day of the fight

n.c.a.a. fails to end lawsuit

2010-02-09T12:49:00.002-05:00

i am for almost ANYTHING that could potentially decrease the indiscriminate power, secrecy, and hypocrisy of the ncaa, esp with regards to its 2 cash cows: college football and basketball. therefore, this lawsuit brings me joy.

haggis, anyone?

2010-01-26T10:12:00.006-05:00

i had never heard of haggis, a scottish food delicacy, until today. one reason, perhaps, for my lack of knowledge is that the united states has banned its importation for the past 21 years.

no longer.

the united states department of agriculture (my former employer for one brief summer) has lifted this ban because they have now determined that haggis does not in fact pose any signficant health risk. the initial ban was set in place in an apparent overreaction to the mad cow disease histeria of the late 1980's-early 1990's.

while the ingredients of haggis [sheep's "pluck" (=heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock] may not sound very appetizing to many people, i am now curious to give it a taste.

[aside: having lived in europe during the mad cow disease time period, i have been told by the red cross and other non-profit or government entities that i cannot give blood in america because of the potential exposure to meat i may have had during this period of my life. i now wonder if this assessment of the danger of my blood is another silly overreaction by american authorities. thoughts??]

UPDATE: perhaps my sources were a little premature....

per an email to andrew sullivan's blog:

Recently, several news articles have incorrectly stated that the U.S. will be relaxing or lifting its ban on Scottish haggis. At this time, haggis is still banned in the U.S. The APHIS rule covers all ruminant imports, which includes haggis. It is currently being reviewed to incorporate the current risk and latest science related to these regulations. There is no specific time frame for the completion of this review. Please check back with APHIS periodically for updates.

the "best" 1,000 movies of all time

2010-01-20T14:18:00.011-05:00

the film critics at the new york times (who i rarely pay much attention to) have compiled an interesting list of their favorite 1,000 movies of all time. the list in its entirety can be found here.

i initially decided to read the list and count how many of these movies i had actually seen. i then decided to take it a step further and group the ones i have seen into a few very basic categories of my own and also highlight the movies i have yet to see that i REALLY want to in the near future. for now, i begin with the movies beginning with the letters A through L. i will continue in a piecemeal fashion through the alphabet until i finish the entire list. i am quite embarrassed by the number of good movies i have yet to see.

as always, let me know if you have any thoughts, reactions, or disagreements, with either the NYT list or my own opinions.

(1) "Superb movies which deserve to be included on the list":

Adaptation (2002)
The Apartment (1960)
Apocalypse Now (1979) - one of my top ten favorites of all time
L'Atalante (1934, reviewed 1947)
Au Revoir Les Enfants (1988)
Back to the Future (1985)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Barton Fink (1991)
The Battle of Algiers (1965, reviewed 1967)
The Big Chill (1983)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Boogie Nights (1997)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Breathless (1961)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Casablanca (1942) - one of my top ten favorites of all time
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
Chinatown (1974) - one of my top ten favorites of all time
A Clockwork Orange (1971) - my favorite movie of all time
The Conversation (1974)
Death of a Salesman (1951)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Deliverance (1972)
Diva (1982)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
East of Eden (1955)
Les Enfants du Paradis (1945, reviewed 1947)
Fargo (1996)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
The 400 Blows (1959)
The French Connection (1971)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
The Graduate (1967)
Howards End (1992)
In the Bedroom (2001)
Jules and Jim (1962)
L.A. Confidential (1997)

(2) "Very good movies but PROBABLY not deserving of inclusion":

About Schmidt (2002)
Amélie (2001)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Boyz N the Hood (1991)
The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
Bull Durham (1988)
The Color of Money (1986)
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Die Hard (1988)
Dinner at Eight (1933)
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Donnie Brasco (1997)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Gangs of New York (2002)
The Grifters (1990)
Groundhog Day (1993)
GoodFellas (1990)
The Insider (1999)
Jaws (1975)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

(3) "Decent movies but NOT worthy of inclusion":

A.I. (2001)
Bambi (1942)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
A League of Their Own (1992)

(4) "DEFINITELY not worthy of inclusion":

Aladdin (1992)
Apollo 13 (1995)
Clueless (1995)
Jerry Maguire (1996)

(5) Movies I have not seen but REALLY want to:

Airplane! (1980)
Aliens (1986)
Annie Hall (1977)
Badlands (1973)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
The Cider House Rules (1999)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The Crying Game (1992)
Dead Man Walking (1995)
Diner (1982)
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Entre Nous (1983)
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997)
Gimme Shelter (1970)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1968)
Ken Burns' America: Huey Long (1985)
Last Tango in Paris (1973)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Lolita (1962)

more doubt cast on shoeless joe jackson's alleged sin

2010-01-13T15:37:00.013-05:00

Maybe it ain’t so, Joe. For 90 years the reputation of Chicago White Sox outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson has been tarnished by the belief that he and seven of his teammates threw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The Black Sox scandal was seemingly validated by Eliot Asinof’s historical account, Eight Men Out.

This short article casts doubt on the allegedly definitive book on the subject by Asinof and is worth your time: American Bar Association

it is difficult for me to ignore these 2 facts:
(1)

In 1921, a Chicago jury acquitted [Joe] and his seven White Sox teammates of any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the newly-appointed Commissioner of Baseball, banned all eight accused players, claiming baseball's need to clean up its image took precedence over legal judgments. As a result, Jackson never played major league baseball after the 1920 season.

(2)

During the series, Jackson had 12 hits and a .375 batting average — in both cases leading both teams. The 12 hits were a World Series record. He committed no errors and even threw out a runner at the plate. Jackson did bat worse in the five games that the White Sox lost, hitting .286, with no RBIs until the final contest, Game 8, when he hit a home run in the 3rd inning and added two more RBIs on a double in the 8th, when the White Sox were way behind. This does not appear to be a valid argument, since Jackson only hit .066 in the four games of the 1917 World Series in which the White Sox either lost to or did not tromp the New York Giants. It is often said that the Cincinnati Reds hit an unusually high number of triples to left field where Jackson played during the series. This is not supported by the contempory newspaper accounts. According to first hand accounts, none of the triples were hit to left field

Source: Wikipedia

the intersection of law and sports

2010-01-12T14:16:00.005-05:00

the supreme court will be hearing oral arguments tomorrow on a very important case as to whether the nfl is one business or an ensemble of 32 teams operating in concert. if it is 32 businesses operating in concert, then the entire league could be subjected to anti-trust laws. the nfl is seeking complete anti-trust exemption, a la major league baseball (to date the only american sport with such an exemption).

for a great synopsis of the case, read this associated press article.
money quote:
American Needle sued the league and Reebok in 2004, claiming the deal violated antitrust law. Lower courts threw out the suit, holding that nothing in antitrust law prohibits NFL teams from cooperating on apparel licensing so the league can compete against other forms of entertainment.

But in what sports fans would call "running up the score," the NFL is asking the Supreme Court to review the case in hopes of getting a blanket antitrust exemption that could eliminate most, if not all, the antitrust suits against the league.

"It was an odd request - similar to my asking an official to review an 80-yard pass of mine that the official had already ruled a touchdown," New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees wrote in The Washington Post. Brees serves on the executive committee of the NFL Players Association.

UPDATE (1/13/10):
supreme court justices seem skeptical of nfl's arguments

parkour, and how it relates to me

2010-01-07T14:20:00.004-05:00

parkour (pronounced par-KOOR):

in the strictest sense, as defined by david belle, "parkour" is the art of moving through your environment as swiftly and effectively as possible using only the human body. more broadly, it might be defined as the discipline of developing the physical and mental capacity of the human being while training to overcome obstacles.

EMBED-Cool Paper Parkour Animation - Watch more free videos

as some of you may know, i consider my greatest skill to be city-walking. city-walking is all about efficiency, awareness of your surroundings, and purpose-of-task. as this video demonstrates, movement is much more of an art form than many non-expert city-walkers (such as my girlfriend) would have you believe.

40 songs from 2009

2010-01-06T09:50:00.019-05:00

needless to say, the release of georgie's favorite music of the past calendar year has a similar impact on the music industry as the yearly publication of the michelin guide on the restaurant business. hopefully, unlike in years past, an exclusion from this list will only engender minor bodily injuries and tepid attempts at character assassination.

rest assured of two facts:

(1) these ARE the best 40 songs of the year, and there is no room for debate.

(2) the 3 guys pictured above in white pants DO comprise perhaps the greatest band of the 20th century (and a strawberry milkshake goes to the first person who correctly guesses their identity).

VOLUME 1:

------ Song ---------------- Band/Artist --------------------- Album

1) Beginner's Luck ------------ EELS ------------------------- Hombre Lobo

2) Drivetime ------------------ Echo & the Bunnymen -------- The Fountain

3) Lenin -------------------- Arcade Fire ------------------- Dark Was the Night
4) 1901 ------------------- Phoenix -------------- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5) The Heartbreak Rides ------ A.C. Newman ---------------- Get Guilty

6) Devils in Boston ------------ Samantha Crain ------------- Songs in the Night

7) Annan Water --------------- The Decemberists ------------- The Hazards of

8) Relator ---------------- Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson ----- The Break Up

9) Man Named Truth ----- Monsters of Folk ---------------- Monsters of Folk

10) Okay ------------------- Venice Is Sinking ---------------- Azar
11) The Horizon Is A Beltway-The Low Anthem-Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
12) The Walls Are Falling Down ---- Fanfarlo -------------------- Reservoir
13) It Don't Move Me ------------- Peter Bjorn and John ------- Living Thing

14) My Unusual Friend ----------- Fruit Bats ----------------- The Ruminant Band

15) French Navy ----------------- Camera Obscura ------------ My Mauldin Career
16) At the Cut -------------------- The Cave Singers ----------- Welcome Joy

17) To Save Me ------------------ M. Ward -------------------- Hold Time

18) Mismanaged Skies ------ Beatbeat Whisper --------- Wonder Continental

19) Move You ----- Anya Marina ------- Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II

20) I’ll Fight ----------------- Wilco ---------------------- Wilco (The Album)

VOLUME 2:

--- Song ---------------------Band/Artist --------------- Album
1) Lisztomania ---------- Phoenix ------------- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
2) Train Song ------------ Feist and Ben Gibbard -------- Dark Was the Night
3) The Right Place ----------- Monsters of Folk ------------ Monsters of Folk
4) Hindsight -------------- Built to Spill ------------------ There Is No Enemy
5) All The Kings Men -------- Wild Beasts ------------------ Two Dancers
6) House of Mirrors ---------- Doves ---------------------- Kingdom of Rust
7) Kiss With a Fist ----------- Florence and the Machine ---- Lungs
8) Bellyfulla ------------------ Ramona Falls ---------------- Intuit
9) Oh No --------------------- Andrew Bird ---------------- Noble Beast
10) So Far Around the Bend ---- The National ------------- Dark Was the Night
11) Fee Da Da Dee ---------- The Guggenheim Grotto ----- Happy The Man
12) Take A Minute -------------- K'naan ------------------- Troubadour
13) You and I ------------------ Wilco -------------------- Wilco (The Album)
14) Honey in the Sun ---------- Camera Obscura ----------- My Mauldin Career

15) Home -----------Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros-Self-titled
16) I Am Goodbye -------------- Bonnie "Prince" Billy ---------- Beware

17) Pulling On a Line ------------ Great Lake Swimmers -------Lost Channels

18) Border Reiver ------------ Mark Knopfler ------------ Get Lucky
19) Kettering ------------------ The Antlers -------------- Hospice

20) Draw the Line --------- David Gray ------------------ Draw the Line

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[if you have provided me your address, the united states postal service will be in receipt of hard copies of this compilation over the next few days.]

a little drivin' on a saturday morning

2010-01-03T23:18:00.005-05:00

an absolute lunatic (french film director claude lelouch) drives a ferrari (or was it a mercedes??) through the streets of paris in 1976. no special effects. the visuals alone of one of the greatest cities on this planet are worth watching, but the traffic decisions the driver makes would have made even evel knievel blush. the driver obviously has a death wish. there's a pretty lady at the end. need i say more?

