February 1, 2011
January 31, 2011
ESPN will miss Rob Neyer
He said goodbye in his usual, casual form...
A Quick Programming Note ...I'm looking forward to finding out what that next thing is 'cause Rob's been a fun presence on ESPN.com for a long while now. (Current web rumors suggest tomorrow we'll find out where Rob will pop up next. Assumedly, there will be a mention of that new home over on his website.)
Fifteen years ago, I moved to Seattle to work for a company called Starwave. The company did a lot of things, but I was hired -- and this might surprise you -- mostly to edit fantasy-related content for a website called ESPNet.SportsZone.com; a few years later, we became the ESPN.com that everyone knows and loves so well.
Frankly, it's a minor miracle that I've been here ever since. I was the new guy, didn't know how I was supposed to behave, and somewhat routinely ran afoul of my bosses and their bosses. I owe a great deal to their good graces, and I'm sorry I can't thank everyone who's allowed me to do what I love for so long. I will toss extra hosannas to Geoff Reiss, David Schoenfield, and David Kull, for reasons they know only too well. Collectively, they're No. 2 on the all-time list.
You're No. 1.
Whether you've been reading my ramblings since 1996 or just since last week, you have my profound, impossible-to-express-in-words gratitude. There is not a working writer on Earth who's more grateful than I for his readers. Without you, I would have nothing.
Today, I hand off this space to whoever's next. I don't know yet who is next, but I'm highly confident that this blog and the SweetSpot Network will soon be in excellent hands.
Meanwhile, I'll be around. The kids tell me it's all about search these days. You won't have to search real hard to find me, if you want.
Happy trails, until we meet again.
Making a little less space in my life
My mom taught me that when I was in high school - or maybe in junior high. Every time you type a period, you immediately follow it up with two spaces. That's the rule.
Or, as it appears, it was the rule. Nowadays, it appears that the new rule is one space after every period, and I'm having trouble making the adjustment.
I get the reasoning and all. Back when all of the fonts were monospace - equally spaced for every character (right down to the periods and commas, the i's and the m's), and the two spaces were needed to clarify a sentence break. Now that we're living the future - typing phones, texting televisions, flying cars, waffling irons - most of the fonts are proportionally typeset which means we don't need the two spaces any more.
I'll be trying to break the habit, but I'll freely admit that it's been a struggle so far and probably will continue to be so. Don't say I can't learn. I'm no old dog.
January 30, 2011
You are correct...
Why, yes, I did buy the DVD of New Jack City from the local and going out of business Blockbuster because The Girl had $20 in Blockbuster gift cards that we just found this weekend.
Shut up, none of the local libraries have that movie, and I remember liking it when I saw it in the theater in high school.
In the same vein we are also the proud owners of a previously-viewed Scott Pilgrim vs the World and some boxes of candy.
Total spent - $20.20
January 29, 2011
Happy Saturday, everybody...
These links were typed up while I sat enjoying America's Test Kitchen - to be followed by Cooks Country and Fannie's Last Supper...
Why, yes, I am a dork. Thanks for asking.
- Riverview High School Prank Backfires on Teen Vandals - Every idea for a senior prank is a bad on. Here's another example of why.
- This is Informative, You Should Watch It of the Day - A summary of that big WikiLeaks release a month or so ago.
- Chemistry of Cast Iron Seasoning - Science & chemistry...this article rocks. I've tried it and endorse it entirely. Read also: black rust
- Scale of the Universe - Like the old Powers of Ten, only a little more interactive
- Spicy Shredded Pork Tostadas (Tingas) - Today's awesome recipe from America's Test Kitchen
- Calling by Hilltop Hoods - Just started this torrent downloading. Looking forward to hearing it.
- Fantasy Baseball Rankings - It's that time of the year.
- Do a Total Background Check on Yourself - not a bad recommendation, and here are Consumer Reports's suggested websites to do that.
- HOF voters who leave off suspected PED users are hypocrites - agreed
- Change will roll into the Hall, someday - see, agreed...
