Welcome, New England fans!

Welcome New England Patriots fans, to the misery of rooting for the Jets. That's right! You too, get to taste the joys of watching the Jets lose a game that could have sent your team to the playoffs. Join me!

By the way, towards the end of the game, I was trying to decide which I would prefer - the Jets winning and helping New England or the Jets losing and Miami going to the playoffs. I decided that there's nobody on the Patriots that I like, whereas I do still like Chad Pennington. So congrats, Dolphins!

Also, I thought it is interesting that the Jets' collapse this year was actually similar to Tampa's collapse from 9-3 also this year.

Inconvenient

Watching "An Inconvenient Truth" and all I can think is how it feels like I'm attending a lecture in college. Interesting but zzzzzzzzzz...

Same

Same ol' Jets.

I think we should have a new saying, however. How about "SJDY?" Same Jets, Different Year. Or SJDD - Same Jets, Different Day.

Extra R

Post #800:
What is the difference between hrmmm and hmmm?

Shoe Thrown at Bush

While I don't like George Bush, it made me think of Austin Powers: Who throws a shoe? Honestly!

Battlestar Galactica and Law and Order crossing over?

I've been watching both Law and Orders this season and in the last episodes of each show, have been major guest appearances by cast members of Battlestar Galactica. Katee Sckhoff (Starbuck) in Law and Order, and Michael Trucco (Anders) in SVU. Does this mean some future appearances for the Adamas, Roslin or Baltar?

Happy Jets Fan - Still an Oxymoron

Well that didn't last long, did it?

After two great wins against New England and Tennessee on the road, the Jets have now had two horrible losses against Denver and the 49ers in a row. Same ol' Jets?

11-30-2008 Denver Broncos at New York Jets

Maybe I should have entitled this, "Misery at the Meadowlands."

I got to go to the game on Sunday but the experience was horrible. The gate attendant wouldn't let me bring my umbrella in (despite the fact I wasn't going to use it as my seats were under the covering) and I had to "hide" it and hope it would be where I left it when I came out. It wasn't there. The alternative, since I took the bus, was to throw the umbrella out. Many people were throwing out perfectly good umbrellas. What a waste!

On to the game itself, it was a wet and windy day, and the Jets were horrible. The game was so strange with a number of big plays in the beginning, a fumble recovery that apparently wasn't a recovery (it sure looked that way on the replay), and a huge rash of Denver injuries towards the end of the game. In the third or fourth quarter, there was this really strange series of Jets offensive plays where after every play a Denver player required a trainer to come out to them. Literally five plays in a row. It was so strange that it appeared as if they were doing it on purpose!

Meanwhile, the defense had absolutely no pass rush. So sad.

Oh well, maybe this will be a wake up call for the team. The game did make the playoff prospects rather dim, as it exposed the horrible pass defense.

Here's a nice photo from the atrocious game, followed by an interesting ad I saw in Giants Stadium. I guess they don't update the ads very often.

Quantum of Solace Review (Spoiler free)

One line: Not as good as Casino Royale.

More detail: The first thing that struck me immediately about the film was that I did not like the way the action was directed. The film opens with an action sequence that I found very difficult to follow. Other action scenes in the film suffered from similar problems.

The plot relies heavily on the previous film, Casino Royale. Fortunately, I watched that film before seeing Quantum of Solace so I was up to date with the plot. While knowing the details of Casino Royale isn't necessary, if you are the kind of film watcher who needs everything explained, you ought to see Casino Royale first. Otherwise the plot itself is pretty plain. There are attempts to humanize James Bond some more, and also to make some moral statements, but neither really resonated with me. The film retains some of the dark tone from Casino Royale, with very little levity and nearly no gadgets. A small nitpick, but I found the stylized subtitles naming each locale to be silly and somewhat distracting. Overall this film wasn't bad but it wasn't that good either. It's more of a coda to Casino Royale than its own film.

Buffy - Seventh Season

I've been watching the seventh and final season of Buffy, and it's great so far. The first few episodes have been full of great flashbacks and inside references for the show that are really full of nods to the previous six seasons. A great payoff for the longtime fans and the final season of the show. I'm looking forward to the remainder of the season!

More on the Automotive Industry

Mitt Romney wrote an Op-Ed piece for the NY Times today that states that the government should just let the auto industry in Detroit fail. Kind of an interesting opinion from the same man who said he would bring jobs back to Michigan during the primaries.

Bluetooth

Is it just me or is it hard to take people seriously when they're wearing Bluetooth headsets and talking to you? I was out at a Wendy's and saw this guy complaining to the clerk rather angrily and was on the verge of laughing. For some reason the fact that he had the Bluetooth on seemed really comical.

Old and Slow

It's halftime, the Jets are up and I'm nervous they're going to blow it.

An interesting note that I saw this morning - apparently a Jets player anonymously said that the Patriots were "old and slow" but didn't want to take credit for fear of "bulletin board material." How does saying that anonymously make it any less bulletin board material. It still can read, "Jets: Pats are old and slow."

Sabathia

The Yankees are expected to make an offer to CC Sabathia that will "blow him away." I hope not. Sabathia has had a career year last year but haven't we learned the lessons of Carl Pavano and Jared Wright? One career year a future cannot predict. Sabathia prior to the last two years has been decent but by no means an ace. Here's hoping the Yanks show some restraint - although they do need serious help with the starting 5.

Automotive Bailout?

Should we bailout the auto industry with tax dollars? What an interesting question! The automakers provide a huge number of jobs for people around the country and symbolically are important given their status but on the other hand, when a company can't keep up with innovation or proper business models, shouldn't the be able to fail? At what size company would we decide not to bailout? I find this entire scenario interesting.

SNL - election loser

The real losers of the election? SNL viewers, who will deal with the loss of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and now only have Fred Armisen's impression of President-elect Barack Obama. In my opinion, Armisen just hasn't really been able to capture Obama. Something about the speech patterns in his imitation just aren't quite right.

Jets - It's not looking good

The Jets are facing Buffalo today but it's not looking good for this game, or even the season. The Jets need a win at Buffalo if they want to stay close in the AFC East race. The problem is, they've been playing really close games against poor opponents - including the loss at Oakland. Now ILB and leading tackler David Harris is out with an injury and being replaced by David Bowens, who never has played ILB (he is a OLB / DE). WR's Coles and Cotchery are both banged up and the third WR, Brad Smith, has 1 catch this year.

In addition, the coaching has been horribly inconsistent, especially on offense. Against the Raiders, the running game in the first half was going really well, yet they ran very few play actions or even run plays and kept passing. Only until overtime did they try to run some more. With the Chiefs, worst running defense in the league, they came out passing. What is going on?

They're teetering right now and the rest of the schedule doesn't get any easier. I think we can call the season pretty soon - probably on 11/14 after the Thursday night game against New England. I'm guessing they'll be 5-5 at best, meaning they would need 5/6 to finish the season and feel good about the playoffs.

I've Got The Scars To Prove It

John McCain often says, "I've stood against my party and I've got the scars to prove it!" What does he mean by this?

Near as I can tell, he's been affected very little by standing up to his party. Standing against other Republicans has raised his public profile and image in general. It also hasn't hurt him enough with Republicans because he's still their Presidential nominee!