C'était un Rendez-Vous from Thom Graves on Vimeo.

lost coastlines (okkervil river)

2009-02-13T11:52:00.002-05:00

will sheff (of okkervil river) and a.c. newman (of the new pornographers) perform "lost coastlines," the opening track from the latest okkervil river album, "the stand ins":

thank you, william k., for the recommendation.

i am obsessed with this song:

best music of 2008

2009-01-11T13:49:00.004-05:00

2008 was a solid (but not great) year in music. The biggest theme for me was the arrival of several fantastic new bands. The first albums by Fleet Foxes, Frightened Rabbit, and Bon Iver were some of my favorites of the year. Noteworthy discoveries of bands that I did not know prior to this year (and who produced solid albums in 2008) included Thievery Corporation, MGMT, DeVotchKa, The Black Keys, The Walkmen, and Blitzen Trapper. The depth of new material, however, was not as good as last year or most years from the past decade.

I firmly believe that we are currently in a musical era that compares favorably with the late 1960's and early 1970's, i.e. perhaps the best era of music of all time. To be clear, there are certainly no bands today as good as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, or Bob Dylan (well, except of course for Bob himself, who is still putting out good music), but the quantity of high-quality music in the current era is quite impressive and rivals that of any era. My favorite bands from the past ten years - Radiohead, Wilco, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, etc. - are loudly building résumés that will probably one day rival the greats of the past.

Musical preferences are certainly as subjective as tastes in movies, books, or romantic partners. I love to debate the value of this movie or that book, but ultimately, you like what you like, and your own views will (more often than not) make more sense to you than the opinions of others. That being said, just because you might not agree with my tastes in music in general (what a tragedy!), my hope is that you will still enjoy many of these songs and bands.

Without further adieu, here are my favorite songs of2008:

VOLUME ONE
Song ---------------------------------Band
1 Black River Killer ----------------Blitzen Trapper
2 The Bones Of You ---------------Elbow
3 Calling And Not Calling My Ex ---Okkervil River
4 Change Is Hard ------------------She & Him
5 El Pueblo Unido -----------------Thievery Corporation
6 Electric Feel ---------------------MGMT
7 Gobbledigook --------------------Sigur Ros
8 Golden Age --------------------- TV on the Radio
9 Hot Night Hounds--------------- Annuals
10 Jesus Of The Moon------------- Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
11 Librarian----------------------- My Morning Jacket
12 M79---------------------------- Vampire Weekend
13 On the Water------------------- The Walkmen
14 Ragged Wood------------------- Fleet Foxes
15 Skinny Love-------------------- Bon Iver
16 So He Won't Break-------------- The Black Keys
17 The Twist----------------------- Frightened Rabbit
18 Undone------------------------- DeVotchKa
19 Walls---------------------------- Beck
20 White Winter Hymnal------------Fleet Foxes

VOLUME TWO
Song ----------------------------------------Band
1 I Will Possess Your Heart------------------ Deathcab For Cutie
2 Old Old Fashioned ------------------------ Frightened Rabbit
3 Tiger Mountain Peasant Song------------- Fleet Foxes
4 Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms -----------------Frightened Rabbit
5 Time To Pretend ------------------------- MGMT
6 Weekend Wars --------------------------- MGMT
7 Psychotic Girl ---------------------------- The Black Keys
8 Furr ------------------------------------- Blitzen Trapper
9 Flume ------------------------------------ Bon Iver
10 Danny Callahan-------------------------- Conor Oberst
11 Along The Way -------------------------- Devotchka
12 Head Honcho ---------------------------- Devotchka
13 Hymn #101 ----------------------------- Joe Pug
14 Highly Suspicious ------------------------ My Morning Jacket
15 Lie Down Here (And Be My Girl) ---------Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
16 Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur ------------Sigur Ros
17 Hare Krsna ----------------------------- Thievery Corporation
18 Many Shades of Black --------------------The Raconteurs

If you would like a copy of these two CDs, please email me, and if I don't go to school with you, let me know your home or work address, and I will mail you a copy.

Thanks for all the recommendations throughout the past year that have helped me discovery many of these bands. Keep 'em coming!

choke

2008-11-12T20:26:00.007-05:00

i just saw the movie "choke," and it was very funny and insightful. sam rockwell, in the lead role, was fantastic. this movie is very sexually-explicit. do not go see it if you (or others who might go with you) are easily bothered by such material, but the sex is used primarily as humor and is not disgusting in any pornographic way. do not believe rotten tomatoes, which only has this movie at a 56% approval rating, or roger ebert, who only gave it 2.5 stars out of 4. these two often-reliable sources have it wrong when it comes to this movie. the characters are believable, and the psychological puzzle is intricate.

THE BASIC PLOT: Victor Mancini is a medical-school dropout who has devised an ingenious scam to pay elder care for his Alzheimer's-afflicted mother: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be "saved" by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor's life, go on to send checks to support him. When he's not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park.

THE TRAILER:

do yourself a favor and go see this movie.

fleet foxes

2008-11-05T22:24:00.003-05:00

i really like fleet foxes' debut self-titled album. they remind me of a folksier, more orchestral, and slower version of my morning jacket. check them out ASAP.

my greatest skill

2008-10-26T21:37:00.002-04:00

there are very few things that i do very well in life, but there is one thing that i think i excel at: city-walking.

as a matter of fact, i'm probably in the top 10 in the entire world. i did my apprenticeship in europe as a young lad; mastered the trade in manhattan; and became a world class figure in the industry in DC.

i truly believe that this skill of mine is far too often undervalued, underappreciated, and sometimes even flat-out ignored. my girlfriend has attempted to ignore my city-walking skills from day one of our relationship, but i have not let her negativity affect the truth: that i have a special skill. i have never met anybody who combines the following skills with more consistency than i do:

a) avoiding cars/buses/trams while not being afraid to walk/run in front of cars/buses/trams when the time calls for it;
b) crossing the street in anticipation of avoiding waits at pedestrian walkways;
c) overall sense of direction; and
d) sheer efficiency in getting from point a to point b.

that is all.

vicky christina barcelona

2008-08-27T19:23:00.002-04:00

woody allen still has it. the writing in "vicky christina barcelona" was crisp and funny, the plot was logical, and the characters were well-developed. i liked this movie even more than "match point," which i also really liked, mainly because the characters were more believable. javier bardem was on top of his game, penelope cruz exceeded my expectations, and scarlett johansson was beautiful as always. go see this movie, and let me know what you think.

i hate mockingbirds

2008-07-18T12:24:00.005-04:00

i have developed a hatred for the mockingbird, and i now understand why harper lee chose the title of her famous novel.

here is why: i went over to a friend's house yesterday for a few drinks after work, and we sat outside on her front porch the entire time. i was floored to see the interaction between a healthy, young cat and two annoying mockingbirds.

i've never seen anything like it, but this cat just sat in the yard the entire time i was there and let two mockingbirds hover over and attack him for a couple of hours. the cat just sat there, seemingly uninterested in two loud, annoying birds who just flew back and forth, over the cat, and actually bumping into the cat's body time and time and time again.

LET ME REPEAT MYSELF: THE BIRDS LITERALLY FLEW INTO THE CAT AND HIT THE CAT WITH THEIR WINGS AND FEET. AND THE CAT DID NOTHING. HE JUST LET IT HAPPEN.

my thoughts:

1) i am no hunter nor do i take any pleasure in killing animals, but i want to kill these birds. they are loud, obnoxious, and mean.

2) why does this cat not attack these small birds????? granted, the cat has been de-clawed, but he easily could have bitten these tiny birds and eaten them whole.

3) why are the birds not scared of the cat??????

4) my mind was baffled by this display of counter-intuitive and seemingly unnatural behavior by these animals!!!

2 great acting performances: richard jenkins in 'the visitor' and heath ledger in 'the dark knight'

2008-07-18T11:31:00.008-04:00

1) the visitor: this is the second movie by writer/director tom mccarthy. i was a big fan of his directorial debut in 'the station agent' in 2003, which was one of the most underappreciated movies of the past five years. like 'the station agent,' don't expect a complicated plot from mccarthy or much real action at all. mccarthy's brilliance shows up in his portrayal of the daily grind of our every-day activities in a way that is both artistic and psychologically-insightful. he also does an amazing job of getting the most out of his actors. richard jenkins (the dead father from 'six feet under') was phenomenal in the lead role as an aging, widowed economics professor who walks into his rarely used manhattan apartment one day only to find two illegal immigrants living there. on its surface, the movie is clearly an attack on america's post-9/11 immigration system, but it is so much more than that. it really is just a story about friendship and jenkins' evolution from a bored, boring, and melancholic old man to a man who rediscovers that his life is worth living.

2) the dark knight: believe the hype! it is not an overstatement to say that heath ledger outdid jack nicholson's 'joker' performance in the original batman. this movie exceeded my already-high expectations. this is probably my favorite superhero movie of all time. go see it on the big screen! ledger stole the show with his scary, funny, smart, and believable portrayal. his death is a loss to us all. it will not merely be a publicity stunt if ledger wins a posthumous oscar for this role. christian bale was slightly disappointing, but his character was very well scripted and even more complex than it was in 'batman begins,' which was also a very good movie.

the most talented french rapper on the east coast?

