News - Sunday, November 1, 2009

This teacher is impossibly cute to me. sigh.

I haven't felt great most of the day, so here is a belated news post for all of you. I blame BRETT FAVRE, as the media overload about his return to Green Bay has turned my brain and optic nerve (I think that's a real thing) into mush. But on the plus side, I have been able to catch up on and Glee and Titan Maximum and Modern Family and The Office and Community this weekend. (Not so shocking news: I did not go out for Halloween, and it felt great!)

- This is a bit of a belated pimp for this article, but it really is quite splendid. Malcolm Gladwell, one of my favorite authors, did a piece for The New Yorker showing that there is an especially strong link between brain damage and professional football. The article also tries to turn the findings into a bit of a statement on dog-fighting, but I found those parts of the piece less effective.

However, I am not surprised by the main finding at all. For years, NFL players have been dying early and suffering from an array of health problems that you just don't see in other sports. For example, old NBA players and NFL players might have problems with bad knees, but NFL players are also getting dementia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

- On the opposite end of the spectrum, I've just started reading The Book of Basketball by ESPN sports columnist Bill Simmons. If you don't like his usual work, then this isn't going to convert you, but it is an authoritative tomb on his chief love, professional basketball, and specifically the NBA and ABA. I give it a solid B+ so far, since it is well-written and enjoyable, but the narrow topic scope means I have to be in the mood to read about the NBA. Also, one of his chapters is a legit 80 pages or so.

Random note: Amazon offers this book for $30, but after discounts, the actual price is $16.50 plus shipping. I bought it from a Borders / Waldenbooks for $21, off the list price of $30, since there was a 30 percent discount. This begs the question, where are these book stores that actually sell goods at full price? Do they even exist?

- Mel Gibson's girlfriend just gave birth. Thing he'll be getting it circumcised? Hi-oh, thanks for coming ladies and gentlemen! (p.s. This lame joke doesn't even work because it was a girl. Sigh!)

- In weird, funny Halloween news, San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili caught a bat during a game. Seriously. He was rather non-effected by it as well... Good for him.

- In weird and creepy Halloween news, some police departments do keep a tight eye on sex offenders during the holiday. In what makes perfect sense to me, they aren't allowed to hand out candy and they have to keep their lights off. Also, there are like a dozen stories on Google News about stabbings at Halloween parties, so if you do hold a party, don't leave the jack-o-lantern carving knife out on the table, seriously guys.

- And finally, in stripper news... And sad video gamer news... A bunch of Russian Counterstrike players managed to play despite strippers getting busy all up in their area. Some of them are kind of haggard looking, but really, if you're playing competitive Counterstrike in 2009, you should take whatever you can freakin' get.

The Bill Simmons picture is from this blog which has a good post about the NHL. Mel and his baby-momma are from the People article linked above. And the pictures of my new crush are from here, here and here. Note: The first two are awesome and I'm following both now.

News - Thursday, September 17, 2009

[Left] This image will be more important later on in the post, so just keep it in mind for now.

Here is some random, trivial news that you nonetheless can't do without:

- This article is from June 2008, but I just recently became aware of its existence. It is written for The Atlantic by a professor at a small liberal arts college and a community college. It is a pretty damning account of how a lot of people are being shoved toward school, even if they're clearly unqualified for it or if it would have little practical value for their career.

For more own experience in college and substitute teaching, I do think this is still the case. People who have no interest in learning and school go to college and community college because it is another year that you don't have to get a real job. Then, as the article spotlights, there are people interested in learning that just don't have the capacity or the underlying ability to do college-level work. While it would be nice for there to be more services to "bridge" this sort of gap, I don't really have a solution at all.

- Slate has a good interview, the first of two parts, with Bill Cosby. He mostly talks about The Cosby Show, which is always a good thing. Also in Slate, a reviewer pans the accuracy of Dan Brown's latest book. And Bill Simmons being sponsored by Miller Lite isn't a gag.

- In neato dinosaur news, scientists have found a smaller version of the T-Rex in fossils. You know, if Jurassic Park was real, I would love to have a pet dinosaur. I promise that I would take care of it and everything! It would awesome, especially one of the ones with a long neck, that I could ride down like a slide. I would also like the plush dinosaur featured above. (See, told you it would be important later.)

- And finally, in strippers news, Las Vegas Weekly notes that the pole is on the rise (get it?) culturally. According to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, a former transportation director is in trouble for shaking down witnesses, and also allegedly traded contracts for sex parties on Lake Erie. Lucy Lawless' new show has strippers cast as extras. And this company is advertising a book from an Ivy League-educated stripper who just recovered from breast cancer.

Scheduling and News - Sunday, September 13, 2009

An example of the Adult Swim schedule. Click here for full-size.

Here is a tentative schedule for the blog in the coming weeks, since I've always liked when Adult Swim posts their schedules on a bump:

- Sunday: Miscellaneous fun
- Monday: iTunes running diary
- Tuesday: A wrap column about how the weekend football picks went
- Wednesday: Miscellaneous fun
- Thursday: NFL picks on early weeks / miscellaneous fun
- Friday: NFL picks on normal weeks
- Saturday morning: Kristin's football picks on normal NFL weeks
- Saturday night: Storytime with Amanda Meyer

With this current schedule, there are three regular features (iTunes running diary, NFL picks and Storytime) and a smattering of other content every week. I will continue to sprinkle in my other semi-regular features, such as Inexplicable Movie Reviews and At The Commercials, instead of giving them their own specific day.

And speaking of a regular feature, let's do one I haven't done in a while - The news!

- Click here for a really good article from The National Post about how the Mexican government is having a big problem cracking down on the drug trade. It reminds me of some of the better work that you'd see in The Wall Street Journal; I think journalism needs more international reporting like this.

