I just sort of go. Sometimes I stand in the middle and try to go back and forth… sorry colleagues: that was me. Anyways, I think it would be an interesting psychological study to see if there was any difference between those who choose right versus left. When they choose it, and why. Maybe it is a dominant hand type of thing. Maybe it’s a personality thing. Maybe it’s a left brain, right brain issue. Maybe it’s random… probably not. Maybe we would just find that people who choose right pee more? Would that be a finding? Maybe they are healthier and drink more water? Who knows… who cares?</div></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-27729601295954009762010-06-17T18:39:00.001-04:002010-06-17T18:46:40.358-04:00Tall Man Etiquette<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Being as tall as I am its a funny thing when you meet someone who is near your height. At 6"7 that happens rarely, but when it does the outcome goes one of two ways. The first - and less common - is that you make eye contact, direct or indirect, and kind of give the other dude a nod. Like this scene from the office, but instead of black people, its tall people.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rkAP4t2E2Bc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rkAP4t2E2Bc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">You're saying, "Hey Bro. Respect. You're tall, and I'm tall. Fuck Yeah!" </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The second reaction, which is much more common; both parties snap their spine up and walk by looking at each other indirectly so as to gauge who is taller. Being the tallest person in sight is a competition, so when someone threatens your position as the alpha, you have to be sure who is the tallest. Upon acknowledgment that one is taller the other must bow down and give way to the taller. If, on occassion, you run into a situation where you can't tell there is protocol. You must immediately fight to the death in typical tall guy fashion.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RU5AxF65P-0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RU5AxF65P-0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-83704229580829587492010-06-10T23:31:00.000-04:002010-06-10T23:31:14.373-04:00The Political Capital of the Oil Spill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1N0D-AJtVC8uQ93KP4t41cRamAOiIE_drJ3AyrmnCMLdtUXbrGw7wDvrY5TQ4SgPUpqbC8N5jgiNjmNaFcBOSNShcGrlA_p7VAzxLJnBH9ywQ7TRSNMQn7P6vlOJbT7LMyt4znJoP_nj/s1600/oil_spill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1N0D-AJtVC8uQ93KP4t41cRamAOiIE_drJ3AyrmnCMLdtUXbrGw7wDvrY5TQ4SgPUpqbC8N5jgiNjmNaFcBOSNShcGrlA_p7VAzxLJnBH9ywQ7TRSNMQn7P6vlOJbT7LMyt4znJoP_nj/s320/oil_spill.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">I read an article today in The Globe and Mail (<a href="http://tiny.cc/0nnje">http://tiny.cc/0nnje</a>) suggesting that the oil spill will be a 'game changer' for the oil industry. It was quoting an analysis by the international energy agency which posited that tough new regulation might jeopardize supply in the next five years to the tune of around one million barrels a day.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">It also cites a Deutsche Bank report, “this is the end of the oil age as we knew it and the Macondo [the blown well] will be seen as an enormous driver toward at least recognition that cheap, abundant, politically secure oil is no longer available and our behaviour must change to recognize that.”</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Amazing. I can't wait. I've been saying it for a while that Obama needs to use the political capital associated with the spill to fulfill a campaign promise of weaning America off its addiction to oil. Is it scummy to politicize a massive disaster? No. The fact is that people respond to crisis. George Bush missed his opportunity following 9/11. In the name of national security he could have used the attack to make drastic changes to the way Americans get their energy (among other things). And lots of very smart Americans believe this is a much more effective way to counter terrorism. Ronald Reagan spent the Russians into the red to end the cold war. Now in the war on terrorism, we are funding the enemy. This is why Israel's energy policy is to be oil-free, ASAP, using electric cars, solar and wind power, etc. Anyways, of course Bush would have never tried to sever the ties between Americans and the oils powers of the middle east... his father's business connections being what they are. So let's all hope that the reason Obama is lying low so far is to calculate a measured and effective response to break the addiction to oil. Look the fact is that we are so entrenched in our oil addicted lifestyle that coming clean from oil will require us to make financial sacrifices. Massive investment in research and development to improve the technology is paramount. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The time is now. We need to grow up and recognize that the cost of oil is far greater than just the daily price of a barrel. We subsidize the oil companies by letting them sell their product without making them pay for all the costs of using the product. Pollution, health issues related to smog, etc. Why do we do this? They make tens of billions of dollars every year from killing our planet. I love capitalism and the wealth that it creates for the masses, but this is capitalism gone awry. Let's take the needle out of our arm and get on with fixing the world.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-13458577880969779692010-06-08T21:28:00.001-04:002010-06-08T21:40:43.673-04:00Religious Pollution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYu8__LqwoojNxwoXW18OX1FZP4_JnDIHYV100iN8dDKt3C0F0rXb-0l70MHXLmc4jfrMa93G6C7r51HhZzYbCI-VbKTiGIVyTyYr4xdJ6uxluWWBwxM0QYK4KVptUMePwRz9V2SGMO3iZ/s1600/god2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYu8__LqwoojNxwoXW18OX1FZP4_JnDIHYV100iN8dDKt3C0F0rXb-0l70MHXLmc4jfrMa93G6C7r51HhZzYbCI-VbKTiGIVyTyYr4xdJ6uxluWWBwxM0QYK4KVptUMePwRz9V2SGMO3iZ/s320/god2.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">"I've sworn off agnosticism, which I now call cowardly atheism." James Cameron. Bullshit. Granted; you are the man and yes, you have the two biggest grossing films of all time under your belt and can apparently fix massive oil spills. But this line is hogwash. There is nothing cowardly in agnosticism. In fact the world's preeminent atheist, Richard Dawkins, is truly an agnostic. Read his work: In 'The God Delusion' he says it plainly that as a scientist he cannot discount the possibly that a supernatural being exists. Ergo, Dawkins is an agnostic.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">My view of those in the modern world is that they are willfully - and pleased to be so - ignorant. They go about their daily lives not really giving a damn about the divine, and every so often they go to church, or synagogue, or whatever to appease God. At the end of the day it is about fear. Not fear in some sort of hell, but fear in death. The ultimate question religion tries to answer is that of the afterlife. In this guise, religion is comforting to the majority. It's Pascal's Wager, living life in belief of God has everything to gain and nothing to lose. I believe it's likely that our consciousness ceases to exist upon death. I sure hope I am wrong though, because that is a scary fucking thought. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Regardless, the question "is there a god?" is a separate question from the question of religion. Yes most religions are centered in the belief of some sort of supreme, super-natural, and judgmental being. But would you be surprised if you died and had a sit down with God where he said, "Yes I exist, and I am the creator. But no, I did not have anything to do with the 'holy' scripture, or religions by which you humans have chosen to live your lives." I wouldn't. In fact, that actually makes a lot of sense to me. To be an atheist today means you subscribe to your world-view by choice. Like Dawkins, most atheists are in-fact agnostics. This is because atheists tend to be the more educated, scientifically minded people. And as scientists they cannot and will not answer the 'God' question with one hundred percent certainty. So let's forget about the 'God' proposition and focus on religion.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">I believe that when you look at the history of religion there was a breaking point. A point where religion stopped being useful for humanity and began being destructive. Before monotheism, humanity was a disaster, with very little societal morality, etc. at this point in time religion was beneficial to humanity. But I do not believe that it was rooted in the divine. Our ancestors wrote the torah, the koran, etc., as a code of laws of sorts, for the time. Humans are social animals and really fucking smart. So it is important for us to define our social relationships in a clear cut manner. For centuries this is what religion did. Religion certainly ushered humanity from barbarism to civility. The problem is that it now threatens to bring us back to barbarism, as plenty of the modern world's uncivilized behavior is rooted in religion.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The question of whether religion has been historically good or bad, to me, is an unnecessary one. What are you going to do? Sit there with a scoreboard and count every death one by one. "Well these 115 deaths were religious based..." Useless and frankly a null point because for a lot of them it could be argued either way. Take the crusades for example. Depending on which lens you wish to view them through you could reasonably say that they were a human inspired, or a religious based tragedy. You can view history through so many different lenses, perhaps you might say that the crusades were more a product of the times, etc. The point is that taking historic stock of religion is arduous and ultimately useless.