2008-06-14T20:05:00.003-04:00

the spanish mime was a brilliant touch, don't you think?

my brother is an only child

2008-04-14T14:00:00.007-04:00

i saw this italian movie this past weekend. if you do not mind subtitles, you will surely enjoy this funny and intense movie about two brothers who grow up quite differently.

in addition to a great cast, screenplay, and direction, this movie sheds light on some of the grandest themes of recent european history, politics, and culture:

nature vs. nurture.
socialism vs. fascism.
sibling rivalry for affection.
adultery.
murder.
individual vs. society.

i have a huge crush on diane fleri, who plays the role of francesca.

let me know if you have seen it and want to discuss. . .

another great mixed CD

2008-04-04T08:45:00.005-04:00

georgie is always looking for new music! please email me at dayofthefight@gmail.com with any music recommendations. thank you to my friend j.k. for the CD below:

Song Artist
Gemini (Birthday Song) - Why?
Mansard Roof - Vampire Weekend
Ski Jumper - Hafdis Huld
The Opposite of Hallelujah - Jens Lekman
I Wish I Had An Evil Twin - The Magnetic Fields
Seventeen Years - Ratatat
Consoler of the Lonely - The Raconteurs
Everything is Exactly What It Seems - Michael Flynn
Seventeen Dirty Magazines - Modern Skirts
Going to a Town - Rufus Wainwright
100 Days, 100 Nights - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Soft - Kings of Leon
Paris is Burning - St. Vincent
your ex-lover is dead - Stars
Swimming Pools - Thao Nguyen & the Get Down Stay Down
The Reasons - The Weakerthans
The Jeopardy of Contentment - What Made Milwaukee Famous

the savages

2008-03-21T11:57:00.003-04:00

i went to see the savages last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. phillip seymour hoffman and laura linney were amazing as usual, and i'm glad i knew NOTHING about this movie before i went to see it because i probably would not have gone had i known the primary subject matter of the movie. the movie is almost exclusively about a brother and sister dealing with their father who is suffering from dementia and who is incapable of living on his own. the decision as to whether to place the man in a retirement home and how to interact with a person who is often in another world is so morose, but despite this subject matter, this movie was actually very, very funny. if you have seen it, please let me know, and we can further discuss.

an injustice of epic proportions

2008-03-03T13:15:00.004-05:00

i exaggerate, of course, with the title of this post, but i really am still in shock with an event i personally witnessed this past friday night.

for the video, go to:

http://videos.thestate.com/vmix_hosted_ ... id=1746217

then click on the summerville vs. spartanburg 4A highlights for a 3mn video of my high school team (spartanburg high) in the 4A state championship basketball game against summerville (with a.j. green, a very highly recruited wide receiver who's going to georgia - by the way, georgia fans, if green is better in football than he is in basketball, the SEC better watch out. he's an unbelievable athlete. dam$it, why didn't you stay in state and come play for Spurrier?!?!?!).

back to the injustice at hand - i was at the game. 5th row seats at midcourt at the colonial center in columbia, sc. it was a great game which my team should have won. and we did win it had the refs not screwed us over. on the very last shot (65 foot shot buzzer beater when we were down by 2 pts) i heard the horn go off as the ball was in the air. granted, the judgment call was much closer on this video than i remembered it, but it still looks to me as if it was out of his hands before the red light went off. regardless, wouldn't you think that when the refs had to spend about 2 or 3 minutes making a decision as to whether the shot was on time or not, that the tie would go to the shooter????? i think it should.

there were at least 6 or 7 video monitors at the game that i saw. i can understand not mandating video review at the high school level (probably too expensive to justify), but when it's for the state championship, and you're playing at the colonial center, video replay should have been used. it wasn't. and there were 4 senior starters on the spartanburg vikings who will never forget the injustice that was done to them b/c of a moronic devotion to the letter of the law (not allowing video review), when the spirit of the law (finding out if the shot was released on time) should have prevailed.

i realize it was just a high school game, but man, i think my team was robbed. . .

monster jam 2008

2008-02-01T23:02:00.000-05:00

if you have never been to a monster jam, your life is incomplete. i think these pictures tell it all:

there will be blood

2008-01-13T23:44:00.000-05:00

i don't think i've been this pumped to see a movie since "the royal tenenbaums."

i've been a subscriber to the new yorker for about 8 years now, and although i love the magazine, i usually don't pay too much attention to their movie reviews. they're usually way too snobby/arrogant, and i often disagree with their assessments, both with the movies they say are good, and the ones they tear to pieces.

but when it comes to "there will be blood," adapted and directed by the one and only, paul thomas anderson (of "boogie nights," "punch-drunk love," and "magnolia" deserved fame), i'm willing to bet i will be in complete agreement with the immense praise upon which this film was bestowed. although i'll have to wait and see, because, unless i'm mistaken, it hasn't made it past new york and l.a., even though it was released about 3 weeks ago. . .

the text of the review is pasted below, and the full article is here:

Early in “There Will Be Blood,” an enthralling and powerfully eccentric American epic (opening on December 26th), Daniel Plainview climbs down a ladder at his small silver mine. A rung breaks, and Daniel (Daniel Day-Lewis) falls to the base of the shaft and smashes his leg. He’s filthy, miserable, gasping for breath and life. The year is 1898. Two and a half hours later (and more than thirty years later in the time span of the film), he’s on the floor again, this time sitting on a polished bowling lane in the basement of an enormous mansion that he has built on the Pacific Coast. Having abandoned silver mining for oil, Daniel has become one of the wealthiest tycoons in Southern California. Yet he’s still filthy, with dirty hands and a face that glistens from too much oil raining down on him—it looks as if oil were seeping from his pores. The experience chronicled between these two moments is as astounding in its emotional force and as haunting and mysterious as anything seen in American movies in recent years. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but after making “Magnolia” (1999) and “Punch-Drunk Love” (2002)—skillful but whimsical movies, with many whims that went nowhere—the young writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson has now done work that bears comparison to the greatest achievements of Griffith and Ford. The movie is a loose adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel “Oil!,” but Anderson has taken Sinclair’s bluff, genial oilman and turned him into a demonic character who bears more than a passing resemblance to Melville’s Ahab. Stumping around on that bad leg, which was never properly set, Daniel Plainview—obsessed, brilliant, both warm-hearted and vicious—has Ahab’s egotism and command. As for Daniel Day-Lewis, his performance makes one think of Laurence Olivier at his most physically and spiritually audacious.

At the start, Daniel and a small group of workers, wildcatting for oil, give themselves entirely to their perilous labor. There isn’t a word of dialogue. Again and again, Anderson creates raptly muscular passages—men lifting, hauling, pounding, dragging, working silently in the muck and viscous slime. Yet this film is hardly the kind of glory-of-industry documentary that bored us in school. “There Will Be Blood” is about the driving force of capitalism as it both creates and destroys the future, and the film’s tone is at once elated and sickened. A dissonant, ominous electronic wail, written by the Radiohead guitarist and composer Jonny Greenwood, warns us of trouble ahead. Once the derricks are up, Greenwood imitates the rhythmic thud of the drill bits and pumps with bustling passages of plucked strings and pounding sticks. “Blood” has the pulse of the future in its rhythms. Like the most elegiac Western, this movie is about the vanishing American frontier. The thrown-together buildings look scraggly and unkempt, the homesteaders are modest, stubborn, and reticent, but, in their undreamed-of future, Wal-Mart is on the way. Anderson, working with the cinematographer Robert Elswit, has become a master of the long tracking shot across still, empty landscapes. The movie, which cost a relatively cheap twenty-five million dollars to make, has gravity and weight without pomp; it’s austerely magnificent, and, when violence comes—an exploding oil well, a fight—it’s staged cleanly, in open space, and not as a tumult of digital effects or a tempest in an editing room.

One of the workers holds and kisses a baby, then dies in an accident, and Daniel raises the child, whom he calls H.W. (Dillon Freasier), as his son and partner. The movie skips to 1911, when Daniel and H.W. are travelling around California in a tin lizzie, buying up land leases, at bargain rates, from ranchers and farmers who are sitting on underground oceans of gold. Daniel takes advantage of their ignorance to pay them less than they deserve, and, as he addresses a group of them, Day-Lewis’s performance comes into focus. He lowers his chin slightly, and his dark eyes dance with merriment as he speaks in coarse yet rounded tones, the syllables precisely articulated but with a lengthening of the vowels and final consonants that gives the talk a singing, almost caressing quality. It is the voice of dominating commercial logic—an American force of nature. Day-Lewis, at fifty, is lean and fit, and his scythe-like body cuts into the air as he works or stalks, head thrust out, across a field. Much of the time, he projects a wonderful gaiety, but his Daniel never strays from business. He ignores questions, reveals nothing, and masters every encounter with either charm or a threat. He has no wife, no friends, and no interests except for oil, his son, and booze. He drinks heavily, which exacerbates his natural distrust and competitiveness. Even when he’s swimming in the Pacific, he looks dangerous. In his later years, however, Daniel disintegrates, and the iconic associations shift from Ahab to Charles Foster Kane.

Upton Sinclair was a longtime socialist, yet he understood that nothing in American life was more exhilarating than entrepreneurial energy and ruthlessness. The movie retains the novel’s exuberance, but turns much darker in tone. H.W. becomes a victim of the oil rush, and Anderson drops Sinclair’s moral hero, a Communist who organizes the oil workers. Sinclair was a reformer who wanted to ameliorate the harsh effects of capitalism, but Anderson apparently reasoned that social radicalism did not—and could not—stop men like Daniel Plainview. Sinclair, the garrulous, fact-bound literalist, has been superseded by a film poet with a pessimistic, even apocalyptic, streak.

But Anderson does retain Sinclair’s portrait of an unctuous young man who thinks he has the word of God within him: Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), who creates, in the oil fields, the revivalist Church of the Third Revelation. Dano, who was the silent, philosophy-reading boy in “Little Miss Sunshine,” has a tiny mouth and dead eyes. He looks like a mushroom on a long stem, and he talks with a humble piety that gives way, in church, to a strangled cry of ecstatic fervor. He’s repulsive yet electrifying. Anderson has set up a kind of allegory of American development in which two overwhelming forces—entrepreneurial capitalism and evangelism—both operate on the border of fraudulence; together, they will build Southern California, though the two men representing them are so belligerent that they fall into combat. The movie becomes an increasingly violent (and comical) struggle in which each man humiliates the other, leading to the murderous final scene, which gushes as far over the top as one of Daniel’s wells. The scene is a mistake, but I think I know why it happened. Anderson started out as an independent filmmaker, with “Hard Eight” (1996) and “Boogie Nights” (1997). In “Blood,” he has taken on central American themes and established a style of prodigious grandeur. Yet some part of him must have rebelled against canonization. The last scene is a blast of defiance—or perhaps of despair. But, like almost everything else in the movie, it’s astonishing.

for whom does urban meyer work?