Along similar lines, in terms of the war on drugs, The Guardian also had a nice piece in an August issue about cocaine bars in South America, and Bolivia in particular. While I think the article is a bit soft on the abuse aspect and danger of the drug until the end, the enterprise nature of the report is still surprising and interesting throughout. And although the content is a lot different, the enterprise reporting going on in Afghanistan is just as impressive, according to American Journalism Review.

- In stripper news that is actually realistic and not super-sleazy or funny, a Vancouver paper did a really good piece on how strippers and prostitutes are still using Craigslist to setup jobs. The reporter sets up meetings with several of the escorts, and although he compensates some for their time, which is normally a journalistic no-no, the results seem to be worth the overlay. Informative and interesting read.

- In stripper news that is bizarre and surreal, although not what you'd think, a Connecticut man was arrested for dumping paint stripper all over his wife's car, which he then draped with her wedding dress and bouquet. The only thing surprising about this story is that it happened in New England, and not Germany or Florida.

- And in stripper news that is completely what you think, a guy is trying to use pictures of a stripper on a police car near a police deputy to blackmail the deputy from testifying against him in court. Whew; that's a mouthful.

News - Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Before and After.

Because I don't feel like formatting one of my already-typed posts, here is some news...

- In the serious Twitter news department, the State Department asked the company to remain running in order to help facilitate protesters of the Iran election.

- In the non-serious Twitter news deparment, Lindsay Lohan posted old nude pictures of herself. At this point though, I don't care enough to find them, knowing that they're probably after she started doing coke, losing weight and effing anything that moved. Back in the day, Lohan was SUPER hot, and now, I don't know any guys that would willingly stick it in without triple-wrapping it. Even Sam Ronson probably used a tongue condom.

- Here is a wrestling move that looks really awesome, Evan Bourne's shooting star press. And here is an example of what happens when it goes really, really wrong, such as when Brock Lesnar tried it at Wrestlemania and landed on his head. In other wrestling news, Donald Trump bought WWE Raw, but it's all probably an act. Next week's show will be commercial free too, which sounds neat.

- And finally, in stripper news... One in Minnesota on disability is suing White Castle because they won't let her go through the drive-thru in her motorized wheelchair. Fun times, fun times. And also, in what should be a major relief to everyone, a stripper's kids weren't eating dog food, contrary to initial media reports.

News - Thursday, May 28, 2009

This A-hole was by far the most infuriating part of the original Punch-Out for me as a kid, even if he was only on soda pop and not vodka in the NES version.

- At this point, I'm thinking of robbing someone to secure fundage to buy the new Punch-Out! It has been getting good reviews from even the traditional newspaper sources, and the game itself looks slick. Click here to see it in action.

- I've always been a PC loyalist, possibly because they are all that I know. When I was growing up and much more into computers, back in the days of multiplayer gaming on Heat.net and Quake: Team Fortress tournaments, I always viewed Macs as, well, not an option. Most good commercial games didn't get released for them, and if they did, they often came many months after.

Of course, all of that changed with the rise of the iEverything of Apple products, which probably partly explains why Dell's profit has plummeted 34 percent, beyond the bad economy. The odd thing that has surprised me about the rise of Apple has been that all of its products are basically hype. An Apple doesn't get viruses because it is a weaker machine, just like a Toyota Corolla is probably going to breakdown less than a luxury auto. (A PC isn't really a Ferrari, and while I would like to compare it to a Lexus or Audi or Benz, I have no idea how reliable any of those are, making the analogy hard.) An iPod doesn't really offer many functional advantages over the majority of MP3 players, and likewise with the iPhone vs. most other cell phones. I agree with Maddox's take on it.

... Yet despite all of that, I just bought an iPod about a month ago. In my defense, I am a consumer whore, and it was only $30 on eBay. Still, in hindsight, I wish I had just gotten an MP3 player instead.

- Piggybacking on the previous paragraphs a bit, this guy sounds like a friggin' loon, but the idea intrigues me. Too bad that the project seems to be dead, since the last blog post there was in October 2007.

News - Saturday, March 21, 2009

Looking around the web for bizarre, fun or interesting news...

- The job fair at the Foxy Lady is getting way too much publicity, but then again, I suppose I'm not helping by linking and commenting. I really doubt that anyone who had never, ever considered stripping before would suddenly change their mind because they were laid off; I imagine those who had considered it before simply decided to show up because of the job fair. And, if you do want that job, you're absolutely nuts. I also don't believe this article that claims some strip clubs are trying to revamp their image into something more fitness-orientated.

- Speaking of strippers (kinda), former New York governor Eliot Spitzer is now a contributor for Slate.com, which seems kind of odd to me. I don't think he's ever done an article for them explaining his actions either, which is doubly-odd to me. What's next, golfing correspondent O.J. Simpson? Anyway, his latest article on how governors will have a rough job balancing budgets in the current economic climate is pretty good, but more importantly, mentioning him gives me an excuse to run a photo of the foxy escort he was caught with, Ashley Alexandra Dupre (left). Also worth reading on Slate is an article about how the creator of lolcats is now making a bunch of money. Or, in lolcat terminology, "i can haz money?"

- Facebook blames an automated sagfeguard on the temporary halt in popularity of an application lambasting their new design changes. For the record, I'm also against the crappy redesign, which makes Facebook look like Twitter.

- Polar bears are shrinking and resorting to cannibalism because of global warming. Aww.

- If I had $300,000, I would definitely buy this dinosaur skeleton. What would be cooler than that? At the risk of sounding too much like Dane Cook right now, I think it would be the greatest pick-up line ever, if you could get the person to believe you. "Hey, want to come back to my apartment and check out my complete dinosaur fossil???"