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">What is useful, however, is looking at religion today and the prospects of a society that believes in religion versus one that is without faith. To put it plainly, what are the pros and cons of religion in the modern world? To me, it's a no-brainer that religion currently has a negative effect on the human race as a whole. Amongst other things, religion is an extremely polarizing entity. So much so that people kill others and/or themselves in its name. To abolish religion is an easy sell to me. Obviously not for others. In the name of religion today we have suppressive regimes that abuse their citizens. Ritualistic killing. Female circumcision. People are taught to hate and kill and even commit suicide. The fact is that in the modern world, we don't need religion anymore. We need to move past the notion that we should devote our lives in the service of something we have never seen. We need to believe more in the power of humanity than in the power of the divine. This could usher in transformative change. It will never happen, not for hundreds of years at least, but it's nice to think about. Regardless of whether you believe in a particular religion, it should be your duty as a responsible human being to take care of this planet which has given you life. To take care of your fellow man trying to do the same. Look I'm just a monkey trying to do right by his monkey brethren. And I'm more than okay with that. Watch the movie 'Jesus Camp', it will scare the shit of your, seriously. In it, Ted Haggard, the besmirched pastor and former head of the council which overseas thirty million American evangelicals, says that kids love religion because it gives them hope and purpose. Without it all you have is natural selection, basically suggesting that intelligent design is much cooler for children because God formed them with his own hands. Why do religious thinkers believe this way? I happen to believe the natural selection is damn cool. Over millions of years our monkey ancestors were whittled down to the best and brightest: homo-sapien, and now you are here today, reading this shit on the internet. Religious people say they derive purpose from the divine, and that those without religion are lost, and purposeless. That is a load of shit. Purpose can be found everywhere, and why not in service to the whole of humanity and this beautiful planet we call home.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">So, what happens when you die? Shit, I dunno. Let's all agree that we don't know. We don't know if there is a God. We don't know what existence is, in fact, we take our existence, more so the existence of the universe for granted. Maybe you want to pray on Sundays, or everyday for that matter. Fine, waste your time, if it makes you happy then great. If it makes you kill then you have no place on my planet, get the fuck off!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-31008456689966892742010-05-27T19:36:00.004-04:002010-05-27T20:09:14.107-04:00Top Ten Homer Simpson Moments<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLcx_vwoVkFvyJEd6MkLgAa0uDIbFhKBIDR9dkMmJMRrbhdtQx4DYGjn-wH3RHDInMlBsIDSuumYw0V-iyP0FqjRdMdWc5JQpnO0e4P-9uySlrDW9L1XDpSaX_JN_5i7PPxg55t8briJtp/s1600/homer-simpson-picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLcx_vwoVkFvyJEd6MkLgAa0uDIbFhKBIDR9dkMmJMRrbhdtQx4DYGjn-wH3RHDInMlBsIDSuumYw0V-iyP0FqjRdMdWc5JQpnO0e4P-9uySlrDW9L1XDpSaX_JN_5i7PPxg55t8briJtp/s320/homer-simpson-picture.jpg" /></a></div>I recently published my top ten favorite comedies of all time. In it I included video clips for most of the shows on the list. Let me tell you, searching for these clips was a blast. Most notably for a bit from The Simpsons. I used to adore The Simpsons, but over the last 5 years or so they have fallen from grace, and I do not watch new episodes. In disgust, I placed them at number nine on my list, even though if they had killed the show after say the sixteenth season it would have been a no-brainer top five. Anyways, I figured since I had such a fun time watching these simpsons videos it would make a nice blog post. Here ten awesome Homer Simpson moments, unranked. There are certainly more, just not available on youtube. Enjoy!</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>10) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1266020/"><b>Parks and Recreation</b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3-VDzChQnzRbVFcMHLbgZkEzqmyqTWiOEFwrEBJIJnAVdxYkGbE-Y5F4kuFUNZmNUWx60noRK-zqeYqSevFx4CSuHKklmiAaFRiEBZjjhw2xeX2X2WeWHYnvxw0o-exgMfHIMUAWCFQUs/s1600/parks-and-rec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3-VDzChQnzRbVFcMHLbgZkEzqmyqTWiOEFwrEBJIJnAVdxYkGbE-Y5F4kuFUNZmNUWx60noRK-zqeYqSevFx4CSuHKklmiAaFRiEBZjjhw2xeX2X2WeWHYnvxw0o-exgMfHIMUAWCFQUs/s320/parks-and-rec.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">From the creators of The Office, Parks and Rec follows the ups and downs of a parks department in small town, USA. Amy Poehler plays an over-zealous deputy director of the Parks department in the City of Pawnee, Indiana. My favorite character is hands down Ron Swanson, the director of the parks department, Poehler's boss. He is a libertarian and plays a perfect foil to Poehler.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>9) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697/"><b>The Simpsons</b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbrjOuLLcAOpKfiLZtcQXq-G0n04VGOjlDZ2HhRYnSDGu0NMVX2hRgz6naLYtFIWd9Dkj_J2CDYV4TZJKte-FnoJvRiOPYDTuEo-JqctKbcaH-XID0n1aiEvqZ5uQ2Ndtz0du94MIaITvy/s1600/simpsons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbrjOuLLcAOpKfiLZtcQXq-G0n04VGOjlDZ2HhRYnSDGu0NMVX2hRgz6naLYtFIWd9Dkj_J2CDYV4TZJKte-FnoJvRiOPYDTuEo-JqctKbcaH-XID0n1aiEvqZ5uQ2Ndtz0du94MIaITvy/s320/simpsons.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The only reason The Simpsons is so low is because of everything they have done after season fifteen. Seasons five through fifteen was some of the funniest television in history. The Simpsons is legendary, but unfortunately it has gone stale and in my humble opinion it is not funny anymore. It's too bad they have tarnished such a stellar reputation, although I'm not sure those in charge really care anymore, The Simpsons is a money making machine. To not include it on this list would be foolish, but for me, with the calibre of television they are pumping out nowadays, I can't put it close to the top five.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>8) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386676/"><b>The Office</b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0Gj7Y4IfYQ98UMvHKRnC3Xvng2gyvSLX65nghpqfG4bNk5Ugm-KEty6zJDDPNZnCScgZox9LvYDA2jYHKlASMQgH24_jQv-d18uXNdYe0Bztz8oVZXADnI1yNPUxGYW7r5sK24Ni1UGu/s1600/the-office.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0Gj7Y4IfYQ98UMvHKRnC3Xvng2gyvSLX65nghpqfG4bNk5Ugm-KEty6zJDDPNZnCScgZox9LvYDA2jYHKlASMQgH24_jQv-d18uXNdYe0Bztz8oVZXADnI1yNPUxGYW7r5sK24Ni1UGu/s320/the-office.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Another show which is past its prime, a show that has jumped the proverbial shark. But in its heyday The Office was just plain funny. Again its too bad that it's rep has been tarnished with this last season's monstrosity. With Carell leaving after his contract expires following next season, I believe the show will be done. So hopefully they will pick up their socks and deliver a good final season.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>7) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182576/"><b>Family Guy</b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeM7_aJEXccEAa51oTDsiWfEw9FsrQa4VZsJHqzjxIVVZIkeNcKp8EL7werlk45LleLKyFlRUE__7ORkh1qUdG2BBMNlBuDvrPMmTSlZGkMo_crAnycNm-oaQpq_pFWq68GfV3TCs6lS-p/s1600/Family_Guy-box-set-1.5-l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeM7_aJEXccEAa51oTDsiWfEw9FsrQa4VZsJHqzjxIVVZIkeNcKp8EL7werlk45LleLKyFlRUE__7ORkh1qUdG2BBMNlBuDvrPMmTSlZGkMo_crAnycNm-oaQpq_pFWq68GfV3TCs6lS-p/s320/Family_Guy-box-set-1.5-l.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A lot of people don't like family guy. I love it. Sure their bits can get annoying - that Conway Twitty thing was out of line - and they are certainly hit and miss. But in my opinion they hit more often than miss, and the hits are fucking hilarious. Brian, the anthropomorphic dog, occasionally retreats into his instincts as a dog, and it is always gold.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8YX2GnnHU20&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8YX2GnnHU20&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>6) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0496424/"><b>30 Rock</b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1stnCOsOaGkJsTF5ZlnRQ8ffwB0Tu6loGVkvwvt8j7GLpns6vFN19f5vBoxlTbnBLqi5OvRfJAZKwARi9h1g7gOntBuJ7bdFzvY5mv6L1zbyoCx2-S_jYe5q1bTHM31bQnoYNEgITaX5U/s1600/11215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1stnCOsOaGkJsTF5ZlnRQ8ffwB0Tu6loGVkvwvt8j7GLpns6vFN19f5vBoxlTbnBLqi5OvRfJAZKwARi9h1g7gOntBuJ7bdFzvY5mv6L1zbyoCx2-S_jYe5q1bTHM31bQnoYNEgITaX5U/s200/11215.jpg" width="188" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The fourth season just concluded, and 30 Rock shows no signs of slowing down. Following the people who make The Girly Show, a live-to-air sketch comedy show, not unlike SNL. Tina Fey is a comedic genius and her soul has been firmly placed at the center of this show. She had years of hilarity on SNL, so she knows the inner working of a show like The Girly Show. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>5) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290988/"><b>Trailer Park Boys</b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRxCvBzZ92LMbLKsFTZ5g4p3ffxPtpo1DKnF8HSF01tFhjN2ShUwU85YGdrqi3OMoh1PSxDTEIWXzyLziyaLP2u1GK9Foo5kcyNdGZR8Ks0_9wtNl_YmB7eEZAxZQBBvwqMbcJ4XrJO7L/s1600/tpb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRxCvBzZ92LMbLKsFTZ5g4p3ffxPtpo1DKnF8HSF01tFhjN2ShUwU85YGdrqi3OMoh1PSxDTEIWXzyLziyaLP2u1GK9Foo5kcyNdGZR8Ks0_9wtNl_YmB7eEZAxZQBBvwqMbcJ4XrJO7L/s320/tpb.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A show about three buddies who live in a trailer park. These guys are alcoholics, addicted to dope, and get by day-to-day with various drug dealing and criminal schemes. Watch this show from the start of a season to the end, the story arc is amazing. Every season usually starts anew as the boys get a fresh start coming out of prison. By the end of the season some combination of characters is back in jail after another failed scheme. The comedy in this show is not typical, and centers on the stupidity of these small town hosers. As my dad will point out: these dudes would be farting all day long, but not once do they make a fart joke.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>4) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264235/"><b>Curb Your Enthusiasm</b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWyZqbkoOBifgXuSRSIqGJNWpG18S-5oELap07sh-rLbaA8_7OptvngeK0AOGc2kfwg-Yk-f6HMsdlvjX2lTWx0nqSq3lxle8norALjUYey4LwOvx1eRSVJpMyqtbTX4fXZTOBrJQ_5Ej/s1600/curb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWyZqbkoOBifgXuSRSIqGJNWpG18S-5oELap07sh-rLbaA8_7OptvngeK0AOGc2kfwg-Yk-f6HMsdlvjX2lTWx0nqSq3lxle8norALjUYey4LwOvx1eRSVJpMyqtbTX4fXZTOBrJQ_5Ej/s320/curb.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">From the genius mind of Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm is simply unreal. Its ironic storytelling to the max. This show is semi-scripted, which makes it that much more impressive. Follow Larry David around as he gets into all kind of trouble running amok of the town and his friends and neighbors. If you are a fan of Seinfeld, do yourself a favor and pick up the season seven DVDs. The season's plot is based on the development of a reunion Seinfeld episode. We will probably never have a real Seinfeld reunion, but who cares, this was way better. Watch it!