2008-01-07T23:46:00.000-05:00

last i checked, urban meyer was the head football coach of the university of florida gators? why, then, was he also a commentator for fox at the b.c.s. national championship game last night? he didn't just do an interview or two during the lsu-ohio state non-game in which the s.e.c. once again showed its preeminent status in college football. rather, he was a part of the pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows. i would not want my college coach focused on such a job, but maybe that's just me. . .

best music of 2007

2008-01-06T20:53:00.000-05:00

there are so many lists out there (good and bad) about the best music of the year, but i don't think i've run across any better ones (and by "better," i mean closer to my own musical tastes) than the 2 great cds that were recently mailed to me by a friend of mine who is now in his sixth year of taking this task of musical compilation very seriously. and i'm very thankful for people like him! please email georgie with your favorite musical discoveries!

best of 2007:

night windows - the weakerthans
slow show - the national
is there a ghost - band of horses
either way - wilco
kreuzberg - bloc party
what would jay-z do? - ben lee
your parents living room - shout out louds
our life is not a movie or maybe - okkervil river
say it to me now - various artists
underwater (you and me) - clap your hands say yeah
closeness - wheat
cheaper than therapy - rogue wave
poetaster - miracle fortress
all my friends - lcd soundsystem
sweetly undone - sam baker
apartment story - the national
missed the boat - modest mouse
virtute the cats explains her departure - the weakerthans

newly discovered 2007:

harmonium - rogue wave
left and leaving - the weakerthans
girls in their summer clothes - bruce springsteen
long live the future - only son
crumble - dinosaur jr.
new york this morning - roman candle
it froze me - the mountain goats
there goes my outfit - the dears
setting forth - eddie vedder
ode to lrc - band of horses
breakfast in bed - dntel
just apathy - tally hall
a wooden horse - british sea power
one hundred resolutions - sundowner
impossible - shout out louds
talking in code - margot and the nuclear so and so's
jane, i still feel the same (demo) - matthew ryan
all the wine - the national
life's a song - patrick park

and here is the best of 2006 according to this same friend of mine:

"Cars and History" - Strays Don't Sleep
"The Crane Wife 3" - The Decemberists
"10 Minutes" - Human Television
"City vs. Country" - Mobius Band
"You Come and I Go" - Hotel Lights
"The First Song" - Band of Horses
"Before" - Richard Buckner
"Hindsight" - The Long Winters
"Woodland Hunter (Pt. 2)" - The Appleseed Cast
"Enough to Get Away" - Joseph Arthur
"Insomnia" - electric president
"Woke Up New" - The Mountain Goats
"Bleary Eyed" - Annuals
"Neverending Math Equation" - Sun Kill Moon
"Light Pollution" - Dirty on Purpose
"Saturday" - Built to Spill
"Chill Out Tent" - The Hold Steady
"With You" - Stars of Track and Field
"Never Ever" - The Hold Steady
"Strange Lands" - Hudson Bell
"I Will Be Grateful For this Day" - Bright Eyes

before the devil knows you're dead

2008-01-06T20:02:00.000-05:00

what an intense movie!

i finally got around to seeing before the devil knows you're dead today, and i was not at all let down. of course, phillip seymour hoffman was amazing as always (for further discussion of my favorite actor, read here), but i would have to say that the man who plays his father, albert finney, stole the show.

finney succeeded at portraying an old man in grief to perfection. the honesty that is expressed when he subtly apologizes to his older son (psh) for how differently he raised him and his younger son (hawke) is one of my favorite scenes of the movie. hawke was good as well, but, surprisingly, despite looking unbelievably hot, marisa tomei was unspectacular in the role of psh's wife who is cheating on him with hawke.

the direction by sidney lumet (the man who directed the classic 12 angry men in 1957) was superb. lumet brilliantly used a technique i first saw in gus van sant's elephant where the audience sees the same series of events from multiple points of view and at different times throughout the movie, without going overboard and boring us with overly technical cinematography.

this movie is not for the faint of heart. the movie opens with a very graphic sex scene, and there is a lot of violence. this is also one of the saddest movies i have ever seen. but not in a predictable fashion. yea, people die, but it's the completely empty state of this one family that has gone through a series of self-inflicted wounds that is just almost too hard to take. do NOT go see this movie if you're in a bad mood. . .

the first campaign

2008-01-04T12:03:00.000-05:00

the caucus results from iowa yesterday were a pretty historical event, and i would like to take this opportunity to suggest a great new book written by a close friend of mine, garrett graff, that is very a-propos to the success of barack obama (and to a lesser extent ron paul as well).

obama has seized the moment of this first election in the information age in order to increase fundraising and awareness of his own campaign to a much greater extent than any other of the politicians in this year's field.

here is an amazon.com link to this very reasonably priced book, 'the first campaign.' in case you want to learn more about my buddy garrett, here is a link to an hour-long interview he had yesterday on the diane rehm show.

NOTE: georgie's admiration for obama's realization of the importance of the internet does not necessarily mean that georgie supports obama to be the next president of the united states. . .

best movie (that i saw) of 2007

2008-01-03T12:20:00.001-05:00

no country for old men. i'd say it's the second best coen brothers' movie that i've seen, behind the big lebowski. i really want to see charlie wilson's war, once, there will be blood, and before the devil knows you're dead, all of 2007 as well, but as of today, NCFOM was hands down the best movie of the year.

funny as hell. thrilling and suspenseful. great acting (although tommy lee jones was nowhere near as good as javier bardem). great plot. meaningful. i cannot come up with enough praiseworthy adjectives for this movie.

georgie's 2008 presidential predictions

2008-01-02T10:59:00.000-05:00

democratic nominee - hillary clinton
republican nominee - mitt romney
mike bloomberg prediction - he WILL enter into the race and spend close to $1 billion and will fare better than most political prognosticators now think.

NOTE: these predictions do NOT necessarily represent georgie's desires to lead this nation, merely an attempt to predict the future political landscape. . .

2K8 resolutions

2008-01-01T13:20:00.000-05:00

i have never been big on new year's resolutions. in fact, i have often mocked others for making ridiculous ones of their own. losing 30 lbs in a month; giving up smoking without taking any substantive measures to really prepare oneself for the physical and mental difficulties involved in giving up the nasty habit; no longer drinking diet cokes even though you previously drank 8 or more a day; no longer eating fast food after you happened to watch 'super size me' in the month of december. et cetera, et cetera. . .

and despite all this, i am now attempting some bold changes in my gastronomical intake because i would like to shed a few pounds and not get winded when i walk up to the 3rd floor of a building. my birthday is in early april, and until that date, here are the following things i would like to avoid:

1) all meat and fish (i will attempt to avoid meat products as well, but if i happen to eat some green beans that have been cooked in a little pork fat, i'm not going to be too worried about it)

2) beer (this shouldn't be too difficult. i can easily drink wine or liquor over beer, although i do love that first lager on a saturday afternoon)

3) french fries (going to be quite difficult)

4) chips (going to be quite difficult as well, especially dorrito's)

this blog offers me the opportunity to make my goals public so as to add a little bit of peer pressure fear so as not to humiliate myself by giving up on these alleged changes over the next week or two.

be prepared for an update on april fool's day. . .

just your average jump out an airplane...

2007-11-28T16:21:00.000-05:00

http://www.madskies.com/70/extreme-skydiving-burning-parachute/

dying professor's last lecture

2007-11-18T17:59:00.000-05:00

i don't know whether to cry or go climb mount everest:

kansas church liable in marine funeral protest

2007-11-01T11:53:00.000-04:00

no real commentary necessary for this story:

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - A jury on Wednesday ordered an anti-gay Kansas church to pay $10.9 million in damages to relatives of a U.S. Marine who died in Iraq after church members cheered his death at his funeral.

Church members said Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's death was God's punishment of America for tolerating homosexuality, and they attended his 2006 funeral in Maryland with signs saying "You're going to hell" and "God hates you."

The federal jury determined the Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, and three of its principals invaded the privacy of the dead man's family and inflicted emotional distress.

Albert Snyder, the Marine's father, testified that his son was not gay, but the church targeted the military as a symbol of America's tolerance of gays. Matthew Snyder died in combat in Iraq in March 2006.

The jury awarded Snyder's family $2.9 million in compensatory damages plus $8 million in punitive damages in the first civil suit against the church, which has demonstrated at some 300 military funerals the past two years.

The lawsuit said church Web sites vilified U.S. soldiers, accusing them of being indoctrinated by "fag propaganda."

"I hope it's enough to deter them from doing this to other families. It was not about the money. It was about getting them to stop," said Snyder, of York, Pennsylvania.
The church, which is unaffiliated with any major denomination, is headed by Rev. Fred Phelps, who has led a campaign against homosexuality for years. Most of the estimated 70 members of the church belong to his extended family.

"It will take the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals a few minutes to reverse this silly thing," Phelps said.

His daughter and co-defendant, Shirley Phelps-Roper, vowed to continue protesting military funerals and called the court's decision a blow against free speech.

Outside court on Wednesday, Phelps and his children waved placards with slogans such as "Pray for more dead kids" and "God hates fag enablers," while passing drivers and pedestrians shouted abuse at them.

Defense attorney Jonathan Katz urged jurors not to award punitive damages because the $2.9 million in compensatory damages was already three times the defendants' net worth.

"It's enough already to bankrupt them and financially destroy them," Katz said.

Craig Trebilcock, an attorney for Snyder, said jurors should award sufficient punitive damages to deter Westboro from repeating its actions.

what's your problem?

2007-10-29T16:52:00.000-04:00

in terms of sane, intelligent, and polite political discourse, what's your problem? is the polar opposite to the old crossfire show on cnn (i'm not sure i can think of two people who were more devoted to partisan politics than paul begala and robert novak. oh, wait a minute, donna brazile comes to mind....).

instead of partisan talking points, loud voices, and hypocritical accusations, left-leaning peter beinart and right-leaning jonah goldberg do a pretty good job arguing substance instead of just spouting out rhetoric.

i've only watched two episodes of the show, but so far, i'm pretty impressed.

click on the link of this post's title to go to the episodes from season 1.

quote of the day

2007-10-29T16:36:00.000-04:00

"Personal liberties are not rooted in the law of averages."

-Justice Potter Stewart in 1975 in Faretta v. California (granting criminal defendants the constitutional right to refuse counsel in state criminal proceedings).

the flexible chair

2007-10-21T15:57:00.000-04:00

who wouldn't want a chair that cool?

shins' concert last night

2007-10-19T13:42:00.000-04:00

i saw one of my favorite bands, the shins, last night in north charleston, sc. the venue left a lot to be desired, and despite a short set, i really enjoyed getting my first taste of the shins' music live. their combination of melodies/vocals is pretty amazing. i thought some of their music might not translate very well live, but i was mistaken. all the cool noises that you hear on one of their studio albums show up in concert as well.

their most recent album, 'wincing the night away,' is my favorite album of theirs. it doesn't have a song as good as 'new slang' or 'caring is creepy,' but overall, it's consistently better than any of their other albums. i highly recommend it.

i just wished they played a little bit longer last night...

