Incentive to start using snail mail again...

Can't remember the last time I got excited about postage stamps. But since when was Spiderwoman popular enough to get her own stamp? Where's my Daredevil stamps?

Pull out your 3-D Glasses

One of my big regrets of last year was not getting tickets to U2's Vertigo Tour. Luckily, I'll get to see that tour in psychedelic 3-D!

Probably beats nosebleed seats behind an arena support beam. By the way, Wankmaster, I think I still have your unused ticket from one of those crappy seats when Wild Willie, Fandango, and I went down to see U2 at the Astrodome back in freshman year.

Let's just buy them a Coke...

I know nothing about National Vanguard, but considering the not so subtle message of this ad that's been making the blog rounds, I'm not sure I want to learn. I had no idea that white people felt so oppressed.

Having grown up in West Texas, I think I've become a bit oblivious to the racism around me. That sounds like a really odd statement, I'm sure. The Texas Panhandle isn't exactly the epitome of tolerance in America. Maybe a more accurate way to say this, is that I've become numb to it all. Being the only one of a handful of Asian kids in school, it seemed the only way not to become significantly depressed was to try to blend in as much as possible and build up a tolerance to the occasional odd looks and stares. Luckily, I had good friends who never made race an issue. I still recall a random day when I was out with most of the Gang in Austin hiking out on the Barton Creek Greenbelt. I made some sarcastic remark highlighting my racial difference from the rest of the group, and Scootypuff said something to the effect of, "Wow! I don't think I ever really thought of you as my Asian friend. I just thought of you as my friend."

Having friends like these, it's easy to think that the world is a friendly, tolerant place where we can all get along in perfect harmony. Cue nostalgic Coca-Cola commercial. Nice to know that groups like National Vanguard still exist to remind me that quite a number of people in this country (and all over the world) are extremely ignorant, but are scarily intelligent enough to make commercials like these.

A Man's Best Friend

I don't know if any of you ever used to watch Texas Country Reporter with Bob Phillips back when you all still lived in Texas, but I'd often catch an episode or two on the weekend. I really didn't have much of a choice--remember I was relegated to the basic big three networks, PBS, and a UHF station that eventually became the Fox affiliate. I guess I could have done something else, like read a book, but what fun is that? ;-) I'm not sure if that show is still around (Scootypuff, have you seen it?), but Bob would often have an interesting story to tell.

Funny. I'm suddenly hungry for some Dairy Queen...

Anywho, I came across this video from that show about this amazing dog, Skidboot. I think my old dog Buck was on the opposite end of the IQ scale. Buck wasn't nearly as mellow, either. Sometimes, though, I miss my old Schnauzer probably like this guy will miss Skidboot when he passes away.

Major Coolness Courtesy of NASA

A picture of the aurora borealis from the perspective of the International Space Station:


And if you ever wondered where all those satellites in orbit are, you can actually track them courtesy of J-Track 3D on the NASA website.

I swear all those instant replays were the gods pausing their Playstation game to go get a Coke...

512 yards passing. 512! Graham Harrell threw for more yards than Texas accumulated with the pass and run combined! I knew this was going to be a messy game, but never in my wildest nightmares could I have imagined the Horns would give up those kind of numbers. I'm not even sure I've amassed that many yards playing Tecmo Bowl.

I know the secondary is a bit banged up, but giving up these kind of yards is really pathetic. I'm not sure which was more aggravating--the lack of any pass defense or all the reviewed calls. I almost feel bad for Mike Leach--in a perfect world, the Red Raiders probably deserved to win this one. But I guess this also goes to show that an offense just can't win big games being completely one dimensional. At least the Longhorn defense showed some dominance on the rush by holding Texas Tech to a net zero yards on the ground.

To think that going into this year, the biggest question mark was what the Longhorns would do without Vince Young. I'm just amazed at how Colt McCoy has stepped up to the challenge. Heck, he practically put up VY-type numbers tonight. He pretty much matched the running backs in rushing yards, and still had some amazing numbers in the air passing for 250+ yards and four touchdowns.

But, man, this defensive secondary really looked bad tonight. Next week against Oklahoma State is looking kind of scary...

The ESPN summary:

It was over when... Texas QB Colt McCoy scrambled 33 yards on third down and five, allowing Texas to kneel down twice for the win.

Gameball goes to... McCoy. The redshirt freshman was 21-of-31 for 256 yards and four touchdowns. McCoy also added 68 yards rushing.

Stat of the game... -1. While the Red Raiders did pass for 519 yards, they had practically no running game -- once stopped on a crucial fourth and inches late in the game -- rushing for minus-1 yards.

WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!

Do You Believe In Ghosts?

To continue on the topic of Halloween, I came across this post from The Knight Shift blog with the Top 10 Best Ghost Photographs Ever Taken. Check them out--they're freaky!

And since October means yet another viewing of It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, I give you an alternative take on the annual story courtesy of Robot Chicken and YouTube:

Halloween Horror Stories

This is a true Halloween story I heard on NPR this morning, and it cracked me up.

I may have lost all respect for Marvel Comics...

I guess comic book studios need to innovate and pursue various avenues to increase readership, but this one had me scratching my head. In hopes of, I guess, attracting thirtysomething stay-at-home soccer moms into the comic book genre, Marvel Comics has a new tie-in promotion with the CBS soap opera Guiding Light. Marvel superheroes will be visiting the town that this soap takes place just in time to see the introduction of a Guiding Light character that will gain superpowers on the TV show.

I understand the desire to increase feminine readership, but you'd think they would try going after a slightly younger and hip female crowd. But maybe I'm unaware of some huge underground sorority-led Guiding Light cult just waiting for some excuse to read comics.

I can't wait for a Wolverine cameo on future soaps, maybe The Bold and the Beautiful:

Brooke: Logan, I can't believe you're giving up on our relationship.

Wolverine: Well, you should have thought about that before you slept with Rogue!

Brooke: That wasn't my fault! She touched me in ways that only she could. It just sucked the life out of me. I was powerless to resist her.

How can we lose with Ronald McDonald in our rotation?

The picture above is Anthony Reyes, a rookie pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals who threw a brilliant eight innings to win Game 1 of the World Series. With the Ronald McDonald-like knee high socks and the straight bill which he supposedly irons prior to every game, he looked to be the perfect marrionette for my wife's spooky puppeteer skills. And so her powers lived on. We missed the start of the game, but managed to catch up in front of a big screen TV at a local Korean restaurant. Scoreless in the first inning, can you guess what happened as we sat down in the bottom of the second with my wife watching? Scott Rolen. Homerun. The Cards went on to win 7-2 that night.

Alas, Game 2 brought an end to my wife's streak. Perhaps she was too tired that night. Perhaps she was too enthusiastic to win. Perhaps the voodoo cheating magic of Kenny Rogers and "Dirtgate" was too much for her to overcome. Perhaps she was suffering too much from a case of the runs from the kim chee the night before. We watched this one from start to finish. Final score 3-1 for a Detroit Tigers win.