- Windborne Music - a PHS grad doing good
- Rules of Thumb for Visualization - How to make your graphs into better graphs
- Melting Head Cake - ick, ick, tasty, ick...
- Top 100 Albums of the 1970s - Top 100 Albums of the 1980s - Top 100 Albums of the 1990s - 1980's #27 got ripped off
- Kanye + Comics - outstanding...and the source of the top image
- That Truncheon Thing: Bottlegs - the greatest 23 bootlegs, with downloadable links...strong recommendation for vol 10
- Gotham Spoilers - 'cause we all need to know every little bit about the Bat-iverse as it's published...
- Wiffleball - amiright?
January 28, 2011
We're going down into the delta...
A few years back, The Girl and I went to Gamer's wedding in Starkville, Mississippi. On the way back, we stopped through and enjoyed the heck out of Memphis, Tennessee. After the trip, I put together this playlist which is presented here in its first 8track form...
January 27, 2011
Why are you emphasizing the H?
I've seen this before but wandered upon it again this past weekend while clicking from one YouTube video to another.
In general, I don't love Family Guy - can barely tolerate it a lot of the time, in fact - but I find this bit hilarious.
January 26, 2011
The Greg Kihn Band would be wrong
A la Cliff Clavin, here are twelve possible Jeopardy categories at which I would clean up...
- DC Comics
- Marvel Comics
- Kevin Smith
- The Periodic Table
- Bob Dylan
- The Internet
- Indiana High School Basketball
- Webcomics
- Food science
- Norse Mythology
- South Park
- 80s Music
January 25, 2011
Two for three...not bad...
Media, yes, we got media.
We got lots and lots and lots and lots of media...
Superman: Earth One - It's been ten years since Marvel launched the Ultimate imprint and universe with the goal being to give writers a chance to play in a new sandbox and readers to jump into the storylines without having to know decades of history and back story. In general the Ultimate imprint has been wildly successful eventually needing a ten-year reboot thanks to the Ultimatum crossover.
DC has tried a couple of versions of their own alternate reality imprint. The first was the All-Star line including an All-Star Superman (awesome, phenomenal, rocking) and All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder (atrocious, horrible, so poor that it's worth reading). They had plans for a couple of other lines that never materialized. (One of the major complaints of the All-Star line was the lack of cross-title interaction and continuity.)
Recently, DC announced the launch of another new imprint: Earth One focusing on their iconic heroes during their formative periods and released not as single-issue series but rather as complete graphic novels. Again, a chance for new readers to jump on without needing to feel the weight of fifty-plus years of continuity and for more of their best creators to play in the same sandboxes.
The reason that the Ultimate line worked was because it had great stories.
The reason that at least Superman: Earth One doesn't work is that it has absolutely nothing interesting to say.
This is the origin story of Superman, an alternate world Clark Kent who actually doesn't want to be a hero. We see Clark signing a professional football contract, solving amazing chemical problems (which, in reality, my AP students should kill) and getting a job in the lab, and trying to get a job at the Daily Planet. He's avoiding being a hero, however, because he doesn't want to be singled out as being different. He knows he's an alien and doesn't want to risk being found out. (Does anybody else see the contradiction there? Pro football...miraculous scientist...newspaper reporter...all so very low profile jobs, huh?)
Clark's parents, however, want him to step forward and use his powers to help more people. His hand is, of course, forced when a Lobo-like (but far less entertaining and chucklesome) bounty hunter shows up on Earth One to kill the last Kryptonian. Hence, Superman - in the same suit, with the same powers, having the same origin - is born.
It's boring and pointless.
The world doesn't need another Superman origin story. That's why All-Star Superman took care of business in four panels and eight words.
You already know the story, so Morrison didn't belabor the point. Sadly, J Michael Straczynski does.
The Hurt Locker - I'm only getting in here a year late, I know.
In case you needed someone new to say it, The Hurt Locker is outstanding. At every possible turn, the film avoids choosing the predictable route. The unassuming third man in the team, the one with whom we identify doesn't turn out the way that it appears he's going to. The main character doesn't take the turn that we expect. The countdown that moves our time forward doesn't end up with what we might all expect.