Lou Holtz's Newspaper Magic Trick

2007-10-12T16:06:00.000-04:00

you gotta love lou holtz. sure, he can be pretty senile at times, and he certainly did not live up to expectations as head coach of my usc gamecocks. however, he certainly had a key role in bringing our current head coach, mr. spurrier, to town, and for that, i will be forever grateful. and apparently, he's pretty good at magic, as this video demonstrates. i'm pretty impressed. with the magic.

zeitgeist, the documentary

2007-10-10T14:30:00.000-04:00

so i watched a very intriguing and ambitious new documentary today called 'zeitgeist.' as with many documentaries these days, there is a A LOT of truth in this movie, but it is NOT the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. at the very least, it brings up a ton of very important questions: specifically, how christianity was really invented; what actually happened on 9/11 and since then; the influence of international bankers on our politics and society; more generally, how to interpret what's going on in the world around us.

this movie is much more than just a conspiracy theorist's wild dream, although there are definitely aspects of that. this documentary is free of charge, and click on the title of this post to watch all 1 hour and 56 minutes of it.

the movie is broken into 3 parts:

part I - modern religions in general, and christianity in particular, were basically copied from egyptian and greek mythologies and are concoctions intended to control citizens. (i agree with approximately 40% of this part of the film, although that does NOT mean that i do not respect the opinions of my many religious friends and family!).

part II - 9/11 was an "inside job" that could NOT have occurred but for the united states' government providing resources to make it happen. most notably, this film claims that 6 of the alleged hijackers are still alive. (i agree with about 30% of this part of the film).

part III - international bankers, especially american bankers, have controlled governments for the past 200+ years. most notably, american bankers funded both sides of WWII, and war is GREAT business for banks, giving banks a huge incentive to motivate them to press our political leaders to engage in aggressive foreign policy decisions. specifically, that FDR knew about pearl harbor in advance, or at least provoked the japanese into attacking us in order to help the banking community of which his family was a significant part. (i agree with about 20% of this part of the film).

here is a GREAT review.

one issue brought up in this movie that definitely persuaded me to change me mind was the 9/11 commission. up until now, i really had thought they had done a pretty good job. this movie really makes me think that they did a tremendously sloppy job.

please let me know if you take the time to watch it so that we can further discuss the movie's assertions. to be crystal clear, i do NOT claim to believe everything (or even most) of the assertions made in this movie, but i really like the tone of it and think that it is extremely helpful for people to be asking the types of questions that are asked and to attempt to explain what's really going on around us.

sports excitement

2007-08-02T11:17:00.000-04:00

i'm pretty pumped about the near-future prospects of my three favorite sports teams: the kentucky wildcats, south carolina gamecocks, and atlanta braves.

kentucky hired a terrific head coach who seems to work harder than any coach around. i'm not sure he has enough horses this coming year to win it all, but i definitely think the 'cats could be a top 10 team most of the year.

usc has one of the best coaches of all time who is notorious for accurately and honestly assessing his program (and other programs as well) without sugar-coating with coachspeak. his proclamation that usc can compete for a SEC crown this year. means. a. lot.

john schuerholz's moves in the past week have legitimately made the braves a contender for this year's world series. if john smoltz and tim hudson can continue their very solid years, it looks like the team now has enough of an offense and an improved bullpen to be able to win it all. i just wish they didn't have to cut julio franco in the process...

2 movies: one i have seen, one i have not

2007-07-25T20:17:00.000-04:00

1) last night, i saw an advanced screening of sunshine. danny boyle (the director of 'trainspotting' and 'the beach') did an amazing job, and the cinematography was incredible.

overall, the movie was a borderline masterpiece. the only thing holding it back from elite status is one of boyle's choices i disagreed with in terms of the movie's plot. still, i still might go so far as to say that this is a great film.

it is without a doubt a great, great thriller.

it is also sci-fi, a genre i do not care for in general, but i was really into this one. in large part, i believe, because of the depth of the acting. without going into the astronauts' prior lives whatsoever, and without doing it in a sappy or artificial way, the movie really makes you care about the lives of these colleagues and friends during this trying expedition.

i do not want to say too much, but the basic plot-line is outlined below. it did not sound too interesting to me beforehand, and i just went because the tickets were free and i was pretty bored last night. needless to say, i was surprised by how good this movie was.

i am pretty sure most people would like it as well. let me know if you go see it so we can discuss:

50 years into the future, the Sun begins to die, and Earth is dying as a result. A team of astronauts are sent to revive the Sun - but the mission fails. Seven years later, a new team are sent to finish the mission as they are Earth's last hope.

trailer:

2) a movie i have not seen but am really looking forward to is no end in sight. it sounds like a more intelligent, thoughtful, and truthful version of fahrenheit 9/11:

trains in america

2007-07-23T14:00:00.000-04:00

the plan was to drive to new york this past weekend. instead, my car broke down before i even got out of town (new alternator needed), and my girlfriend and i took amtrak instead. more specifically, we took the express train from union station in DC to penn station in NYC. i've made the trip to and from our nation's capital to the big apple many, many times over the past 3-4 years, and i'd taken this train a few times before. but for the most part, i've usually either taken the bus, rented a car, or flown.

the ONLY downside to this train trip was the expense - $150/person for a one-way ticket. given the fact that my car had broken down, there was no alternative unless we cancelled the weekend trip, which was not an option.

but i'm almost glad my car broke down because i was reminded once again of how much i love trains. even in the united states of america. yes, by and large, american trains are second-rate, and it's sad. it's such a shame how much better the trains are in western europe, japan, and other parts of the world, especially since we had the best trains in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. i understand the economics (amtrak, despite significant government subsidies, just is not profitable because of low public demand) and demographics (americans usually need a car whenever they arrive at their destination because we do not have great public transportation in most cities and our cities are very spread out).

the express train between new york and DC is an exception to the rule. this route is fast - instead of the trip taking around 5 hours, as it would by car, or 4 hours, as it would taking the non-express train, the trip took 2 hours and 45 minutes. the snack car is very good and serves beer and wine, and the prices are reasonable. beers were $4, which is reasonable for places like new york and DC. the seats are large and comfortable, and there are even plugs underneath each seat so that you can charge your computer, ipod, or cell phone.

in terms of travelling between 2 large cities, the train is soooooooo much more convenient, less stressful, and more relaxing than the bus, car, or plane. if only more americans felt the same way so that the prices could come down, and it would make more sense to travel between smaller cities.

the downfall of trains in this country is truly regrettable.

one year down, two to go

2007-07-20T11:46:00.000-04:00

so i guess it's about time for me to discuss what has been the most dominant feature of my life for the past year or so: law school. this past may, i finished my first year at the fine institution known as the university of south carolina school of law.

as the cliche goes for american law schools: "in the first year of law school, they scare you to death. in the second year, they work you to death. and in the third year, they bore you to death."

despite thinking that i was ready for the fire after working at law firms in new york and DC for a couple of years, and hearing all about what to anticipate once i went to law school, i must concede that i was pretty scared at times this past year.

in property class, especially. by the middle of my second semester with professor burkhard, however, i grew to think of him as the best professor i had had during my first year and felt comfortable going to class. but it took about five months of fear and panic before i could fully appreciate the maestro that he is. a more serious teacher than he i have not had. by "serious," i mean that he seems to approach class like an award-winning actor approaches a play on broadway. his level of preparedness for a one-hour class is astonishing. it seems as if every minute of the class is laid out in advance, and he certainly knows who he is going to call on before class begins. almost all professors i know use notes from years past and probably improve upon the "script" and delivery of the information they seek to convey and abstract from their students. professor burkhard's script, delivery, and abstractions just seem to be better than any other professor i have had so far.

and this level of preparation is also expected from each and every student. on the syllabus that he handed out on the first day of class, he stated: "for each hour of class, i expect students to prepare approximately three hours outside of class." he means it. his assignments were actually not that long compared to some other classes, but the level of understanding that professor burkhard expected out of the reading was at a higher level than anything i had ever participated in in my higher education learning experience. there were times i came to class having read a case three times through, thinking there was nothing he could ask that i did not know about in that particular case. and, yet, somehow i would still often not have appreciated a major point of the case, at least based upon professor burkhard's expectations of what it means to understand the legal significance of a certain opinion of the court.

i do not recall being humiliated in class, and professor burkhard, to my recollection, did not intentionally humiliate a single student all year (as you will often hear is done by some other law school professors, both at usc and at other schools). but there were definitely times when i felt that i or other students let the class down by not being fully prepared for the burkhard interrogation process. i do not anticipate being an attorney who deals to a large degree in property law, but i am certainly grateful for having had such a great professor, who, by the way, is a pretty big ohio state buckeyes fan.

in a few weeks, i guess i will begin to see if my second year teachers are going to work me to death...

was the u.s.a. founded as a christian nation?

2007-07-18T22:18:00.000-04:00

i've had some very interesting debates over the past few weeks as to whether the united states of america was founded as a christian nation. below is a recent, fascinating discussion that took place on my favorite show on television on this very point, shedding light on both sides of the debate:

The McLaughlin Group, May 25, 2007 -

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: "The United States was not, repeat not, founded as a Christian nation. This was stated early and unmistakably in a treaty drafted under George Washington in 1796 and signed by John Adams in 1797."

"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." - John Adams

The Founding Fathers were insistent that the state remain neutral towards organized religion. "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man" -- Thomas Jefferson.

"During almost 15 centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruit? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."

Question: James Madison is considered the author of the Constitution. Why was he so skeptical, even cynical, about Christianity? Clarence Page.

MR. PAGE: Well, because he was a man who knew from the European experience of what religion could do when it had state power behind it.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: You mean the Inquisition.

MR. PAGE: I mean the Inquisition. I mean, the kind of religious conflicts we've seen in the United Kingdom, even today between --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: What about witch-burning right in our own country?

MR. PAGE: Right. You could go on and on.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: They were closer to that in time than we are.

MR. BUCHANAN: John, Jefferson and Adams were anti-Catholic, anti-papist. One of the causes of the Revolutionary War is the Brits turned the Ohio Valley over to the French Canadians and all these Catholics.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: What's the point? What's the point? Catholics are Christians.

MR. BUCHANAN: What I'm talking about, you're talking 15 centuries, Madison said. He's talking about the Catholic Church. He's not talking about Protestant Christianity. We are a Christian country, or were. We are a secular nation under the Constitution. The two are not in conflict.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Do you care to comment on this?

MR. WALKER: Well, yes. I mean --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Are you a U.S. citizen, by the way?

MR. WALKER: No, but I'm a legal alien. (Laughter.) I hasten to say that.

MR. BUCHANAN: I think we ought to have a look at that. (Laughs.)

MR. PAGE: You'd better show that green card to Pat here.

MR. WALKER: American presidential elections have been fought and won on the slogan of warning against the perils of rum, Romanism and --

(Cross talk.)

MR. BUCHANAN: That was a losing election. (Laughs.