But fear not, my faithful friends. The Puppetmaster would regroup. Again, missing the first couple of innings on our way to a sports bar to watch the game, the Cardinals and the Tigers remained scoreless through three innings. Sitting down with a bottle of Bud and some toasted ravioli in the bottom of the fourth...wait for it...a two run inning for the Redbirds. I could just imagine her fingers pulling the strings. Cardinals win Game 3 in a shutout 5-0.

Tonight, we already had tickets to view what was supposed to be the final week of the Chihuly glass exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. This meant missing most of Game 4. The loss of Puppetmaster's powers were evident with the game tied at 3 a piece in the bottom of the seventh inning. It was about that time that we had finished at the Gardens and had made it back to the car for the ride home. Turning on the radio, we found the Cardinals with the tying run on second. Would her powers work without being able to see what she could control? Of course! So Taguchi scores on a single by Preston Wilson. David Eckstein hits a double in the bottom of the eighth for an RBI and the winning run. Redbirds triumphant 5-4.

Tomorrow is Game 5, and a chance for the Cardinals to win the World Series at home. We look to be a lock with a 3-1 game lead. Of course, they say the last time St. Louis and Detroit met in the World Series back in 1968, the Cards blew an identical lead as the Tigers rallied to win the last three games of the series. But back then, they didn't have the Puppetmaster in their corner. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!

For Your Inner MacGyver

No, this is not an image put together in Photoshop. This big daddy has all 85 tools available in the Swiss Army Knife catalog. Besides the fact that this thing looks to weigh more than a modern day camping backpack, it also only costs a mere $899!!

A Roundhouse Kick Worthy of Scootypuff, Jr.?

Frackin Musical Genius

Ran across this link on "Pop Candy." Everything I tried sounded awesome. The sound was kind of Stereo Lab or Magnetic Fields like.

It is a fun distraction.

Honestly, if Jim Caviezal didn't play Jesus, would anyone care what he thinks?

Pro-life. Pro-choice. The whole debate is a mess, and now it seems the new battleground is reaching into the field of medical research. Missouri will be voting on a state amendment issue to ensure stem cell research can legally continue here. Sounds easy enough, especially when you see that the proposed amendment explicitly states that "no person may clone or attempt to clone a human being." However, opponents argue that the technology the amendment legalizes, somatic cell nuclear transfer, actually is a form of cloning as you could essentially create an embryo by taking DNA from a human cell and transferring it to a human egg.

This has become the central political issue here in Missouri, so much so that the U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Jim Talent and his Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill may actually hinge on which side of the stem cell debate voters are on. And since it seems Senate control may be up for grabs this November, both political parties have thrown all sorts of money into this Missouri race. This isn't exactly a predictable partisan ideological difference, though. In fact, prominent Republicans such as former U.S. Senator and U.N. Ambassador John Danforth have been featured on ads in support of the amendment.

As I see it, this becomes the same old butting of heads as the abortion debate, with neither side even considering the other has good intentions. Unfortunately, the more I read about the ongoing discourse, the more I think the pro-life group has it wrong, at least as it applies to this proposal. Inherent in the majority of the criticism to this amendment is a belief that medical researchers are only trying to position themselves to profit from the patents and funding that would come from ongoing stem cell research. Opponents seem to think that the success of actually finding live-saving cures is a long shot at best, and tries to put stem cell researchers into some class of evildoers trying to take advantage of the ignorance of the general public.

Adding to the confusion (and another celebrity ad by Sheryl Crow) is the Michael J. Fox ad in support of Claire McCaskill that's been making headlines in the national press lately. One could argue whether it's appropriate for a non-Missourian to be influencing state politics, but you can't deny he has a debilitating disease that might benefit from advances found using stem cells. But rather than arguing the merits of stem cell research, the most someone like Rush Limbaugh can come up with is to say that Fox was essentially cheating by either coming off his medication or exaggerating his symptoms while taping the ad. And now prominent Missouri athletes and even Jesus himself, Jim Caviezal, have come together to tape an ad in response to the Fox ad who, again, seem to ignore the altruistic goals of stem cell researchers and give the public an impression that proponents of the amendment have more sinister goals in mind and are misleading voters. It's a bit sad that most people will probably vote on this issue based on these competing ads alone without really understanding what's going on.

Maybe this is my own naivety coming into play again. Perhaps scientists are all just a bunch of money grubbing bastards pulling the wool over our eyes and selling us a magical elixir that has no hope of curing anyone. But it seems that the anti-amendment crowd will need to come up with a more intelligent argument than these flippant accusations.

You've gotta love Japanese imports...

From "The Ghost Pitch" by Will Carroll:

The pitch is like a ghost. People claim they have seen it, but like a UFO or the Loch Ness Monster, the evidence is a bit harder to come across. Jerky video from Japan hides in the depths of specialty baseball discussion boards. Breathless tales from scouts and fans discussing this ghost would be laughable...

I came across an article in an Esquire a couple of months back about the gyroball, a new baseball pitch surrounded by mythical speculation as to its existence. I mention this because Daisuke Matsuzaka, ace pitcher of the Seibu Lions in Japan and reportedly the only man in the existence of the world to ever successfully throw this pitch, is set to join Major League Baseball assuming the bidding war between the Yankees and other interested teams doesn't get too out of hand next month.

Seems like some stereotypical Gung Ho kind of story comparing structured Japanese thinking versus improvised American ingenuity. Imagine a couple of Japanese physicists sitting around with their laptops thinking up a new way to throw a ball while a drunk table of baseball players in the States is fooling around with a bottle of pine tar. The Americans came up with the slider and spitballs. Now, the Japanese have the gyroball.

Some of the hoopla reminds me a bit of Hideo "The Tornado" Nomo back in the 90's. It seemed like his unorthodox wind-up baffled everyone when he debuted stateside. Whatever happened to him?

The Big 12, South Park style...

I saw this humorous picture on Burnt Orange Nation awhile back, and thought some of you might enjoy it. Check out the curls on Mike Leach. And why does Mack Brown looked stoned?

It's never good when you see your life flash before your eyes before you've even gotten through the first question...

Two days of testing, and it's finally over. Unfortunately, my brain feels kind of like that egg over there.

I think this was without a doubt the hardest exam I've ever taken in my life (and you all know I've taken a few). I've bombed a test or two in my day, but this may be the first time where I couldn't even recognize reading about half the content in the questions. Well, half may be overstating it a bit, but it gets the point across. Why I would need to know about some obscure genetic malformation that occurs in 1 out of a gazillion people is beyond me.

It costs $1300 for the "pleasure" of taking this exam. You'd think with that kind of money, they could at least spring to put these tests on a computer. Instead, it's back to the old #2 pencil and filling in all those freakin' bubbles. Sh*t. Seeing that I probably failed this go around, perhaps I'll start saving up for next year now. So much for that 50 inch plasma.