It seems to me there's actually a clause missing in the middle of this statement where he means to say, "I've stood against my party, fought in a war, and I've got the scars to prove it."

World Series

Two notes about the World Series -
1) It must be hard for the Mets fans to see Scott Kazmir facing off against the Phillies.
2) How does Barack Obama get caught saying he'll root for the Rays and the Phillies? Seriously? Yet another minimal issue and yet the candidate still messes it up.
3) Oh by the way, the Daily Show points out, McCain called out Obama on the pandering, but then Palin pandered to Phillies fans, Rays fans and Red Sox fans. See below.

Tested? How has John McCain Been Tested?

John McCain says, "America will not have a president who needs to be tested. I’ve been tested my friends.”

How exactly has McCain been tested? He's never had to make any decisions that affect the lives of millions of people? Obama hasn't either but he's not claiming to have greater experience in this arena than his opponent, just better judgment.

Todd Palin and Alaskan Independence

If Barack Obama's meetings with Bill Ayers are concerning to voters, shouldn't Todd Palin's association with the Alaskan Independence Party also be in question? After all, isn't it Sarah Palin who is challenging that certain people in the country are not "pro-America?" What would be less pro-America than voting on leaving the Union?

Loving the Rays

Here's hoping the Rays go all the way and complete an amazing underdog / Cinderella story.

Bad Jets Loss

The Jets loss today to the Raiders was a bad one. The game was a typical "trap" game where the Jets had been winning well, and were facing off against a limping Raiders team. The entire game was sloppy with the Raiders committing too many penalties and the Jets making three huge turnovers. In the end, the Jets had gotten so many breaks just to keep the game even at 13-13 and force overtime, it was hard to imagine that they could win in overtime unless they improved their play. The Chiefs come in next week and the Jets need to win that game.

Smoking

In my apartment it smells like someone is smoking in the bathroom. It's very uncomfortable.

Roy Williams x2

I love that the Cowboys now have WR Roy Williams and SS Roy Williams. What will they put on the back of the jerseys? Roy Williams? This is something I accomplished in a Madden 2005 franchise just for the novelty. I just find it hilarious!

W (the movie)

Oliver Stone has a new movie coming out about George W Bush called "W." But I'm wondering who the audience is for this movie. Those in the 20% or so who currently still approve of the President's job will not want to see this film that will undoubtedly put the President in negative light. Do the rest of us, who are frustrated with the way the President has done things really want to re-live the last 7+ years worth of criticism? It seems unlikely to me. Maybe Stone was just hoping to put in his input for the upcoming election by timing the movie so close to the Election Day, but it seems to me that it's just a bit too soon to be making this film.

Town Hall Debate

The most disappointing thing to me about the "town hall debate" that occurred last Tuesday is the fact that it seemed no different than any of the other debates that have happened up to now. All we get are the same questions (this time, just posed by "regular people") and the same answers (that don't necessarily answer the posed question). The candidates just echo and parrot their usual schtick with no original material.

Certainly questions on the economy are important at this time, but it seemed like the same old thing - apparently both candidates will have the right tax cuts for me, while the other will not.

I was also shocked when John McCain said it would be easy to "fix" Social Security. The entitlements have been a supposed problem for years that nobody's been able to fix. If it was so easy, then why hasn't he fixed it in his 26 yrs in the Senate?

VP Debate

So far, about 50 minutes into the 90 minute debate, I want to rip off my ears. The debate is completely incoherent. Sarah Palin is just making vague comments and reiterating typical McCain talking points, and not providing any new information. Meanwhile, Joe Biden is overexplaining everything and also becoming ridiculous. I hope the next 40 minutes are better but I'm not very hopeful.

Bye bye, 401K

Thank you Congress, for getting nothing done yet again and giving my 401K a nice kick in the balls.

Song title?

What is the name of the song being used in FOX's NLCS promos? I can't find it anywhere and I find it catchy.

TV Update

Catching up with some of the tv premieres. Luke Perry's on SVU as a guest star! Ha that was unexpected. And wait... is that Sara Gilbert from Roseanne in the same episode?

ER is still on tv?

Also, I've been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the first time. What did I think of the last half of season 5? Really heavy.

Jets vs Pats 2008

If the Jets win, I predict the following statements from NFL analysts:
1) The Jets are now the team to beat in the East
2) What a difference Brett Favre is to the team (and how Chad Pennington could not have made some throw in the game)
3) It just shows how valuable Tom Brady is

If the Pats win, I predict the following statements from NFL analysts:
1) Football is a team game
2) The road to the AFC East goes through New England
3) Defense wins championships
4) Brett Favre is still learning the system
5) That's why Bill Belichick is a hall of fame coach

I think this is going to be a close, defensively oriented game. For the Jets to win they will need their offensive line to get a good running game going against the Patriots, who are vulnerable in that area. On the flip side, they will need to stifle New England's run game with their own revamped defense. Biggest non-injury fear - Brett Favre is perplexed by the Belichick defensive schemes.

On Being Liberal

Bob Herbert had a great column in the NY Times the other day about being proud to be liberal. Frankly, hearing the word "liberal" used in a negative fashion makes me think of some old guy in a rocking chair who is complaining and it infuriates me. Obviously liberals can't be credited with everything good that's ever happened, but a lot of major important changes are the result of liberals!

Double Standards

No additional comment from me necessary.

90210

I taped the premiere of 90210 and less than 5 minutes into it, the father character says "Family first" and Jessica Walter as a grandmother comes out holding a drink. Will there be any more similarities to Arrested Development?

Sarah Palin is a Female Version of Clarence Thomas

McCain is going to try and lure women with Sarah Palin, but Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin are as similar as Clarence Thomas and Thurgood Marshall. I think the biggest impact that this will have is that conservative women will be more energized. Those women who are extreme liberal won't compromise their social causes for her and she may ultimately be too conservative for the moderate wing. It does give McCain some much needed buzz, especially after Obama's speech. I wonder if the Republican convention will be as watched as the Democrats'.

I Am So Frustrated By John McCain's Apparent Success

Since the DNC is starting today, I thought I would vent about John McCain.

He's doing well in the polls but for the life of me, I can't seem to figure out why. But let me vent about a few things.

1) Military experience - I've been thinking about John McCain's military experience. In what way does it make him suitable to be the President? Of course, he was a POW, and that's horrible. But his highest rank in the Navy was Captain. He could run a ship, but he never made it to Rear Admiral or Admiral (the highest ranks). Point is, the most distinguishing feature of his military career is that he was captured by the enemy!

2) As Paul Krugman points out in today's NY Times, all the "bad things" about John Kerry, also apply to John McCain! "Sugar daddy wife?" Check. Military service record available for distortion? Check.

3) Hillary Clinton supporters who are backing John McCain have to determine why exactly they are voting for Hillary Clinton, and why exactly they have decided to follow McCain instead of Obama. They clearly are not voting based on political platform, as Obama and Clinton are much more similar than Clinton and McCain. So if you're voting for another reason, what is it? Disrespect? Anger? Sadness? Are these reasons to vote for a candidate? Doesn't anger lead to hate, and hate lead to suffering?

4) I wonder if calling Barack Obama "arrogant" is code for calling him "uppity." What has he done to be arrogant? Went to Harvard and Columbia? The same things that make him "elitist" or "arrogant" are things that nearly every parent would wish their child would accomplish. Not to mention the last 3 Presidents went to Yale and the one before that was a movie star! By the way, apparently being a "huge celebrity" is not good if you're Obama, but fine if your name rhymes with Reagan.