MR. WALKER: Well, nonetheless, this is the most religious country, outside of the Middle East --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: (Religiose ?).

MR. WALKER: -- (religiose ?) country outside -- the most church- attending country, outside the Islamic world. In Britain, in Europe, we're almost post-Christian societies; 3, 4, 5 percent go to church. In this country, it's 40-odd percent. Seventy percent of Americans say they believe in angels.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: What would the framers have thought of the religious right today, were the framers alive?

MR. WALKER: They would have thought they were a complete menace and a threat to the good order and dignity of the U.S. Constitution and the American well-being. And I think they would have been right.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Do you think that --

MR. BUCHANAN: (Inaudible) -- they are, I mean, militant evangelicals.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Was the revolution as much about overthrowing an official religion as it was overthrowing the king?

MR. PAGE: Was there any separation between king -- between God and country there?

MR. WALKER: The king was the head of the established church --

MR. PAGE: That's right.

MR. WALKER: -- as indeed Prince Charles will be.

MS. CLIFT: You don't want to be told what to believe.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Were the Founding Fathers afraid that an official religion might take root? Were they worried more about religion affecting statecraft or statecraft offending religion?

MS. CLIFT: If an official religion takes root, what else official can take root? I just think there is an independence of spirit and thought that belonged to the founders of this country that we want to continue. We don't want religious dogma exercising power over our laws.

MR. BUCHANAN: But Eleanor, the purpose of the Constitution was to separate the national government from church. However, nine state governments had church religions, John, when the Constitution was established. It was at the federal government they were not to have any established church. But nine states had established churches.

MS. CLIFT: Yeah, but they wilted on their own. (Laughs.)

MR. WALKER: But they were good Bible-reading people, because what they understood was to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and render unto God that which is God's.

MS. CLIFT: They didn't have Amazon.com. They didn't get enough variety in their reading.

MR. PAGE: The irony of this is, when you've got a country that's got religious freedom, then religion is stronger than in those countries where they try to dictate it through the state.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Can Buchanan bring himself to say that it's better for the United States to remain secularist, as was intended by the Founding Fathers, and by the documents, since there is nothing in the "under God" phrase that requires a religion -- you understand? You can have God-given rights through the natural law.

MR. BUCHANAN: But what we want --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: What I'm saying is, can you bring yourself to say that this society should be a secular society?

MR. BUCHANAN: No, I do agree the government should be neutral as between religions, no doubt about it -- Catholic, Protestant --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Is that secularism?

MR. BUCHANAN: No, here's the thing.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Is that secularism?

MR. BUCHANAN: It should be supportive of religion. And if the country is predominantly Christian, it should not be at war with the country.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Secularism does not mean anti-religious, Patrick.

MR. BUCHANAN: Well, militant secularism that came out of the '60s has de-Christianized the country. That's what --

(Cross-talk.)

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Martin, you study with the Oxford English Dictionary. Define secular as what, religion-free?

MR. WALKER: Absolutely. Religion-neutral, in effect.

MS. CLIFT: The militancy you're talking about is about opening up society, having women have more rights, having gay people have more rights, having minorities take their place in the society.

MR. BUCHANAN: It is about throwing the Bible and the Ten Commandments out of the schools and out of the public square.

MS. CLIFT: You can be a good person without --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: We need the Ten Commandments in order to have a religious group.

MR. BUCHANAN: Let the people vote and decide. Don't have the courts decide. That's all conservatives ask.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: But you don't see the danger that the Constitution --

MR. BUCHANAN: I don't see a bit of danger from us having an established religion. It's way down the list, John. (Laughs.)

MR. WALKER: Ah, now we have it.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Exit question --

MR. WALKER: Bring back King George III, says Pat Buchanan.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: You can understand how they have the power to insert something into public policy which may not be good in public policy.

MR. BUCHANAN: It may be good. They've got a right to act on their beliefs, just as you do.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: The alliance between the religious right and the GOP is a holy alliance, or is the alliance between religion and the GOP an unholy alliance?

MR. BUCHANAN: It's a natural alliance. Conservative Christians and conservative Republicans is a natural alliance.

MS. CLIFT: They overdid it. The country is rebelling. And I must say, this show can count as going to church this Sunday. (Laughter.) MR. WALKER: It's become a dance of death between the two of them. It's really damaging both.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Damaging both. An unholy alliance?

MR. PAGE: It's not a holy alliance. It's a political alliance, just as all the other factions of the Republican Party or any other party. For mutual benefit they come together. And that's why we're seeing such a withdrawal now of so many Christian conservatives, because they're seeing so little payoff and they see how much decadence there was in other sectors of the party. And now I think they're regrouping.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: I think what you're saying is that it's a dying, unholy alliance. Welcome that.

julio

2007-07-18T16:59:00.000-04:00

one of my favorite sports figures of all time (is he really 48 years old? or older? he genuinely does not know his age) is returning to where he belongs.

exchange rate paradox

2007-07-18T15:29:00.000-04:00

i majored in economics in college. i even took some international trade and international monetary policy classes with very good professors. by and large, i understand that macroeconomic factors dictate as to how this currency over here is valued against that currency over there; that the more america BUYS from foreign countries relative to how much it SELLS to foreign countries, the lower the dollar will be valued against those foreign currencies. i also know that from a free market perspective, a pegged rate (such as what the chinese had against the dollar until 2005) is not fair and should be discouraged. currency exchange is a huge industry, and many people (and governments) make and lose a ton of money based on the future performance of certain exchange rates in forward exchange markets.

on a practical level, however, besides having forgotten much of what i learned in college, all i really care about is that there is an inherent paradox involving how the exchange rates affect me as: 1) an american citizen who wants our economy to do well (which to a larger and larger degree is a function of how cheaply american goods can be sold vis-a-vis those of other countries) and 2) a semi-frequent traveler to europe who wants to be able to eat dinner at restaurants in paris and london without feeling like i'm wasting money because the dollar has lost so much value since the late 90's.

the tradeoff just isn't fair! either the economy is going to suffer (because the dollar is worth a lot) because our goods are relatively expensive, or my summer vacation to the mediterranean is not going to be as much fun (because the dollar is so cheap). i mean, where else am i going to 'summer?' cape cod?!? please, that little trend is over.....

the reason i got to thinking about exchange rates is because of my recent trip to london, paris, and barcelona. london, especially, was so prohibitively expensive that it really affected my outlook on that fine city. the new record low the dollar recently reached against both the pound and the euro only makes it even more expensive for americans to travel to europe.

i guess i should quit whining and just be happy for american manufacturers and workers.

but what about me???

rugby players are tough

2007-07-18T10:29:00.000-04:00

i had a friend when i was in 7th or 8th grade whose dad was a professional rugby player. he told me his dad would break a finger, on average, about every other week. of course, breaking his finger would not prevent him from playing or practicing. that's not how rugby players think. another case in point:

BRISBANE, Australia — Rugby player Ben Czislowski kept competing for more than three months despite the headaches that started after a clash with an opponent.Czislowski was playing for Brisbane team Wynnum during the April 1 incident involving Tweed Heads forward Matt Austin. He had a head wound stitched up afterward, the Australian Associated Press reported Tuesday.Czislowski later suffered an eye infection and complained of lethargy and shooting pains in his head.Then last week, his doctor found a tooth imbedded in Czislowski's head."I can laugh about it now, but the doctor told me it could have been serious, with teeth carrying germs," Czislowski said."I've got the tooth at home, sitting on the bedside table," he said. "If he (Austin) wants it back he can have it. I'm keeping it at the moment as proof that it actually happened."

a few of my favorite youtubes

2007-07-17T19:15:00.000-04:00

here are 4 of my favorite youtube videos from the past few years.

(warning: there are a few cuss words in a few of the following videos but nothing too vulgar.)

when mike says: "spinal," i lose it every time...

bill o'reilly loses an argument to a 16 year old:

"he didn't say that at all. i actually have the exact quote right here."

"i know what you pinheads do."

"i have read it, bill."

"where did the air come from?"

buffalo, lions, and crocodiles. this is an 8 minute long video, but i promise it is worth your while:

how do kids do this?

2007-07-13T09:50:00.000-04:00

i apologize for the extremely disturbing nature of this story from west palm beach, florida but thought this story is worth pointing out. the 3 kids arrested so far are aged 14, 15, and 16. we all hear about horrible crimes almost every day, but the physical and psychological damage done to this mother and son is about as appalling as anything i've ever heard:

According to the victims and police, there was a knock on the door at the victim's home around 10 p.m. on June 18. Police said a "male" at the door told her the tires on her car were flat. When she went outside to check, masked gunmen rushed her and forced their way inside. She was raped by about 10 men or boys, according to the report. She was forced to have sex with her son. He was beaten and had cleaning liquid poured into his eyes. The suspects fled after about 20 minutes, according to the report.

in or out (of iraq)?

2007-07-11T12:10:00.001-04:00

as many people know (and are probably annoyed at hearing me say this), i'm about as big of a thomas l. friedman fan as there is. i've read 3 of his books and have probably read 99.7% of his twice-weekly columns in the new york times for the past 5-6 years. ( as a side note, i'm extremely jealous of the friendship my friend garrett graff has struck up with mr. friedman. when can i meet him, garrett? :) )

in addition to the terrific moustache, the man, in my humble opinion, is one of the greatest thinkers of our time, especially when it comes to middle east affairs and globalization.

another case in point of the man's clear thinking on the middle east is today's column on where we are in the situation in iraq (sorry for the wacky formatting below):