Sigh. I think I'm going to go out now and get drunk...

I love stories like this.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 70-year-old British pensioner, trained in martial arts during his military service, dispatched a gang of four would-be muggers in a late-night attack in Germany.

"Looks like he had everything under control," a police spokesman from the German town of Bielefeld said of the incident last Friday.

The man, a native of Birmingham who now lives in Germany, was challenged by three men, demanding money, while a fourth crept up behind him. Recalling his training, the Briton grabbed the first assailant and threw him over his shoulder.

When a second man tried to kick him, the pensioner grabbed his foot and tipped him to the ground. At this point, the three men, thought to be aged between 18 and 25, fled, carrying their injured accomplice with them.

The pensioner, whose name was not immediately available, suffered light abrasions.

Wooden Nickles

Over the years, I have traveled to many college football games. I have taken in at least 10 different venues. Possibly 11 if I really did go to a TCU game with Scooty and Fandango, but I could be dreaming this. I have gotten to experience all of the ranges of emotions - blowout wins, blowout losses, skin of your teeth wins, and skin of your teeth losses. I have also gotten to experience the the opposing fans reactions. Most reactions were not kind ones, and unfortunately some could produce enough adrenaline to make you want to fight the Miami football team. This last weekend proved to be the exact opposite.

I had the opportunity to go watch the Texas vs. Nebraska football game in Nebraska. To let you know how special that is, I need to explain first that the game set the school record for attendance. This is a school full of history and records when it comes to football. I was there for their 280th consecutive sellout. For the non-math minded, this dates back to 1962. Over 40 years of sellouts, and this was the most attended of all time. The second item of importance is that they let me in. The school alots the absolute minimum to visiting schools, and when you consider that something like 80,000 of the 85,000 seats are season ticket holders it makes it hard to find one on the open market. It is a good thing I didn't have to because mine was a gift.

Earlier I said this last weekend proved to be the exact opposite, and this is where the wooden nickels come in. The Nebraska fans were the nicest, most respectful, classiest fans I have ever seen. On Friday night we went to eat in the old warehouse district of Omaha. We settled into a restaurant called Upstream Brewing Company. While my other Texas friend and I (decked out in our burnt orange) enjoyed our micorbrews (the Dundee 90 was awesome) with our Nebraska hosts, the manager of the brewery came up and handed us four wooden nickels. The manager wanted to buy our round of beers to welcome us to the area. Of course he was somewhat playful about it saying that these free beers would help ease the pain of a loss the next day, but there was also a feeling of really being welcomed.

Finally, after the game while standing in the student union waiting for my nose and toes to thaw I had a couple of people approach us and tell us thanks for such a good game. Like I did anything to make it such a good game. ... Well, I guess I can say that I helped by not being an ass and following the classy example of sportmanship that Nebraska fans put forth. It is good to know that sportsmanship still exists.

Oh, and for those of you that don't know, it was a dramatic win by Texas. They won the game with a field goal kicked by a walk on kicker who had never even played in a game with 23 seconds left. An awesome game to be at, and many thanks to Nebraska and its fans.

By the gods this is a frackin' good show!

Thanks to Netflix, I'm completely hooked on Battlestar Galactica. Man, what a great show. Great writing, great acting, a great human drama with an increasingly intricate plot and a promise of really profound insights ahead. And cool ass spaceships as a cherry on top. Nice and believeable physics and superb attention to detail (such as the little manuever thrusters on the vipers and the disregarding of ship attitude because their is no frame of reference for up and down in space.)

Also, where Star Trek failed by focusing on gooney pseudo-science, BSG focuses on character development including flaws and weaknesses, and ever complex regligious themes! (Is the Cylon plan to introduce monotheism?)

Really, just a brilliant show. I'm even starting to wonder if it might tie or even usurp Deadwood as my favorite, which I've claimed to be the best television series ever made. Without doubt, BSG is the best sci-fi television show ever made, and one of the best television shows and science fiction shows of any genre.

And I haven't even finished the first season!

Now, I'm sure you've all told me that this was a good show, so I know I'm not telling you anything new, but at least I can now say, "frack yeah!"

It's a good time to be a nerd.

(P.S. I think "frack" will be my new f-bomb.)

Soups on! And so is the puppetmaster...

I came home after studying for a couple of hours at a coffeeshop, and managed to watch Jeff Suppan finish up seven innings of pitching in a 1-1 tie between the Cardinals and the Mets. What can I say? This guy is clutch. Shutting down "The Rocket" a couple of years ago in the same situation, and coming through tonight with a strong performance. Unbelievable.

Tied up in the late innings of the deciding Game 7 of the National League Championship Series--what is a lone fan sitting in his living room to do? Why, pull out the puppetmaster herself! Yes, my wife sat down and watched the final inning of the game. Of course, what happens? A two run homer by Yadier Molina. Eerie powers, my friends. Eerie powers.

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals! I tell you, Redbird fever is infectious. I don't know how long I'll end up living in this city, but I think I may be a Cardinals fan for life.

Scooty ... Scooty ... Scooty

It is quite terrible to visit the site,
with nothing new it doesn't feel right.

When Swany was not racking his brain,
his posts were coming through like a freight train.

Wander throws one in once and a while,
every now and then Willie adds to the pile.

The comments section has become quite sparse.
Comments would be nice ... even if from your arse.

So I leave with this thought.
Scooty, get off the pot.

Get a job,
so you can add to the blog.

As for Fandango and Scratch,
when Scooty gets up just light a match.

This Makes Me Chuckle

This restaurant is around the corner from my house, and everytime I drive by it I chuckle at the name.

Yeah, I'll bet you wanna check out her laser system...

Three more episodes of Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager here if you like this one:

This is why I typically only carry a credit card these days...

Hunting For Bear With a Six-Shooter

63-31. That looks like a pretty lopsided victory, but I'm sure everyone who watched this game knows it was a lot closer than what the final score conveys. Some might call it good defense, but I tend to think of fumbles as dumb luck--Baylor lost four. Granted the Horns capitalized on all of them, but take turnovers away, and I'd argue this game would have looked quite a bit different.

The Texas defense was looking like their old selves--they dominated the rush, but left some holes for the Bears to take advantage of in the secondary. 320 yards is too much to be giving up in the air, even if they only got 27 on the ground. But let's not get too negative. This was a win, after all. Despite an ice-cold start, the offense got it in gear. Colt McCoy is looking more and more impressive every week, which gives me hope that the Longhorns can "run the table" for the rest of the season.

I've pretty much given up hope that Texas has a shot to get to Glendale, though. The Florida loss today teased me. USC looks very vulnerable--with Oregon, California, and Notre Dame still on their schedule, I don't see them holding together their perfect season. But that still leaves Ohio State, Michigan, West Virginia, and Louisville. It's interesting that these four undefeated teams are all a bit intertwined, with head-to-head matchups guaranteeing only two will be left with perfect records. It'll all come down to the BCS computer, and Texas' schedule just doesn't look that strong. Someone really should have rethought setting up that game with Sam Houston State...