5) Experience - a completely imagined qualification for President. Maybe the only relevant experience would be that of being some sort of executive or head of an organization. As Bill Clinton said recently, "You could argue nobody has the experience to be President." It's probably true. Some can handle the job better than others but how can we predict this? Our current President was a CEO and a governor and basically horrible. He has the most "experience" anybody could want and has been a failure. So why is experience important?

6) Finally, I guess the credit has to go to the Republican machine, which continues to perpetuate the myth that the media is "liberal" (see all of talk radio, Fox News and corporate ownership as counter-examples), and that somehow John McCain, whose economic policies will clearly benefit the rich, is better for lower income voters. It's making me really angry. Like "Hulk Smash" angry. Thanks for letting me vent.

NFL Team Previews

iTunes has some free NFL Team previews done by NFL films. The preview of the Jets recaps the 2007 season, and they've done an amazing job of not focusing on any of the negativity, despite the season having been horrible. All the losses, QB controversy, are glossed over (the team always fought hard, had to overcome tough, close losses, etc). The preview is incredibly optimistic, and must have been made before the Brett Favre acquisition. It makes me want to see the Miami Dolphins preview!

Blogman Wonders...

If you wake up at 5am and drink a coke, it's kind of gross. But on the other hand, if you stay up until 5am and have a coke, that's much less gross. Ditto for sandwiches. Why is that?

Mike and the Mad Dog - It's Over?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaandgoodafternooneverybody!

As suddenly as Brett Favre became a Jet, the Mike and the Mad Dog program broke up after nearly 20 years. A show that has been a part of my afternoons for a while, and then when I couldn't listen in the afternoons, has been a podcast that I've been downloading regularly. This show, one of the first duo sports talk shows in the country, set the model for what is now an industry. For the most part, it's better than any other show that has come since. There have been times that either Mike or Mad Dog have been a little much either alone or together, but they somehow made the discussion fun and interesting. Whatever comes next won't be nearly as good.

Check out Mad Dog's teary goodbye.

According to Mike, he'll never have another radio partner and will be at WFAN the rest of his career. Unfortunately, individually neither Mike nor Mad Dog will be as good as the team show. If I was 1050 ESPN radio, I'd see if I could lure Mad Dog into the afternoon - imagine, Mike vs Mad Dog!

Google Reader

Why has it taken me so long to adopt an RSS reader? I just started using Google Reader recently and I love it. It really saves me a lot of time while web browsing.

I think the main reason that I've been slow to adopt the RSS reader is that I only recently started reading a bunch of blog-style websites on a regular basis. In addition, a bunch of comics news websites, like Newsarama and CBR, weren't providing RSS feeds. But now, Google Reader makes things much easier, and there's no need to visit a million different websites, I can just open Reader and let it update for me. I'm not sure if Google Reader is the best RSS feed reader out there but since I use GMail, it seems like an easy one to pick up.

Brett Favre in New York

There have been many accomplished athletes who switch teams late in their careers, and many who have switched teams into New York City. But Brett Favre's arrival with the Jets has an even larger carnival-like atmosphere than I could have ever imagined.

Why is this happening? Certainly it's big news any time a team acquires a HOF-caliber player. But even most HOF-caliber acquisitions don't get press conferences at City Hall and "Broadway" signs. And it's been a week since his acquisition but ESPN is still doing daily training camp updates from Jets camp.

First, I think since the Brett Favre retirement saga was big news in the national media to begin with, the resolution has now led to increased focus on Favre. Second, since the Jets were such a surprise team from this trade, and in general the timing was surprising and last minute, there is a bigger reaction. Finally, although the Olympics are going on, there aren't many other stories in pro sports.

I'm not sure how successful this trade will make the Jets, but I am sure it has raised the expectations significantly for the team. That's not always a good thing. Lately, I've been noticing that NY sports fans (but especially Mets and Jets fans) seem to get really upset when the high expectations they have for their teams are not met. Chad Pennington was easily and frequently cheered and then booed. What will be his reception the first game he comes back as a Dolphin? Mets fans, in particular, are boo crazy and there is significant overlap from Mets to Jets.

The Jets season may start off bumpy. If there's ever a game Miami can steal, it will be week 1, with the Jets on the road, new QB and the general problems teams run into on week 1. Then the Jets go on to face the Pats and Chargers. Of course, Chad Pennington loved to feast on the Chargers (he beat them in their last 3 match-ups, including a 44-13 whipping while the Jets struggled and the Chargers were 6-1). Then Arizona, the team everyone always thinks will be better. So it could easily be a 2-2 or 1-3 start. Not so favorable. Fortunately the BYE week then comes up and the schedule is pretty good overall.

Another interesting comment I've heard - the Patriots have the easiest schedule in the league and the Jets one of the hardest. Well, sure that's true if you look by opponent's record. But their only opponents that differ are the Jets face the Bengals and Titans, whereas the Pats face the Steelers and Colts. So what accounts for the disparity? Easy - if you calculate the Jets' opponents records, you need to factor in the 16-0 Patriots twice. Whereas when you factor the Pats' opponents records, you put in the 4-12 Jets twice. But actually the schedule is only different in those two games. So yes, technically the Jets' schedule is harder because they play the Patriots, but the Patriots don't have to play against themselves.

Interesting to watch for: at what point will Brett Favre say "we" and "us" instead of "this team" and "these guys"? The latter phrases sound much more like an outsider looking in.

Team Handball

I have been browsing the NBCOlympics.com website and stumbled upon women's team handball. What an interesting game. It's like some mix of basketball and soccer. But while the rules say they need to dribble while moving the ball, from what I can tell, there's not a whole lot of dribbling. Kind of interesting to be watching a game for the first time and trying to figure out how it works. I suspect this will wear off fairly quickly.

Kudos to NBC for their online Olympics coverage. I would have never seen this had it not been online and they have a ton of different events that you can watch live. That means curling fans can get excited when they have this sort of thing in the 2010 winter games.

Favre is a Jet. Whatthahuh?

Let's hope this move is more like Joe Montana with the Chiefs and Wade Boggs with the Yankees than Patrick Ewing with the Sonics and Michael Jordan with the Wizards.

Poor Chad Pennington. He'll benefit from being in another place that has a good offensive line. The only reason he's leaving is that Brett Favre couldn't make up his mind about retirement.

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight was an awesome movie. I think part of what made it so enjoyable was that it didn't follow any sort of cliches that we expect from these types of movies. My audience at Union Square last Saturday afternoon was pretty amazing. There was almost no talking at all from the packed house, and when the movie started it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. A huge contrast from my Iron Man experience in Times Square when the couple next to me was talking at normal speaking volume the entire film.

Heroes Webisodes

There's a new set of webisodes for the TV show Heroes that are introducing this postman with the power of a special scream. I just finished the second episode, and I'm pretty sure that it ended with the main character swearing! I guess there's no regulation on the web.

Also, Heroes was mentioned in the NY Times recently. The upcoming DVD release will include two unfinished episodes that were affected by the strike. I never saw the first DVD set but I believe there was some sort of bonus involving alternate ways that certain storylines would play out.