</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>3) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121955/"><b>South Park</b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQe1M4ISS0DPXLXe8rJzeKFkL8p73U7RJna-W5-4pzfkbhUpSbAId5aI6Q2piZKT3s2NJT4yt85kDJrKRbonx_aiWrdk2fk0jIup2Bky0vTrv0kWdw_SZ6X8aCOzsX8TRwCiE-YgdOtPZ7/s1600/south-park-al-natural.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQe1M4ISS0DPXLXe8rJzeKFkL8p73U7RJna-W5-4pzfkbhUpSbAId5aI6Q2piZKT3s2NJT4yt85kDJrKRbonx_aiWrdk2fk0jIup2Bky0vTrv0kWdw_SZ6X8aCOzsX8TRwCiE-YgdOtPZ7/s320/south-park-al-natural.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">South Park is the shit. After fourteen seasons this show is still pumping out gold. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are fearless - too bad their parent company is made up of a bunch of pussies - they tackle any and every social issue. And this keeps the show fresh, as these ten year old boys are able to conquer the greatest of social issues with relative ease. Unfortunately the dudes at viacom have something stuck up their ass and a video clip could not be found on youtube.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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<b>2) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472954/"><b>It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia</b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3YgAwztSMFOQ43ZUjLjM8szwbHNNmrTO54k7H2OOItZ4IvgSKBL_BSo5mUuZ-61dBJkpZAdd521hRiY7RClFX9Y8dArEKdLqB32NIIno0d72Q0lO-Qds6T3zSbPPEsi3Zi1dCnb56Ojef/s1600/Sunny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3YgAwztSMFOQ43ZUjLjM8szwbHNNmrTO54k7H2OOItZ4IvgSKBL_BSo5mUuZ-61dBJkpZAdd521hRiY7RClFX9Y8dArEKdLqB32NIIno0d72Q0lO-Qds6T3zSbPPEsi3Zi1dCnb56Ojef/s320/Sunny.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The funniest show since Seinfeld. Only through five seasons, this show has the potential to surpass Seinfeld for that number one spot in my books. Four ego-centric friends from Philly run an unsuccessful dive bar. After the first season, Danny Devito joined the cast and what he brings to the table is immeasurable. Another semi-scripted show, he brings a wicked attitude and acting acumen essential for the shows potential. The best stuff comes after season 2, when Danny's character really takes a turn towards a more scum filled lifestyle. Watch this show, it is so damn funny.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>1) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098904/"><b>Seinfeld</b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOV4TJvvua9voP5MGcAbhFgTuAAoHjLPSwa8JVvRMKgkcZd5qExPwwJQumq9Jz3rX8-DQ8eTlW6d6a_tqsTzOkBSDLYeZNZHE0Do44pKhILlQoZmjmBalCzbMFvo8nieNZrJAYMdwy7Ne1/s1600/seinfeld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOV4TJvvua9voP5MGcAbhFgTuAAoHjLPSwa8JVvRMKgkcZd5qExPwwJQumq9Jz3rX8-DQ8eTlW6d6a_tqsTzOkBSDLYeZNZHE0Do44pKhILlQoZmjmBalCzbMFvo8nieNZrJAYMdwy7Ne1/s320/seinfeld.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The most successful sitcom in history, third most viewed series finale of all time. 76 million viewers. To this day, Jerry Seinfeld is the second highest earner in the television industry, earning $60 mil a year. A quote from Wikipedia, "...Seinfeld focused on [life's] minutiae, such as waiting in line at the movies, going out for dinner, buying a suit and, basically, dealing with the petty injustices of life." I have one friend who doesn't like Seinfeld. There was a point where I would argue with him, but I have resigned myself to the fact that he is being stubborn now and is missing out. So when the topic arises, I simply ignore the conversation. I posted the following video to his facebook wall with the comment, "Suck It". His response was, "<span style="color: #333333;">Top ten lamest moments ever?</span>". Boy do I pity him. This is the funniest show in television history. The numbers prove it. The fact that over ten years after the finale it still gets plenty of air time proves it. Just watch a fucking episode and tell me your sides aren't splitting. If you don't like this show, you don't like comedy or sitcoms. And I guess that's cool, your life will have a void though, and your existence will be less fulfilling.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WsKNvGeNKyE&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WsKNvGeNKyE&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-78766515196529972952010-05-25T13:52:00.001-04:002010-05-25T13:55:41.477-04:00Top Ten Television Dramas<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Upon the conclusion of Lost I figured it incumbent upon me to put down a list of my favorite television shows. It's a tough list to come up with, particularly because there is such a large variety of genres. But also because a lot of my favorite shows are not yet complete, so it is hard to judge the entire body of work. I do not wish to compare apples to oranges, in that respect I will make two top ten lists. One for for pure comedies and one for dramas, dramedies, etc. No reality shows, no talk-shows, just pure scripted / semi-scripted television. I must add that obviously a list of one's favorite television shows is a purely subjective measure. If you do not like my list please comment with your own.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Honorable mentions to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0773262/">Dexter</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804503/">Mad Men</a>. I have not seen these shows, thus the honorable mentions. They are widely followed and crititically acclaimed. So trust me, they are on my list.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>10) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098844/"><b>Law & Order</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">It's hard to argue with success. The original came to a close on monday night. It had been on the air for twenty years, the longest running crime drama on TV, and tied for the longest running drama. When a show gets such a following and produces multiple spin-offs, you know the formula is working. I don't religiously follow any of the shows, but I can't help myself if I find an episode starting when I'm browsing through the guide. These are their stories.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>9) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439100/"><b>Weeds</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Probably more of a comedy than a drama. But still a great plot and plenty of drama. A newly widowed suburbanite mother of two turns to selling pot to support her family after the death of her husband. Over the course of the show, she finds herself increasingly entangled in crime. Great entertainment. Shane learning a life lesson:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>8) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381798/"><b>Rescue Me</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">An FDNY firehouse set in a post 9/11 New York. The show follows the men of the firehouse in the daily professional and personal lives. A dramedy in every sense of the word. Denis Leary plays the main character, Tommy Gavin, who struggles with his recent divorce, alcoholism, and the loss of his brethren on 9/11, especially his cousin and best friend. The firehouse's lieutenant's take on life:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>7</b><b>) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124373/"><b>Sons of Anarchy</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A wicked drama about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club. The show follows Jackson Teller, the thirty-something VP of the club, as he struggles with club loyalty, adjusting to life as a father, and the daily problems that arise from being an outlaw. Only through two seasons, the show has been picked up for a third by FX, and shows no signs of giving up, as viewership/ratings have been high. The season two trailer:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>5) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903747/"><b>Breaking Bad</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Bryan Cranston (best known as the dad from Malcolm in the Middle, or the dentist Tim Whatley from Seinfeld, lol) plays a high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with cancer. With a pregnant wife and a disabled son, he has plenty of responsibilities. To pay the bills of his treatment and set up his family for the future he decides to put his extensive knowledge of chemistry to work cooking crystal meth. Mayhem ensues. Currently in its third season, this show is simply awesome, do whatever you can to watch it. The opening scene of the series:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TpQoavGLWIo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TpQoavGLWIo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>4) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200276/"><b>The West Wing</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The West Wing provides a glimpse into presidential politics in the nation's capital as it tells the stories of the members of a fictional presidential administration. These interesting characters have humor and dedication that touches the heart while the politics that they discuss touch on everyday life. The show is long over, but while on the air it was highly decarated, critically acclaimed, and widely followed. If you're into politics, get your hands on the DVDs.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Dmp1sGsHOAg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Dmp1sGsHOAg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>3) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411008/"><b>Lost</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Simply amazing. LOST follows the lives of survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious island. For those who have not seen it, a warning: if you plan to watch it clear your calendar for about three weeks, because if will consume you. I started watching after the fourth season had ended. I couldn't stop watching. I have seen it happen to many of my friends, they literally get LOST (I know its a brutal pun) in the drama. The show is set in the unknown, throughout the show the properties of this mysterious island are slowly revealed, and to fully understand the show you will need to accept the supernatural. While on the air, and probably forever, this show created a mainstream cult following, whereby fans would try to decipher the hidden meaning in the show.