ESPN's take of tonight's game:

It was over when... Texas' offense came alive in the second quarter. Baylor jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but wouldn't score again in the first half.

Gameball goes to... Colt McCoy, the redshirt freshman QB who threw three touchdown passes in the second quarter to put the game out of reach -- and then threw three more, just because he could.

Stat of the game... 30: If anyone was worried about the Horns' veteran defense, don't fret too much. Baylor gained just 30 yards on the ground and turned the ball over five times.

Still lost with Lost...

Ah, yes. I finally got around to catching up on TiVo. Another week of Lost. More answers. More questions.

I don't know if anyone has an American Express Card, but there's a site for AmEx cardholders that gives you an episode synopsis each week supposedly cluing you in to events during the show that are significant. Membership has it's privileges, I guess.

My thoughts about this week's show:

1. Does anyone else think Juliet's going to turn out to be creepier than Henry Gale/Benjamin Linus? There's definitely something sinister going with her. I think her picking Stephen King's Carrie as her favorite book to discuss at book club last week is supposed to tell us something.
2. I suppose we're supposed to think that Jae Lee jumped out the window and killed himself. My preposterous thought of the week is that Sun has special powers and killed him herself, then pushed him out the window. They never did show little Sun at the beginning of the show handling the glass ballerina that broke. Maybe she was levitating it with her yet unrevealed telekinetic powers before it fell!
3. Henry/Benjamin living on the island all his life? Maybe it's metaphorical. They keep flashing back to the hidden demons each Lostie is grappling with. Perhaps the island is a place of confession and salvation. He's been living there since being "born again."
4. The Others must have special abilities. How else to explain them sneaking onto the boat without Jin and Sayid seeing them?
5. The Others don't know about Desmond, as they didn't seem to know about his sailboat. Perhaps their ignorance of his presence on the island will have bigger implications later.
6. I'm guessing Jack will be asked to kill someone in exchange for his freedom from the island.

Anywho, Battlestar Galactica tonight. I haven't commented about the season premiere yet because I wasn't as jazzed about it as I thought I would be. It was a little too obviously allegorical to the present issues in Iraq for my entertainment tastes. Maybe I'll change my mind after the season progresses a bit more.

This hurts! This hurts! This hurts! This hurts!

I've seen this video floating around various sites on the Internet. I kind of feel bad for the kid on this ride. She is probably getting all kinds of crap at school right now, and contemplating suicide. Heck, I think I had the same response on the kiddie Snoopy roller coaster at the Mall of America--you can ask my wife. Just goes to show you that there's always two ways of looking at things. Think of it as an allegory to the differences of Republican and Democratic views of the war in Iraq, the conflicts about stem cell research, pro-life versus pro-choi...

Ah, who am I kidding. This was just freakin' funny as hell!

A reason why staying at home is bad...

I'm came home a bit early today to grab some lunch before I take care of some needed car maintenance. Anywho, as I was sitting at home flipping through the channels, I landed on The Bold and The Beautiful. My favorite lines in the two minutes I stayed on this channel, before changing over to reruns of The Cosby Show:

"No, Brooke. I'm not letting you give up on this marriage."
"Well, Nick, you should have thought about that before you slept with my daughter!"
"There's no excuse for what I did, but I'm not going to stand around and share you with Ridge."

Aaah, daytime soaps...

It is always fun to have new balls.

I know that not all are sports fans, but all have shot a basketball at some point in history. Spalding and the NBA have changed the design of the basketball that we grew up with. I think it looks pretty cool.

What a bunch of CRAP!

Rivals update number 2. It turns out that the Aggies will get the south steps becuase some people don't know how to make a hijinx turn into fun. Fearing problems with having the Longhorns on the south steps and the Aggies on the north steps of the Capitol, Judith Zaffirini (the state official providing sponorship for the reservation) decided to withdraw her support of the Hellraisers.

Caption this...

Addiction

Hopefully, Wander and Scootypuff aren't this obsessed:

Swany will be taking some time to pimp out his brain...

With the pressure of a rather important certification examination coming up in the next couple of weeks, I've decided I need to hunker down and cram. This will mean me trying to achieve an almost Tibetan monk-like concentration on my looming test material. Therefore, I will be taking a sabbatical of sorts from my blog.

Now, as stopping cold turkey would probably throw me into a fit of delerium tremens, I'm not saying I won't be posting anything over the next two weeks. But be prepared for much less from me for awhile.

Oh, and keep your fingers crossed, rub on a rabbit's foot, knock on wood--whatever you think might bring me good luck!

The Departed - Believe the hype!

The conventional wisdom in Hollywood has always been that a bigger budget should equal a better film (or at least a better box-office). So it's not surprising that American studios seem to have a fascination with remaking foreign movies--they might have been good in their native countries, but with the bloated budgets of American cinema at their disposal, they can be great. Of course, this rarely works. La Femme Nikita turned into the forgettable Point of No Return. Cameron Crowe gave us an inferior version of Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) with Vanilla Sky. So it was with these reservations that I thought about Martin Scorsese's new film The Departed.

I find it interesting that most Hong Kong filmmakers will site Scorsese as one of their most inspiring influences, and he would then return the favor, so to speak, and put his own spin on one of their films. Based on the modern classic Infernal Affairs, The Departed tells the same story of two cops. One is deep undercover and has infiltrated the inner circle of a sinister crime syndicate. The other appears to be a rising star within the police ranks, but is actually a mole working for the same syndicate he's supposed to be taking down. Both are aware that a leak exists in their respective organizations, but neither one knows who the other is. What's left is a movie full of suspense, intrigue, and tension.

Had this been a direct remake of the original, The Departed probably would have fallen into the same basket of copies that look high dollar and glossy, but can't hold a candle to their original source material. Luckily, this isn't. And who would expect anything less from Martin Scorsese?

Trading Hong Kong for Boston, Scorsese keeps true to the basic plot of the original. But instead of a moody, plot-driven film like Infernal Affairs, he's instead created a movie propped up on deep character development using a stable of A-list actors who really step up to the plate and give some of the best performances of their careers. If you had any doubts about the acting chops of Leonardo DiCaprio or Matt Damon, throw them out--these two are good. I've been pretty impressed with DiCaprio of late, and I may be in the minority of people who thought he did some good work in The Aviator. Perhaps having done now three films with Scorsese have motivated him to grow as an actor. And then, of course, there's Jack Nicholson who can always be counted on for memorable experiences at the movies and probably delivers his creepiest performance since The Shining. Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Mark Walberg, and Vera Farmiga round out a very solid cast that make this movie a success.