I really enjoyed the last season of Heroes overall, but for the life of me, I can't remember what exactly happened.

A Joss Whedon Day...

A rare day off today, and the pile of comics I planned on reading includes Astonishing X-Men and the most recent story from Runaways. From Netflix, I've got Buffy, season 3 disc 4. All my entertainment plans revolve around ideas of Joss Whedon?

Metal Gear Solid 4... Thoughts After First Run

Overall: An excellent game, probably the best in the series. My finishing time was 26 hours. Apparently to get the best finishing time, you need to complete the game in 5 hours or less! Not happening any time in my future.

Pros: Beautiful graphics, great new gameplay elements such as the Mk II, Octocamo, decent boss fights.

Cons: Story hard to figure out for newcomers, Less gameplay towards the end of the game, cutscenes can get very long.

Metal Gear Solid 4

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Movie Mania

I've been seeing a lot of movies lately. Here are some brief spoiler-free reviews and comments.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Not a bad movie, but not up to the level of the previous Indiana Jones films. Harrison Ford looked old. Possibly the best of the 10+ year sequels that I can think of (Star Wars Episode 1, Terminator 3, Rocky Balboa, Live Free or Die Hard, Clerks 2).

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanimo Bay - Not as charming as the first installment, but still with some amusing scenes. I've gone nearly 30 years watching major Hollywood theatricals, and seen a guy's junk in about 1 of those movies (Kevin Bacon - Wild Things). But suddenly in the last three months there's been male junk randomly in a bunch of films I've seen - Dewey Cox, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Sex and the City and this film. What's with the sudden spotlight "down there?"

Clerks 2 - This movie really shows how my tastes in films have changed. I think if I had seen this ten years ago, I would have loved it. But now it just comes off as somewhat immature. For some reason my interest in Kevin Smith has declined significantly over the last few years. This one has some of the same geek-oriented banter, but Randall, who I once really liked, now seems just sort of immature and self-loathing to a point where I can't stand it.

Semi-Pro - Have you seen Anchorman, Blades of Glory and Talladega Nights? Then you've seen this film. Will Ferrell plays the same sort of character he's been playing, and while it's a funny character, there's a sort of empty sense from this one. Kind of like I've seen this movie before.

National Treasure 2 - While watching this movie, I forgot that I had laughed out loud when I originally saw the trailer. There are a huge number of moments where I just rolled my eyes and groaned. It made me really appreciate the Indiana Jones franchise. Also, the film seems to pick up a lot of character threads from the first movie, which was a nice touch - if I had actually remembered who any of the characters were.

Lars and the Real Girl - I didn't expect to like this one, but it was a nice film with Ryan Gosling playing this isolated young man who buys a doll and treats her like a real person. Kind of strange, and a bit touching. Lacked something at the very end.

Rocky Balboa - Sort of like an update of the original Rocky for the 2000's and the 50+ crowd. They say that in sequels people want to see the original movie, but with new circumstances. This one - it's just like the original only he's old, and it's more like a collection of loose scenes. Also, I don't watch much boxing, but in the final fight there are a lot of punches thrown. In the boxing I've seen, it's mostly boring and just grappling. I prefer the Hollywood version.

Question of the Day

Topic: Message board flame wars

Which message board fanboy war is most entertaining? PS3 vs XBOX 360 or Marvel vs DC?

Week in Review

Brief week in review:

Sunday: Momofuku Ssam - A pretty good restaurant in the East Village. We got steamed buns (a classic Momofuku item), bread and goat's butter (not bad, but was it worth it?), beef tendon and green mango, spicy pork sausage and rice cake, lamb belly and hanger steak ssam. Overall a pretty inexpensive meal and fairly light Asian cuisine. We finished it off with a visit to the Dessert Truck on 8th and Unversity, where you can get some really high quality desserts for $5.

Monday: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Not bad. When a movie makes a sequel after 10+ years (see: Star Wars, Die Hard, Terminator), is it possible for it to ever retain the spirit of the original? Can a movie-goer, whose age has changed by 10+ years accurately compare the new movie to the originals? That's the big question, right?

Not a lot of big movies in the upcoming weeks. Sex and the City should do well next week, but can it be more than just a super-long episode? I wonder if people will be compelled to go to the theater for it. The next few weeks seem slow: June 6: Kung Fu Panda / Zohan, June 13: Happening / Hulk, June 20: Get Smart / Love Guru, June 27: Wanted, Wall-E. I look at this list and I see eight movies I'd be content with seeing on video. I'd like for Hulk to be great but I have very low expectations. For Wanted, my expectations are even lower. Of the comedies and animated fare, none really seem like they'll be that funny. Looks like the next time I'll really have to be in a movie theater is July 18 - Dark Knight.

Remember 1989? That year there was also a Batman and Indiana Jones movie in the same summer.

Tuesday: RIP Ninth Street Market. The beloved brunch location has closed! Totally unexpectedly, the owner was just tired and decided to shut it down. In the evening I went to an old favorite, New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe in Chinatown.

Tuesday and Wednesday: Jury Duty involves a lot of wasted time. There's a lot of waiting, a lot of hearing people try to give excuses as to why they shouldn't have to serve, and a lot of waiting. It was more enjoyable than I expected, but there was a lot of downtime. I sympathize for judges who have to listen to all the childish ways people try to weasel out of jury duty. One good thing about jury duty - the courthouse is right by Chinatown. That means $1 for five dumplings at Fried Dumpling, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and great noodles.

Thursday: One heck of a comics week - three books by Grant Morrison (All-Star Superman, Batman, Final Crisis), two by Geoff Johns (Action and Green Lantern), the finale of Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon and a few other gems like the first Starman omnibus.

Rest of the Week: I'm making my way through Buffy on Hulu, currently 8 episodes into the second season. After I'm done with this season it'll be off to Netflix. The Yankees won one Wed, after some dreadful losses Mon and Tues to Baltimore. I'd like to see the team play with a little more consistency. Still trying for that Momofuku Ko reservation and still not working out. There's always tomorrow morning at 10am!

Patriots "Spygate"

I thought this whole Spygate thing with the Patriots was resolved. Now we're hearing that the NFL has made a deal with former Patriots "cameraman" Matt Walsh, and that depending on what he says, there may be further penalty. Well, let's just get to the bottom of this and then move on! Enough dragging of the feet, and let's just get all the answers. As much as I would love for the NFL to find out that the Patriots were doing all sorts of illegal stuff and severely punish them for it, I suspect the case is more along the lines of them doing some sort of borderline wrong stuff and it probably had little effect on anything. So let's just get it over with. Maybe if we can find out what they did before the Draft this weekend, they can be penalized appropriately.

Can You Smell What Barack Is Cooking?

I know candidates pander all the time to voters, but can you believe what happened the other night on WWE Raw? The three remaining Presidential candidates all were invited to give statements, and they all contained horrible horrible puns.

HORRIBLE. Can you smell what Barack is cooking? Hill-Rod? McCainiacs? Really??


Clinton:
Hi, I’m Hillary Clinton. But tonight, in honor of the WWE, you can call me Hill-Rod.

This election is starting to feel a lot like “King of the Ring.” The only difference? The last man standing may just be a woman.