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9MiwoDpbcdk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9MiwoDpbcdk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>1) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/"><b>The Wire</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Following characters on both the law enforcement and gangster sides of Baltimore's drug trade. As you watch The Wire you come to empathize with both sides and no real protagonist / antagonist is developed. Furthermore, the show draws countless parallels between the two sides. Each season focuses on a different theme, and this keeps the show fresh. In later seasons a political angle and a major Baltimore newspaper are thrown into the mix. The Wire is arguably the best show ever created, its the reason you pay for HBO, the reason to watch TV. Nothing supernatural, just real television, the closest thing to real life in a television series. When choosing the best television drama I will not choose between my two favorites. I just won't do it, lots of people have a favorite, but to me they are both so incredible that its not worth comparing. Here's the opening scene of the series:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zmIvu1yg3bU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zmIvu1yg3bU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>1) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141842/"><b>The Sopranos</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Following the life of Tony Soprano, the head of a fictional mob, as he struggles to find a balance between his personal life and the mafia. The perfect crime drama, drawing from every great mafia movie including Goodfellas, The Godfather, Casino, etc. In theme and talent, as there is plenty of overlap in actors from the movies and the show. What's more is that James Gandolfini, while certainly an overwhelming presence and a perfect fit for the role of Tony Soprano, is a poet/artist/gentle soul in real life. He is just so dedicated to his craft that Tony Soprano was one of the more intimidating characters of all time.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NUT07eZoXPw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NUT07eZoXPw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-16554921990168311522010-05-19T19:03:00.001-04:002010-05-19T19:11:07.185-04:00Addendum to the Charlie Kelly Top Ten Quotes List<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">I just wanted to add on to my recent post about Charlie Kelly. The problem with making a top ten list for such a dynamic actor is that it is hard to do him justice with just words. With that in mind I could not justify putting some of my favorite Charlie Kelly moments into the top ten list. So I scoured YouTube for some videos. Enjoy!... sorry for the quality.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MYtjpIwamos&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MYtjpIwamos&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bJ-Bk0F5be8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bJ-Bk0F5be8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fGSs1MEI46I&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fGSs1MEI46I&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div></span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-12780048226049605792010-05-14T13:43:00.003-04:002010-05-15T11:38:20.063-04:00Parks and Recreation: The Master Plan<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Rob Lowe and Adam Scott made their debut last night on 'Parks and Recreation' and my god was it amazing. This show has been stellar since day one, so while an injection of star power and hilarity was not needed, it was totally welcome. The two play state auditors sent from the governor's office to help fix Pawnee's budget woes.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The city of Pawnee is "bordering on a full blown crisis." At this point Ron Swasnon makes his first priceless face of the ep. The thought that the budget problems will force the government to cut back has Ron so giddy he can hardly contain himself.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnS6zNlhM9trunY9ciFU1jx6I6DuQ7Xh_d4rGJ7_nn7FGqm6x615UaZ11nr0svHXSg54JInMwMNDWANswCLHKd3lD3KiS4IDxxcZkQK6tBR9TxhObYUrjQPOgkurFw1_Q7ZgXQVW0EROX/s1600/1st+Face.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnS6zNlhM9trunY9ciFU1jx6I6DuQ7Xh_d4rGJ7_nn7FGqm6x615UaZ11nr0svHXSg54JInMwMNDWANswCLHKd3lD3KiS4IDxxcZkQK6tBR9TxhObYUrjQPOgkurFw1_Q7ZgXQVW0EROX/s200/1st+Face.png" width="186" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Rob Lowe, the superior in the duo, is upbeat, in your face and an all around freak. When he first meets Ron and Leslie, in lieu of the customary handshake, he slowly repeats the name of the person he is meeting while shoving a finger in their face. During the ep, Leslie comes to meet with Scott and Lowe is in the office with a bunch of bottles of vitamins on his desk, "Would you like a vitamin, B-12, evening primrose oil, willaber, magnesium... I take care of my body above all else: diet, exercise, supplements, positive thinking. Scientists believe that the first human being who will live 150 years has already been born. I believe I am that human being." Leslie, "I'm here to speak with Ben actually." Lowe, "Great I'm going to listen to some ocean sounds and do some chin-ups."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">When describing his role to the gang from the Parks Department, "We are here to tinker with your budget. Think of the government as a broken down carousel. We are gonna slap on a new coat of paint. We are gonna fix that broken speaker system. And get those happy kids back up on the horses where they belong." Adam Scott plays the perfect foil to this euphemistic nut job. Being the more practical and hands-on of the duo, he meets with Ron and Leslie to discuss budget cuts, "I'ld like to talk about where you think there is waste within your department." Ron's response is priceless, "What exactly will you be cutting, and how much of it, and can I watch you do it while eating pork cracklins?" The juxtaposition of Leslie and Ron's contrasting views of government comes to a front in this episode. Obviously Leslie is terrified of cutbacks, so Scott gives it to her straight, "Ok, you need to understand that just to keep this city afloat we probably have to cut the budget of every department by forty to fifty percent." Ron's response can only be described as restrained jubilation. And of course, Leslie is irate, "but Chris (Rob Lowe) said that you just had to tinker with things." Scott responds, "Ya, he said that because that sounds a lot better than we are going to gut it with a machete." At this point, while making a stabbing motion, Ron lets out a cackle and produces golden face number two.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUA0R5jlFCM_oqKLIQOKvKJBSV0JuR1kc_xN2sErQ3Npxi5M5s_3LRSLVLkALi476X1S6rVHp4ddiBLvUA0ywyvrWcr4oMFE4-HABQBUDsbP2Y6wgIj9ZUxG-2gVgPaJTAKb267-rDHPys/s1600/2nd+Face.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUA0R5jlFCM_oqKLIQOKvKJBSV0JuR1kc_xN2sErQ3Npxi5M5s_3LRSLVLkALi476X1S6rVHp4ddiBLvUA0ywyvrWcr4oMFE4-HABQBUDsbP2Y6wgIj9ZUxG-2gVgPaJTAKb267-rDHPys/s200/2nd+Face.png" width="165" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The subplot of the episode is the love story between April and Andy. The two have been beating around the bush for most of the season, and when it appeared that they were going to have their first date a few episodes back Andy pulled away when April was not let into a bar for being underage. Andy is 29 and in this episode April is turning 21, so she is excited and believes this is the night for her and Andy. The hitch in her plan is that Ann, Andy's ex, is also at the party and wasted because she just broke up with Mark. Andy offers to get April a drink, but when he reaches the bar Ann is right there and wants to talk about their failed relationship. This takes the classic dumb guy turn, as Andy takes way too much time talking with Ann, April gets jealous, and the two do not hit it off. I'm not sure what my feelings are towards this development, my assumption is that the two would end up together at some point. And even with this snag, I still think they will. But I do not know if I care to see them get together. Regardless this was an averagely funny subplot, and at times was even annoying and awkward. Comedies often strive for that 'funny awkward' but it usually just ends up being annoyingly awkward and I rarely enjoy them. To me this was not the good kind of awkward.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Another subplot involves Tom. He invites a bunch of good looking women to April's birthday party thinking that he could "end the night with 1 to 4 girlfriends." Obviously he cannot close the deal with any of them. But in a wicked turn of fate, while paying for his bar tab the next day he successfully asks out the semi-cute barkeep. Good for Tom, love to see him happy after that green-card marriage ended so poorly.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The episode ends with Ron and Leslie presenting their cuts of 35% to Lowe and Scott. Lowe is impressed, but regrets that the point is moot because their investigation has revealed that the situation in Pawnee is much worse than originally anticipated. So much so that "effective tomorrow morning the entire government will be shut down until further notice." Queue Ron's third beauty face. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDI0jYmspUpiCGIpWl-twWBsjQU9up-Bh7bYwr1w699kzcZG5hkAa45rPzIRND7_Qb9P4UUbHCLbiJt4QYCd1Y7_eSe7fLv298SYhs394SZEZ5f3j9gOffvBiOxExuQ09DD9J2504qGWNJ/s1600/3rd+Face.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDI0jYmspUpiCGIpWl-twWBsjQU9up-Bh7bYwr1w699kzcZG5hkAa45rPzIRND7_Qb9P4UUbHCLbiJt4QYCd1Y7_eSe7fLv298SYhs394SZEZ5f3j9gOffvBiOxExuQ09DD9J2504qGWNJ/s200/3rd+Face.png" width="172" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">This episode was the prelude to the season finale next week. Bringing in Lowe and Scott was incredible. The two are perfect foils for each other and insanely funny. But even more than that, they bring out the best in Ron and Leslie. I can't wait to see what happens next week!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-58668175207105903932010-05-13T20:05:00.003-04:002010-05-14T12:17:44.482-04:00Top Ten Tracy Jordan Quotes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyLe0bHPNc5OGWxoVqQI8lQoRHC1N3yoEET3ivPT1-GPtYmb_YlGBbAXKFh2_pn1pUgkG-sec91M5p2MJn-cX37BWsS0Mz5sJoSq3rM48hm8aQn2pa9SjxJiBLexbtj3wMaxjXPLbVlG6t/s1600/Tracy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyLe0bHPNc5OGWxoVqQI8lQoRHC1N3yoEET3ivPT1-GPtYmb_YlGBbAXKFh2_pn1pUgkG-sec91M5p2MJn-cX37BWsS0Mz5sJoSq3rM48hm8aQn2pa9SjxJiBLexbtj3wMaxjXPLbVlG6t/s400/Tracy.jpg" width="282" /></a></div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Tracy Morgan is the man. He stars on the always funny '30 Rock' as Tracy Jordan; a movie star who has been tapped for a live television show. Jordan is highly erratic, unpredictable, at times dim witted and just downright funny. Throughout the series he has been a fountain of one liners. He is straight up 'Mentally Ill'. Here is a list of his top ten quotes.