Graphic violence is present. This is a Scorsese picture after all. But it all seems appropriate in the context of developing the paranoia mounting within the storyline and within the characters. The musical selections are also perfectly placed. Who knew Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" could be so sexy?

I'd still recommend renting Infernal Affairs at some point, but The Departed is it's own picture and can stand on its own. In the end, The Departed will likely go down as one of Martin Scorsese's best. To call it a "remake" wouldn't be fair or accurate.

***** (out of *****)

Update on earlier post about Rivals

I was unaware of a flaw in a previous post about eATMe. I thought my hyperlink took you to this. Now we get to see the "Squeeze Tradition" right here on our own blog.

Every once and a while a forwarded email is funny ...

Here's the story. A city councilman, Mark Easton, lives in this neighborhood. He had a beautiful view of the east mountains, until a new neighbor purchased the lot below his house and built.

Apparently, the new home was 18 inches higher than the ordinances would allow, so Mark Easton, mad about his lost view, went to the city to make sure they enforced the lower roof line ordinance. Mark and his new neighbor had some great arguments about this as you can imagine - not great feelings. The new neighbor had to drop the roof line - no doubt at great expense.

Recently, Mark Easton called the city and informed them that his new neighbor had installed some vents on the side of his home. Mark didn't like the look of these vents and asked the city to investigate. When they went to Mark's home to see the vent view, this is what they found...

I guess Dyson vacuums aren't the only things that don't lose suction...

Yeah, that's right. OU still sucks! What a roller coaster ride I had watching sports this weekend! A spectacular second half performance by the Longhorns to beat OU. Then a crazy Dallas vs. Philadelphia matchup culminating in a hearbreaking loss for the Cowboys. And finally, ending on a high here in St. Louis with the Cardinals moving on to the National League Championship Series. This weekend in sports is liable to drive me to drinking. I think I need a cigarette. But let's get back to the Texas-OU game...

Other than the lone touchdown by Texas, the first half of this game was looking to be some of the same conservative offensive game plan that Greg Davis has been using for most of the year. Repeated three and outs. Adrian Peterson seemingly getting stronger with each play--I was ready to pick up my TV and throw it out the window. Luckily, I've got a bad back and worried more about aggravating my herniated disc. Not really. It had more to do with laziness that even prevented me from calmly turning the TV off and leaving the house.

The second half, thankfully, showed what just about the entire state of Texas has been screaming at Mack Brown to do all year--open up the offense and give Colt McCoy some down-the-field plays. Granted, much of the win can be attributed to OU uncharacterstically shooting themselves in the foot with five turnovers, but you've got to admit that the Texas offense looked pretty good in the second half. Even the Texas secondary put together a respectable game. Where was all this heads up play before?

Call me crazy, but a small (very small) part of me wanted Texas to lose. Why? So I could put any hope of getting back to the National Championship game to rest. This roller coaster ride is just beginning...

Anywho, here's ESPN's take on the game:

It was over when... Redshirt freshman Colt McCoy connected with Jordan Shipley for McCoy's second TD in the third quarter. The score gave the Longhorns a 21-10 lead, which was enough to put the Sooners away.

Gameball goes to... McCoy, who looked poised and athletic during his first Red River Rivalry experience. He completed 11-of-18 passes for 107 yards and two scores in the Longhorns' win.

Stat of the game... 4: The Sooners turned the ball over five times (including one INT). Texas was able to convert one OU fumble into a TD, while not turning the ball over once.

Money might not grow on trees, but ...

In response to an earlier post about Youtube and where they get their money from, I came across this while doing my daily stock market reading just a few minutes ago. It might not grow on trees, but at $1.6 Billion from Google, you might just say that it materialized out of the cyberworld.

200+ posts and still blogging strong!

And just like that we've surpassed 200 posts! Speaking of 200, can you believe there are people on Wikipedia that actually entered in an entry for 200? Crazy...

Golf is the perfect sport for North Carolina

I remember coming to North Carolina, and within two days of moving here we had tickets to the minor league baseball team in town. My wife and I thought this would be fun, so we decided to meet up with some new acquantainces (my wife can make friends in about 5 seconds). Anyway, we got to the game, found our seats, and plopped down. Soon we got a call from the people we were going to meet there, and they were shocked we were in our seats. The direct quote was, "You guys are hard core." This was referring to the fact that we had come to actually watch the game. This was my first introduction to a sporting event in North Carolina, and my first impression is still my impression today.

Let me explain this some. When I moved from Austin to Denver, it was never hard to find sports on the radio. They always boasted being the best sports town in the country. I thought this was a stretch because Austin was a big sports town as well. As a sports fan I was never in want. People loved to talk about, watch, and support their sports teams in both cities. People loved the competition so much so that they were often blinded to their own fanatacism. When I moved to North Carolina I realized that sporting events are not at all about competition - they are about the event. People don't go to watch. People go to socialize. It is a rallying place for a party (drink beer and other alcoholic beverages while trying to make yourself look cool enough to be considered a big fish), and if you can't go then you might as well not even worry about it. An example of this is last seasons NCAA basketball tournament. While never getting any football on the radio, I figured that I would at least be able to get some basketball. Heck this is where Michael Jordan is from (even Wander and Scooty have to know who he is). So Texas was playing in the sweet 16 along with some other teams, and I happened to be driving home from Charlotte. This was no big deal because surely I would be able to listen on the radio. Nope! There were 4 am stations talking about Nascar, and there wasn't even a race going.

This leads me to my post title. Today I had the chance to attend my second PGA tour event in about 5 months. The frist was the Wachovia Challenge (I was big time with free admission and a free tent pass), and today was the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro (not as big time but still free with Carolina BBQ which I will have to write a post about someday). What is interesting is that golf tournaments fit the Carolina sports mentality perfectly. It is all about the even and not about the competition. People go to this stuff to drink beer, eat food, and check out other people. (Checking out other people is another way of saying looking at all the pretty women, of which there happens to be plenty, or at least this is what those I was with were telling me.) Every once and a while people will sneak a peak at the golfers. I saw Daly today who happens to have Hooter's girls follow him around because they sponsor him. I was fortunate enough to be at the green of Hole #10. The green is one heck of a SOB (grammar police ... is it "an SOB" or "a SOB") that has some nice relief to it. I saw some good shots and some not so good ones, but what I really enjoyed was the party. Maybe it is the whole event mentality that makes it hard for my wife to understand why it is so hard to miss a great football game on tv. It is not about the event it is about the competition.

I guess if Madonna can do it...

Who said Terrell Owens was a troublemaker? He's been playing well with others in Dallas, and now he's doing something for the kids with a book line called Owen's Timeout Series.

An excerpt from the first installment, Little T Learns to Share:

I tried to play outside alone and throw it by myself, but football isn't football unless you play with someone else.

This sounds like something out of a Wild Willie dream. Perhaps I'll get these for Willie's and Fandango's kids. If we all pitch in, we can get them the whole series!