In Or Out

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
When it comes to Iraq, September will be coming early this year -- like now. Democrats, and a growing number of Republicans, are determined not to wait until September for the president to report on whether the surge is working. The American people have had enough. They want out. As we move into the endgame, though, the public needs to understand that neither Republicans nor Democrats are presenting them with a realistic strategy. Obviously, President Bush's stay-the-course approach is bankrupt. It shows no signs of producing any self-sustaining -- and that is the metric -- unified, stable Iraq. But the various gradual, partial withdrawal proposals by many Democrats and dissident Republicans are not realistic either. The passions that have been unleashed in Iraq are not going to accommodate some partial withdrawal plan, where we just draw down troops, do less patrolling, more training and fight Al Qaeda types. It's a fantasy. The minute we start to withdraw, all hell will break loose in the areas we leave, and there will be a no-holds-barred contest for power among Iraqi factions. Our staying there with, say, half as many troops, will not be sustainable. Look at the British in Basra. The British forces there have slowly receded into a single base at Basra airport. And what has happened? The void has been filled by a vicious contest for power among Shiite warlords, gangs and clans, and British troops are still being killed whenever they venture out. As the International Crisis Group recently reported from Basra: ''Basra's political arena is in the hands of actors engaged in bloody competition for resources, undermining what is left of governorate institutions and coercively enforcing their rule. Far from being a model to replicate, Basra is an example of what to avoid. With renewed violence and instability, Basra illustrates the pitfalls of a transitional process that has led to the collapse of the state apparatus.'' We must not kid ourselves: our real choices in Iraq are either all in or all out -- with the exception of Kurdistan. If those are our only real choices, then we need to look clearly at each. Staying in means simply containing the Iraqi civil war, but at the price of Americans and Iraqis continuing to die, and at the price of the U.S. having no real leverage on the parties inside or outside of Iraq to negotiate a settlement, because everyone knows we're staying so they can dither. Today, U.S. soldiers are making the maximum sacrifice so Iraqi politicians can hold to their maximum positions. Getting out, on the other hand, means more ethnic, religious and tribal killings all across Iraq. It will be one of the most morally ugly scenes you can imagine -- no less than Darfur. You will see U.S. troops withdrawing and Iraqi civilians and soldiers who have supported us clinging to our tanks for protection as we rumble out the door. We need to take with us everyone who helped us and wants out, and give green cards to as many Iraqis as possible. But getting out has at least four advantages. First, no more Americans will be dying while refereeing a civil war. Second, the fear of an all-out civil war, as we do prepare to leave, may be the last best hope for getting the Iraqis to reach an 11th-hour political agreement. Third, as the civil war in Iraq plays out, it could, painfully, force the realignment of communities on the ground that may create a more stable foundation upon which to build a federal settlement. Fourth, we will restore our deterrence with Iran. Tehran will no longer be able to bleed us through its proxies in Iraq, and we will be much freer to hit Iran -- should we ever need to -- once we're out. Moreover, Iran will by default inherit management of the mess in southern Iraq, which, in time, will be an enormous problem for Tehran. For all these reasons, I prefer setting a withdrawal date, but accompanying it with a last-ditch U.N.-led -- not U.S. -- diplomatic effort to get the Iraqi parties to resolve their political differences. If they can, then any withdrawal can be postponed. If they can't agree -- even with a gun to their heads about to go off -- then staying is truly pointless and leaving by a set date is the only option. ''It is one thing to try to break up a fight between two people who disagree; it is another thing to try to break up a riot,'' said Michael Mandelbaum, a foreign policy expert at Johns Hopkins. ''You just get sucked into the middle.'' We need to determine -- now, today -- whether this is a fight that can be resolved or a riot that we need to build a wall around and wait until it exhausts itself.

andrew sullivan, another favorite of mine, weighs in on friedman's article and the kurds.

replace july 4th with independence day weekend?

2007-07-10T10:57:00.001-04:00

this was the first year in my life, i believe, in which i was both in the working world AND had july 4th fall on a wednesday, with no other day off during the week besides that wednesday. this post is an argument for how much that sucked and what we should do to avoid this from ever happening again.

july 4th is my second favorite holiday of the year behind thanksgiving. being with friends and family and having good food is the name of the game for both holidays, and that's what i love about both of them.

so i was listening to a sports talk show on monday morning (mike and mike in the morning on espn2), and greenberg made the following argument upon which i am now going to coopt and improve.

first off, i realize this only comes up every so often. in fact, the issue only arises when july 4th falls on a wednesday. if july 4 is monday or friday, you already have a long weekend, and if it's a tuesday or thursday, it's not only tolerated but it's pretty much socially acceptable to take off on the monday or friday, and many employers will even give you these days off as freebies.

greenberg's argument was that we make "independence day" the first thursday of the month of july every year and let people take the friday off as well. that is almost perfect, and i'm going to improve upon it just a little bit more. the point is to make sure we can expect a 4 day weekend to celebrate the birth of our nation, see our friends and family, and have great cookouts with corn, burgers, dogs, and fireworks EACH AND EVERY YEAR.

yes, in my mind, the actual day of july 4th on the calendar is a very special day, but most years, this would fall within this new 4 day holiday weekend where the first thursday of july starts off the independence day weekend. if someone could come up with some kind of statistics for this, that would be great. i would venture to say that july 4th would fall on this new 4 day holiday weekend 90 % of the time. my alternative to greenberg's idea is that if july 1st falls on a thursday, making july 4th on the sunday, we could change it up so that we have friday and monday off.

that is the new rule that georgie is proposing: "independence day weekend" starts the first thursday of the month of july except when july 1 is a thursday, in which case friday and monday become national holidays.

who's on board?

spoiled and spilt: a sunday to remember

2007-07-08T20:40:00.001-04:00

so i hosted my first annual breakfast at wimbledon party today (more about the party in a second). any tennis fan who watched this match must have felt as spoiled as i did. what a great, great match we witnessed. roger federer is the best tennis player of all time. the case in point: rafael nadal outplayed him today for four sets (on roger's best surface) and played the best match i've ever seen him play. and still could not beat roger.

congrats to roger for tying bjorn borg's record of 5 straight titles at wimbledon. both players played unbelievable tennis today. for those who don't follow tennis too closely or know tennis statistics, it's usually a sign of very good play for a player to have a one-to-one ratio of winners to unforced errors. in over 3 hours of tennis and 5 long, tight sets, federer had 65 winners to only 34 unforced errors and nadal had 50 winners and 24 unforced errors. that is amazing tennis, just in case you didn't watch the match and blatantly see just how good these two were playing. the only difference between the 2 players was federer's serve. roger had 24 aces, and nadal only had 1. that was too many easy service games for roger, and it ended up biting nadal in the final set.

overall, though, i think this match may have been the turning point in nadal's career when he realized that he can beat roger, even on grass, even when roger is at the top of his game. sure, nadal lost the match, but the next 5 years should be awesome to watch. this rivalry is already up there with some of the great duels of all time. i think it's already more intriguing than sampras-agassi (even though agassi is my favorite player of all time), and is getting close to the borg-mcenroe-connors era in terms of talent, consistency, and skill. if nadal can slightly improve his serve and go for more aces, especially on grass, i think nadal is going to win some of these matches in the near future. sure, nadal has proven he owns roger on clay. but i think he can translate that success on the other surfaces as well. he's mastered grass-court tennis and is already one of the best of all time on clay. let's see if he can take his solid play at the french and wimbledon into the hard court season in north america the rest of the summer. the past couple of years, it seems as if nadal's play has dipped going into the u.s. open, and he's also suffered a few injuries that have held him back. roger is close to being the best of all time on grass. and nadal is close to being the best of all time on clay. the scary thing is that they both are the second best on the surface that the other one dominates. it's great to see them play in their primes at the same time!

as for the party itself, it was a complete success (with traditional strawberries and cream, of course, as well as some bacon, a potato-based frittata dish that georgie's girlfriend made that was delicious, and some banana nut bread a guest brought that must have been really good b/c i didn't even get to try it before it was gone).

but most importantly, i discovered a new drink. in addition to the bloody marys and mimosas that were served, the same guest who made the banana nut bread brought an english drink i had never encountered before called pimm's. we mixed it with sprite, mint, lemons, limes, and ice. you can also mix it with just tonic water, but i think the sprite did very well. the concoction tastes a little bit like sweet tea and is delicious. i highly recommend it!

after an afternoon nap, i went to see a very good band, built to spill, at the 930 club. they are a very talented band whose albums i recommend anyone to buy. go see them live if you have a chance b/c they certainly take their craft very seriously. a little too seriously, in fact, if you ask me. in stark contrast to the polyphonic spree show i went to last weekend, this band is not very energetic at all. they are highly talented musicians, but da%n it, guys, show a little emotion! your music is too good not to get the crowd into it a little. although the lead singer did have one funny comment, delivered in a dead serious tone of voice:

"i want to thank the stay-lows for opening up tonight. we've been fortunate enough to play with them three times so far. [pause]. although, they really are dicks. [pause]. but their music is so good it doesn't really matter."

i'm assuming he was joking, but it was close to sounding as if he meant what he was saying literally....

the setlist, for those BTS groupies out there, was:

Liar
Nowhere Nothing Fuc%up
In The Morning
Velvet Waltz
Time Trap
Mess With Time
Car
Third Uncle (Eno)
The Source
Wherever You Go
Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
Else
You Were Right
Carry The Zero

Encore: Randy Described Eternity

falafel, kebabs, doners, and shawarmas

2007-07-07T13:14:00.001-04:00

it doesn't get much better than a good falafel. there's a terrific strictly-falafel-and-fries place near where i'm currently living in d.c. this summer called amsterdam falafel. i've been going to this place for over 2 years, and the falafel is consistently great, the toppings for the pita are extremely fresh and tasty, and the fries are as good as any i've ever had. my only beef with this place is a complaint i have against many good restaurants in d.c. and new york: cash only (although they now have an a.t.m. in the restaurant).

when i lived in new york a few years ago, i would often go to a little restaurant in the east village called chickpea that has excellent falafel, kebab, and shawarma (beef, lamb, turkey, and chicken). there are two chickpea locations in manhattan (both on or just off of 3rd avenue - at st. marks and at east 14th street).

i urge anybody who is a kebab/falafel/shawarma/doner fan to submit their favorite spots anywhere in the world.

i like these hollywood sellouts

2007-07-06T09:36:00.000-04:00

so i went to see ocean's 13 last night by myself. (call me weird if you will, but i think i may even prefer to see movies by myself.)

SPOILER ALERT:

to my supreme surprise, the good guys won, and the bad guys were made to look life fools. i just didn't see it coming this time!

seriously, though, i really did like this movie and thought it was better than the second one and just as good as the first one. i think this trilogy is quite well done. the visuals in this one are as sharp as the first two, if not better. i've never been to las vegas, but the helicopter scenes overlooking the city are pretty incredible, and soderbergh's lighting is as smooth and pleasing as anything he's ever done, including 'traffic.' the tone is once again light-hearted, funny, and smart. i was trying to think to myself as i left the movie last night whether there is any part of me that says: "clooney, soderbergh, pitt, damon, and pacino (to a lesser degree since he was only in this last one) are just sellouts by making these movies. they just wanted to make some easy money and hang out w/ each other."

every single one of us has had that (often lame) conversation with other people where we bitch about some actor or director whose work from the past we respected a lot and were let down when we saw them (apparently) doing a movie just for the cash (think samuel l. jackson in 'deep blue sea':

- in case you missed this classic, here is the plotline: "Searching for a cure to Alzheimer's disease a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the bait as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.")

after a few minutes thought, i think this movie (and this trilogy) are too good to qualify as anything close to "sellout flics" for any of the parties involved. matt damon is great (i think his acting is VERY underated - man, was he good in 'the departed'!), george and brad are witty and have the great timing they have always had, and soderbergh is still on top of his game. just b/c the subject matter is not as deep or impressive as 'traffic,' 'sex lies and videotapes,' 'good night, and good luck,' 'babel,' 'fight club', 'sleepers,' 'a river runs through it,' 'good will hunting,' 'the good shepherd,' or 'syriana,' (damn, the quartet of pitt/damon/clooney/soderbergh have crossed paths a lot in the past 5 years!!!) doesn't mean that these guys don't excel in the heist genre. so what if these movies also pay very well (the first two have netted almost a half a billion $ a piece so far)?

at the end of the day, all 3 movies are not only well-written, well-cast, well-acted, and well-directed, but they're also smart enough to make fun of themselves and the genre in general, which is always a plus in action movies.

brad, matt, george, and steven, keep on keepin' on....

favorite philip seymour hoffman role?