It's a phenomenal film and one that I hope shows a leap being made by Kathryn Bigelow (even though her early career highlight of Point Break was impressive) because this is the work of a director absolutely at the top of her game. Bigelow maintains a desert palate throughout the film, leaving us with nothing to see other than the characters themselves, allowing us to focus on the different reactions to warfare that those characters have.
Where lesser films would take the easy way out and have one of the secondary characters simply and openly ask Jeremy Renner's Sergeant James why he has a death wish, Bigelow lets the characters' actions step to the fore and speak for themselves. Entirely devoid of anything remotely resembling exposition or even a scene in which the characters discuss what is going on. Where writing teachers say to let show not tell, this is why. That way when the one example of exposition - the scene of James speaking to his son - does appear, it has a striking emotional impact.
Every member of the cast knocks their performance out of the park - from the tiny parts of the most well-known actors (Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, David Morse) to the less well-known lead actors, and Bigelow is again to be praised on this. Whatever she did creates a visible and real-feeling bond among the men who risk their lives every minute of their tours of duty and who are looking for meaning in their time along the edge of life and death.
Easily a deserving choice of Best Picture last year.
True Grit -True Grit might, however, be better.
The Coen brothers remake of a John Wayne classic (that I have to admit I haven't seen but that is now on hold at the library for me) captures the sparse beauty of the West (though I do believe that Oklahoma is a little flatter than portrayed here) mirroring the absolute moral certainty and strength of character of the film's lead character - Mattie Ross.
Make no mistake, this is Ross's film. She drives the action and puts her stamp on every action taken by Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, the two characters with whom she spends the most time in the film. Bridges' portrayal of Rooster Cogburn - drunken, one-eyed, fat, clearly well past his prime but with the film's titular true grit - is excellent, putting on the mannerisms and stilted movements of a man who has let his gifts slip nearly away. Damon's Texas ranger - initially reminiscent of his Matthew McConaughey impression but professionally toned down - doesn't quite seem to be the fifty that he must be according to the film's coda but does carry himself with an outstanding mixture of confidence, bravado, and restraint.
I have heard in some reviews that the film's climactic action comes too early, leaving a ending that is a little too declining in action for some reviewers' tastes. (Interestingly, this is the second Coen brother western - No Country for Old Men - to have that same complaint levied against it.) Admittedly, the film's closing - after the climactic confrontation - is stark and plain, but that is very much in keeping with Mattie's composure and character. To end any other way would have been selling the story short, would have been in changing the tone of the entire film.
The acting is spot on from every actor, and it will be a disappointment if Hailee Steinfeld's Mattie Ross is not considered in the lead actress category. Even the smaller parts - Ed Corbin's bearskin-wearing itinerant dentist, Josh Brolin's Tom Chaney, Barry Pepper's Lucky Ned, Dakin Matthew's over-matched horse trader - are brilliantly well acted.
I would have no qualms putting this up against Inception, Black Swan, and The Social Network as the best film of 2010. (And if The Town gets a nomination, as some are predicting, it'll be a travesty.)
We got lots and lots and lots and lots of media...
DC has tried a couple of versions of their own alternate reality imprint. The first was the All-Star line including an All-Star Superman (awesome, phenomenal, rocking) and All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder (atrocious, horrible, so poor that it's worth reading). They had plans for a couple of other lines that never materialized. (One of the major complaints of the All-Star line was the lack of cross-title interaction and continuity.)
Recently, DC announced the launch of another new imprint: Earth One focusing on their iconic heroes during their formative periods and released not as single-issue series but rather as complete graphic novels. Again, a chance for new readers to jump on without needing to feel the weight of fifty-plus years of continuity and for more of their best creators to play in the same sandboxes.
The reason that the Ultimate line worked was because it had great stories.
The reason that at least Superman: Earth One doesn't work is that it has absolutely nothing interesting to say.