Hug it out, bitch...

I have nothing to really post related to this quote from The Office last night, other than to say, that's what men do. Why? Because women have weak arms.

It's crack, I tell you! It's crack!

Some of you (well, Wild Willie, at least) probably have wondered why I haven't posted anything regarding the season premiere of Lost this week. That would be because I waited until last night to watch it. Maybe I shouldn't have, because all of those obsessive thoughts about what the heck is going on have flooded back into my brain. There's definitely an addiction component to this show, because I'm pretty sure I got a high watching last night.

So the premiere episode was titled "A Tale of Two Cities", but I can't for the life of me figure out what this segment of Lost had to do with the Charles Dickens' book.

Except for all the damn commercial breaks, I thought this episode was awesome. Sure, there's even more questions that have been raised, but that's what makes this show so addictive.

Questions I have from this episode:

1. What the heck did they do to Kate after her beachside breakfast? Her wrists looked pretty bloody from those handcuffs.
   
2. You realize that Jack's dad never explicity said that he didn't sleep with Sarah. Hmmm... Actually, I think Sarah is all part of this vast Dharma Initiative conspiracy, although I don't know how to piece it together.
   
3. Who is "Chachie"? An Others plant? And how did Sawyer come up with that nickname anyway?
4. Did Sawyer get blood taken from him or an injection? Notice that he didn't remove any bandaid or what not from his arm like Jack and Kate.
5. I guess we can assume that the polar bears on the island were caged up where Kate and Sawyer are now. Perhaps the shark was in Jack's aquarium prison? Does this mean anything?
6. Will this show ever give me real answers, or lead me on like a back alley crack dealer?
   

Who Watches The Watchmen? I Will!

I've been waiting almost 20 years for a big screen adaption of 'The Watchmen'. Looks like I'll finally be getting it. Alan Moore is a lot like Frank Miller, other then both being comic writing gods, in that there work can either work spectacularly on the screen (Miller's 'Sin City' or Moore's 'V For Vendetta'), or not so well (Miller's 'RoboCop 2' or Moore's 'League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen'). It does depend quite a little bit on studio interference, and director, and so on I know... But we've seen that good comic adaptions can happen to good people. I'll hold out hope.

Rivals

I was doing my morning read of the Austin American Statesman, and I came across something interesting. I don't read the Statesman for any other reason than Texas football, and this week is one of my favorites because it leads up to the TX vs. ou matchup which takes place in Dallas. Today, however, there was an article about a different rivalry - the one with eATMe.
Traditionally the Aggies will have a pep rally (called yell practice) the night before the game on the south steps of the Capitol building. What I have always loved about this rivalry in comparison to the one with ou is there exists a sort of hijinx with the wanna be soldiers. This year a Longhorn Hellraiser decided to reserve the south steps to the Capitol building for this years matchup leaving the Aggies high and dry. They have to change up their tradition, which they place about as much importance on as Jesus. Some of these traditions are good and some are not (like the corps squeezing their testicles). I believe it to be a solid move and perhaps even a classic one. You can read the article here.

Beam me up, Scotty!

I have yet to convince my wife that there is any of interest to her in science fiction. I'll stop during my channel surfing on a classic episode of Star Trek, and she'll usually get up and go paint her nails or something like that. Her argument is that most of what goes on is not realistic. It's not only fiction, it's far-fetched fiction. Yet it surprises me how many things we have seen on Star Trek are coming to fruition.

For instance, think about those bulky flip-open communicators Kirk and Spock carried around. Even the writers of the original Star Trek couldn't have imagined communicators the size of the modern day Motorola Razr phone. The more compact communicators of Captain Picard and The Next Generation?. Bluetooth. Those banks of lights and switches on the command deck? These days, scientists are developing input devices that follow your eye movements--you don't even have to touch a control panel.

So it's not that surprising that scientists are getting one step closer to making teleportation a reality. With all the mention of "quantum" this and "quantum" that, I didn't really follow what these guys were talking about in this story, but I'll take their word for it.

Ah, someday my wife will understand. Someday...

Maybe this is why my household appliances cost so much...

Anyone who watched the series premiere of Heroes last week saw the scene where the cheerleader shoved her hand into the garbage disposal. Well, it looks like the fine makers of the In-Sink-Erator didn't think that was so cool, and are suing NBC.

Hmmm...garbage disposal can literally dispose of my hand, and it would be unwise to stick any bodily parts into one. Who knew?!

I say this sets a bad precedent, if they win. Just think of all the gruesome endings to every horror flick and thriller you've seen cut because the manufacturer of the accidental killing/maiming device is afraid you might actually use said device for such purposes in real life. Call your local representative! Call your senator! Call the President! This must be stopped!

Whoa!

Dreams

Swany talks of never having dreams, but that might not be a bad thing. I had a dream last night with Terrell Owens in it. Who dreams of emotionally disturbed big black men in their dreams? Well, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. I ended up dreaming that I had become his manager, and I found that he was just a normal guy. Go figure.

This weekend proves to be one where my true priorities are challenged. Cowboys vs. Eagles and Longhorns vs. Landstealers thwarted by in law birthday's and family reunions. I tried to explain the level of importance football has in my life before we got married, and she said she understood. I guess she didn't. Sheeesh!

Deliberate post from Wild Willie, or have gremlins invaded his home?

A note from Swany the Administrator: So about the time I decided I'd go to bed, all these random ping pong ball posts labelled as authored by Wild Willie starting appearing which I have since deleted since they were all of that video he posted awhile back. I have a feeling these were from when he was having trouble posting YouTube videos, and they decided tonight would be a good time to show up.

In addition to those, this video which hasn't been posted before showed up, too. I'm sure Wild Willie had some witty introduction he wanted to include with this clip, which I guess he can add in the comments section:

If I can't dream while I'm sleeping, I'll dream while I'm awake...

I found this picture of the Ferrari F430 in a feature from GQ. That thing is just beautiful, and I'm just talking about the steering wheel.

I seem to be obsessed with the idea of getting a new car (although not nearly as extravagant as above), even though I vowed to my wife that my current Honda Accord would be driven till it literally fell apart before I spent money on a new set of wheels. Considering it's only six years old and it was made in Japan, that may be a very long time. A very long time. Bummer. Water balloon jousting, anyone?

Rubbin' is racin'?

I only casually keep up with auto racing, but can someone who knows more about the various circuits explain to me what the fascination with NASCAR is? Apparently, yet another Formula 1 driver is making the transition to stock car racing. So instead of driving around in something that looks as quick and sleek as this:


he will instead be driving one of these boring cars:

That's like picking a Chevy Monte Carlo over a Lamborghini Diablo. It's like comparing a mule to a throroughbred. I guess there's more chances of deadly crashes in NASCAR, but am I missing something else? Heck, it would seem like even Indy car racing would be more interesting than stock cars. Same risk of catastrophic collisions, but at even faster speeds.