</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">1) From 'Seinfeld Vision'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Tracy sees Liz Lemon in a wedding dress: </div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">"Oh, no! Did a Korean person die?"</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">2) From 'Jack the Writer'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">"Live every week like it's Shark Week."</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">3) From 'Hard Ball' </div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Tracy: "I love this cornbread so much, I wanna take it behind a middle school and get it pregnant."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Later in the ep, Tracy: "I love Halo so much, I want to take it behind a middle school and get it pregnant."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">[others laugh] </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Kenneth: "Why are you laughing so hard? It's just the same joke he said earlier."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Tracy: "That can't be right. I like to keep my material fresh. I like it so fresh I want to take it behind a middle school and get it pregnant."</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xnxz3acXM6w&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xnxz3acXM6w&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">4) From 'Somebody to Love'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Giving Jack love life advice: </div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">"Tell her that you want your privates and her privates to do a high-five."</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">5) From 'Jack-tor'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">"I can't read! I sign my name with an X! I once tried to make mashed potatoes with laundry detergent! I think I voted for Nader! NADER!"</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">6) From 'Secrets and Lies'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Tracy accepts a fake Pacific Rim emmy: </div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">"I do not want to disappoint our Japanese public, especially Godzilla. Hahaha! I’m just kidding, I know he doesn't care what humans do."</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">7) From 'The Collection'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">"I’m whipped! Angie got me up at 7:30 today. Did you know that in the morning, they have food, TV, almost everything? It’s pretty good."</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">8) From 'Somebody To Love'</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">"Tell her she has some tig old biddies like the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Tell her you want to donate her body to science, and use science. Tell her Jack!"</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">9) From 'The Rural Juror'</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Jack: "Look, Tracy, I can't just <i>give</i> you money. But what I can do is show you how you can <i>earn</i> all the money you need. You must know Arsenio..." </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Tracy: "Hall or Billingham?" </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Jack: "You know someone named Arsenio Billingham?" </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Tracy: "No."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">10) From 'The Collection'</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">"I'm sorry, Liz, this is who I am. You can't ask a bird not to fly. You can't ask a fish not to swim. You can't ask a tiger not to turn back into a Chinese dude at midnight!"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-88207939704600195332010-05-13T00:31:00.002-04:002010-05-13T12:05:51.926-04:00Top Ten Charlie Kelly Quotes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh93VqLIOw3CC0HxKB_cHSg0voSjul4n8lqjNN9CPfIjpAsNYBd6rprzJqmJCLktMf_bzmZ2Gs9Q3HUEDdg0izW5SOjSZw3D4ArlLDjt1QHXydbRTbnI8iqRc1elyD5i-OzvGdQgD0XQB4E/s1600/Charlie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh93VqLIOw3CC0HxKB_cHSg0voSjul4n8lqjNN9CPfIjpAsNYBd6rprzJqmJCLktMf_bzmZ2Gs9Q3HUEDdg0izW5SOjSZw3D4ArlLDjt1QHXydbRTbnI8iqRc1elyD5i-OzvGdQgD0XQB4E/s320/Charlie.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472954/">'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'</a> is the best show on television, period. The show is about four egocentric friends and Danny Devito running a dive bar in Philadelphia. Charlie Kelly, played by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0206359/">Charlie Day</a>, is hands-down my favorite character on television today. Around Christmas of 2009 they wrapped up season five. Season six is slatted to begin September 16, 2010 and I could not be more pumped. To get us through the lull, here are Charlie's top ten quotes, in no particular order (I just won't judge them because they are all too fucking funny).</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">1) From 'The Gang Exploits a Miracle' </div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie is preaching to his congregation:</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">“Here's a confession: I’m in love with a man. What? I’m in love with a man ... a man named God. Does that make me gay? Am I gay for God? You betcha.”</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">2) From 'Underage Drinking: A National Concern'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie gets caught up in his friendship with some high school kids:</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">“That’s Tammy, Trey’s ex-girlfriend. This is classic Tammy. Trey broke up with Tammy because Maureen Kinallen said that she saw Tammy flirting with Walt Timby at a party, but she was only doing it to make Trey jealous, because, you know, she thought that Trey secretly liked Erin Hannabry, but he doesn’t like Erin Hannabry; it was all a bunch of bull.”</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">3) From 'The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie leaves a note in the bar after stealing the dumpster baby:</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">“Taked baby. Meet at later bar, night or day sometime.”</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">4) From 'Mac and Dennis: Manhunters'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie can't shake the hunger for human meat and is torn by this moral dilemma:</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">“Cannibalism? Racism? Dude, that’s not for us ... those decisions are better left to the suits in Washington. We’re just here to eat some dude!”</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">5) From 'The Gang Dances Their Asses Off'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie talks shit to Dennis before a dance-off:</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">“Let me tell you a little lesson, buddy. The cream always rises to the top. And I’m about to show you the white, hot cream of an eighth-grade boy.”</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">6) From 'The Waitress is Getting Married'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie orders food while on a blind date:</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">“Yes, my good man, I’ll have the milk steak, boiled over hard, and your finest jelly beans ... raw.”</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">7) From 'The Gang Runs for Office'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Dennis reading the words that Charlie wrote for him as his campaign manager:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333;">"</span>I'll read the words you wrote. "Hello fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power. Good. Thank you, thank you. If you vote me, I'm hot. What? Taxes, they'll be lower... son. The Democratic vote is the right thing to do Philadelphia, so do."</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">8) From 'Mac's Banging the Waitress'</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie's suspicion of Mac is heightened so he drinks 24 beers. He is sleeping with Dennis when Mac comes in to confirm to Dennis that he is in fact his best friend... Charlie wakes up:</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie in a drunken, slurred voice: "Woah, what is this? What am I seeing?"</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Dennis: "Nothing man you're having a dream right now."</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Mac: "Ya, just a dream."</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "I'm dreaming. Are you sure cause I feel like I'm awake"</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Dennis: "No man, this is a dream that I am having."</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "Am I peeing?"</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Dennis: "Are you peeing?????"</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Mac: "He's pissing all over the bed!"</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Dennis: "O, Jesus he's peeing!"</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Mac: "I told you he was going to do it. I knew he was going to do it. He drank too much. God Dammit!"</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 18.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "Hey guys if I'm peeing, wake me up."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">9) From 'The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby'</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie believes that the dumpster baby is the love child between the waitress and Frank, so he goes to the coffee shop to confront the waitress:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">"You know there was a time where I'd help you raise this little dumpster baby brother of mine like a son. But that's gone now 'cause you ruined it. You threw your babies away. And you threw your swords away. You threw your golf clubs and your tasty treats! And ya know what? I found 'em. And I'm gonna raise all of them!"</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">10) From 'Mac and Dennis Break Up'</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Sweet Dee has a cat stuck in her wall and Charlie has the solution:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "Cat in the wall, eh! Ok. Know you're talking my language. I know this game. Alright, catch me up to speed here. What do we got?"</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Dee: "Come on, you're putting cheetos fingers all over the wall."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "Alright, let's focus Dee. What's the point of entry here?"</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Dee: "That's the thing Charlie. I've been looking all around this goddamn place, I can't find one."