This is the origin story of Superman, an alternate world Clark Kent who actually doesn't want to be a hero. We see Clark signing a professional football contract, solving amazing chemical problems (which, in reality, my AP students should kill) and getting a job in the lab, and trying to get a job at the Daily Planet. He's avoiding being a hero, however, because he doesn't want to be singled out as being different. He knows he's an alien and doesn't want to risk being found out. (Does anybody else see the contradiction there? Pro football...miraculous scientist...newspaper reporter...all so very low profile jobs, huh?)
Clark's parents, however, want him to step forward and use his powers to help more people. His hand is, of course, forced when a Lobo-like (but far less entertaining and chucklesome) bounty hunter shows up on Earth One to kill the last Kryptonian. Hence, Superman - in the same suit, with the same powers, having the same origin - is born.
It's boring and pointless.
The world doesn't need another Superman origin story. That's why All-Star Superman took care of business in four panels and eight words.
You already know the story, so Morrison didn't belabor the point. Sadly, J Michael Straczynski does.
The Hurt Locker - I'm only getting in here a year late, I know.
In case you needed someone new to say it, The Hurt Locker is outstanding. At every possible turn, the film avoids choosing the predictable route. The unassuming third man in the team, the one with whom we identify doesn't turn out the way that it appears he's going to. The main character doesn't take the turn that we expect. The countdown that moves our time forward doesn't end up with what we might all expect.
It's a phenomenal film and one that I hope shows a leap being made by Kathryn Bigelow (even though her early career highlight of Point Break was impressive) because this is the work of a director absolutely at the top of her game. Bigelow maintains a desert palate throughout the film, leaving us with nothing to see other than the characters themselves, allowing us to focus on the different reactions to warfare that those characters have.
Where lesser films would take the easy way out and have one of the secondary characters simply and openly ask Jeremy Renner's Sergeant James why he has a death wish, Bigelow lets the characters' actions step to the fore and speak for themselves. Entirely devoid of anything remotely resembling exposition or even a scene in which the characters discuss what is going on. Where writing teachers say to let show not tell, this is why. That way when the one example of exposition - the scene of James speaking to his son - does appear, it has a striking emotional impact.
Every member of the cast knocks their performance out of the park - from the tiny parts of the most well-known actors (Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, David Morse) to the less well-known lead actors, and Bigelow is again to be praised on this. Whatever she did creates a visible and real-feeling bond among the men who risk their lives every minute of their tours of duty and who are looking for meaning in their time along the edge of life and death.
Easily a deserving choice of Best Picture last year.
True Grit -True Grit might, however, be better.
The Coen brothers remake of a John Wayne classic (that I have to admit I haven't seen but that is now on hold at the library for me) captures the sparse beauty of the West (though I do believe that Oklahoma is a little flatter than portrayed here) mirroring the absolute moral certainty and strength of character of the film's lead character - Mattie Ross.
Make no mistake, this is Ross's film. She drives the action and puts her stamp on every action taken by Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, the two characters with whom she spends the most time in the film. Bridges' portrayal of Rooster Cogburn - drunken, one-eyed, fat, clearly well past his prime but with the film's titular true grit - is excellent, putting on the mannerisms and stilted movements of a man who has let his gifts slip nearly away. Damon's Texas ranger - initially reminiscent of his Matthew McConaughey impression but professionally toned down - doesn't quite seem to be the fifty that he must be according to the film's coda but does carry himself with an outstanding mixture of confidence, bravado, and restraint.
I have heard in some reviews that the film's climactic action comes too early, leaving a ending that is a little too declining in action for some reviewers' tastes. (Interestingly, this is the second Coen brother western - No Country for Old Men - to have that same complaint levied against it.) Admittedly, the film's closing - after the climactic confrontation - is stark and plain, but that is very much in keeping with Mattie's composure and character. To end any other way would have been selling the story short, would have been in changing the tone of the entire film.
The acting is spot on from every actor, and it will be a disappointment if Hailee Steinfeld's Mattie Ross is not considered in the lead actress category. Even the smaller parts - Ed Corbin's bearskin-wearing itinerant dentist, Josh Brolin's Tom Chaney, Barry Pepper's Lucky Ned, Dakin Matthew's over-matched horse trader - are brilliantly well acted.