I know the F1 circuit is devoid of any real American stars. Is that the reason? Will NASCAR continue to be as popular if international drivers like Montoya and Villeneuve begin to do well?

I Love This Comic

So, in case anyone wondered, the comic strip from my earlier post today is a Penny Arcade comic. It's been my favorite web comic for almost 4 years now. It deals with video games, role playing, and basically everything else that consumes my life. They also have some incredible editorials that go along with each strip... Check it out.
Oh, and the artist for Penny Arcade, Gabriel, has his own blogspot blog going (showing how he does his incredible art, like above)... check it out too.

Blog Posting

It has been a while since I have put up a post with the exception of Bagism. I thought it might be fair to let you know why. Yesterday I signed a contract to purchase a piece of land to build on. It will be 24 apartment units (hopefully, it might end up being 18), and this should push me off in the right direction. Unfortunately, this might mean some limited posting by Wild Willie. It will not mean though that you won't find me commenting. I am sure that I will keep up with Swany's TV posts, but I might be a few days behind. Speaking of TV shows ... does anyone watch My Name Is Earl. This show cracks me up.

Bagism

One of the nice things about having the HD package is you get to see some pretty cool stuff that isn't on any other channel and it is in HD. Last night I happened to catch a show about John Lennon. Being a huge Beatles fan it was hard for me to call it a night so I pulled a Swany and stayed up past my bedtime to watch. It was a rather good special, and one of the things that he did with Yoko was a sit in called bagism. I am not sure what to think about him and Yoko together. They had some good thoughts on peace, but I am not sure that there method was the best. I liked bagism though. They basically sat under a bag and talked to reporters about why they were in a bag. Well, it was so the people listening could not make judgements about their race or appearance. Now you won't see me sitting under a bag anytime soon, but hopefully I will be able to spread the idea of equality through my everyday actions.

Admit it--you were waiting all summerlong to see Beerfest...

We all know that there is a bit of a lull between the end of the summer blockbuster season and the release of the good stuff later in the fall. Well, apparently this guy in Illinois decided the crap coming out during that period like Beerfest and Jackass 2 were so worthless, he closed down his theater for two weeks:

The movies are so bad and I don't need the money ... I just didn't think I should use my high-quality facilities to show people vomiting on screen.

Zune or not Zune

I know Willy and Swany are holding out hope for the upcoming Microsoft "IPod Killer" Zune. Read this, and buy an Ipod... It just makes more sense in this world gone mad!

Scratch in the Press

National Geographic this month published articles on saving national parks. Some of the article relates to directly to what I do for the National Park Service. Essentially, we help the Park Service determine the maintenance backlog and the maintenance requirements for the NPS assets and then given budget constraints develop a plan for the maintenance and life-cycle costs. It is exciting to see that the deferred maintenance backlog and budget limitations are recognized by the article, and that the service that we provide to the NPS is valuable in this aspect.

The following paragraph broadly describes the problem in deferred maintenance and the increasing backlog.

Campaigning for the presidency in 2000, George W. Bush pledged that, if elected, he would wipe out the huge 4.9-billion-dollar backlog in deferred maintenance of the national parks' crumbling infrastructure. Given the fallout from 9/11, among other things, it was not to be. This year, in its budget request for fiscal 2007, the White House proposed cutting the Park Service's budget by 5 percent, or a hundred million dollars. Most of those missing dollars would come off the top of the service's construction and major maintenance funds, prompting the New York Times to suggest in a lead editorial that such deliberate cuts "could create the necessary cover for opening the parks to more commercial activity."

Check out this months National Geographic if you get a chance.

OU still sucks...

Check it out! And, according to Burnt Orange Nation, this beer is real!

Shake your booty and bring the tooty

This is my niece and nephew's new mantra, which has replaced their previous, "dog poop." (Or rather, "daaaaahhhhgg poooop.")

Nothing ground breaking about it, besides being created by a five and three year old. It is catchy, however, and by the time my brother and I got them out of the tub and into their pj's, I'd heard it so much that I kept repeating it during my work out.

Lat bar goes down - "Shake your booty..."

Lat bar goes up - "And bring the tooty."

Repeat 44 more times.

I think an intervention is in order...

So Mack Brown's little cameo on Friday Night Lights wasn't half bad. My favorite line from his brief appearance:

"Some people think you gotta have a great quarterback to win a championship. That's obviously not true..."

I'm not sure this show can hold my interest for an entire season, though. I mean, really, how many motivational locker room speeches, nailbiter games, and come-from-behind inspirational wins can you show every week and call it realistic drama?

Ah, but what's one more show? I am a television addict, after all. There. I said it. I've got a serious problem. Whew! Glad to get that off my chest. What? I've still got tonight's episode of The Unit on TiVo to watch? And Nip/Tuck? Well, bring it on. I can sleep when I'm dead...

Coaching isn't his only talent, I guess...

For all you Longhorns and Mack Brown fans, I read on ESPN that the beloved UT head coach makes a brief cameo on the series premiere of Friday Night Lights tonight. Mack Brown about his role:

"That's my 30 seconds of fame. They told me afterwards I'd better keep my day job," Brown said. "Don't get up and use the bathroom, or you'll miss it."

We can be heroes, and for more than just one day...

I was a little wishy-washy about the first episode of Heroes, but after last night's second episode, I'm hooked. What's going on with that stripper chick and her alter ego? And did anyone see that ending with Hiro coming?

I watch way too much TV, and Lost starts tomorrow. And don't get me started about Friday...

Why is David Duchovny always attached to porn?

[A late movie review from September]


I've always enjoyed David Duchovny's comedic timing. His acting always tended to be a little stiff, even in The X-Files, but you could always count on some subtle witty remarks in his promotional appearances on The Tonight Show or Letterman. Which is why I enjoyed most of Trust the Man. Playing stay-at-home dad Tom who has a slight addiction to porn, Duchovny manages to deliver performance that's just low key enough to be funny without gross-out humor. Julianne Moore plays his actress wife Rebecca, who's marraige isn't as perfect as some might think. Tobey (Billy Crudup) is Rebecca's brother who has commitment issues with his girlfriend Elaine, (played by Maggie Gylenenanahallalaa...uh...the sister of that Donnie Darko/Brokeback guy).

This movie had potential, taking a somewhat realistic look at what happens in relationships, how they can quickly deteriorate, and what it really takes to make them work. For the first half of the movie, Trust the Man is good. Throw in a hilarious scene where Rebecca is narrating a porn video to her husband, as he's trying to masturbate under the covers, and the movie was even pretty funny. Think of a Woody Allen movie, and you might understand the tone this film was trying to reach. Unfortunately, the ending turns into a rather formulaic tidy conclusion that would put even the worst J. Lo or Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy to shame.

The performances are strong, though, and for that, I'd at least recommend giving it a look when it goes to DVD.

** (out of *****)

You know what they say about guys with big hands...

