That's not a metaphor, it's literally what this movie is. Which makes it absolutely one of the most awesome things I've seen in a while. Be sure to either watch past the 4:00 mark or skip forward because the little dude really gets his rock on at that point.
Sweet
I just posted some of this on my Facebook account, but dangit, I've decided it needs repeating:
This is an extremely gullible man who has just come off being the driving ideological force in an administration that most people can already see produced more fiascos and titanic, self-inflicted goofs than possibly any in our entire history. By any standard the guy is a monumental failure -- and not one whose mistakes stem in some Lyndon Johnson fashion from tragic overreach, but just a fool who damaged his country through his own gullibility, paranoia and bad judgment. Whatever else you can say about the Cheney story it ain't Shakespearean.
So as we see the big reporters trying to put him on some sort of equal footing with President Obama today, let's remember that the great majority of Americans see Dick Cheney, accurately, as a clown. And mockery isn't just the most effective but also the most morally apt response to the man.
Some of the blogs I frequent mentioned a few weeks ago that Heroes 'star' Hayden Panettiere had gotten a new tattoo she was showing off. It's shown here:
And, more salaciously, here:
Yes, it's sort of similar to uber-hottie Megan Fox's tat, which is shown all over the web, including, well, here...
I recently discovered Contrariwise, a literary blog that shows tattoos folks get that are quoting or honoring books. In it, it translates Hayden's tat as Italian for "to live without regrets."
Great, smart, pretentious.
Except here's the thing. Her tattoo says: Vivere senza rimipianti ... but the correct spelling is Vivere senza rimpianti.
Whoops!
I get it - sort of - when folks put Chinese or Japanese symbols on their body and get it wrong. Those characters can be drawn with the best of intent but still miss the mark because of a translation problem or a lazy tattoo artist. But Italian? Adding in an extra vowel seems to be the goof up of one Ms. Panettiere.
A bad actress and a bad speller. Ouch.
This drives me nuts - absolutely NUTS:
Adam Dunn would have been open to negotiating with the Giants over the winter, but he said they didn't express interest.
"I heard nothing," Dunn said. "I thought there would be some communication."
...
The Giants looked for a big bat but weren't confident with Dunn defensively at first base. Or the outfield, for that matter. Plus, Dunn was a .157 (14-for-89) hitter at China Basin with four homers and 13 RBIs.
...
The Nationals signed Dunn for two years and $20 million.
"It's something I've always dreamt about -- seeing how we can merge Jimmy Buffett and the Dolphins,'' the Dolphins new owner, Steve Ross, told a crowd in south Florida the other day.
Wow. That's a heck of a dream.
Courtesy of one of my new favorite blogs, Joe Posnanski's, this is pretty much the same thing I took twenty paragraphs or so to say:
“You give me the opportunity to earn $22 million a year by taking steroids, I’ll shoot the pharmacist if I have to. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not saying I shouldn’t be punished for shooting the pharmacist. I am saying it is self-righteous to pretend that I don’t have the same human failings that these guys do, and further, if you are insisting that you don’t have them, I don’t believe you.”
It's a sad sort of affairs that I now decide what is important, or compelling at least, by the number of responses I get to my various statuses on Facebook. Yep, I'm that lame.
But it's true - sometimes I'll quote a song a lot of folks remember, and that will create a nice group of retorts, obviously some political stuff I point out does likewise, but it turns out nothing gets folks roiling more than a comment about a big time professional baseball player doing steroids.
I'm talking, of course, about the "news" that Manny Ramirez is busted for PED's (potentially not steroids, but Ramirez isn't contesting this and it seems fairly clear he's cold stone busted here). This falls on the "news" that Alex Rodriguez admitted to doing likewise a few years back (which he did because a book is being published pointing this out, and apparently saying it wasn't just for a few years). My facebook comment was simply this:
With Manny Ramirez busted for steroids, can folks stop thinking of Barry Bonds as THE bad guy? EVERYONE was doing it.