I would have no qualms putting this up against Inception, Black Swan, and The Social Network as the best film of 2010. (And if The Town gets a nomination, as some are predicting, it'll be a travesty.)
January 24, 2011
More food porn...
Three things...
First, I understand that I probably shouldn't put word into the title of a post on a blog that's linked from my school page, but I'm taking a risk. There's absolutely nothing in this post that's pornographic. There are, you are warned, pictures of food that may make you drool, however.
Second, check out the Foodbeast blog. It's a nice mixture of restaurant reviews (in and around SoCal where the blog seems to be centered), food newsish items, and food porn on their own. When they do post food porn, they generally link to the recipe to make the item.
For example, there's the Peanut Butter & Jelly Nutella Tart...
...the chocolate chip sweet roll with peanut butter icing...
...the Inception burrito...(through which I found the blog)...
...bacon jam & cheese pannini...
...Frito-Lay Reese's Cup bark...
Ok, I have to stop now before I short my computer out from the drool.
Third thing, apparently there's this restaurant called Slater's 50/50. I know because Foodbeast blogs about it from time to time. I guess it's an Anaheim burger joint.
Their burgers look phenomenal. Check the menu and the pics...
...chili cheese Frito burger...
...venison burger..."bacon infused ground venison patty, topped with Granny Smith apples, red onions, candied walnuts and a house made blue cheese aioli"...
...Thanksgiving burger..."Ground turkey burger topped with stuffing, turkey gravy, cranberry sauce and a generous helping of sage mayonnaise"...
...vampire burger..."their special Vampire Dip (Garlic, Cheese & Artichoke) with minced fresh jalapenos and diced bacon, then STUFFED inside Sterling Silver beef and topped with two more slices of bacon on a warm flakey bun"...
...California burrito burger..."fresh guacamole, pico de gallo, a bed of french fries, Carne Asada seasoned choice ground chuck and topped off with a smokey chipotle sour cream between two flakey buns"
...even the chicken bacon flapjack burger..."a combination pancake + fried chicken + bacon infused country gravy + more bacon + pancakes as the buns and drowning in 100% pure Maple Syrup"
Yeah, I gotta go eat something.
And I gotta get to Slater's...
First, I understand that I probably shouldn't put word into the title of a post on a blog that's linked from my school page, but I'm taking a risk. There's absolutely nothing in this post that's pornographic. There are, you are warned, pictures of food that may make you drool, however.
Second, check out the Foodbeast blog. It's a nice mixture of restaurant reviews (in and around SoCal where the blog seems to be centered), food newsish items, and food porn on their own. When they do post food porn, they generally link to the recipe to make the item.
For example, there's the Peanut Butter & Jelly Nutella Tart...
...the chocolate chip sweet roll with peanut butter icing...
...the Inception burrito...(through which I found the blog)...
...bacon jam & cheese pannini...
...Frito-Lay Reese's Cup bark...
Ok, I have to stop now before I short my computer out from the drool.
Third thing, apparently there's this restaurant called Slater's 50/50. I know because Foodbeast blogs about it from time to time. I guess it's an Anaheim burger joint.
Their burgers look phenomenal. Check the menu and the pics...
...chili cheese Frito burger...
...venison burger..."bacon infused ground venison patty, topped with Granny Smith apples, red onions, candied walnuts and a house made blue cheese aioli"...
...Thanksgiving burger..."Ground turkey burger topped with stuffing, turkey gravy, cranberry sauce and a generous helping of sage mayonnaise"...
...vampire burger..."their special Vampire Dip (Garlic, Cheese & Artichoke) with minced fresh jalapenos and diced bacon, then STUFFED inside Sterling Silver beef and topped with two more slices of bacon on a warm flakey bun"...
...California burrito burger..."fresh guacamole, pico de gallo, a bed of french fries, Carne Asada seasoned choice ground chuck and topped off with a smokey chipotle sour cream between two flakey buns"
...even the chicken bacon flapjack burger..."a combination pancake + fried chicken + bacon infused country gravy + more bacon + pancakes as the buns and drowning in 100% pure Maple Syrup"
Yeah, I gotta go eat something.