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "Alright I've seen this before. You know what happened? I bet it flattened itself out, went right through a seem in your wall."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Dee: "I don't think there's anything in the laws of nature that would support that."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "Cats do not abide by the laws of nature, alright. You don't know shit about cats."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">...Dee: "I think its stuck in there."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "No! It is not stuck. Alright let's focus on what's happening with the cat, alright. It made a conscious decision to go in your wall."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Dee: "Really?"</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "Absolutely. Absolutely. It chose to be in there, it wants to be in your wall Dee."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Dee: "I was thinking about getting some catnip."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "Nonono, don't do that! It's gonna know that's a trap Dee, ok? That's gonna irritate the cat. And then its gonna dig itself down further and we may never get to it, ok? Let's start thinking like a cat here alright. You know what? We need another cat. That's what we need. Here's what were gonna do: I'm gonna crack a little hole in your wall, a tiny one, it'll be cool. And then I'm gonna slip a second cat with a string tied around it. Those two will become co-dependent, then I'll rip the second cat out, and the first one hopefully, hopefully will follow."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">...Dee: "Alright, where we gonna get this other cat?"</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Charlie: "O, I can get you another cat. I got followed here by like ten cats. Yaa, they're starting to following me these days."</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Here's a bonus vid from the Christmas special:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; line-height: 17.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LyKkUHNKMY8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LyKkUHNKMY8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-9159421353509005162010-05-12T21:53:00.003-04:002010-05-13T12:09:14.760-04:00Top Ten Concert DVDs<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The concert DVD is the ultimate display of live music. I still remember the first time I watched 'The Last Waltz'. It was with a few buddies and for months all we wanted to do was watch it again and listen to the music of 'The Band'. To this day I will watch the DVD once a year or so, and still love the music. Here's my top ten list of all time.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>10) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0485120/"><b>Grateful Dead Truckin' Up to Buffalo</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The Grateful Dead lived and breathed for live music, so I will begin my top ten list with what I believe to be their best concert film.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vPNgjA4i6gM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vPNgjA4i6gM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>9) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327920/"><b>I Am Trying to Break Your Heart</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A film chronicling the creation of Wilco's 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'. Arguably their breakout album, the music is superb and this film is simply a tribute to the album. Filmed in a loft as this group of musicians tries to punch out the album, the movie gives us a unique view of the ups and downs of being a modern day musician.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6z3hIYB8nec&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6z3hIYB8nec&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>8) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065780/"><b>Gimme Shelter</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A Rolling Stones documentary chronicling their 1969 US tour. The tour ended at the Altamont Free Concert, which was mired in controversy. Four deaths, including one homicide led many to describe this concert as the end of the hippy era. The film concentrates on this concert, but features many great Rolling Stones performances from throughout the tour.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nPNeh4d9guk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nPNeh4d9guk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>7) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064689/"><b>Monterey Pop Festival</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A three day concert held in Monterey, California in the summer of 1967. This is one of the first widely promoted and heavily attended concert festivals and the DVD gives it much credit for its revolutionary position and musical brilliance. With performance from The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Ravi Shankar, The Mamas and The Papas, Simon and Garfunkel and The Grateful Dead, this truly was a festival you would not want to miss. Unfortunately it was 21 years before I was born, so the DVD will have to do.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ErrgTVQvzpM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ErrgTVQvzpM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>6) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385637/"><b>Dave Matthews Band: The Central Park Concert</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The Dave Matthews Band is another beauty when it comes to live music. It is their bread and butter as they say. In front of a crowd exceeding 120 000, the concert was free. Sponsorship money and DVD sales went to charity though, so its all good.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IXPOHCsgWFw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IXPOHCsgWFw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>5) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372279/"><b>Festival Express</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">In the summer of 1970 a group of producers rented a train and booked three concerts across Canada. It is said that Woodstock was for the fans and Festival Express was for the musicians. Headlined by The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, and Traffic, the train drove from Toronto to Winnipeg to Calgary. This is a stellar DVD because of the footage from the train, showing late late night jams by drunken members of different bands. In fact, somewhere between Winnipeg and Calgary they ran out of booze and had to make an unscheduled stop to pick up more booze.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/h7-6vsNgcRQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/h7-6vsNgcRQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>4) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436669/"><b>Phish: It</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Arguably the greatest live performers ever, this DVD captures their excellence perfectly. I saw Phish this past christmas in Miami and it was wicked. They kill it live, and this DVD captures that beautifully. Stay tuned for their DVD coming out in 3D.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W4QwWj9XTbI&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W4QwWj9XTbI&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>3) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066580/"><b>Woodstock</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Not much to say about Woodstock that hasn't been said. The mother of all music festivals. A drug filled, musically incredible romp that had over half a million people attend over the three days. Ravi Shankar, Santana, The Grateful Dead, CCR, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, The Band, CSNY and Jimi Hendrix... FUCK YEAH!</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cPlYsaiZSTE&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cPlYsaiZSTE&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>2) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110758/"><b>Pulse: Live at Earls Court</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A Pink Floyd concert filmed in 1994 in London, England. This film is split into two parts. The first is a bunch of Floyd great including Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and Another Brick in the Wall. The second is a complete run through of Dark Side of the Moon. Set in front of a wicked light show / trippy circular screen, this beauty DVD will stimulate the ears, eyes and mind. Enjoy!</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><b></b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XyvoXn51BOA&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XyvoXn51BOA&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>1) </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077838/"><b>The Last Waltz</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">By and large the best concert DVD of all time. A film by Martin Scorsese, The Last Waltz chronicles the last concert 'The Band' ever played. Held on Thanksgiving day of 1976, it lasted over 6 hours. This epic concert featured greats such as Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters and Neil Young playing alongside The Band. The film is an essay on the careers of The Band, with highlights of the concert, songs later recorded in a studio and interviews with The Band. If you have never watched the movie, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy as soon as possible.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5rKlkR0B5aw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5rKlkR0B5aw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-43912163729958421562010-05-11T00:31:00.002-04:002010-05-11T00:31:37.142-04:00The 'Too Drunk for Your Own Good' Series: Ep. 8<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Yup! Never ending beer.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/skjPUp37HhU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/skjPUp37HhU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-91027546718017789222010-05-10T21:29:00.002-04:002010-05-11T00:21:20.915-04:00Music Videos<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The music video has lost sway of late due in large part to the main television stations (MTV, VH1, MuchMusic) changing the nature of their stations. Throughout the 90s and into the new millennium these channels were primarily used as a portal for music videos. Increasingly - likely caused by a diminishing audience - these stations have chosen to air alternate programming. Shows like cribs, pimp my ride and next are now the bread and butter for these stations and unfortunately they barely have anything to do with music. While that might have signaled the death of the music video, luckily a little thing called YouTube came around. Suddenly the importance of the music video is paramount in the music business again. A well done video that goes viral can turn an average song, performed by average musicians into superstars. Yes, I am talking about OK Go's treadmill video, and sure it's my opinion. If you disagree with my assessment of their musical talent, comment and let me know. Anyways, here are ten of my favorite music videos from throughout the ages. Enjoy!