Folks are crestfallen about Ramirez, who didn't always seem like the likeliest candidate for steroids because he's always been a big guy, always seemed like a force of nature, someone born to hit baseballs (and not much else). "Manny being Manny" was the expression for his sometimes brainless acts on the field, but they were never mean-spirited or seemingly selfish (though he had his moments), and this makes people talk - again - about how the game doesn't mean the same to them anymore.
My point is, Bonds, Ramirez and A-Rod are three of the best hitters the game has ever seen. They juiced, almost assuredly, because everyone else did and they thought it would give them a competitive edge. Ex-players like Bob Gibson have said they absolutely would have done steroids were they available to them at the time. Babe Ruth, considered THE best hitter of all-time, injected himself with sheep testosterone for exactly the same reasons. To single these guys out is hypocritical to say the least.
Apparently, Ms. Bristol Palin is on Abstinence Tour 2009, which should be a hard choice for those folks wishing to see the Grateful Dead reunion to decide what to spend their free time with. (cough)
But this message really confuses me:
"Having a baby is a huge responsibility and I think that you should wait to have sex..."
Here's advice you never hear folks giving to new parents - start a 700 page book. Well, I've now read a few pretty long books since Charlotte showed up (Nixonland, Cryptonomicon) and I've just finished The Given Day by Dennis Lehane.
Lehane is a very interesting writer -- he made his mark with gritty, edgy crime novels like A Drink Before The War and Gone Baby Gone, but showed his literary chops with the phenomenal Mystic River. He also penned Shutter Island which is more of a thriller, and I believe is being made into a feature film.
But The Given Day bears little resemblance to any of those excellent books, except in the simple fact that it is incredibly good.
Set in Boston just after the first World War, The Given Day follows a few key players - Aiden "Danny" Coughlin, a Boston cop trying to make his own mark in the shadow of his father Thomas; Luther Laurence, a black ("Negro" here) amateur baseball player who is forced to run away from his past, including his pregnant wife; and, of all people, Babe Ruth. The influenza pandemic has just swept through the country and Boston is being threatened by political terrorists, all while the police force tries to organize to get a respectable wage.
If a book about unions, the development of the NAACP, Irish cops and race relations doesn't sound particularly compelling, then I haven't done a very good job writing about the book here. As the novel worms its way to the finish, the sense of foreboding, of knowing that the city is set to explode (and does) is truly gripping. The character development is such that it's hard to pull away from the book, and the conclusions feel real, unforced and satisfying.
The Given Day is a phenomenal book. As I understand it, Martin Scorcese is making it into a movie, but I'd recommend reading the book on its own long before that shows up.
Rating: 9.0/10.0
Wow, I'm such a huge nerd but these bookstores are flipping awesome. 
Check out the rest of the post at Mirage Bookmark.
I've always been a huge fan of Survivor -- a little while ago, I made myself a list of my top 25 favorite all-time TV shows (something that, if and when I get the time, will find its way here) and Survivor was in my top five.
Of all time.
Yeah, deal with it. What's more, I can only think of two seasons out of the 18 (yes, EIGHTEEN) seasons that have disappointed. There's simply no other show with that tenure that's been as consistently entertaining. And without a shadow of a doubt, Jeff Probst remains the gold standard for hosting a competitive game show.
But how's this season going? Who has a chance of winning? Click the link to see my wildly entertaining breakdown.
First a few comments about folks who have been kicked off already:
Sydney: The most interesting thing about Sydney was that her looks were commented on a lot by other contestants and even Jeff Probst. Given the fact that every year there are plenty of good looking women, I suspect this means that Sydney is even prettier in person than on-screen. Otherwise, it's just odd. She actually played the game fine, but I'm only mentioning her because, well, I'm that kind of a guy.
Sierra just got the boot, and while she wasn't the strongest player, it certainly seems like she got a raw deal. People - pretty much everyone - treated her openly with contempt. There's no reason that the show wouldn't have aired Sierra acting in ways that warranted that attitude (they've certainly never shied away from such things in the past), so I have to assume this just goes back to her being sick the first few days and acting morose, etc. I don't think she's the worlds most sunshiney person, but I hope that the other contestants feel badly about how they acted when they watch the episodes.
Tyson: A former pro cyclist and swimmer, Tyson was the clear dominant athlete, and it was smart to kick him off. What makes Tyson interesting is how openly dickish he was (is). His Survivor profile says, "Witty, charming and arrogant is how Tyson Apostol describes himself ... His favorite movie is "The Jerk" and that’s how some people just might describe him."
He clearly enjoys saying mean things, and that doesn't make him very likable, but he did make good TV.
OK, now for the folks left in the game:
Erinn: First of all, she's my easy pick for "Wow, she cleaned up GOOD" at the reunion show. But will she be there as a winner? The odds are stacked way against her. She seems to be coasting through this which does mean she might make it with whoever the eventual winner is, but she'll have a hard time convincing any jury that she's deserving of $1,000,000. However, because of all of this, she's hard to count out entirely.
Speaking of having odds stacked against a win, Taj is screwed in this area. Why? Her husband is Eddie George - the former Heisman winner and Pro Bowl running back. Apparently she herself is a former pop star, though one I'd never heard of. What I'm saying is she's not hurting for cash, and eventually who 'deserves' it rears its ugly head. She is a great candidate to go far because she's smart and likable, but she's not going to win.
Debra: First of all, I never had a principal (Debra's occupation) with big fake boobs. I'm just pointing this out in advance. And Debby flew under the radar for awhile -- but in the last few episodes, she's started to lose it a bit. To put it mildly, she seems to handle stress poorly - after Sierra caught in her in an open lie, she freaked out - twice - and then later said she didn't even really remember what she had originally said. That's code for, "I know I lied but I don't want to admit it." In any case, she's in a weak position and while she can buy herself a few Tribal Councils, she's a tough choice to go far because she might get some pity votes from guys like Tyson or Brendan. 
Stephen has got himself in a good place, because he has an immunity idol and seems to have the best head for strategy left in the game. He does seem like a good risk to something truly stupid that shoots himself in the foot, but he's positioned well and certainly doesn't have many real enemies out there.
I sort of wish he were funnier; he seems like the kind of guy who should be funny, but I haven't seen it. However, that doesn't mean anything, just thought I'd point it out. As far as the game goes, I like his chances.
JT is clearly the best athlete left in the game, extremely well liked by just about everyone and actually pretty savvy with the game despite appearing otherwise. His problem is that sooner or later (and it will have to be sooner) someone is going to have to take him out, since he would be almost impossible to go up against in the final Tribal Council. It's one of the worst parts of this game, that the most likable people almost never win. 
Finally, Benjamin. Oh, I'm sorry, "Coach." I honestly didn't have a clue his first name was Ben because it's never been used in the show. Coach is so crazy that there remains a distinct possibility he doesn't coach anyone, or maybe did coach a little league 12 years ago. He has told stories about being captured and beaten by an Amazonian tribe, and calls himself "The Dragonslayer." I'd ignore most of this, except Coach truly does seem to believe he's the guy he's acting like. He's woefully insecure but he thinks he's at peace with himself. He says things like he'll never get rid of a true competitor because he wants to go against the best, then engineers an ouster of someone like Brendan. He says he'll never lie in the game, then when exposed lying completely, seems to truly believe he's still in the right. There's simply no way he can win this game, but he's the most entertaining guy on TV right now.
So, I guess I'd put my money on Stephen, with Taj and Erinn as possibilities to make it far as well. If JT starts winning Immunity Challenges and makes it to the final two, he's the easiest clear winner but that's a hard road to get there.
But I know one thing ... I'll be watching.
I just dropped my daughter off at day care, and on the way home I heard John Calipari being interviewed by Jim Rome. (I know, I know ... but you should have seen what else were my radio options.)
Chief among the many, many idiotic Calipari said was this following gem:
Twitter changes lives.
I wanna do the same morning message for a week so that it really sinks in. I think that has more effect than a new one everyday.
Today I'm gonna dream like I'm 12 years old again. If I'm gonna be it, I'm gonna have to see it. The only thing that can hold me back is me.