And I gotta get to Slater's...
January 23, 2011
I know those folks...
'Caught this on tv yesterday morning and was pleasantly surprised to see the two young actors at the very end (the two who come out after 0:23). I was surprised because I've taught those two.
They're awesome young people, and it doesn't hurt that they're acting in a commercial for a good cause.
January 22, 2011
Happy Reunion Day, readers!
- Lax-ity of the Day - Poor form in halftime entertainment
- Infographic of the Day - It's posted above in case you wanted to known how most of the X-Men are related.
- This Is Sufficiently Terrifying, You Should Listen To It of the Day - The Sarah Palin national anthem...because...well...because...
- The Batman Nightclub 'Wayne Manor' Revealed in 1966 'Life' Magazine Article - I'm going to argue that the nightclub was a better idea than the haircut that's mentioned in the same article.
- Somewhat Apropros Of The Previous Post of the Day - stupid drunken puppets...
- Tiny Ghosts, 279 - This week's Tiny Ghost is, as it often is, heartbreaking.
- Monday Morning WTF - Appropriately titled...
- Buttersafe - why moths cycle into a flame
- 50 Most Loathsome Americans - Pretty much all spot on - and with caricatures.
- Tiger Mom meme - I think I've met this woman in the course of my job.
- I was Googled - in which the author turns down a job offer from Google (via SuperPunch)
- Found Film of the Day - I've embedded it below. Great story. I wish the finder luck.
January 21, 2011
Dead spot...very dead spot
I tell you, this lack of tennis during one of the grand slams is killing me.
Skip ahead to 0:35 to see the magic trick.
(Source: TheDailyWh.at - as usual)
As a personal note, Ame, if you check this out, show it to the old man, would ya?
Dollar, dollar bill, ya'll...
It's money that I love...it may not be love, but it's all right...
Take a listen, folks...
Oh, as a programming note, weekly 8tracks playlists (every Friday) will be returning for a while. I already have the next seven Friday posts up and ready.
Don't cheat and look ahead.
Take a listen, folks...
Oh, as a programming note, weekly 8tracks playlists (every Friday) will be returning for a while. I already have the next seven Friday posts up and ready.
Don't cheat and look ahead.
January 20, 2011
Thank you, Kim Clijsters
I love that she's this casual and open in her post-match interview.
And I'm craving ESPN2.
(Source - TheDailyWh.at)
Snow day conundrum
It's a snow day because it's clearly unsafe to drive on the roads (we had maybe 1/4 inch of snow when the day was called at 5:30 this morning, but we're supposed to have six inches by the end of the day).
But I want to go to Taqueria Mercado for lunch.
But I want to go to Taqueria Mercado for lunch.
LegOSU
I present the Horseshoe...
Dwarfing the Horseshoe...
Read more about the Ohio State associate prof who built the top (and better) Lego Horseshoe model...
Dwarfing the Horseshoe...
Read more about the Ohio State associate prof who built the top (and better) Lego Horseshoe model...
- Lego Hobbyist Spent 2 Years Building Model of Stadium
- Ohio Stadium (the builder's MOCpage)
- Ohio Man Uses One Million Legos to Create a Replica of Ohio Stadium
January 19, 2011
Update: Pardon our ramblings: Gabrielle Giffords & the tone of our discourse
Travis Corcoran was partially the subject of a recent blog post regarding the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords. He even took the time to post a comment to my post - for which I thank him.
He was, however, in the news again today for trouble that his blog post brought upon him...
He was, however, in the news again today for trouble that his blog post brought upon him...
Bongiorno said police found the comment reposted on ComicsAlliance.com in a story that said Corcoran first made the comment in a blog. Bongiorno said Corcoran has since redacted the comments, but police consider the threat to be credible until they can prove otherwise. Police have also contacted federal law enforcement agencies about the comment.From ComicsAlliance.com post - which goes on to quote the Boston Herald "that Corcoran has not been charged with a crime, although his firearms license has been suspended and a "large amount" of weaponry seized while police investigate his comments and whether they constitute a threat to U.S. members of Congress."
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