Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Don't Debate, Don't Hesitate

I can't believe that there have already been four presidential debates when the election is 15 months away, but the CNN/You Tube debates last night were surprisingly entertaining. Looks like Slate agrees.

Hilary scares me a little. She's the most presidential looking of the whole bunch, but she's so polished that she comes off like RoboPres. You know what though? I think she might be exactly what this country needs: someone who's measured, controlled and thoughtful. We've had eight years of a thin-lipped C-student, acting on impulse, like he was picking up the lastest copy of the Weekly World News while buying his groceries.

Obama, eh. I'm luke warm on him. I don't think he's quite there yet. I loved his passion 3 years ago at the convention, but I'm not really seeing it as much through this campaign (albeit, we're over a year away from the election).

But I've got to say, policy-wise, I still love Joe Biden, and I'll probably go down swinging and vote for him in the New York primary next year, if he makes it that far.

Labels: politics

Thursday, July 19, 2007

It's All About Soul

I'm listening to the Monterrey International Pop Festival on CD right now, and it's worth mentioning that Otis Redding makes my heart feel like it was raped by angels.

That is all.

Labels: Otis Redding, raped by angels

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Requiem for a Newspaper

A nice post on Joe Posnanski's blog today about his time at the Cincinnati Post, which is apparently shutting down at the end of the year.

You hear stories about this reasonably frequently. Cities used to have several newspapers, all vying for the attention of the city. These days, most only have 1 or 2, probably owned by some mega media conglomerate, like Scripps or Gannett. A huge city like New York at one time had as many as 12 daily newspapers, papers like the Herald, the old Sun, the World Telegram (this was the last of the papers to fold, leaving New York with its three dailies), the Daily Mirror, the Tribune, etc. It currently has 4 (including the very marginal New York Sun). This doesn't only mean that the local flavor of the newspapers are essentially gone; it also means that what gets printed is controlled somewhat (or a lot) by the corporation that owns the paper, which wants to boost its readership, so it nationalizes its coverage.

I just want the local stuff. That's all.

Labels: my high horse, newspapers

My Dog Is Cuter Than You, Part II

We took the little bastard to the park Saturday. This is nothing new. We do this every day. However, this time, I meant to take the camera. Since I am a moron, I did not. Instead, I took pictures around my apartment.

Enjoy.

Labels: Webster

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Her Voice Trailed Off In The End

[picture courtesy Randy Levine]

Just wanted to blog quickly that they show was great. Bill Janovitz (pictured above) hasn't lost a step. He's an energetic performer and a very skilled guitarist. The band was everything that I'd remembered them to be and the new tracks sounded great as well.

Labels: Buffalo Tom, live music

Crap of Mencia

What do you think the pitch for this show was?

"I'm picturing the exact same format as Chappelle's Show, only much, much less funny."

Labels: crap, TV

Monday, July 16, 2007

I Had The Strangest Dream ...

Bob Newhart's TV best friend Tom Poston is married to his former TV wife Suzanne Pleshette.

I wonder if he loses any sleep over that.

Editor's note: the esteemed Mr. Tobey has informed me that Tom Poston is, in fact, dead. Thus, he was married to Suzanne Pleshette, past tense. My apologies to the Poston family.

Labels: random thoughts, TV

Friday, July 13, 2007

Jerked My Fountain

Tonight I'm going to the Bowery Ballroom to see Buffalo Tom live. I'm pretty excited about it. Despite being from Boston, the guys have been among my favorite bands for many years. I saw them live back in 2002 in Cambridge at TT the Bear, and they played their album Big Red Letter Day, in its entirety and played the songs in the order in which they appeared on the album. TT the Bear is a tiny venue, smaller even than the Bowery Ballroom, so I was about 10 feet from them.

Here's a clip of them on the old syndicated Jon Stewart Show playing "Summer" from their album Sleepy-Eyed:

As for Big Red Letter Day, the upcoming YPR book has an essay about this album. That should whet your appetite a little bit. But probably not.

Labels: Buffalo Tom, live music

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

My Dog Is Cuter Than You Are

Here's the proof:

Labels: Webster

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart? I Do.

Friday night was a fun night. My brother Alex cam into the city and we went to the 7-11 turned Kwik-E-Mart to check out what they'd done. It was pretty funny. They had a frozen Jasper in the ice freezer. They were all out of Buzz Cola and Krusty-O's, but I did manage to get a Squishee:

I also posed next to Homer:

After that, we went down to the Sunshine Theater and saw Ghostbusters on the big screen, which was hysterical and awesome (hysterisome?). The theater was full and the crowd was pretty into it, reciting lines, having fun. An enjoyable experience. In two weeks, it's Back to the Future.

Labels: Ghostbusters, Simpsons

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Homer? I Hardly Know 'Er!

The Chicago Tribune blog Red Eye has a bracket-style tourney to figure out who the best Simpsons character is.

I think the match of the first round is Lisa Simpson vs. Nelson Muntz, and Comic Book Guy vs. Apu will probably we the closest. I don't see Homer losing this. He's got to be the 1-seed here.

Also, I consider myself among the biggest Simpsons fans around, but I had no idea that Otto's last name is Mann.

Labels: Simpsons

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Performance Enhancer? I Hardly Know 'Er!

I'm a baseball fan. A big one. Not as big as I used to be, when I lived and breathed the New York Yankees. I much prefer hockey now, and I was more excited about the Rangers signing Gomez and Drury the other day than I was upset that the Yankees lost.

Please enjoy this blog posting from Rob Neyer of ESPN.com. He's long been one of my favorite baseball columnists. This particular post revolves around an interview with George Mitchell of the Mitchell investigation into baseball's steroid issues. You'd have to be a complete idiot to not believe that performance enhancing drugs aren't rampant, but Neyer makes a compelling point about who the real victims are. Money quote:

No, the real victims are the players who never even reached the majors, because they wouldn't cheat. Those guys will always wonder what might have been. They'll always wonder if doing the right thing really was the right thing.

Neyer, as always, hit the nail on the head. The guy who could have been great winds up unknown because he didn't get the chance.

Labels: baseball, Rob Neyer, steroids

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Bahama, Mama

I've been away for the last couple of days. The wife and I headed down to the Bahamas for a quick getaway. We stayed at the Atlantis on Paradise Island, which is a sprawling resort that has just about everything you need, except a good place to eat lunch.

The place is really great. Wehad an awesome time. They have these lazy river rapids and long water slides. I spent an inordinate amount of time doing this and sitting by the pool, which allowed me to finish a couple of books. We had two outstanding dinners, the last of which was at a place called Fathom's, which had us dining in a large aquarium. Our table was right up against the glass, so we got some incredible views of some marine life.

When I get home, I'll drop the pictures in here as well.

Other than that, the book is fully done at this point. We're just waiting for the manuscript to be officially accepted, so we can collect the final portion of our cash. This should be forthcoming. When I receive my check, it will go toward the copius credit card bills racked up on said vacation.

Labels: books, the Bahamas