QuickHits

Item #1 - A Fan's website buys an English Soccer team. Apparently they're gonna let people vote to approve roster moves and lineup changes. Sounds just crazy enough to work. I am now going to GoDaddy.com to see if I can register a good URL so I can do the same to my poor ridiculous Knicks.

Item #2 - A pictorial Album Review/Analogy.

Devil Without a Cause by Kid Rock is to 1985 Kelly LeBrock
















as Kid Rock's new Album Rock And Roll Jesus is to 2007 Kelly LeBrock.


Meaning, you can see how they came from the same place, but it's just not at all the same.









Item #3 - Tom Morello, I'm gunning for you this weekend. I will Rock You Like a Hurricane.


Item #4 - Yankee Update:
- Welcome Back Jorge.
- Welcome Back (after much unnecessary nonsense) A-Rod
- Mo, Please sober up and sign.
- Dear Andy Pettitte. Couldn't you use another 15 million dollars? Please?
- Dear Hank Steinbrenner. You sir, are the new "Big Stein". Glad to have you aboard.

Item #5 - Don't be this Bluetooth guy. Larry David will school you.

Quick Hits - RIP Scooter Rizzuto edition.

Goodbye, Phil Rizzuto. You will be missed. In fact, let me say I'm already missing you. You were integral to the infancy of my Yankee fan tenure. I loved listening to you. Please let me recount some Rizzuto tidbits.

- When I first started watching the Yanks, Phil was no longer a great announcer. However you were a Yankee institution. But, back in the day, he was pretty darn good and a lot of fun to listen to. Here you are calling Roger Maris's 61st home run.
- You were also enough of an institution that Meat Loaf famously used you as the announcer in Paradise by the Dashboard Light. I always loved hearing how he didn't realize exactly what the song was about. He was just brought in to record a play by play. He did and only later found out how it was used in the song. His reaction? "That Huckleberry!"
- I even miss the Money Store.
- I'll always remember how Phil and many other Major League Players gave up several years of their careers to serve in the military during WWII. Can you imagine Barry Bonds doing such a thing? Hell, you can't even get Kobe to do a slam-dunk contest.
- One time, when my brother and I were watching a Yankee game, Scooter out of nowhere said, "I smell onions." He then became a bit obsessed with where the smell was coming from. He wouldn't drop it. We thought it was hysterical. From then on, whenever the subject of Rizzuto came up, one of us would say, "I smell onions." In fact, here's the email my brother sent me today:

Scooter has gone to the big Yankee Stadium in the sky.

*hangs head*

"Seaver, do you smell onions? I smell onions!"

- Scooter was also a pretty darn good player. He played a very good shortstop even with the gloves like these.


and in 1950, he batted .324, had an OBP of .418 and even improbably won an MVP. Coincidentally, Phil had 112 runs created that season which nearly matched even the magical 1987 season of Jack Clark (inside joke). He'd later get into the Hall of Fame via the "veterans committee" everyone loved Scooter.

Goodbye Scooter. The Yankee fan experience is worse without you. RIP.

Quick Hits

- I touched an iPhone. And now I am cooler than you are. 20 words or less review. Excellent iPod. Surprisingly good phone. Good browser. Suck-ass keyboard. Don't want one.

- My son loves "Batman". Not the Christian Bale scary bat man. Not the be-nippled George Clooney. Nor does he like the non-descript Val Kilmer Batman or the be-hair-plugged Michael Keaton. Nay, people. He loves him some Adam West Batman! . Now that I've seen this movie a hundred times I need to say the following. 1) Lee Merriweather was one hot catwoman. 2) Frank Gorshin was sporting an impressive package in that riddler suit. 3) I was stumped when my Daughter asked me "Where are Robin's pants?" Good Question.

- Jericho starts back up on CBS tonight at 9PM. I missed the original, but the DVR is set now. I've heard good things from friends.

- Coming back to golf has been overwhelming in terms of golf technology. First, they got rid of the metal spikes on the shoes in favor of these funny looking plastic spider thingies and then there's these hybrid club doo-dads, square drivers and drivers with movable weight inserts. Woah. Luckily, my game is not at the point where technology is the issue yet. I'll have time to catch up while I continue to shake off the rust.

- Here is a cool clip from the movie "Starship Troopers". I never read the Heinlein book, and wrote the movie off as utter crap from the trailers. But, it was surprisingly good.


It also struck me as the closest thing to a movie version of my all-time favorite PC game, StarCraft. Here is the trailer for StarCraft 2. We'll be lucky to see it come out in 2008. It's production company is incredibly careful and deliberate and concerned with quality. It will likely be an instant classic. This trailer is cooler than any movie trailer I've seen in a long time. Click here if you're an uber geek and want to see the gameplay.

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.

Quick Hits

In honor of Bagels and Jeans Friday. In which my tiny little company gives me great pleasure by buying bagels and allowing me to wear jeans and sneakers. I actually like going to work on Friday.

- It appears that Roger will pitch for Scranton next. Say hi to Michael Scott for me, Rog!

- This is the coolest wildlife video I've ever seen. It's a bit long, but you definitely learn one thing after a pride of lions has to take on some pissed off water buffaloes and 2 crocodiles. Pimpin' Ain't Easy for Lions.

- In an amazing juxtaposition. We have Da Guvernator and the nice, easy going, lady governor from my home state of CT kicking some administration ass because they are blocking their respective state's from taking on emmissions. So much for "state's rights".

- Here' is a cool combined interview with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelhof and Heroes creator Tim Kring. In it, I learned that they worked together on Crossing Jordan. Crossing Jordan? Seriously? I watched maybe two episodes of that show because of the smokin' hot Jill Hennessy. It sucked, no? Anyway, good interview.

- Torture Movies: I don't get it. This is a weird trend in movies for kids today. Saw 1-N, Hostel (and soon, Hostel II), Turistas, and most recently, Captivity has clogged up my TV with commercials (there are probably others). I don't get what's fun about it.

- Driving my kids to school, it occurred to me that my three year old son sings with my Dad's enthusiasm and skill. Which is to say a ton of the former, not so much of the latter. I missed my Dad's birthday yesterday! Happy Birthday, Dad!

- And because Toast isn't here, the rat bastid, a Poddery Barn.

1) K.D. Lang - "Tears of Love's Recall" Ingenue
I love me some KD. What a voice. Saw her at Radio City with Tony Bennett, two weeks after 9/11. Great show. Strange time in NY.

2) Rooney - "Sorry Sorry" Rooney
Sticky sweet power pop. I am slightly less manly than I was a moment ago for having listened to this song.

3) Mark Mothersbaugh - "Sharp Little Guy" Rushmore
Talk about feeling less manly. Short instrumental that's kinda alt-baroque.

4) White Stripes - "The Hardest Button To Button" Elephant

"Now we're a family
And we're alright now
We got some money and a little place
To fight now"

5) Ben Folds Five - "The Last Polka" Ben Folds Five

"He's a heap of junk that pours from his top drawer
He sometimes likes to spread it out around the floor
It's evidence of what he was like
He likes to remember when"

6) Snow Patrol - "Hands Open" Eyes Open
Their last album, "Final Straw" was really good. This one is merely pretty good.

7) Iron Maiden - "Judas Be My Guide" Fear of the Dark

"Fight wars - Die in a blaze of glory
Come home - Meat in a plastic sack"

Please vote against the supplemental, Dems.

8) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Complicated Situation" Howl
I recommend this album.

9) Outkast - "Rooster" Speakerboxx
This isn't the Hey Ya half of the duo. This is the other guy.

10) Cracker - "How Can I Live Without You" The Golden Age

"You can still come and bring me those fancy pastries
You can still come and crawl into my bed
You can live your life with whomever you please to
As long as someone takes good care of me"

11) Belle & Sebastian - "If She Wants Me" Dear Catastrophe Waitress
This is "Sunday Morning Coffee and Chillin'" Music.

12) Iron Maiden - "The Fallen Angel" Brave New World
This is NOT "Sunday Morning Coffee and Chillin'" music.

13) Beastie Boys - "Hold It Now, Hit It" Licensed to Ill
"What's the Time? It's time to buy Ale!" Perfect song to end a Friday poddery.

Quick Hits

- This is a cool nugget about next year's Heroes on NBC from AintItCoolNews.com:

*NBC "bulks up" with 30 combined episodes of "Heroes" and "Heroes: Origins," an innovative new spin-off that each week will introduce a new character -- one of whom will be chosen by viewers through the "Heroes" website on NBC.com to become a cast regular the following season.

What a really cool idea. Probably the only way to make the coolest show on TV cooler and also avoid "CSI:Toledo" spinoff mania.

- Wanna take that torrent that you stole from "The Man" and play it on your TiVo connected TV? Go here! Just don't tell the MPAA I told ya. If you're curious, I'd say video Quality from a basic Divx rip you'll find online is indistinguishable from Digital Cable but not as good as DVD.

- LG Phillips is the first to develop Electronic Paper. Let me be the first to ask, "Why?"

- This is the Hottest. Web. Cam. Girl. Ever. UPDATED: THIS IS A JOKE VIDEO - I AM NOT A PERV...




- When I was in college, I listened to this song and the album it's from so often that I'm pretty sure my brothers at the fraternity wanted to drown me in Old Milwaukee. The song? Here's Where The Story Ends the Band? The Sundays. The album? Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.

- Uh, this just in: Leonard Nimoy likes big butts and he cannot lie. No other vulcan can deny... Actually, that's a vast simplification of the link, but it's definitely the "Wait... Wha?" link of the week.

Quick Hits

- Ok, pitching nerds. Both of you, listen up! I know you want freeze frame dissections of pitching mechanics. You know you want it! I gives it to ya. Here's Phil Hughes from his first outing at Yankee Stadium compared to the futures game. Here's the sublime Tim Lincecum, who's Bugs Bunny-esque pitches have brought out in me a severe man-crush. And last, here's the broken-down shell of a pitcher, Mark Prior. Mark, as a fantasy owner, you broke my heart. But, we'll always have 2003.

- You have to click on this link (reg req'd) if you want to read the following passage:

Gazing at the enormous organs, she asked herself a question that apparently no one had asked before.

“So what does the female look like?” she said. “Obviously you can’t have something like that without some place to put it in. You need a garage to park the car.”

and then later,

Dr. Brennan realized that scientists had made this argument without looking at the female birds. Perhaps, she wondered, the two sexes were coevolving, with elaborate lower oviducts driving the evolution of long phalluses.

Oh, those cheeky oviducts! and lastly,

“The correlation was incredibly tight,” Dr. Brennan said.

In the words of Michael Scott, "That's what she said!"

Spoiler: She's talking about Ducks and they apparently have big feathery johnsons. There's a lot of scientifical gobbledygook about evolving phalluses, etc. Certainly Charlie from GodTube could set these dudes straight about duck weeners. God loves big duck wangs, people! 'Nuff said!

- This article from my local paper starts out like an article for the Onion: Clasic Rock deemed too Classic!

"It could be a tolerable format if they dug a bit deeper. (Come on, guys! Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded more than three songs!)"

"I wouldn't mind hearing [Jethro Tull's] `Aqualung' every couple of years, but I don't want to hear it every day," said Robert Cromack, 52, of Hartland.

Novel Idea: Buy a freakin' CD, Grandpa! Skip the second half of the article, it gets boring and factual.

- If I ever front a band, I hope it's called "Big Feathery Johnsons"

- Jimmy Kimmel's unnecessary censorship.

Quick Hits

- In the Pantheon of bad ideas, "Spiderman: The Musical" may deserve it's own wing. Seriously, WTF?