As I think I've commented before, I don't often dream (or at least I don't remember them). Therefore, at times I have to live vicariously through other people's vivid dreams such as the ones depicted in the movie I saw this past weekend, The Science of Sleep. If you saw Michel Gondry's earlier film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you might be mildly prepared for what's in store in his latest work.

The Science of Sleep follows Stephane, played by a pretty charming Gael Garcia Bernal, who seems to have trouble distinguishing his dreams from reality as he tries to overcome the boredom that is his waking life. He soon meets his neighbor Stephanie, whom he intially has no feelings for, but eventually falls deeply in love with. What ensues is a pretty trippy look at what goes on his mind and dreams as he delves further into this relationship. By the end of the film, it becomes rather difficult to distinguish what's real, not only from Stephane's point of view, but the audience as well. Too bad--I really wanted to know what becomes of this odd love story, but Gondry leaves you with a pretty open ending to let your imagination decide. Perhaps that was his intention all along. Unfortunately, that night I didn't dream any endings to wrap this romance up.

*** (out of *****)

Snikt!

In case anyone needed ideas for a Halloween costume this year, check out this guy's Wolverine get-up, complete with retractable adamantium claws! Well, wood claws actually, but you get the point...

Leave my hobby alone!

It amazes me how much people want to stop something they have absolutely no understanding of, nor a desire to see beyond their own distorted and uneducated views of.
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) is trying to get the “Truth in Video Game Rating Act” approved. This would constitute a congressional oversight committee handling the current ESRB rating agency. The first thing the committee would ask is that all games are played through 100% before release, in an attempt to stop such controversies as the Grand Theft Auto “Hot Coffee mod”, and the current favorite whipping boy of lawmakers, the Elder Scroll: Oblivions “Breast” Patch. While it is all well and good for the lawmakers to get upset that these mods and patches allow youngsters to see digitized sex and/or naughty parts, what no Senator or Congressman or lawyer has yet to take into account, or at least tell the public… These patches and mods have to be searched for on the internet by the individual owner of the game, installed with some knowledge of computer files and system mapping, and then run as an entirely different game then what the discs right out of the box would play. In some cases (Hot Coffee) the scripts were in the game, but as tool for the game designers only, that were then unlocked by some seriously skillful hackers. No one would have ever known it was in there just playing the normal game. But, something like Oblivions “Breast” patch which adds bare digital boobies to some female models in the game was created by someone at their house and then posted on the internet for someone to find then download then patch into their game. It had nothing to do with Bethesda Software, the maker of the game, yet they are under intense scrutiny and serious litigation because they made a game that could be patched in such an awful way that children (with some bad ass programming skills) could see some virtually digitized versions of what they can see the real thing of in PG-13 rated films... My favorite argument for how bad and obviously corrupt the Hollywood rating system is. How long do we get to see Kate Winslet’s huge and bare fun bags in Titanic? A lot longer then we should have in a PG-13 film… Thing is, any game can be modified this way. If had the skills I'd whip up a Pac-Man "Wang" patch so fast! The ESRB actually does a good job of rating games with their current system. What do they do now? The makers of the game tell them what the game is about, and what potentially harmful things are in it and then play the game at least part way through. The makers of these games know what they have made. Rock Star Games has never hidden the fact you can kill anyone in their games (no children, their #1 rule), visit hookers, and hear harsh language. So when the ESRB has rated their games as Restricted and requiring the purchaser be 17, they never argued. It is now the retailers job to insure ID’s are checked, and parents are made aware that if they buy their kid this hugely popular game, they are in for some R rated stuff (Hence the huge R rating on the front of the box plain for all to see.) It works if the retailers play their part, for which they are hit with HUGE fines of they don’t, and parents take even the slightest interest in what their kids do. Any parent who bought a Grand Theft Auto game for their child, with no idea what it was actually about, needs to get their heads out of the sand. They would have to go out of their way to be that ignorant.
What the newly proposed bill would change: The system would be more accurate, and games could be held back if found to objectionable. Ok, how do the ratings become more accurate? The game would be rated and released once it was played through 100% by an assigned group. Well, one of the reasons the current ESRB group only plays partway through a game is because there are a lot of games that you literally never finish. Or they are so huge with so many side missions, objectives, and goals that it takes some people a year or more to complete. The Grand Theft Auto games can take 200-300 hours to complete. Elder Scrolls; Oblivion may not have an ending. I’ve played over 100 hours, and I don’t think I’m even close to halfway through that game (WITHOUT the “Breast” patch installed)… Technology has reached a point where these games are literally entire digital universes. The worlds most popular mmorpg World of Warcraft at last count had 17,000 quests, over 30 dungeons (each with their own quests), and two complete continents to explore, with an addon being released at the end of the year that will add another full continent, another 12,000 quests, and 15 more dungeons. Nobody has done them all but the programmers and playtesters at Blizzard, Creator of the game, that tell the current ESRB rating system what the game has in it… The system works, because if it wasn’t done that way, games would never be released. And I’m really questioning if that isn’t the point of this in the first place. I feel like we are looking at the biggest act of censorship the world has ever seen, and most people won’t even bat an eye because they don’t care about something they know nothing about and only hear negative things about. The video game industry now makes more money then Hollywood. What they need is a lobbyist group as big and influential as Hollywood’s. It’s time for the nerds to play some major hardball, because I fear that if they don’t, then the internet is next… And as much as we all complain about the government and politics on this blog… We’d go down boys.

Thanks, Houston!

I got to do a really cool thing today--I got to watch a Cardinals game from a luxury box! My wife was lucky enough to get a couple of tickets to the company box to see the final regular season game at Busch Stadium. In my lifetime, I don't think I've even ever gotten to sit anywhere behind homeplate, let alone in one of the luxury suites.

Unfortunately, my wife was a bit lax with her puppeteer strings today, as the Cardinals lost to the Brewers 5-3. However, St. Louis scored those three runs off of three home runs in the bottom of the ninth inning when my wife's attention was completely fixated on the game. Previous to that, she was enjoying the comforts of the suite and oblivious to the game going on outside. Coincidence? I think not!

Despite losing however, the Astros also lost today, allowing St. Louis to clinch the National League Central Division title and a spot in the playoffs by virtue of their evaporating, but still superior regular season record. Probably the oddest thing I saw today was, in the bottom of the fifth inning, the entire stadium erupted in the tomahawk chop as the Astros were down to their last out halfway across the country in Atlanta. To make matters even more confusing, the Cardinals had their blue caps with red bills on today, which sort of made them look like the Braves if one was really drunk on Budweiser.

I don't know what to expect in this postseason, but at least St. Louis can savor yet another appearance in the playoffs. It appeared that the Cardinals had no qualms in celebrating their division title in the locker room after the game, despite the loss today. As usual, champagne was flowing liberally. I especially liked how pitcher Chris Carpenter prepared for the festivities--notice his goggles below: