Gov't Docs

I did our taxes yesterday & before that, I stood & was counted by filling out the census form. Here are some quick thoughts.

Census...
* The racial option included "Black/African American/Negro"
Are there still be self-identifying as "Negro"? And if so, how come I didn't get "Cracker" or Honky" as an option? It reminded me of some sort of Paul Mooney word association sketch.
* There's been a lot of talk from the Right Wing Crazies about not wanting to give this info to Big Brother. (As if they don't already have it in one way or another for most of us anyway.) However, it seems like this kind of info is precisely the info they'd want to the Gov't to have. They're always crying about White people's dwindling numbers, so one would think those racist fucks would be happy to place another tally in the column for their proud heritage.

Taxes...
* The Feds wanted to know if any of my income came from the railroad industry. I don't know if that meant they wanted to know if I was some sort of robber baron like Crocker or Vanderbuilt, if I was an engineer like Casey Jones, or if w/in this economy, I'd taken to riding the rails like Woody Guthrie & my grandfather. Since none of these were options that relate to me, I clicked no & moved on w/o giving it another thought until I came to the state form.
* The state wanted to know if any of my income came from seafaring. Granted, "Seafaring" is a cool word, but seeing as I neither pilot a ferry to Wisconsin, work as a deck-hand on a freighter, nor make a living as a Great Lakes fisherperson, again I clicked no & moved on.

* My real concern here, though, is that I'm curious about why the Feds want to know about my railroading & the state wants to know about my seafaring, but not the other way around. It's like someone in the IRS woke up one day & said "I demand to know about everyone's connection to the railroads! What? Their connections to boating? Fuck boating!" Of course, the state's person, who may very well sound like Ricky Gervais, woke up & said, "I demand to know about everyone's seafaring! Railroads? Are you 'avin' a laugh? Bullocks!"
Why would one want one set of info and the other a totally unrelated set of info? It seems like if it's important to one, it should be important to the other.

* The feds suggested the money I spent on Isaiah's adoption would be deduct able, but then they claimed to have no record of him. As it turns out, he's on record w/ his old last name... still.

* In the section where they needed to know if I'd received my "Stimulus Check," it claims the info about Stephanie's would be filled in automatically, but of course, that didn't happen & I had to go back in today & override the IRS system in order to correctly enter her data.

* All in all, the refund is a little bigger than last year, which is pretty cool.

Verde FC

In the ever-widening family of Visions of Ypsi related bogs, I'd like to introduce you to the one for our new team. Dan & I went to the MUSL office yesterday to register. We're still short a few people, but it seems to be coming together pretty well. If you know of people over 30 w/ some skills & the desire to play for a sweet, sweet team, pass on my info! In the mean time, dig our sweet, sweet shirts:

My New Phone... if you can call it that or "Damn, It Feels Good to be a Gangsta"

When I got my last phone, in May of 2008, I was excited about the mp3 capabilities, but in general, I was also well aware that I wanted something simple, w/ few bells &/or whistles. However, it quickly became apparent that the phone sucked the proverbial donkey balls. A few months later, I placed it in my soccer bag during a match, & the unexpected storm/hail/tornado conditions cried havoc & let slip the dogs of war upon the shitty little thing. Since then, the texting/typing/basic usefulness of a phone has been problematic. while typing (or entering a phone number), the delete button would often get stuck down & I would be left for days on on w/o he ability to proceed. This also effected my ability to have a conversation as the same button was responsible for muting my voice... causing people to inadvertently become unable to hear what I was saying & assume we were disconnected. It came to a head yesterday while I was attempting to pay a bill over the phone, but it kept "pushing" the wrong #s which then connected me w/ the wrong departments.

In frustration, I went to the AT&T place by Target to determine my options, options, as it turned out that were much greater than I expected. While settling on a new phone, the 3 people working there also greatly lowered my bill as 2 of them pretended to be Stephanie & me & called the billing people w/ major complaints. They hooked us up w/ an extra 1,000 roll-over minutes & after they fought for an hour, halved the bill.. for a few months anyway. Plus, the woman may join the Green Team! She played in college, is supposedly a decent striker & is a Liverpool fan (& you thought this would be a soccer-free post... HA... not-bloody-likely).I settled on the Motorola Backflip, which does exponentially more than the old phone, has the best camera I've ever had, & has proven to be super-fun. As I then went straight to Nicola's, Stephanie proceeded to take the kids up & procured 1 for herself. This, in turn, allowed her to give her old one to them... & will allow me to go all Office Space on my shit-ass piece of shitty shit.

Rock & Roll: ABBA... WTF?

We've only been to the Hall of Fame once; for our honeymoon, we drove to Vermont, stopping for a night in Niagara solely for the ironic-hip factor (just like Lois & Clark in Superman II) & then on through up-state New York before getting to our B&B, The Northfield Inn, in Northfield. We spent 2 nights there, which included a day trip to the Ben & Jerry's plant & an afternoon in Burlington before heading south to Hancock were we spent 2 nights (including the Thursday of the final Seinfeld episode) @ The Sweet Onion Inn, a vegan B&B right in the middle on the Nat'l Park. On our trip home, we decide to go south of Erie, through New York, Pennsylvania, & Ohio which meant we were passing through Cleveland. We've been there many times (perhaps you recall when a few of us took Cleveland by the Balls), but only on this, our 1st trip to that glorious city, did we hit the Hall.
In honor of our honeymoon trip & because I wanted to see Phish perform the Genesis tunes, we watched the Induction Ceremony last night on Fuse. Trey gave the speech inducting Genesis which was clearly the speech of a man who loves music. It was like listening to Quinten Tarentino talk about films. He even went so far as to call out the people in the audience who had never listened to Selling England By the Pound... I'm included in that, a fact I guess I'll have to remedy soon.

Billie Joe Armstrong then inducted The Stooges which was pretty cool... & then The Stooges played "Search & Destroy" & "I Wanna be Your Dog," during which he asked all the rich people (the execs, not the musicians) to join him on stage... as if asking if they had the balls to get on stage w/ The Stooges. They didn't. They clearly didn't know how to react as he stood between their table w/o a shirt on screaming the chorus in their ears. It was funny. Well played, Mr. Pop.

After David Geffen came Jimmy Cliff who was sporting some ridiculous glasses. Wyclef Jean inducted him & then he played "You Can Get it if You Really Want It," some slow song I don't know, & then "The Harder They Come" (w/ Wyclef).

Little Steven inducted The Hollies w/w a really long & tangential speech, but it was also really cool. The Hollies then played a slew of songs, starting w/ my fav, "Bus Stop," all of which were great. They played "Carrie Ann," & "Tall Cool Woman in a Black Dress"... & 1 or 2 other songs, & I was reminded that we'll have to get some Hollies from the library soon... they're so fucking good.

On the flip side, a group whom I've never thought was "so fucking good" was inducted next. A few years ago, people were upset when Madonna was inducted, but I was cool w/ that. I'm not saying they aren't important in music history, but ABBA? WTF? I just don't get it. Are people who claim to like them being ironic? Is liking them some sort of hip in-joke for people who deep-down know they suck? Roger Corman got a Lifetime Achievement Oscar this year, so maybe we're now handing out prestigious awards w/ tongue in cheek. I guess that's a possibility... otherwise, WTF?

Finally, Carol King inducted a series of song-writers from New York.
* Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil who wrote "Make Your Own Kind of Music," "On Broadway," & "We Gotta Get Out of this Place."
* Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry who wrote "It's My Party," "Da Do Run Run," & "Do Wah Dtty Ditty."
* Jesse Stone who wrote "Shake, Rattle, & Roll" & "Don't Let Go."
* Mort Shuman wrote "Save the Last Dance for Me," "Viva Las Vegas," & "A Teenager in Love."
* Otis Blackwell who wrote "Fever," "Great Balls of Fire," "All Shook Up," & "Don't Be Cruel."

A slew of musicians joined Paul Shaffer & his band to perform these songs. the best of which were Chris Issac doing "Don't Be Cruel" & Peter Wolf doing "Money, Honey." all in all, it was cool... as was the concert in general. if only I understood ABBA... WTF?

Cops & Pork

I was heading to Nicola's yesterday morning, knowing full-well that the guy w/ whom I'm supposed to open was going to be late so my mood was rocking from the start. As I was heading West on I-94, just before I got to Briarwood, a State Cop had someone stopped on the shoulder. I slowed down, gave my basic "I'm sorry for ya brother, but it's better you than me" look @ the guy, & kept on cruising @ posted speeds. The cop then pulled back onto the road & sped up right behind me. I thought, "Fuck! this dude is going to pull me over... What the hell???" No sooner do I think this than his light goes, & I have to stop. Of course, he comes up to the passenger side window which doesn't go down properly so I roll down the rear window which makes him have to stand towards the back of the car & talk to me over the seats which was actually kind of funny. I ask what's up & he says, "Let me see you identification & once I know who you are I'll tell you." (I know... you're dieing for an Obi-wan quote here, but I balked.) After he read it, he asked me if I knew the law in Michigan that concerns the act of passing a police officer who has someone pulled over. I doubt that's how he phrased it... but you get the point.

At this point I was shocked. Who knew there was a law about that? I said, "I suppose one should slow down & be careful, but I don't know that we need a law that confirms that. You were on the other side of the car like you are now, so there was clearly no danger." This is basically the same logic Maverick used for going below the "Hard-Deck" to get Jester. He proceeded to inform me that 8 years ago a law was passed obliging drivers to move to the other lane so long as the other lane is available. Hmmm... he pulled me over for that shit? Wow!

After asking me about my driving record & hearing about the old yellow Escape, he goes back to his car & runs my info on his little handy-dandy cop-puter. when he returned, he came back to the driver's side... I don't know why... & asked if I was aware I was driving w/ a suspended licence. Neither knowing what the fuck he was talking about, nor thinking too clearly, I asked, " My licence plates are suspended? How is that possible? Is that a thing that happens?" He obviously says, "No, your driver's licence." Apparently, when I totaled my car, I got some $200 driver responsibility fee from the state & when I didn't pay it w/in 30 days, my licence was suspended. He said most people are unaware of this & don't find out until they are in a situation just like I was in. He then said he was going to let me go, but I shouldn't be driving until I pay the fine which will clear up the suspension.

And like a fool I persisted. "But my licence has been suspended... can't you arrest me for driving?" Why? why can't I keep my mouth shut? I'll tell you why. I was shocked & honestly wanted to know what the rule was. "Yep," he said, "I could take you in. It's only a misdemeanor though, & it's Sunday morning so I'm not going to bother you w/ that. Just be careful."

I don't mean to look a gift-horse in the mouth, but why did he bother pulling me over for such a stupid thing if not to check my record in the hopes of finding something exactly like he found? What was he expecting? Warrants for my arrest as an axe murderer? As it turns out, I was able to keep that part of my life a secret. How he went from douchey stickler for the rules to letting me go after a nice public-service explanation of what I'd done wrong, I have no idea. Perhaps he didn't feel comfortable dragging a dude in a kilt to the hokey... for fear of the pokey. I'll tell you what... I was certainly fearing that.In other pig news, I tried a bite of Aiden's bacon a couple days ago . I hadn't had bacon since 1993, but w/ all the hub-bub about it lately, I figured I'd give it a go. It wasn't bad, but the way middle-class white people shit their pants for it is ridiculous. It's just meat, people. Relax! I've said it before & I'll say it again, "Bacon is to the bourgeoisie as cocaine is to the aristocracy & meth to the proletariat."

A few videos before the State Police story

The 2012 prophecy @ it's worst!

Werner Herzog reads Madeline???

Barry and Levon w/ sock puppets???

A thought while running today

There's a little breaking news, but before we get to that, I need to clear something up. While running (I made it 5.7 miles today @ a good pace), I was thinking about the old llama farm on Superior which in turn got me thinking about llamas in general & my interest in them. People often wonder what it is about them that I dig. So here's the thing... in Plymouth there was a llama farm that I always loved & on 1 occasion, Stephanie & I even got a chance to meet them. That alone isn't really enough though. Of course, that isn't enough to make the llama my #1 favorite animal. There's also the Phish song, which is obviously a cool tune (you can hear a a good version from 1992 here), but that isn't really it either. I think my love for these animals is down to their basic personality. They have a sort of have a slacker-chic situation going on. Perhaps you're not aware of this, but I kind of do too. I know there are other, more slackerish animals, but they're too showy. Take the possum (another Phish song); their very name is "possum." Their name is a synonym for being lazy.. that's going to far. They're sort of slacker attention whores. I may be a slacker, & I may be an attention whore, but I'm not an attention whore about my slacking. The llama may be a slacker, but they also know how to party when necessary, that's the other thing I dig about them. They will even get up on their hind legs and sing... that's pretty awesome. They're not like drunks sing Neil Diamond in a bar though... they're subtle about it. So many animals are stinky or obnoxious, or showy... llamas aren't like that @ all, llamas just are.

Oh... & I promised a little new news.... come back tomorrow & I'll lay it on you w/ photos & everything.

USA Soccer

The brand-spanking-new USA World Cup Away Jersey was released yesterday, & it's pretty awesome. Perhaps you've noticed a certain sarcasm towards Landon Donavon, here, but LD's displays @ Everton over the last month have made me reconsider this anti-Landy Cakes stance, & I may even consider ordering the brand new Landy-Shirt... I may be getting a bit carried away though; we'll see.Speaking of the World Cup, I booked a few nights @ campgrounds up North for the 1st weekend in July yesterday before I realized the trip could conflict w/ the end of the tournament. (I checked & it turns out I just might have to watch the 1/4 finals @ a bar up there... so we're good.) We've got Canada Day @ Tahquamenon Falls & then the 2nd & 3rd in Petoskey. Going to the UP is a 1st for the fam as Stephanie has an intense fear of bridges... & getting there w/o crossing the Mackinaw Bridge is a bit circuitous. She agreed to go for it though so we're all we're looking forward to a little adventure. On the evening of the 2nd, there's a reception @ the High School to honor the soccer coach who has been there since I was a kid. When he took the job, my dad became the JV coach. The fact that he's still there & has won the State Championship a few times w/ a program my dad & his friends started is pretty great so getting the invite to the party (& alumni match) is exciting. I haven't seen some of those folks since since a GD show in Indianapolis in 1995, others since a HORDE show in 1994 (& a soccer game a month before that) & others since I was in school there in 1988. Hopefully, we'll be able to watch a World Cup game together... a France v Italy match w/ the Rossis would be fantastic... especially if France wins.

The Obligatory Olympics Post

We attempted to watch the Olympics last night, but it didn't go over very well. I know everyone seems to have been struck w/ a nasty case of Olympics-fever, but I just don't get it. I like that the world can come together & celebrate this, I dig sports, I even dig some of the sports in the Olympics, but I just can't watch. For one, some many of the sports seem fake. Not fake like pro-wrestling, but not real sports. Bobsled, luge biathlon... who does this? They seem invented just for the Olympics. Why not include more sports in which real people actually participate like dog-sled or snowmobile racing. Stephanie was wondering how someone becomes an Olympic bobsledder... & we couldn't really figure it out. It must just be that mediocre athletes from other sports get recruited to be stars in a field that no one else ever considered. And then the luge people must just be frustrated bobsledders & the skeleton people must in turn be frustrated lugers.

Conversely, these are ironically the sports I prefer to watch. Of course, I like curling & the skiing events too, but that leads us to the 2nd problem. I hate the way it's covered on TV. We get 4 hour blocks of random shit w/ no clear knowledge of what will be on when. Which then means we have to sit through the random shit for hours before getting 20 minutes of curling or downhill skiing. Many of those hours seem dedicated to figure skating. I know that's what the audience wants (although I have no idea why) & I know that those kids have spent 8 of their 12 years on the planet training for this, but I just don't care. Clearly, it's not a made-up sport like skeleton, but it just doesn't do it for me. And neither does hockey which people often think is weird since I love soccer & hockey & soccer are so similar. I just don't enjoy it though.

My final issue concerns the fact that while I'm trying to watch curling or skiing, I have to suffer through those fluff pieces for 20 minutes. I don't care that Alberto Tomba's cat died when he was 12 or that Hans Brinker lost his inspirational grandfather who had bought him his silver skates. Just make w/ the fucking curling already! That said, you can order your replica Norweigan National Curling Pants here! Order placed baby!

A Date Night Sans Casablanca

Rather than dwelling on Arsenal's ridiculous showing in Porto yesterday, I want to talk about Béla Fleck. On Monday evening, I saw a Facebook ad for his show @ Hill Auditorium last night, & the cheep balcony seats were only 10 bucks. We hadn't seen him since a Flecktones' show @ EMU in 1996, so for 10 bucks a pop we were in. Back in '96, their show was the same week as Phish @ the Palace & in Grand Rapids & Blues Traveler @ Hill Auditorium, so we had a fun-filled week of local music. This time, I realized the only show I've been to in the last couple years was the Springsteen concert I worked for Nicola's.

After class, I raced home & we hit Amer's for falafels & fries then walked over to Hill. The show was amazing. He's touring w/ his "Africa Project," an ensemble he put together while traveling through Africa (Mali & Tanzania mostly) & studying the origins of the Banjo. These musicians are amazing. Anania Ngolia on the thumb Piano accompanied by a guitarist & then Ngoni Ba, a group from Mali fronted by Bassekou Kouyate on lead Ngoni. The ngoni is an instrument made from a calebasse gourd w/ a goat-skin stretched across it (very much like a banjo) & this dude was like the Jimmy Page of the ngoni... standing on the edge of the stage w/ his foot on his amp & rockin'! Béla Fleck was MCing & would come & go playing w/ these different musicians & then letting them do their own thing. I'm so glad we went. I'd never done anything based on a Facebook sidebar ad, but this was well worth it. Check out this video of Ngoni Ba... you won't be sorry.

A Few Films reviewed This Moring

French Film
A cute romantic comedy w/ everyone's favorite Karate Kicking French striker, Eric Cantona. He plays a film maker being interviewed by a British documentarian about the art of love. The film was directed by Jackie Oodney, a female Scottish directer... maybe the only one on the planet. when she was younger, she worked on the Second Unit for Spice World which leads me to ask a few questions. 1) Spice World actually had a Second Unit? 2) Why is she loving to work w/ people associated w/ Man U... first Victoria Beckham & now Eric Cantona? It's not fantastic, but it's fun watching Cantona ham it up... although I still think this display was his best performance ever. Play Beautiful, indeed!

Fear and Trembling
The video box suggests that it's a cross between Lost in Translation & Secretary so we gave it a whirl the other night. I see why those comparisons were made, but it also has a sort of Gone w/ the Wind/Birth of a Nation thing going on. It's a beautiful film w/ really cool performances, but the racist undertones are really apparent. It's about a Belgian woman working for a Japanese corporation in the early '90s. She faces every stereotypical Japanese character known to film. Of course, when it's made clear that she has some homoerotic desires for her boss, the alluring, beautiful, angry Japanese woman, we never even get to see the hot scenes they suggest will be coming.

Angels & Demons
I've never had any desire to read Dan Brown's books, but I kind of lke the movies. They're fun & thoughtless... kind of like National Treasure. It seems as though Tom Hanks & Ron Howard got together & said, "Hey, you're a liberal intellectual... I'm a liberal intellectual... let's make an action movie for liberal intellectuals." It's exciting, but not too exciting. It's fun, but not too fun. It's thought-provoking, but not too thought-provoking. As if they custom made it for the 50-something, rich, guilty, pseudo-Buddhists in Ann Arbor & Madison. Ewan McGregor is pretty good though... @ least once his character actually gets to do something.

The Time Traveler's Wife
Recently, I've heard a few different people say, "This is my favorite book... ever!" which makes me assume they haven't read that many books. It's fun & worth reading, but to suggest it's the greatest ever is clearly ridiculous. And the film is a kind of watered down version of the book. The punk stuff is left out... as are the Michigan references (her childhood house is in it, but it's not clear where it is & I don't even think it's clear that it's on the lake). The sexiness of the book is totally left out in favor of some sort of soft-focus designed for Lifetime. If you're like me & dig time travel stories, it's definitely worth watching, but it's not going to win any awards. We watched a Twilight Zone episode last night where Russell Johnson (well, not him, but his character) goes back in time to the night of Lincoln's assassination & tries to stop it. I was hoping he'd use some coconuts to radio for help, but, alas, it was not to be. Of course, Lost is on tonight, so I guess we get to get inundated w/ crazy time-travel stories this week!

Taking Woodstock
This was a pretty cool movie. Maybe even the best thing I've seen since Inglorious Bastards. Eugene Levy & the guy ho plays Michael Lang are great, & it's got the most accurate representation of an acid trip I've ever seen in a movie. (Of course, this claim is based on things I've read & what I've been told by friends & acquaintances. Overall, it's kind of cheesy, & it's romanticization of the 1960s is over the top, but it's well worth seeing. Maybe Ang Lee's best film since Sense & Sensibility.

In Performance @ The White House

Last night on PBS, Obama hosted a celebration of the music of the Civil Rights Era. As always, Smokey Robinson was fantastic. As always, I found Natalie Cole kind of creepy. And as always, I had no idea what to expect from Bob Dylan. Before he came out though, Jennifer Hudson sang a couple songs; she's pretty fantastic. I've never seen Dreamgirls, & @ 1st, I wasn't sure who she was. But her voice... wow. Yolanda Adams also has a nice voice, but she's really fucking weird lookin'. I've never even been a fan of a little plastic surgery, but hers is freakin' freaky. John Mellencamp basically gave a "I'm not racist; I have black friends" speech, but we'll let it slide because he does have 30 years of civil rights work under his belt. (And because he's new here on Visions of Ypsi.) I'm not embarrassed to admit that Joan Baez's "We Shall Overcome" brought a few tears to my eyes... it clearly brought some to Obama's eyes too. The Bind Boys of Alabama were great, but that just seems to be their M.O., & The Freedom Singers were really good too. They closed w/ a cool group version of "Lift Every Voice & Sing" which I am covering this week in class so I suppose we'll watch that clip them too.

As far as Dylan was concerned, I was expecting one or two songs (wee only got one), but I couldn't figure out which it would be. I was kind of hoping for "Pawns in the Game" or "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," but I expected "Blowin' in the Wind." We got a sweet acoustic version of "The Times They are A'changin'" and it was fantastic. I was worried that a single song on TV would be shit... like the Grateful Dead, he usually needs a few songs to really get going, but it's really, really good. Just him, Tony Garnier on upright bass, Patrick Warren on piano. Watch it here now!

Snow Day?

As far as I can remember, the last time we had classes canceled @ EMU due to weather was in December of 2000. I was teaching Eng.121 & sharing an office w/ Annette. It was my very 1st semester as a Lecturer, and while Annette & I were in an office together, I really didn't know her at all. Seeing as it's been almost 10 years, today's snow day came as a bit of a shock, & while I'll have to reshuffle the next couple weeks of class to get us back on track, I think I might be able to actually make good use of the day off. Here are the things I'll do:

1) Blogging: Lately, the blogging has played second fiddle to the rest of my life. I suppose that's the way it should be, but I've tried to keep up a steady pace of 10-12 posts per month over the last 5 years, but that hasn't been happening this year.

2) Reading: I feel as though I've been reading The Savage Detectives since Halloween. It's really good, but it's been really slow going too. I guess confining my "fun" reading to bathroom time & breaks @ Plum Market don't make for fast books. However, recently, around page 350, something resembling a plot appeared so the pace might start picking up. We'll see.

3) Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series: I rented it last week & it's due back on Friday so today'll be a good opportunity to watch it. It looks like it might suck, but in keeping w/ my new-found love of all things Terminator, I feel wee need to watch it.

4) Star Wars: We've been talking about watching the whole saga again, so we may need to start today w/ a viewing of Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace. I think Isaiah wants to watch it.

5) Sledding: I image that @ some point this afternoon, probably while Isaiah is taking his nap, I'll take S & A out for a little while @ Riverside Park.

6) Chili: I'll take the day to slow-cook some chili & fix Coney Dogs for dinner.

7) Arsenal: There's a match this afternoon vs. Liverpool, but it's not on Fox Soccer Channel. I was considering resubscribing to Setanta, chose not to. Today, I'm regretting that decision. If I were in my office, I'd be able to watch it on-line w/ a much better connection than I have @ home... oh well. Who wants to come over & watch Arsenal go down in their 3rd consecutive defeat today?

Running

Not just running! Something that needs endurance! Something that needs stamina! Like, long-distance running! Cross-country running!I've never been much for competitive long-distance running; when I've run, it's always been in order to get in shape for soccer. Courtney suggested that I register for the Dexter-Ann Arbor 10K though, & I think I might do it. When I was at my peak... 20 years ago... I was running 8 miles a day. Let's just say I' not at my peak any more. A few years ago, I was up to 3 or 4 a day though, & after yesterday's mil and a half, I was feeling pretty good, so we'll see.

I got new shoes, but running pants and an Under-Armor shirt... an imitation, Target brand Under-Armor shirt (made by Champion Sportswear). It was 1/3 of the price, but does the trick. Like an anti-McDLT container, it keeps the hot side cold & the cold side hot. I figured if I spent some cash on running, I'd be motivated to stick w/ it for a while. The main goal, rather than the 10K run, is to be ready for soccer in May. A few miles a day should get me there. The other goal is to look less sausagesque in my fake Under-Armor shirt.

If You're a Nerd Like I'm a Nerd...

Like many of you who know what's up, we rewatched the 1st 5 seasons of Lost over the last couple months in order to get ready for tomorrow's big Season 6 Premier. Along w/ the rewatch, you should check out some of the better parodies. I found a couple on Jorge Garcia's blog. The first one uses the Petula Clark song, "Downtown," in a fun way... & it's a fucking Petula Clark parody! And I was just thinking the other day that we don't get enough Petula Clark parodies... dreams do come true, my friends. The second one is an extended Italian family in Brooklyn (I don't know for sure that they're in Brooklyn; I'm going on stereotypes here... it could be Jersey or Philly too)reenacting the 1st 5 season in about 5 minutes... it's odd. After that, there's the Mad TV season 1 parody & then the coup de grace, the sweet, sweet, Star Trek parody: Star Trek: The Lost Generation. Oh, & here is Wendy's list of things we need to learn... it's not exhaustive, nor will we get everything, but it's a good list none-the-less. And why not read a list... Jacob made a few, Ben made a few, I imagine Richard has made more than his fair share of lists @ one time or another, Hurley made at least one... read Wendy's too.

On the down side, I have a bad feeling about Season 6. I don't think we're gonna get many of the explanations for which we've been so patiently waiting.It just doesn't seem like they'll have time to get to everything. I'm sure we'll get Adam & Eve, the Smoke Monster, & Richard, but Horace & Ann Arbor... I doubt it... we'll keep our fingers crossed though.

So now, do what Andre does: order up some Chinese food, get a 4-pack of imported stout, & prepare to be a little let down by the parodies.

Answers

Italian Family

Mad TV

Star trek