Quick Hits

- Do you hear that Red Sox Nation? That is the sound of inevitability. The Yanks have won six in a row thanks to another A-Rod offensive explosion and are looking great in the Giambi-less lineup. Having the Melkster in Center and Cairo at first added a few much needed things to the lineup. They both can run, play excellent D and bring a lot of intensity. Also, they put the ball in play because they don't just try and work walks OR hit homers OR strike out. But we also owe this run to Bobby Abreu coming out of his slump. All of this means that there will be a showdown in October. The Sox will obviously be there in all their precious New Englandy-Coed-in-Pink-DiceK-Tshirt glory. But, it appears the Evil Empire might show up as well....

- Wanna see a really interesting movie about two bands coming up through the Portland, Oregon music scene? About two dudes who are at once friends and rivals? Recreating Mozart-Salieri where one guy is insanely talented, addicted to heroin and insane? And the other is well-adjusted and jealous of his talent and slightly bitter about his own success? Whaddya mean no? Of course you do! It's called "DiG!" and it's about the then unsuccessful Brian Jonestown Massacre (with fascinating genius Anton Newcombe) and slightly successful Dandy Warhols. The latter had a pretty decent sized hit with "Bohemian Like You". My kids love that song, it's used in the movie "Flushed Away". Check it out. Did I mention that the star of the movie is neither "Mozart" nor "Salieri", but instead "Mozart"'s Tambourine Player? Weirdly interesting movie.

- I realized yesterday that either my son is like George Bush or George Bush is like a three year old. I realized this because of what happened when we went to pick up Chinese food. The kids picked out cans of soda. My son insisted that he was going to drink his out of the can with NO straw. He was quite adamant about that. I told him that the can can be sharp and he needs a straw. Jonny insisted that he knew for a fact the can was not sharp. For the next fifteen minutes (i.e. the ride home) he proclaimed that his can was not sharp. He continued for 10 more minutes when we got home. When I finally opened the can and showed him the sharp edge, we threw himself on the floor and insisted that the edge he had just seen was not sharp! See? He's like Dubya. In my son's world view, his beliefs are fact. Luckily, a "timeout" cleared this up and Jonny was happy to drink his soda with a straw. So, basically, I need to give George Bush a timeout.

- I am disappointed that all that happened to Ricky Schroder's character in 24 was that he may end up blinded. After all, he absolutely ruined one of my favorite shows. I have never seen a worse, mail-it-in performance. He was gods-awful. Couldn't Jack have tortured him? And another thing. It makes me nuts that the dude running 24 is the same jackass behind the 1/2 hour news hour. Now, I find myself parsing the dialog looking for winger subtexts. For example, when the sublime Powers Boothe, who's character is the vice president engineers a 23rd ammendment coup (the second such coup in 6 seasons), and then has everything go to shiite, says, "You just can't know what it's like to sit in this chair until you do." Wait, what? Is this a subtle message saying that I should be easy on our idiot president because I "just don't know"? Clearly Bush "didn't know", but that's because he's an idiot. Am I overthinking this? Fact is, doesn't matter if I over-analyzed it. The mere fact that Surnow's politics cause me to do so, combined with the show jumping the shark anyway, means I am officially off the bandwagon.

- I don't know if this is new to the intertubes or not, but it's freakin' hysterical and not safe at all for work for language. Lots and lots of language.