The truth is, this election is so important. The next president will face a stack full of difficult challenges right from the opening bell… to fix the economy, bring our troops home from Iraq, and make college more affordable. You need a president who will go to the mat for you. And that’s exactly what I’ll do.

I’ve been knocked down, but I’ve always gotten back up. And I know how to take a hit for the American people. And if things get a little tough, I may even have to deliver the “people’s elbow.”

Because this country is worth fighting for.

Now, I promise to stick to the political arena. So don't worry Randy Orton you're safe… for now.

When it comes to standing up for the American people though, I am ready to rumble.

Obama:

Hey WWE fans - I hope you're all enjoying the program tonight. You know, this is a historic time for America. It's not just that the reign of Randy Orton may soon be coming to an end. It's that at this moment, in this election, we have a chance to finally end business-as-usual in Washington. For a long time now, we've had a politics where our leaders go after each other like they're competing to become King of the Ring instead of coming together to provide universal health care, fix our economy, and solve our other problems. That's what I'm running for President to change. So to the special interests who've been setting the agenda in Washington for too long - and to all the forces of division and distraction that have stopped us from making progress for the American people - I've got one question: Do you smell what Barack is cooking?

McCain:
"Looks like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama want to celebrate their differences in the ring," McCain says. "Well, that's fine with me, but let me tell you: If you want to be the man, you have to beat the man. Come November, it'll be game over. And whatcha gonna do when John McCain and all his McCainiacs run wild on you?"

Two quick movie reviews

Justice League: The New Frontier
"This isn't Ultimate Avengers"
It's worth checking out this direct-to-video animated feature based on the graphic novel, "DC The New Frontier." The voice acting is pretty decent, and the animation style departs from the house style that Warner Bros had been using for a while. This story tops the previously released "Death of Superman" feature and makes me think that they could do some fun adaptations of stories like Dark Knight Returns or Batman: Year One if they so desired. It's not as deep as the book, but the feature is quite good. One thing that confuses me - why are animated features constantly 70 minutes long? This movie is definitely targeted towards older audiences, so it's not lack of attention span. Is it budget? Does it really cost that much more to put in 10-20 more minutes of story and animation?


Ghost Rider
"As bad as expected"

Supernatural and horror movies generally aren't up my alley. Since Ghost Rider is based on a comic book, I figured I would give it a try. Mark Steven Johnson, of Daredevil fame, wrote and directed this one. I remember the Ghost Rider comic, and thinking he looked cool, but didn't have much interest beyond that. In the case of this movie, the effects look great, but that's about all there is to the movie. The concept is not well executed. There's strange logic: why does the devil have a Ghost Rider who has the power to make evil-doers suffer? Why can't Ghost Rider go out in the sunlight? You can see attempts to make this a sort of Jekyll and Hyde or vampire type movie, but it just doesn't work. Add to it a weak script full of cliche shots and humor, and bad performances from Eva Mendes and Nicholas Cage, and it's a mediocre film at best. As a side note, I have begun to find Nicholas Cage really annoying. Not sure why.

Knicks Need to Fire Isiah

Donnie Walsh steps in as the new President of the Knicks, and he has to fire Isiah Thomas. Even if Isiah Thomas was an amazing coach, there is such a negative attitude surrounding his tenure that it is time to wipe the slate clean. It would be the right move from a public relations standpoint, even if it's not the right move from a basketball standpoint (although given the rumblings from players about Thomas, it's probably the correct decision in terms of basketball too). If they're worried about spending all the money on the remainder of Thomas' contract, they should just bring in a cheap, first-time coach who wants to break in and let him do what he can to try and get this young team to play their best each night. That would go over well with fans, even if they stunk. This situation will take years to get out from, but maybe there's someone in place now who actually has a reasonable strategy. Dolan's made two right moves in this Walsh hiring - he got rid of Thomas, and he did so before the draft.

Rules changes

Looks like it's time to start telling CB's to just push receivers out of bounds the moment they touch a ball.

The NFL has passed "A recommendation to eliminate force-out decisions on pass completions near the sidelines. Now, officials will only have to decide whether a receiver landed inbounds or not. The intended result is more consistency."

Real Life "Blades of Glory"

After reading this article about the US top two figure skaters, I couldn't help but think of the recent film, "Blades of Glory." Two top US male figure skaters who don't like each other, one a tough, manly, guy, the other a wispy, lighter than air fellow. Now all we need is to have them pair up for couples!

Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer Mini Review

I don't know why having Netflix draws me to rent movies that I know are crap, but it does. My morbid curiosity drew me to renting Fantastic Four 2, despite the fact that I thought Fantastic Four was pretty horrible. The movie did not disappoint. It's similar to the first movie - bad story, poor acting, but great production value. In general, these films have great effects, but not much else. There are many ridiculous things I could point out about this film, but I will limit it to just one: the Fantasti-car is a Dodge!

That one made laugh out loud. Seriously, the Fantasti-car is a Dodge!

No More Surprises

I like to think that no news surprises me. Yet then, every so often, I get surprised. For example, when Hillary Clinton won a bunch of primaries last week, I was sort of surprised, but not really. When the Giants beat the Patriots, I was pretty surprised, but still, any time two teams play, I never feel completely sure of the outcome. But NY Governor Eliot Spitzer getting busted for soliciting prostitutes? That one really surprised me. It's not like when CT's governor resigned for a scandal where he took money, or even NJ's governor revealing he was having a homosexual affair. This one was a shocker because it came out of nowhere and Spitzer's entire credibility is based on the fact that he was sort of this higher than thou prosecutor who did a lot of good things. I know I shouldn't trust politicians and I certainly don't believe that they are any better as people, but still, this one left me really surprised.

Leap Year

It's leap year! This happens what, every four years?

Leap year is kind of a funny concept to me. Our "year" is fairly precise, but off by 6 hours so we have to "make up for it" every few years. In the old days, imagine realizing that your calendar was off, then telling everyone you needed to add a little more time to things?

See you in four years.

Hibachi in New York

Are there any hibachi places in Manhattan besides Benihana? I am looking for a place that has that style Japanese grill show and isn't in Brooklyn. I'd rather not travel an hour to get to Ginza in Park Slope or Arirang.

Shooting Down a Satellite

Apparently one of our old satellites is about to drop down into the atmosphere, and so to protect our interests (and our people?) the US Government as decided that the best thing to do is shoot this thing down with a $10M missile.

My first reaction to this news is surprise that we have the accuracy to hit a satellite with a missile. Apparently there is a "10 second window" that they will have to make the right shot.

My next reaction is wonder. If a satellite falling to the earth is dangerous as debris, what happens if we miss the satellite? Then the missile gets detonated high above and the satellite falls? Can the missile miss and hit something else? Is the satellite debris dangerous too?

My final reaction is cynical. Are we really doing this to protect our secrets and prevent damage, or are we just doing this for posturing and to show off to the rest of the world that we can shoot down satellites because we're the USA. On the one hand this seems like an expensive way to do this. On the other, it's pretty cheap compared to starting a war.

Geek Break: Comics Coming Up in May '08

Let me take a moment to geek out and briefly mention some comics coming up in May '08. You can find the complete solicitations for Marvel in May '08 here, and for DC here.

Solicitations are the little previews each company gives to retailers so they can figure out what to order in the upcoming months. Based on the little snippets of text that these provide, I will make some broad judgments about the books that have yet to even come out. It may not be fair, but it's fun.

Marvel Comics

First, it looks like Marvel is really going all-out in May. They have been doing very well sales-wise against their Distinguished Competition, and May looks like they really are going to try and stick it to DC yet again. Just look at some of these major #1 releases:

Avengers / Invaders #1 (New mini-series with Alex Ross and Jim Krueger of the highly popular Earth X, Justice)
King Size Hulk #1 (Jeph Loeb, Art Adams, Frank Cho)
Marvel 1985 #1 (Mark Millar)

I once read somewhere that the editors can basically predict how well a book will sell if they know the creators and characters in the book. These three books above will almost certainly perform well - probably in the 100K+ mark, which is pretty rare these days. Add that to Marvel's already near 100K+ books:

Secret Invasion #2 (Brian Bendis, Lenil Yu - not yet 100K but probably will be)
The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home #3 of 5 (Stephen King inspired book)
Fantastic Four #557 (Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch)
Thor
New Avengers
Amazing Spider-Man

Marvel will probably have 8-10 of the top 10 books for the month at this rate.

Now for some brief book by book comments:

Ultimate line - Ultimate FF #54, Ultimate Iron Man 2 #5, Ultimate Spider-Man #122, Ultimate X-Men #94. Ultimate X-Men has a new writer, Aron Coleite from Heroes. Fans of Ultimate X-Men are hoping that he got a lot of this work done during the WGA strike and there won't be any delays. I used to buy all the Ultimate line titles, but now I buy none of them. There's just no reason to. The continuity is just as confusing, and the books are no longer fresh or inspiring. The creators are not particularly big names and it just seems stale. Word is, there is a re-boot on the way, but it's hard for me to care.

Amazing Spider-Man #558-#560 - Out of protest from One More Day, I don't buy this book. The more I think about that, it's silly, but I'll stick to my guns for now. Anyway, from what I've heard even though the creative teams sound great, it hasn't been groundbreaking and so it's just as well, considering it comes out three times each month now.

Avengers/Invaders #1 - While I am sure this Alex Ross / Jim Krueger miniseries will be great, I am going to pass on it, and if word is that it is good, I will catch it later. Frankly, golden age characters don't really interest me.

Alan Davis Covers - Black Panther #37, Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1, New Exiles #6, Clandestine #4. Alan Davis wrote and drew interiors for Clandestine, but he's randomly doing covers for the other books. That's great news, but kind of strange that they're all popping up this month?

Captain America #38 - I'm getting it, who cares what the solicitation says. It's been really interesting.

Fantastic Four #557 - Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch continue their 16 issue story arc on Fantastic Four. I read the first issue of this, and it was nice, but it wasn't as awe-inspiring as their work on Ultimates. Maybe I have Millar fatigue? Or maybe I've been here before, as Millar wrote Ultimate Fantastic Four. Something about this doesn't feel fresh and new, which is how I usually feel when reading a Millar title. In my opinion, having "Ultimate" creators working in mainstream Marvel U really takes away from the Ultimate Marvel U. Especially in Fantastic Four, where from what I can tell, the only difference between the two is that in mainstream Marvel, Reed and Sue are married with children. Otherwise, they're essentially the same characters.

Invincible Iron Man #1 - Iron Man, a character with a movie coming out, gets a second series for the first time. I don't read the current book, which in December was #62 on the charts at about 38K. That doesn't strike me as a particularly good sales figure, and is the character really that popular? On the other hand, Thor is a top 5 selling book these days, so I guess anything can happen.

Marvel 1985 #1 - A Mark Millar project that he has been hyping up a lot. I think I'll wait for the trade. Same goes for Kick-Ass #4, his creator owned, Icon series with John Romita Jr.

Secret Invasion #2 - The BIG EVENT of Marvel's 2008 summer. Apparently there are Skrulls impersonating all sorts of heroes throughout the Marvel U. It's been teased at for a while, and building up for a long time. For some reason, I just can't get interested. Leinil Yu is doing the art, and I like his work. I like plots that are intricate and have been building up for a while as well. Surprise twists are good too, but I just can't get excited about this at all. I'll read summaries about this one on the Inter-Web. There are the requisite tie-ins and spin-offs for this as well (Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Captain Britain and MI: 13).

Thor #9 - I'll say it again - Since it came out, Thor has been selling over 100K a month, more than any of the X-Men titles in that period. I can't believe it.

X-Men Titles - I'll only put the ones I'm interested in. There are a lot of X-books these days.

Uncanny X-Men #498 - still the flagship. It's been decent but I can't help thinking they're waiting for #500 to come up.

X-Men Legacy #211, #212 - I don't know what to make of this title, formerly known as X-Men. I'd have to think that changing the name of the book to X-Men Legacy marginalizes it and will actually be bad for sales.

Cable #3 - I'm curious about this since it directly relates to the big recent crossover, Messiah CompleX. But not interested enough to start picking this up.

X-Force #4, Wolverine #65: Both these books have stories where Wolverine goes after the villains who got away in Messiah CompleX. While I don't really care too much about Wolverine appearing in too many books, something funny happened here. After the crossover, Cyclops and Wolverine had two conversations. In one, he said, "Go after Mystique" (a story in Wolverine). In the other, he said, "Go after the Purifiers" (a story in X-Force). Finally, Wolverine can be seen traveling around Europe with Nightcrawler and Colossus, lamenting the end of the Messiah CompleX story. I'm really not that nit-picky about this kind of continuity but it seems a little too much.

Wolverine: Origins #25 - Supposedly this should be the halfway point of this title. I stopped buying it a while back because I didn't enjoy it. But I like the character of Wolverine so much I can't help but wonder what happens in this book anyway.

Logan #3 - Brian K Vaughan of Y: The Last Man concludes his tale of Logan. I'll wait for the trade.

X-Men Divided We Stand #2 - an anthology of stories about random X-Men scattered about. I'll probably get it but I'm not too enthusiastic.

Punisher #57 - Garth Ennis wraps up his MAX run on the Punisher. I haven't gotten this recently but I'm sure it's still good fun.

DC Comics
I was really enjoying DC Comics until the recent mess that has been Countdown. Suddenly, there's too much confusing stuff going on. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the multiverse. I get a ton of stuff by Geoff Johns, but I'm starting to fear fatigue of his material (like I did of Brian Bendis). I don't think it will happen, but I'm still afraid.

DC Universe #0 - The issue following Countdown to Final Crisis #1, by Johns and Morrison with a bunch of good artists. It's 50 cents! Of course I'm getting it!

Final Crisis #1 - The big event for DC Comics this summer by Grant Morrison. I'm really looking forward to this, and really hoping it makes DC a bit more streamlined and orderly. Like most Grant Morrison stories, I'm guessing it will start off as amazing and interesting, yet somehow at the end, I'll be 50% really confused and 50% amazed.

Tangent: Superman's Reign #3 - Tangent comics was a throwaway concept in the '90s that got revived with the recent multi-verse. I can't imagine people being excited about this enough to buy a twelve issue series!

DC / Wildstorm: Dreamwar #2 - Ten years ago, this book would have really interested me. Now, I am ambivalent. The Wildstorm Universe has really taken a beating in those ten years, and once again, I can't get myself excited about this.

