Just Lick It

I saw a woman on the subway today lick a CD to clean it off before putting into her CD player. How does that help the CD or CD player? Isn't it a little dirty?

MIT vs Casinos

Bringing Down the House
Is easy and fun reading
It could be a film

Wild Card

Has anyone noticed that the last three World Series champions were Wild Card winners?

Also, since 1996, the winner of the World Series has either been the Yankees or a Wild Card team, aside from Arizona in '01.

Strangely enough, when the Yankees were the Wild Card ('95 & '97) they got knocked out.

This year, the "Wild Card" beat the "Cards."

Incoherent

I'm not very coherent right now, but I was thinking, since Boston seems to be winning everything these days, let's hope that this is an omen that next week we'll be talking about President Kerry.

Now that baseball's over and the election will soon draw to a close, what will I ever talk about on this blog? Time for me to get out there and do a few stupid things so I can report them on to this hardly-read forum.

Eggs

Fifteen minutes after I proclaimed that I have writer's block, I just thought of something to post.

Since St Louis really laid an egg in the World Series, this link seemed appropriate.

Make sure you click on "egg song" and turn the volume up really high. Hilarious. Kitchen-Fresh-Blog-certified amusement.

No Editor

Problem: I have nothing to say but I want to write a post.

Result: A crappy post like this. That's what happens with these solo operations -- no editor, no filter, no focus group, crappy posts.

Enjoy!!

The Factor

Since I didn't want to watch Boston pound on St. Louis again, I decided to try and watch the O'Reilly Factor for a little while this evening.

I decided I would time myself and see how long it would take for me to get annoyed and change the channel. It took longer than I had expected -- eight minutes! Why so long? Well, there were four minutes of commercials and news updates.

The first segment I saw was around the 8:30 block, where O'Reilly had on an advertising executive who had been involved in some surveys of public opinion and what Hollywood stars could sway political views.

The second segment I saw, also the one I changed the channel during, was one where O'Reilly had Bob Woodward of the Washington Post as a guest. O'Reilly asked Woodward questions and wanted to know how Kerry would answer them (since Kerry declined interviews with both O'Reilly and Woodward). Then, O'Reilly criticised the fictional responses. Part of me found it hilarious but just because it was so absurd.

So I flipped to ESPNEWS. Their scores ticker is amusing on a night when there is only one professional sporting event.

Ms. Subways

I'm obviously not getting the point of this. Aren't the subways dirty, nasty and smelly? Why would anyone want to be associated with this, particularly in a format that implies "beauty pageant?"

Sponsorships and Free Tacos

It is my civic duty to report that if a home run in the World Series hits the right sign, then every US citizen is entitled to a free taco at Taco Bell on November 9.

The article states that Taco Bell will be the "official quick service restaurant" of Major League Baseball in 2005. That got me to thinking -- if anyone wants to sponsor this blog then I'll gladly make them the official "XYZ of the Kitchen." Rates for such sponsorships are quite low, indicating how easily I'll sell out.

Oh, and when did "quick service" become a euphemism for "fast food?" Is "fast food" such a bad term that it requires a euphemism?

The Onion

If you don't read the Onion then you're missing out. This morning, it dawned on me that this would be a great television concept. It would take "fake news" beyond the Daily Show since there would be almost no basis in reality. There could be great stories about "Area Men" and a segment of "This Day in History." The AV club could be used as an interviewing platform for actual celebrities. Seems like a winner idea to me, and you heard it here first!!

Where are the Cardinals?

If you read this site often, you may know that I hate the Boston baseball team. More importantly, I was just wondering when the Cardinals will decide to show up to the World Series. Usually it's more fun if two teams are playing.

Scrubs

Scrubs is always funny, and the last two episodes included "Ed" sightings (and I saw the first one at the same time I made an "Ed" sighting on Sports Night).

Also, this most recent episode was directed by Maggie Seaver! It's like a nexus of TV shows.

Headlines

Well, this is uplifting. On a slightly related note, ever notice that the phrase "Politics of Fear" uses a fear tactic itself?

This article's headline, "Bush, Kerry get support from swing-state newspapers" makes it sound like the papers couldn't decide. I guess they're trying to convey that Nader get any swing-state newspaper endorsements.

One more story for you -- fifty Iraqi soldiers were found dead. CNN.com says, "Dozens of Iraqi soldiers found shot to death" while the New York Times says, "Scores of Iraqi soldiers are Found Shot to Death" and Fox News further clarifies with "Dozens of Unarmed Iraqi GIs Killed in Ambush."

I like how "Scores" sounds like a lot more than "Dozens" even though technically both are true. I also like the added touch of "Unarmed."

Great Britain

Pretty funny since didn't the Pilgrims leave because of religious persecution?

At least, that's what they told us in the fourth grade.

Sheff's Chef

This article is hilarious. I can't believe I missed it when it was first published.

After watching Sports Night Season 2

Sports Night, a good show,
Is no longer on tv.
It ended too soon.

Wal-Mart versus the Daily Show?

I'm always uncomfortable when corporations dictate our culture but I thought this was a coincidence -- after reading this story earlier in the day, on The Daily Show this evening they did a story about Wal-Mart building in Mexico near Aztec ruins and the protests associated with the event, as well as the protests of Wal-Mart having built a location on a tribal Hawaiian burial ground. Conicidence?

*sigh*

Bush receives endorsement from Iran

In case you don't believe the liberal Massachusetts paper, here are links for the same story from:

Moscow
South Africa
Canada
Turkey
China
Japan
UK
Michigan (a swing state)
Yahoo!

I tried to find the link of Fox News but apparently it's not there. That's funny!

On another note (more politics)...

Since all the debates and political TV are all just show anyways, I think there should be a First Lady debate. That would be teriffic. This recent quote with Theresa Heinz-Kerry is a great example why.

If I were a better comedy writer, I'd be able to write a hypothetical exchange between the two candidates. Wait. Is one a "candidate" for First Lady?

Also, has Vegas set the over/under for how many times John Kerry will mention the Red Sox in the next week or so while referring to comebacks and perseverence? Or will he decide to neglect his Massachusetts roots because that makes him look too liberal?

Historic

Well, I'm pretty surprised. No. I'm REALLY surprised. I guess Kevin Millar was right -- they were five outs better (maybe more?) than last year. I guess Schilling was right -- he shut up 55,000 + New Yorkers. But I don't have to like it.

I think the first team from 3-0 down thing is a bit overblown. In most of those other cases I think the team down 3-0 was much worse than the team up. In this case, the Red Sox were as good (and obviously better) than the Yankees.

The Yankees had a ton of chances to win this series, unable to close out games 4 & 5 and with the winning run at the plate at the end of game 6. So the Sox earned it. Torre made a few mistakes (why not pitch Mussina on his normal day Sunday instead of waiting until Monday? why bring in Rivera in the 8th of game 5 with noone out, first & third? why bring in Vasquez to face Damon in game 7 when the career matchup was unfavorable? why start Brown in game 7 over El Duque? why is Gordon in game 7 at all, and not rivera to shut it down?)

Of course, we all know how this will end. The Houston Astros, with Roger Clemens on the hill will beat the Red Sox in the Series after David Ortiz boots a ball because he's playing first base for the first time in months. The Red Sox, believe it or not, have more WS appearances than the Astros and more titles, despite not having won one since 1918.

On TV right now, I think Brian Cashman is going to cry. Sad day to be a Yankees fan.