2007-07-05T16:11:00.000-04:00

so psh is my favorite actor around. i've been saying it for years, and he's only recently been getting the acclaim he deserves. and it's still not enough.

i'm seeking suggestions as to what his best character has ever been. it's somewhat hard since he's had so many great minor characters and only a handful of leading parts, but try to put that issue aside and focus on which role was the most outstanding in terms of the context of the movie and how he brought his talent to that role.

without putting much thought into it, i would have to go w/ these as his top five roles:

1) george willis, jr. in scent of a woman - this is when i first discovered the greatness of this actor -when he shakes off george willis, sr.'s hand from his head, as senior is trying to give him some advice at the end of the movie when they're both on stage in front of the entire school; his condescending laughter every time he talks to charlie; his sweet-talking to the old plump teacher of his to distract her from his friends getting caught vandalizing the principal's car; i could go on and on.....

2) scotty j. in boogie nights - "i'm an idiot. a effin' idiot........."

3) freddie miles in the talented mr. ripley - his loyalty (dare i say attraction to) to jude law's character and perception of damon's character's mistruths were subtle and brilliant, as psh usually always is

4) lester bangs in almost famous - he made this already good movie just that much better

5) truman capote in capote - i thought this movie was slightly overrated, but the voice alone that psh did was unbelievable. i did not notice the obnoxiousness of the voice one single time after the first 5 minutes of the movie b/c he nailed it so well.

his roles in owning mahoney, magnolia, and punch-drunk love barely missed the cut....

the best movie he was in, in my humble opinion, was the big lebowski, but i did not think that that role was that impressive, although he did make me laugh a few times. especially when he was talking about bunny or reacting to something the dude or bunny said.

college sports

2007-07-05T14:44:00.000-04:00

so i like college sports, especially univ. of kentucky basketball and univ. of south carolina football. it's the time of the year when the only thing to pay attention to in sports is major league baseball, and that's fine. for a while. i am also a big fan of the atlanta braves, but when it boils down to it, i'm realistically only going to be watching the majority of about one braves games every couple of weeks, so i guess i'm not as big of a baseball fan as some people are...

so back to kentucky basketball and south carolina football. i could not be more excited about either one.

uk's new coach, billy gillispie, has been better than advertised. how is that possible, considering he has yet to coach a single game at rupp arena as our new coach? one word: recruiting. gillispie has been on fire in the one area that tubby smith proved to be so inadequate at during his otherwise great tenure in lexington. the biggest accomplishment was the signing of 5-star recruit patrick patterson within weeks of landing the job. add that to the written or oral commitments of 5 other highly-recruited players for this coming year or the next two or three years in his first 3 months on the job, and i give billy a 12 out of 10 in terms of fitting into his new role as king of kentucky basketball.

prediction: the wildcats finish 2nd in the s.e.c. east behind tennessee, get a #3 ranking in the ncaa tourney and lose in the elite 8. billy's got some serious talent to coach with this year, but not quite enough to challenge the north carolina's, georgetown's, and kansas' of the world this season.

usc obviously has the most brilliant offensive mind in college football in sir steven orr spurrier (or "sos," as the message board's refer to him). if you need any proof of the previous sentence, ponder these statistics: the florida gators prior to s.o.s NEVER won more than 10 games in a season. he AVERAGED that many wins in 12 seasons. prior to his arrival, the gators NEVER won a s.e.c. championship. under him, they won 6. yes, his defenses were pretty darn good as well, but anybody who knows college football knows that sos revolutionized not only SEC offenses but those in all of college football.

although last year ended on a high note for the gamecocks, with wins at rival clemson and in the bowl game against univ. of houston, the whole season must be considered only slightly above average b/c of a 3-5 record in the mighty s-e-c. the gamecocks beat EVERY team they were supposed to beat and lost to EVERY team they were supposed to lose to. yes, 4 of those 5 losses were by a touchdown or less, and yes, we did outplay and really should have beaten the national champion florida gators in gainesville (3 blocked kicks will do that to you), and yes, all 5 losses were to teams with GREAT talent (florida, arkansas, georgia, tennessee, and auburn). but you have to win some of those games to have a good year in the eastern division of the s.e.c. b/c the schedule only gets harder this year. with games at lsu, at georgia, at tennessee, and at arkansas, and with florida and clemson coming to columbia this year, and add in a "tricky" game in chapel hill against new coach butch davis and the unc tarheels, many experts are (accurately) ranking our schedule as the toughest or second toughest in college football for 2007.

the good news: there is a lot. we have the #1 rated recruiting class of wide receivers coming in, and a well-rounded class in general, with position needs filled across the board. there are so many good wide receivers, in fact, that a few good ones will have to redshirt, but look for jason barnes, chris culliver, mark barnes, and joseph hills to contribute this year. we have 2 very good-to-great running backs in mike davis and cory boyd (boyd being the possibly "great" back) behind a young but very talented offensive line. the defense should be improved, especially along the defensive line and with linebacker twins "the brinkley boys." teams will not often be scoring more than 4 touchdowns against us this year. when you combine that with a 5th year starting quarterback in blake mitchell, and the ball coach calling the plays, history would predict a very good season for the 'cocks.

if i were a betting man, i would say that the gamecocks will go 9-3, with losses to lsu, tennessee, and arkansas. that would mean that the gamecocks would beat georgia, florida, clemson, and unc. that would be a fine, fine season by gamecock standards, and if that happens as i predict, that will be the best 9-3 team in the country. here's to you, steve spurrier, for bringing hope to the gamecock nation that this program can finally consistently win. i'm not guaranteeing continual success, but it certainly seems within the realm of possibility, especially if steve stays for another five years and keeps on recruiting like he did this past season.

the end of an era

2007-07-04T23:34:00.000-04:00

so we all love july 4th. what's not to love? the day off work. the cookouts. the fireworks. the national anthem. the friends and family. for me, i was fortunate enough today to have great tickets to see the game starting at noon between the nationals and cubs at r.f.k. stadium. the nats won, all-star dmitri young hit a grand slam, there were over 40,000 fans in attendance, and the weather was great.

but most of all, on this patriotic of patriotic holidays, the most important event of the day was the nathan's hot dog eating contest at coney island.

i'd like to take a moment to appreciate the historic run that ended yesterday when the great kobayashi lost for the first time in 6 years at this event. i was unable to see the event on t.v., and i'm kinda glad i did not witness the vomiting that took place.

if you've never seen the episode of m.t.v.'s 'true life' profiling kobayashi, (i promise it's the only true life i've ever watched), you really haven't lived. it's great, great stuff and probably merits its own post on this blog. the man is a true professional who i try to think about at least once a day:

as an american on july 4th, i guess i also have to be happy for joey chesnut.

(i must also add a quick i-told-you-so to all those people i told before the event that kobayashi would go down this year. when you know as much about competitive eating as i do, it's pretty easy to make such bold predictions.... here's another prediction: kobayashi will come back next year and not only beat chestnut but once again break the record that was set today.)

commutation to be commuted to a pardon?

2007-07-03T13:50:00.001-04:00

per tony snow:

'There is always a possibility or there’s an avenue open for anybody to petition for consideration of a pardon,' Snow told reporters. 'As far as we know, that’s not been done, and we don’t know if it’s contemplated by Scooter Libby or his defense team. The reason I will say I’m not going to close the door on a pardon is simply this: that Scooter Libby may petition for one. But the president has done what he thinks is appropriate to resolve this case,' Snow said.

you're right, tony, i'm sure neither libby nor his defense team would want to take away that $250,000 fine, two years probation, and the guilty sentence of perjury that could lead to libby being disbarred.

the lies are just to easy to spot these days. as andrew sullivan has been saying for days now, you have the rule of law, and the rule of law for your friends.

on another political note, i think mitt romney should be praised for not ever having issued one single pardon while he was governor of massachusetts.

(i also like the mandatory private health insurance plan that romney implemented for his home state and think that a system like that could probably work at the federal level as well.)

the libby commutation

2007-07-03T11:21:00.000-04:00

here are my basic thoughts on what president bush did last night:

i'm not at all surprised that libby is not going to jail. i'm surprised (pleasantly so) that libby was not granted a full pardon. if bush was going to do anything, i would have thought he would have granted libby the ability to keep his law license. as far as i understand it, libby will probably now be disbarred for committing perjury. i'm assuming the "libby defense fund" will probably take care of the $250,000 fine that libby must pay. 2 years probation is still a big deal, and i'm glad that libby is still being marginally punished for this serious crime.

presidential pardons and commutations are wrong and should be eliminated from our political system. they're wrong now, as they were when bush I, reagan, and ford (despite the recent revisionist history that says that ford did the right thing in pardonning nixon) did them. and they were equally wrong when bill clinton, jimmy carter, and lyndon johnson did them. we need to get the executive branch out of the judicial branch on this issue (and my other issues, in my humble opinion). this incident once again proves that there is the law, and there is the law for the well-connected. it sure must be nice to know that your actions will be excused as long as you are good friends or a significant campaign contributor with the president of the united states.

the polyphonic spree

2007-07-02T15:49:00.000-04:00

so i went to see this pretty wild dallas-based band this past saturday night at the 930 club. i highly recommend going to see them at least once, if not for their musical talent (which is, to be fair, about average, although the horns/sax/trumpet players are pretty darn good) then for their sense of what it means to be entertainers. i don't necessarily recommend buying every polyphonic spree album, but this band is definitely a concept band worth seeing live.

the spree purposely portray themselves as a large fun-loving cult. the lead singer literally has his own pedestal/podium that he walks onto when he's singing, and the entire band is dressed in the same outfits. usually, the outfit is composed of white angelic robes for everybody (which they did appear in on saturday but only for the encore), but lately the garb has been what appears to me to be black red-cross uniforms:

the band has over 20 members on stage at the same time. i was highly entertained with the 8 or so "choir" singers/dancers at the back and by the lead singer who really does a pretty good job as the head of the "symphony." the music is somewhat of a mix between classic rock, folksy jazz, and new-age pop. the performance lasted about an hour and a half, which was about a perfect amount of time to see them. their gig is certainly as energetic as any band i've ever seen.

apparently, there's a volkswagen ad that's currently running on national t.v. that plays one of their songs, but i'm not sure which one it is.

and then i started a blog....

2007-07-02T15:14:00.000-04:00

feel free to comment on/argue with/soundly refute/make suggestions about anything i say or do on here.