</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Some of the videos have disabled embedding, so take the link to check them out.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>Moby - We Are All Made of Stars</b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Featuring an abundance of celebrities, including the likes of Ron Jeremy, Molly Sims, Verne Troyer, Gary Coleman and Thora Birch singing the lyrics - to this great track - in front of Moby in an astronaut suit</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RbfhSHVm2Fc&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RbfhSHVm2Fc&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Ky5R-vxns&feature=related"><b>Fatboy Slim - Weapon Of Choice</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">In this Fatboy Slim classic, Christapher Walken dances around an empty hotel lobby. He is brilliant as always, check it out.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>OK Go - This Too Shall Pass</b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">From the same guys who made the viral video featuring their latest single (Here It Goes Again, featured later) and several treadmills, comes this classic making excellent and extravagant use of the Rube Goldberg machine. Enjoy!</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qybUFnY7Y8w&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qybUFnY7Y8w&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9vAOzYz-Qs"><b>Gorillaz - Stylo</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A single from their latest album, this songs just plain rocks. Their videos are always trippy, but simple. And this one does not stretch from the mold. Featuring Bruce Willis, this vid is superb.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9MszVE7aR4"><b>Daft Punk - Around The World</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A great track and a beauty video that fits the song perfectly.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind</b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Wicked song, and a music video to back it up.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0UjsXo9l6I8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0UjsXo9l6I8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>El Mudo - Chacarron Macarron</b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">I'm including this not because of the video but because of how fucking funny this song is. Although it wasn't meant to be be so stupid. When they first recorded this track the intention was to re-record over the parts with gibberish, but they thought it sounded so funny that they made this the song. Really dumb, really funny.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/l12Csc_lW0Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/l12Csc_lW0Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>Mr. Oizo - Flat Beat</b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">A classic.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Kv6Ewqx3PMs&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Kv6Ewqx3PMs&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA"><b>Ok Go - Here It Goes Again</b></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">OK Go's first major viral success. Just plain cool.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>2Pac - California Love</b></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Features Chris Tucker in some sort of dystopian future. CAN YOU DIG IT!!!!!!!!</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FWOsbGP5Ox4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FWOsbGP5Ox4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-58742422753633663772010-05-05T23:33:00.001-04:002010-05-05T23:33:04.136-04:00The 'Too Drunk for Your Own Good' Series: Ep. 7<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Here's somebody doing something funny.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DWGyQdLFETY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DWGyQdLFETY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-63203939365272640342010-05-04T19:56:00.002-04:002010-05-04T19:56:58.821-04:00The 'Too Drunk for Your Own Good' Series: Ep. 6<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Woooooah dude! This prof is so damn high, I would have walked out of this shit in a second. Good for him though.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/c9iRb7Q9JAg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c9iRb7Q9JAg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-33359820150673746002010-05-03T19:33:00.000-04:002010-05-03T19:33:22.567-04:00The 'Too Drunk for Your Own Good' Series: Ep. 5<div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">This kid is fucked up. Probably not drunk but he's definitely not sober. Enjoy!</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><object height="510" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.heaven666.org/v/2554"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.heaven666.org/v/2554" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="510"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-35200561827862649542010-05-03T10:39:00.001-04:002010-05-03T10:40:51.908-04:00Apple sells its millionth iPad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQmo3XUlUXyRTKxlkiXt9jlLlrSY8F6G_4ZBiAggRt-BELe1duP61QxaOMmsbSXk6Ma7cu8zgcjt2Eo2wY3IH9zoj_aPsKLHpYi-dgX93pnBVaBfpkxfrhs_diAUIvtO_p7GqWoMZCZWJl/s1600/ipad_hero_20100403.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQmo3XUlUXyRTKxlkiXt9jlLlrSY8F6G_4ZBiAggRt-BELe1duP61QxaOMmsbSXk6Ma7cu8zgcjt2Eo2wY3IH9zoj_aPsKLHpYi-dgX93pnBVaBfpkxfrhs_diAUIvtO_p7GqWoMZCZWJl/s400/ipad_hero_20100403.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">How big will the iPad be? Today Apple announced that it has sold its one millionth iPad. This is a mere 28 days after its release. For comparison, the iPhone took 74 days to reach the one million mark. Granted the iPhone did not really take off until the priced dropped, and boy did it take off. According to <a href="http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/06/piper_15_8m_us_iphone_sales_in_2010_even_without_verizon.html">AppleInsider</a>, Apple should expect to sell 36 million iPhones this year. So the iPad has a bunch of catching up to do. But that's not the point. The point is that in its first incarnation the iPad is killing it. I've been saying for a while that this device could change the nature of personal computing. Perhaps it relegates the laptop back into more of a desktop role. Perhaps it replaces the laptop. One thing is for sure, as of now I would rather own a laptop than an iPad, but ramp up its capabilities - introduce multitasking, etc. - and I would be typing this note on an iPad in a heartbeat.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075980298436237733.post-65136558903427892182010-05-02T22:08:00.001-04:002010-05-02T23:47:09.489-04:00The Toronto Raptors: What Happens if Bosh Bolts?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVYBdtXsAWi1I9JrfnpvaE58jDf79MGr7iBtAiibGnIK3y0Pd7vdj3AI4e4-htGaxqOGCyj8twyEXwHBuku8i9ujDl-Y9SJNDnAVvExYs5rnTNEe3jxnfEDhYkQw9o9PkFVa6sceFz-CJY/s1600/Bosh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVYBdtXsAWi1I9JrfnpvaE58jDf79MGr7iBtAiibGnIK3y0Pd7vdj3AI4e4-htGaxqOGCyj8twyEXwHBuku8i9ujDl-Y9SJNDnAVvExYs5rnTNEe3jxnfEDhYkQw9o9PkFVa6sceFz-CJY/s320/Bosh.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">There is no doubt that Chris Bosh is a superstar. A franchise player. The Raptors' best. And at this point in his career - I'm sure you have heard about it - he has negotiated the right to freedom from contract. Being that CB4 is a huge stud, this situation has attracted tones of media attention over the last few seasons. Every word he utters is scrutinized for hidden meaning. So what is he going to do? At the end of the day it is about legacy for Bosh. Should he stay in Toronto and be the man while trying to push this franchise to new heights? Should he bolt to another city and play Robin to Lebron or Wade; winning a bunch of championships in the process. Or should he start fresh as the franchise guy somewhere else.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Yesterday I wrote an expose explaining possible scenarios the Raptors could pursue if Bosh decides not to jump ship. The possibilities were not plentiful. In this post I will discuss sign and trade scenarios that may arise if Bosh decides to skip town for greener pastures.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Chris has agreed to work closely with Bryan Colangelo to return value to the team if he bounces. Don't be fooled though Raptors fans, this means Bosh is firmly in the driver's seat. Bosh has likely gone through every scenario in his head thus far. "Should I go to Miami?" "Should I push Wade to come to TO?" "Should I be the man in Chicago?" etc. If Bosh decides to bail he will tell BC which teams are suitable for him, and not the other way around. If he doesn't like the way things are going, he can simply walk and sign wherever he wants to. I read an article the other day suggesting BC should try and pawn off Turkoglu on whatever team lands Bosh. If you were Chris Bosh, would you be ok with that? I didn't think so. Bosh is one hell of an asset, so if he does decide to bolt, the situation in Raptors land will not be so bleak. Here's a rundown of possible sign and trade scenarios:</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>Houston</b>: Bosh for Scola, Battier, Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Since Bosh is from Dallas, all three Texas based teams are in play. The Rockets are reportedly very interested in CB4 (o ya?). A starting five of Yao, Bosh, Ariza, KMart, Brooks would be championship contenders. They have publicly stated that bringing back Scola is a priority, but if Bosh says I want to be a Rocket, Scola is as good as gone. Apparently the Raptors brass are "intrigued" (ok?) by Hill. I don't think this is the best option for the Raptors, but what Bosh wants, Bosh will get. A starting five of Bargs, Scola, Turk, Sonny, Jack/Jose is not very good at all. Don't count on them making the playoffs.