Batman and the Outsiders #7 - I've gotten a few issues of this series, but I don't find it that entertaining. I am going to give it a little longer rope because of all the editorial changes that went on before it started.

Booster Gold #9 - A great book for fanboys that was sort of like the DCU version of Quantum Leap. Then this past week an issue came out and it made my head hurt. I like the idea of reviving Blue Beetle to join Booster as "the greatest heroes nobody ever knows" as they secretly fix time behind the scenes, but I don't know if Beetle will be around forever. Geoff Johns says he's leaving with issue #11. I hope that whoever writes the series beyond this will not take it to hokey territory, because time travel can become a monster if you don't try to control it.

Batman #677 - Grant Morrison is writing Batman and people say they love it. I hardly understand it. I have a theory that when people in the arts see a movie or read a book they don't understand, they immediately say how amazing it is. I think that theory applies to recent issues of this book. Really nice Alex Ross covers for this book and...

Superman #676 - I thought James Robinson was taking this book over, but I guess that will wait until later in the year.

Detective Comics #844 - Paul Dini has been writing this series with stories that are self-contained. It's been above average for the most part, but nothing to get too excited about. I'm on the verge of dropping it...

All-Star Superman #11 - A great book by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly. This is the penultimate issue. While it's been entertaining, this All-Star line has certainly been disappointing for DC. I believe they are going to put this title away once these creators are done.

Action Comics #865 - Action Comics has really been a fun run when Geoff Johns is writing it. Yes, Adam Kubert delayed the title with Richard Donner but the book looked nice. I did not enjoy Johns and Eric Powell on the Bizarro story, but this Legion story with Gary Frank has been great. Johns has been hinting that 2008, Superman's 70th anniversary, will be a huge year. Let's hope so!

Superman / Batman #48 - Once a flagship title for DC, this has fallen into obscurity. I've heard good things about this recent arc, but not good enough for me to sample it. This title used to be a good way to get a Superman and Batman fix all in one, but since I buy Superman's solo book, Batman's solo book and Justice League, this seems irrelevant.

Green Lantern #31 - I had never bought Green Lantern regularly until the end of last year. Geoff Johns is doing a great job with this, and Ivan Reis is a very impressive artist. I even went out and got the hardcovers for the issues I didn't have. It's on the upswing as well, with a huge event planned for 2009.

Green Lantern Corps #24 - While I don't get this, it seems like this title is intimately connected with the main Green Lantern book and laying the groundwork for the "big event" in 2009. I must confess; I either skim it at the stores or read the summaries online.

Justice League of America #21 - I really liked Justice League Unlimited, the animated show that Dwayne McDuffie worked on, but I don't enjoy his Justice League. He has stated publicly that editorial is affecting his ability to write, and I wonder if that is why I have not enjoyed this lately.

Justice Society of America #16 - The hints have been dropping that Kingdom Come and this storyline will be integrated. It's been a little slow to start, but I think the criticism online is a bit much. I am still on board and wondering where all this is headed. It's the 5th book this month by Geoff Johns that I'll be picking up (DCU #0, Booster Gold, Action Comics and Green Lantern).

Wonder Woman #20 - Gail Simone, a fan favorite just finished her first arc on this book. It was nice, but I didn't find it amazing. I think it comes down to the fact that I just don't find Wonder Woman that interesting.

Y: The Last Man Vol 10 - The final trade paperback for Y: The Last Man is coming out in JUNE! UGH! I thought these were May solicits? I am so afraid of the ending of this story being spoiled for me. In fact, the finale came out a few weeks ago and I am amazed that it hasn't been spoiled yet. June 18 cannot arrive soon enough. This is my most anticipated book for 2008 so far.

Ok, I think my fingers are bleeding from all the typing.

Iran So Far Away

I haven't watched SNL much lately but maybe I'll check it out a bit more often. An amusing parody.

Conan and Colbert Feud

One good thing to come out of the WGA strike is the Conan / Colbert Feud.

Originally, Conan suggested that he had given Stephen Colbert a "bump" by having him on the show. He also noted that he had Chuck Norris on the show, and that was another reason for Mike Huckabee's bump. In retaliation, Jon Stewart pulled out a clip from his old show showing a bump he gave to Conan O'Brien, thus taking credit for all the bumps.

These videos are a bit redundant but make sure you see the fight which is hilarious.

Conan appeared on the Daily Show and Colbert...




...and the fight concluded on Conan


Another summary here:

Syringes and "The Play"

Apparently Roger Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, says he has physical evidence that Clemens used steroids - including syringes with traces of steroids and hGH and Clemens' DNA. I don't really understand a few things about this. First, who keeps syringes after using them? Second and more importantly, how can they tell how old the syringes are, and whether or not the blood and steroids were somehow associated with them at the same time? For example, what is the difference between a needle / syringe that was used to inject steroids that has some blood on it, and a needle / syringe that was used to inject someone with something else, and then had steroids put into it? For that matter, since blood should only go into the needle, why not mix and match needles and syringes? It still sounds like a lot of "He Said / He Said."

The Eli Manning to David Tyree play that seemed almost miraculous during the Super Bowl should just be nicknamed "The Play." Right now, everyone knows what that refers to, so why not just dub it so? We already have "the catch" and "the escape followed by helmet catch" is too long a name. The local papers all have contests to "name the play."

Super Tuesday

Politics here - I am becoming increasingly worried that if John McCain wins the Republican nomination, he will win the Presidency. I don't like the prospect of putting the "first" woman or "first" African-American to the Presidency in a time of perceived crisis - we are involved with two wars and the economy is tanking. I have a feeling that most people will gravitate to the more traditional "old white man."

Also, it's very interesting to me how McCain is portrayed as "such a liberal" yet supports many conservative positions. At the same time, the conservative talk machine is completely against McCain and Huckabee. I don't really understand why or how all this came about, but I do find it interesting to see people assail Huckabee for not being conservative despite the fact that he has a huge following among Evangelical Christians.

Stomp You Out

I'm no Giants fan, but I'm really glad they won last Sunday. However, Michael Strahan's "stomp you out" speech was not only difficult to understand, it was pretty ridiculous. It made me sick of Michael Strahan again.



Not to take anything away from the Giants, but if you think about it, they had a ton of breaks before the Super Bowl, not to mention during it. Think about how they nearly lost in Dallas, the fumble recoveries in Green Bay and the fortunate plays in the Super Bowl... I guess when things are going your way, even the lucky stuff breaks that way too.

After Justin Tuck's great Super Bowl, I would have thought I'd see more "Tuck Rules" T-shirts. Then again, since the tuck rule game was eight years ago, it's basically forgotten.

Tiki Barber kept yapping away before the Super Bowl saying things like, "With every heroic story there has to be a foil, and I'm convenient for that. I am the (expletive) foil in a Shakespearean play."

"Love me or hate me or be indifferent about me, that doesn't bother me," Barber said. "But when you don't respect who I was as a player, that hurts ... For people to discredit what I was as a player is disingenuous at best and malicious at worst."

"I tell you the truth, even if you don't want to hear it," Barber said. "If you want to vilify me for being honest, you have to hate me then."

He also took credit for saving Tom Coughlin's job.

