Dammit, the Cubs and the Red Sox continue their respective curses, while the New York Yankees and the Florida Marlins try again. Ho hum.
NLCS Champs!
Sweet, sweet victory. The first postseason series victory since 1908.
2003 Chicago Cubs: NLCS Champions
Hooah!
Jim Ortlieb
While watching Six Feet Under last week, one of the actors in the credits was named Jim Ortlieb – I remember that my dad met this guy several years ago in Chicago, so it was really weird to see his name in the credits. The character he plays (a manager) gets shot by a recently-fired disgruntled employee. He has a scene in the morgue where he sits up on the table and talks to also-deceased killer, who had committed suicide at the scene.
2003 Chicago Cubs:
NL Central Divison Champions
Hooah!
I’m in the midst of a week of deconstructing and later reconstructing myself on paper, figuring out my higher purposes with regards to my personal, professional, and community life. A bit of the granola end of the Green MBA program at New College.
Six Feet Under
Slow news month? Not exactly. I’ve been under a slightly voluntary media blackout as I finish resettling in California. During that time I got hooked on the first season of HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” That, and trying to find a good cup of coffee.
“Shouldn’t there be a statute of limitations about that? I mean, when I was a Republican, Dennis Miller was still a liberal, and still funny.”
Arianna Huffington on party-switching, from a recent appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher
Only two weeks to a beginning in graduate school. Time is moving very quickly.
Welcome to Berkeley
Wow. I’m here — is it like living in Wallingford? Not exactly. There’s a slightly chemically-induced relaxedness to Berkeley. I’m normally a somewhat relaxed person, but here I’m a positively-stressed-out type A. What’s really mind-boggling to me is that the new apartment I live in is the same geographic distance from San Francisco as Seattle is to Seatac.
Immediate observations:
- Pedestrians are generally surprised and happy when I stop at an intersection to let them walk past. Drivers behind me are surprised and unhappy, but then they see my Washington license plates.
- People are busier here. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to go somewhere, but maybe I’m just imagining that since I’m sort of in limbo until Saturday when the rest of everything I own gets here
- The second time around has been a lot better mentally for me. Last summer, I moved here without really knowing anyone except Diana, and now I know dozens of people, and feel a bit part of
- I’ve found karaoke in Berkeley.
- Gas, rent, utilities are about 1/3 higher here.
- BART rocks. Seattle’s monorail should be even nicer, when and if it gets built.
- Would it kill the Bay Area to have a decent bowling alley? A man’s gotta bowl, you know.
All in all, it’s just the waiting to get set up here that’s the most stressful thing. I do miss Seattle and my friends and family, and the gang at Molly’s and the Twilight Exit. That, and Mom would have been 62 today. By this time next week, I should be laughing maniacally about the whole thing, if they haven’t come to take me away by then.
In other news, it seems that KB Toys is selling a George Dubya action figure with flight jacket, and people in India are boycotting and smashing containers of Coca-Cola and Pepsi because the drinks are contaminated with pesticides.
Metrosexual?
So you’re not a straight guy who guzzles Coors and burps, farts and scratches in front of your girlfriend? Perhaps you’re a metrosexual.
DMCA in the Key of E, F
This was probably one of the best spoofs I’ve seen in a while: Metallica Sue Canadian Band over E, F Chords. Still, I wonder if the Digital Millenium Copyright Act will get so silly as to have key provisions overturned so as to enable a fairer version of fair use.
I’m quite happy to see what I’ve thought all along: what an empty experience consumerism can be, and that experience is portrayed quite well through ‘Are You Watching The Shopping Channel?‘
A great anti-war statement through a familiar metaphor? Operation Hidden Agenda playing cards. Similar to the Iraqi cards passed around to the military, these cards talk feature key members of the Bush administration and their role in war and behind-the-scenes dealing with regard to oil profits.
The White House email system endured a Denial-of-Service attack. One can no longer email president@whitehouse.gov, but now must fill out a form, indicating if the sender agrees with current administration policies. Yow.
Recession… over?
Oh, my God. The recession is over. Could this be a typo? I mean, there’s, well… this recession going on. Who is smoking what when? Ah, I give up.
Back from the dead: WebVan… I mean, Home Grocer.
Oh, cool! 80s commercials.
In other news, I found a place to live in Berkeley: the second floor of a hacienda-like structure a few blocks from the North Berkeley BART stop. That, and my apartment has been rented. Hooah.
Buy my friend Mary’s car!
It’s quite lovely.
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was perhaps the most fun I’ve had watching television in a long time. Watch it next Tuesday at 10pm PST. That, and BANZAI!
Point Break LIVE!
With Hillary Clinton selling her millionth copy of “Living History“, Tucker Carlson owed up respectfully to his bet to eat his shoe. The shoe was delivered by Clinton herself on Wednesday’s episode of Crossfire, in the form of a shoe-shaped cake.
You’ve seen the movie, now see POINT BREAK… LIVE!
Why the question mark? “There will be a different person playing the Keanu Reeves/Johnny Utah character each night. That’s right, 8 different Keanus! Man or woman can win, but each night it’s gonna be somebody else! The contestants will be selected at the Capitol Hill Block Party on Saturday the 12th.”
Worldcom was fined $750 million by the SEC. Bernie Ebbers remains uncharged.
Stephen Hawking says the dance moves of Tiger, a stripper, were wonderful.
Clark Humphrey’s MiscMedia has a great photo of an accessory for the Hummer.
Inspired by Darpa’s Total (now Terrorist) Information Awareness project, someone has created an open-source Government Information Awareness program.
BANZAI!
Oh. My. God. The Fox network is getting BANZAI. When you click on the site, please avert your eyes at first, as the color scheme is quite wacky.
I’m very much in favor of New York’s recent ban of soft drinks and sweets in the elementary and junior-high schools, especially with our nation’s obesity epidemic. Sure, kids can get sweets really easily anyway, but the road to early-onset diabetes shouldn’t be a federally-mandated program. Now, Kraft Foods, currently under a lawsuit claiming Oreo’s contain a life-threatening ingredient, is limiting the size of its snack foods to do its part towards fighting the obesity epidemic in the United States. Still, avoiding this prepackaged crap altogether does wonders for human health.
The American Traveler International Apology T-shirt makes a great gift for the activist in the family.