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>Dallas</b>: Bosh for Dirk, straight up</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Not the most likely of scenarios, but I read an article recently that made a semi-convincing argument for trading Bosh for Dirk. The argument went as follows: Bosh is a Dallas native and clearly would relish the opportunity to play in his hometown. The Mavs are sick of Dirk and could use a fresh start, slot Bosh into the starting five beside Haywood, Marion, Butler and Kidd, upstart Rodrigue Beaubois and Jason Terry off the bench and this team is scary good. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">With Dirk this year the Mavs looked great in the regular season but could only muster two wins in the first round against the seasoned Spurs team. Maybe it is time for a change. Dirk does have an early termination option on his contract, so maybe he restructures for long-term stability in a sign and trade. From the Raptors perspective, is Dirk really the guy to put beside Bargs? Probably not. In this scenario, hopefully we can grab Dirk without a new deal, so that we get a huge $21.5 mil expiring contract at the end of 2011, and much needed flexibilty. Assuming nothing else changes, our starting five would be as follows, Bargs, Dirk, Turk, Sonny, Jose. I'm not sold on this at all. I think Dirk and Andrea are too similar, but they both are certainly quite talented, maybe they figure it out. We would still be atrocious on the defensive end.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>San Antonio</b>: Bosh for Tony Parker?... </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The Spurs are interesting because of their PG situation. They cannot afford to pay $13 mil to a backup point. The formula for Tim's success could be repeated by bringing in Bosh as a protege under Duncan in his last years. Duncan would have to move to center, where I think he fits nicely. Duncan, Bosh, RJ, Mason, Hill, with Manu off the bench. Not bad. The main question for the Spurs here is how well Bosh and Duncan would mesh. Getting rid of Parker seems inevitable, so if they can return a player like Bosh, that's a no brainer. Working out a trade between the Raps and Spurs would be interesting because the Spurs don't have that many pieces signed on through next season. It might have to include the contract of either Manu or RJ, at which point we could potentially include Turk or Jose. Regardless, for the Raptors, it would mean a drastic restructuring. Not sure I love this for the Raps, falling out of Pop's favor is a bad omen.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>LAL</b>: Bosh for Bynum and Vujacic</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">At this season's trade deadline there were rumblings of a Bynum for Bosh swap. The raps were playing out of their heads at this point, so a trade was not in the cards. If Bosh does bail on the Raps this is one scenario that I happen to like. The Lakers would need to throw in a Sasha Vujacic ($5.5 mil expiring) for the numbers to work, but there is no question this would be an improvement. Bynum has proven to be injury prone over his short career. Gasol would have to move to the center, but I think he is best when playing center next to Lamar. Maybe we could even get them to take on Calderon for Odom?? Probably not, but it's worth mentioning that their PG situation is tied to Fisher (old), Farmar (shit) and Brown (not a starter), I think Jose would fit in perfectly as a facilitator. For the Raptors, with or without Odom this scenario is great. Granted Bynum is injury prone, but when he is playing he is the prototypical center. Bringing him in would move Bargnani to his natural 4 position and give us an anchor on the defensive end. An Odom for Calderon swap would only sweeten the deal.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>Chicago</b>: Bosh for Noah, Hinrich, other pieces</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">This is another scenario that I love and has received attention in the media. I know the Bulls love Noah, and who wouldn't. He works hard, has swagger, and is a perfect center. His teammates love him, fans around the league hate him. D.Rose has said that this gives his team an identity, it inspires them to play hard and compete on the road. The numbers in this trade don't match, that's why I include Hinrich and other pieces. Noah is still on his rookie contract, making a little over $3 mil next season, and the bulls have a lot of cap space coming into this summer. It's hard to say now how a deal would be structured with so many question marks, maybe we could work a third team into the mix here (Pistons, Pacers??). For the bulls I think they can't pass up the opportunity to get a guy like Bosh, even if it means giving away a fan favorite in Noah. On paper they look good and have a lot of flexibility going forward. Rose, Deng, Bosh would be a very nice top three. Re-sign Brad Miller on the cheap, and bring in a two guard and they are set. For the Raps, I don't love Hinrich, we certainly don't need him, but bringing in Noah (much like Bynum, but better) is a perfect fit beside Andrea, who could move to his natural 4 position. Noah is exactly the kind of guy the Raps need, a hard-nosed guy who can rebound with best of them, a banger with swagger.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>New York</b>: Bosh for David Lee, Toney Douglas, and change</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The Knicks only have $18.6 mil in committed salary for the upcoming season, so this is another scenario where there are a bunch of question marks about how the deal would be structured. If Bosh goes to NY, it will likely be with another stud: Wade or Lebron. I don't see him heading there on his own to chill with Danillo Gallinari. I'm not the biggest David Lee fan, another undersized big. But he boards like a king, and is not injury prone. If Bosh wants to go to NY, David Lee will be coming to TO, maybe along with the expiring Eddy Curry contract ($11 mil). Boarding is an issue the Raps need to address, so if Lee can mesh well with Andrea it might be a good fit.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>Cleveland</b>: Bosh for Antawn Jamison, JJ Hickson and change</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">The King calls, "Yo, CB4 come live in the Cleve and win many championships with me and your boy J.Moon." Lebron is probably the most talented baller in history. If he calls you personally and asks for your services in creating a dynasty, you can't take that lightly. They would be an unbelievable team with Bosh at the 4. Coaches around the league would lose sleep over how to cover them. Throw in a cheap Shaq and Big Z and this team is ready to win big. If this panned out, they could easily afford to lose Jamison, the up and coming Hickson and to make the numbers match they would need to throw in someone else (Telfair, Powe?). The Raps would not fair well with Jamison, and probably look to move him. But again, if the King comes knocking and Bosh is wooed, there is little the Raptors can do.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>Miami</b>: Bosh for Beasley, our conditional pick back, other picks, Haslem?, O'Neal?</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">This scenario is similar to the last. If Wade calls and convinces Bosh to flee to beautiful Miami, there is little the Raptors can hope to get in return. The Heat have only $30.6 mil in committed salary next year, so a deal would have to involve some unsigned pieces (Haslem, O'Neal, Q.Rich, etc.) A Wade, Bosh tandem would be stellar. Sign a center and they have a wicked team. Again this leaves the Raps in a bad spot. No way Beasley becomes the player that Bosh is. He has talent, but not franchise guy talent. </div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>New Jersey</b>: Bosh for Yi, Devin Harris and change</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Things are looking up for the Nets. Sure they had a dismal season, but now they have the best shot in the John Wall sweepstakes. A Russian playboy billionaire owner paired with Jay-Z. A Brooklyn arena which has broken ground. Cap space gallore, and a bevy of young talent. If the Nets win the draft lottery, Devin Harris becomes expendable. If Bosh decides Brooklyn is the place for him, Yi will likely be included along with Devin Harris and other pieces to make the numbers work. A team of Bosh, Lopez, Wall, T.Will and Courtney Lee is on the way to becoming really good. Sign a couple more guys with all that cap space and this team is for real.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><b>OKC</b>: Bosh for Collison, Green, Harden, picks</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">This one is probably my favorite place for Bosh to land. First it wouldn't hurt as bad if he went to the western conference. Second, I fucking love the Thunder. Durant is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. If Bosh joined their squad they would be unstoppable. I'm not sure who would be returning to the Raps in the deal: perhaps a package of Collison, Green, Harden, and their pick. I know they love Green and have been dead set on developing this young core together, but if Bosh wanted in, they would have to consider Green, who plays the 4 for them, expendable. The group flying north to play for Canada's team would not be so great, and certainly would not replace Bosh. But at the end of the day we'll take what we can get.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">Being a Raptors fan has been a roller-coaster ride over the past few seasons. I remember sitting in a burger joint in The Venetian in Las Vegas, catching the Marion deal on ESPN, and publicly making a fool of myself. The ride is not over though, in fact we are nearing that big loop-d-loop. This offseason is probably the most crucial in the history of the franchise. Whether Bosh stays or goes is the biggest question mark. If he stays great, but we need to change it up to be competitive. If he goes the situation is not dire. Bosh is as good an asset as any. Where he ends up is on him, we can only hope he's happy to go to several teams so that we can work on extracting the most value. As a Raptors fan I would say I am cautiously optimistic about our prospects for next season. We've got a lot to look forward to, and I am still convinced that BC will do a good job putting together a contender with or without Bosh.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">What do you think? Drop a comment with your favorite scenario, a suggestion for a different one, something that you didn't like in here, or whatever's on your mind.</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">P.S. A heartfelt thank you to the boys at <a href="http://raptorsrepublic.com/">Raptors Republic</a>. I've been reading their blog forever and was humbled to be included in this <a href="http://raptorsrepublic.com/2010/05/02/toronto-raptors-morning-coffee-may-2/">Morning's Coffee</a>. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16933883473811054950noreply@blogger.com6