30 December 2005

To all Duck fans

HA, HA! OK 17, OR 14 HA, HA!

I'm not much of a sports fan, but I do love it when UO loses. Saturdays during football season I root for two teams-- Oregon State and whoever is playing Oregon.

I don't have anything against UO, per se. I just resent the local media creating the expectation that, just because we live in this state, we all need to fall down on our knees and worship the Ducks. I used to feel the same way about the Portland Trailblazers. Back when they were contenders, Blazer basketball was almost like the official state religion. Now they are so bad, the players' frequent legal and criminal troubles hog all the headlines.

28 December 2005

A village is missing its idiot

Seen that footage of Bush trying to exit a news conference only to be stymied by a locked door? It cracks me up every time they show it! I love how he mugs up a look of mock horror, then goes into full stand down mode, waiting for his handlers to rescue him. You just know he's been rehearsed repeatedly about what to do in situations like this.

"George, you just stand there and Karl will come make it all better. If you have to go potty, write a note to Aunt Condi."

This is the leader of the free world.

Holiday Update

Not that Christmas means anything to me except a paid day off, but it is still a lousy time of year to get sick. The wife and I came down with nasty colds the weekend of the 17-18th, and it's still hanging on. For me, it's just a bunch of coughing, especially in the evenings. Otherwise I am feeling OK.

We were supposed to do the holiday thing with our Moms, but due to illness we canceled going up to Seattle. We did manage to visit my family on Christmas eve, but spent the rest of the holiday weekend just zonked out recuperating.

We had a couple NetFlix movies to watch. Unfortunately, they were not so good. One was "Last Days", which is the thinly-veiled story of Kurt Cobain's, well, last days. It was dreadfully boring and confusing. I fell asleep about 30 minutes into it the first night and had to figure out where I drifted off when I restarted the next day. I was so disappointed as I was expecting a more straightforward narrative history of Nirvana and the Seattle music scene of the early 90s.

The other disappointment was "Something's Gotta Give." It was 2+ hours of Diane Keaton stuttering and stammering through a script that only Oprah could love. Even Jack Nicholson's always-welcome presence does little to save this yawnfest. The only bright spots were Keanu Reeves(!), Amanda Peet, and a cameo by Frances McDormand. Highly unrecommended!


11 December 2005

Oxymoron spotted

Ever notice the symbol "E/I" in the top left corner of certain TV programs? This is to indicate that programming directed at kids supposedly meets FCC requirements that the material is educational and/or instructional.

I was channel surfing yesterday and noticed the "E/I" displayed on one of the religion channels. That a station feeding on ignorance and superstition is allowed to proclaim their bullshit is anywhere near education is beyond ironic.

Of course with the American Taliban in power, I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

06 December 2005

Atticus

"Miss Jean Louise? Stand up! Your father's passing."

Has there ever been a finer moment in American films than this scene from "To Kill a Mockingbird"?

Interest rekindled

I opened this Blogger account in June 2001 and promptly forgot about it. The wife and her friends have been experimenting with blogs of their own, so I thought I would see what happened when I tried to get back into this. I was somewhat surprised that the account is still alive after four years of inactivity.