Tiki Barber needs to realize that his obsession with the spotlight is what has caused the Giants fans to hate him. Had he not announced his retirement mid-season last year, or written a book and criticized the current coach and QB, nobody would care. Fans would have appreciated Tiki's performance, but there was something about his comments that was more like he was betraying his former teammates. He would not have been this "foil" had he not offered up his opinions unsolicited (and in a book, no less). He must also have been (aside from his brother, Ronde) one of the only players to have had active media involvement while he was still a player (he was a local sports anchor and on WFAN). Nobody wants to see a player already working on the next career.

Tiki Interviews Eli

For the Today show, Tiki Barber had a feature where he interviewed some of his former teammates.



Tiki Barber was mentioned quite a bit over the last two weeks and at some point, it might be interesting to write about how a guy who played so well has become so unpopular.

Wow

I can't believe it. The Giants have won the Super Bowl!

-Have you ever seen so much pressure on Tom Brady?
-The Patriots committed a surprising number of false starts.
-Why did the Patriots go for it when they had the chance for the 49 yard FG?
-How lucky were the Giants on two plays? First, the Tyree catch from the Manning escaped sack. Second, the fumble that got batted away from Bradshaw, while it was a penalty, it could have easily been a turnover.

What an amazing game.

Pats = Champs

I'm guessing it'll be something like Patriots over the Giants 40-24 in a game that seems closer than it is, but in reality the Giants never had a chance.

Why Do Americans Hate Congress?

Oh I don't know... Maybe because Congressmen spend more of their time on stupid PR-related stunts and less time on things that affect people's lives.

Today's topic: Senator Arlen Spector wants to know why the NFL destroyed the confiscated video tapes from the New England Patriots.

Why?
Who cares?
Isn't this a waste of time?
Why?

Let's see what the Senator had to say (quotes taken from the NY Times article):

---
“That requires an explanation,” Specter said. “The N.F.L. has a very preferred status in our country with their antitrust exemption. The American people are entitled to be sure about the integrity of the game. It’s analogous to the C.I.A. destruction of tapes. Or any time you have records destroyed.”

“It’s the same old story,” Mr. Specter said. “What you did is never as important as the cover-up. This sequence raises more concerns and doubts.”

“I don’t think you have to have a law broken to have a legitimate interest by the Congress on the integrity of the game.” He added: “What if there was something on the tapes we might want to be subpoenaed, for example? You can’t destroy it. That would be obstruction of justice.

“It’s premature to make any suggestions until you know a lot more about the matter. We need to know what’s on those tapes.”

---

I realize that the NFL is a multi-billion dollar business, and is very popular among citizens, thus draws much attention from Congressmen, who love to curry favor with the public for simple things. Even taking this into account, comparing the NFL destruction of the tapes to the CIA destroying interrogation tapes is either seriously overrating the importance of the NFL or giving very little weight to possible human rights violations.

Now, what exactly is Congress accusing the NFL of covering up? What could they possibly discover from this line of investigation? The Patriots were accused of breaking the rules and cheating, evidence of such was found, and they were punished. Spector clearly does not want the tapes to see if the Patriots were punished unfairly, he's saying the NFL is hiding something.

This whole thing stinks and it makes me so irritated I can't even gather my thoughts clearly.

Last thought: Maybe they should be checking out ExxonMobil, who also in today's paper, have been noted to post the highest profits ever for a US corporation, despite the fact that we are also heading towards a recession. That doesn't seem suspicious to anyone??

In the words of the famous Charlie Brown, "AAAAARRRRRRGH!"

McCain

I thought I was oh-so-clever in noticing that John McCain's 2008 logo looked a lot like the logo for McCain foods. Then I did a google search for the logos and found that many people have beat me to the punch.

Who Let the Dogs Out??

This happened on Martin Luther King Jr Day 2008.

Girlie Man?

Of course, the NY Post is always trying to stir things up, so it should never be taken seriously at all. On the other hand, I can't help but notice how absurd it has been getting lately.

Last week after the Giants beat the Cowboys, the paper claimed credit on the front cover because their "Jessica Simpson look-alike" distracted Tony Romo.


Obviously absurd, and I'm sure the paper was just doing it as a joke... It's a joke, isn't it?


Today's Post is getting even sillier:



Article excerpt:

"FLOWERY TOM A POSY PATSIE
- BLOOMS IN HAND, BRACE ON FOOT IN VILLAGE CALL TO GISELE
January 22, 2008 -- Tom Brady hasn't been brutally beaten down by the Giants yet - but at least the petal-pushing flower boy is limping.

The cocky quarterback for the undefeated* New England Patriots was caught hobbling to the West Village home of his gal pal, Gisele Bundchen, yesterday - carrying a box of pretty little posies."

That's right! Every time they refer to the Patriots as undefeated, they're adding an asterisk. In fact, the asterisk is the number one reason to hate the Patriots, in case you need 10 reasons.



Oh that crazy NY Post, joking once again, right? The readers are in on the joke, right?

Right???

iTunes Rentals

Now that iTunes has rental service available for movies, does this mean that the tv networks will also try and start charging for "on-demand" style service for their shows? If so, is that the end of getting episodes for free from network websites?

The Knicks Have Won 3 In A Row?????

What is going on? It's like I'm in some strange new reality!

NFL, NBA, Comics

Well, looks like the Patriots will be the champs again. Yes, it looks like a done deal. Many thanks to both the Colts and the Chargers.

Frankly, the most exciting football game left in the year is the NFC Championship Game next week. There's just no way that the Patriots will lose in the next two weeks. Based on storylines, I prefer a Chargers / Giants (Philip Rivers vs Eli Manning) Super Bowl because of the QB draft histories. Obviously if Favre reaches the Super Bowl, it's a big story as well. Two weeks of whether or not how much the Patriots are the best team ever is going to make me want to vomit.

Briefly - the Jags vs Pats - I thought the Jags had a chance at the half. They had played a decent game in the first half but were by no means perfect. On the other side, the Pats were statistically perfect and missed a FG, and the game was tied. Usually when teams have the Pats close / tied at the half, the Patriots have had a sloppy half while the other team has played perfectly. In this game, I thought it was a bit of the opposite, and the Jags were tied, so it gave me hope. But the moment they faltered and had to kick a FG, it was clear the game was over. Amusing graphic of the night? Putting "10-3 as a starter" under David Gerrard's name. Second most amusing? "QB rating: 3rd overall in NFL." They never put "16-0" as a starter, "1st overall" or "MVP" under Brady's name.

I missed the Seattle vs Green Bay game but wished I had watched some. I love NFL in the snow. I also slept through Indianapolis and San Diego. I'm glad I did.

I'm happy for the Giants, who have now won 9 road games in a row. There is still no way that they can beat the Patriots. I've always liked Tom Coughlin as a coach, so it's particularly nice to see him get to another championship game.

In a day of upsets, the biggest upset wasn't even in the NFL! I had to read the score about five times - New York Knicks 89, Detroit 65! I thought for sure the teams were mixed up in the scores on that one. No, not true.

Good recap on Spider-Man's recent goings on by this column. So the marriage never happened but Peter and MJ dated for a while and were close friends. None of the previous stories that have happened since the wedding ever happened with them married but they still happened. Harry Osborn is alive somehow. On the one hand, comics makes changes like this all the time (see the DC Universe for re-writing origin stories over and over) but on the other, it's completely maddening. So what happened? What didn't? So confusing. Count me out.