- Isiah Thomas declares the Knicks, "are the best 33-49 team ever assembled." Later, he declared the Bush Administration to be the best failed presidency ever.

- Ever wonder how the porn industry is dealing with the on-coming HiDef DVD sea change? Me neither. Here's a link to a CNet feature on it anyway.

- Dell says F! U! to Windows Vista. XP is once again available on new Dell PCs. Additionally, here's a report that Michael Dell himself is running the latest version of Ubuntu Linux on his personal machine. They're also offering Linux as an option now. Fascinating. Clearly, the shipment of Microsoft Kool-Aid was lost in his mail. I downloaded Ubuntu and I'm planning on setting it up as a internet PC for my daughter. She loves her some Noggin.com. I'm also hoping to write up a post on my first Linux experience.

- LaDainian Tomlinson turned down the Madden Cover. The Madden Jinx is now on Vince Young. Sorry Vince. Couldn't we put it on Donovan McNabb?

Quick Hits

- In case you're not familiar with "case modding", it's putting the guts of PCs in weird containers. I've seen cool mods with retro wooden radios, pianos, all kinds of neat furniture. I've also seen them with retro toys like GI Joe hover crafts and the Millenium Falcon. This is not either of those. This is far stranger and more disturbing. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you COMPUBEAVER.

- Is it coincidence that the uniform number that is sweeping across major league parks this Sunday (subscription req'd) and the answer to the great question of life are both 42? I think not. It may in fact be the greatest evidence I've heard of intelligent design.

- If you waste your time watching only one thing today, please let it be this installment of "Chatting with Charley" from GodTube. In it, he explains all the ways that a regular bird couldn't possibly evolve into a woodpecker. I love this guy. And I especially love how he's checking out an oscilloscope right when the video starts and then he says, "Oh, Hi!". I may have to ask my IT department to block GodTube.

- The Opera-based Browser for the Wii is out of beta and free. I love my Wii.

- In a momentous event in science and evolution, we now know what a Tyrannosaurus Rex tasted like. Pretty much like everything else, they tasted like Chicken.

- Cross your fingers for me, people. Otherwise, I may increase the number of nailgun related injuries for weekend-warriors to 37,001. Seriously, the nailgun is to do-it-yourselfers as wireless internet is to laptops. Once you get it, you'll never go back. I have a ridiculous amount of finish work to do at my house and I never want to pick up a hammer again. Best 200 bucks I've spent. This week, I'm trimming the basement! Then I can put all my kids toys down there and stop stepping on fucking Thomas the Tank Engine!

Quick Hits

-- Fuck you Kanye West. I have both The College Dropout and Late Registration. Both are great albums. But, seriously, do you need to credit every performer that is on every song? See, each of these shows as a different artist on my iPod. Two albums = 18 artists. That's annoying, bro. Next album, all "Kanye West", please.

-- The first time your three year old son says, "Daddy, I want to go to the potty." from the back seat of your car is fantastic. I am a proud Daddy.

-- Someday the Yankees will get a decent starting pitching performance. At least I'm pretty sure that will happen.

-- I hit my favorite package store (Connecticut-ese for Liquor Store) and grabbed Thomas Hooker Hop Meadow IPA and a belgian amber whose name escapes me. The Hop Meadow was too Hoppy even for me and the belgian was waaayyy too malty. You can't really mix them either. This clearly is the weakness of trying new beers.

-- From God Tube: Chatting with Charley. In it, you will see Charley answer the question of how a kangaroo could hop from Turkey, where Noah "turned it loose" all the way to Australia (Spoiler: Ice Bridges). And that a llama and camels are the same species. I'm addicted to GodTube.

-- Apple shipped 100 million iPods. Holy crap that's a lot. Who doesn't have one that wants one? Sell your Apple stock, people.

-- I don't know anything about Sanjaya or why people are so interested in the fact that he's still on American Idol. But, I like his sister. (WARNING: MUTE YOUR SPEAKERS OR BE SUBJECTED TO ANNOYING HINDI MUSIC).