Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Doldrums

So it was a rough football week for me. The Steelers lost to the Pats and I was bummed. I'm trying to look at it philosophically tho. Last year, New England lost to the Steelers in the regular season and then won in the playoffs. Hopefully the converse will be true this year. We'll see.

Another factor to hurt my football love was the fact that the Chiefs crapped out on me. I had both running backs and the kicker on my fantasy football team and between them they couldn't put up 15 points on Monday night. I ended up with a tie, with Mike's Dallas Danglers (the lowest scoring team in the league). Sad sad sad.

I've been staying up way too late playing WoW and reading the last few nights so now I feel like crap. I like sleeping in, but 3p.m. is too late. It's just not good.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Someone's calling your phone Goulet

Went over to Trip's the last coupla days. On Friday, Danny and Corb came over as well and we all hung out for a bit. Danny drank a lot of scotch and got a little silly and we all had a good time. After Danny and Corb left, Trip and I watched Threshold, which is still fairly interesting.

Trip is reaching new heights as a tv nerd. The new tv schedule is taxing Trip's reserves as he refuses to miss anything. I'm sure as the season pans out he'll lose a few items he can't miss now. I've got quite a few myself, but I'm a lot more fluid with most tv shows. Honestly how much can you miss that they won't either rebroadcast or (in the case of reality tv) clip from and rehash until you know all that happened.

Tonight we watched Kung Fu Hustle and I thought it was pretty good. It had an odd structure, but was entertaining. Several Looney Toons moments in the martial arts action. I'd say +1 chainmail, although I'm pretty sure Trip would disagree.

We also ended up watching a coupla boxing matches on HBO. Both were really good. The first was two skinny guys (no idea what the weight class was, but whatever), Cotto vs. Torres. It was a slugfest with Cotto picking up a knockout in the 5th or sixth. This fight coulda went either way, Cotto just proved to be a bit better that night.

After that we watched heavyweights Wladimer Klitchko outbox Samuel Peter in 12 rounds. Peter is a raw puncher, who clearly can throw a huge KO punch at anytime. Klitchko simply used his superior height and jabbed Peter into submission. Peter got in a few times and put Klitchko on the ground, but couldn't keep him down. Very entertaining. I like seeing a more technical fighter face off against a brawler. Shows the strengths and weaknesses of both styles nicely. Anyway I'm not a huge boxing fan, but the sweet science has it's charms.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Must've been hard on your mother

Sooooo I've stayed busy... well busy in the entertainment sense. I watched a ton of TV yesterday. I watched My Name Is Earl, which was good. I'm a Jason Lee fan anyway. But it had a nice white trash vibe. I also watched The Biggest Loser, which isn't as riveting as last year's, but we'll see. I caught the end of House, which was decent.

I also finished reading Slaughterhouse Five, which was interesting. I can't rank it as one of my favorite books, but it had it's moments. The structure was definitely unique. I'd rate it as a +1 chainmail overall. Now I have to find something else to read... Not sure what I'll end up with.

So I was wondering where fall is, it's still all summery outside. I want leaves changing and briskness. I demand it! Also I'm tired of hearing about hurricanes. So no more of that crap either.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Yarr!

Ahoy! It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day and I be needing to feel the gentle toss of sea spray on me face. This sea dog spent yesterday watching football and be well pleased with what he seen. Our own Steelers be looking sharper than me cutlass and left the Texans feeling like they were in Davy Jones' locker. Yarr.

I may be watching still more football tonight, with two Monday night games. Me only wish is the landlubbers Clinton Portis and Joe Horn plays like a bilge rats, so me fantasy football team will have reason to bring out the grog with a victory over Nick.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

triple helix life

I'm completely obsessed with this one song at the moment. I pulled the Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92 off my shelf the other day, because it was finally given a U.S. release. (I paid through the nose for the import, that's right I'm old school.) So the first song on the album is called Xtal and is a testament to the fact that electronic music does have a soul. It's absolutely gorgeous. It sounds like falling in love feels... yeah, that good.

The Aphex Twin, a.k.a. Richard D James, is such a great artist. He is impossible to pigeon hole. He makes some of the most brutal and noisy industrial music ever and also some truly ethereal peaceful music. He's got some song that are poppy and some that are so abstract as to be almost unlistenable. I'm sure I've mentioned my admiration for him before, but I do have to recognize he's not for everyone. I think when history tales the tale of our musical culture in the future, he will be mentioned the way people talk about Bach and Mozart today. Bold prediction, but I could see it. He's that innovative.

I'm also obsessed with The Hold Steady, which Trip got me hooked on. It's really incredible music, although in a much different way. It is more traditional rock and roll, with kind of spoken word lyrics about the club scene and junkie life in Minneapolis. It's got a really poetic feel and paints pictures I can see with music, while kicking major ass. I can't stop listening to their albums, I keep playing it again and again.

Tonight Danny sold Trip and I out, although with his current work schedule I can't blame him. So futzed around a bit. We watched Threshold, which is the new show starring Carla Gugino (who is more than a little hot). It's a really interesting show about first contact with some form of alien life. I know that sounds like it's been done to death starring Will Smith and whatnot, but the first show was really good. It's got Peter Dinklage, who makes a great character. I'm afraid that it's doomed to fail because I liked the first episode. So many good shows do.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Cockthirsty?

I borrowed NFL Street 2 from Trip last night and played it way too late for my own good. It's high quality. My created player, Karl Marx, is a QB with attitude. Not sure why I enjoy making my players communists, but I do. It amuses me.

Went to Trip's yesterday and we got our game on. Trip unearthed his Sega Genesis recently and we've been playing NHLPA 93 a bit. I told him I'd give him his props so here they are: Trip pwns me at the game. I got nothing. My best result is a 3-0 loss, with him more often than not completely shellacing me. In my mind, those hockey games on the Sega are the best ever made. They've never recreated the feel of the ice the way they did there. I need to learn how to score more effectively, until I do that I'll continue to lose.

We played some Halo 2 last night and it had been a while. We actually tried the new team games, where there are 4 different teams of 3 players. It was fun. We aren't the best team, but part of that is our lack of knowledge of the bigger maps and the fact that we've trained our skills as individuals with no team ethic in mind. Anyway it was a fun and a nice change from our usual activities.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Things get creative when you're hanging out with our creator

So the new WoW patch has kept me fairly busy this week. A whole new instance to explore and several new things to do. I have managed to pick up the basics of whats going on in a couple of shows tho. I watched the first episode of The Biggest Loser. It loses something without the bingeing, but it's still fairly entertaining. They seemed to go for bigger people this time. Last time there were a few of the women selected clearly because they thought that they would drop a couple and be sexually appealing. What happened was they got voted off quick, because of their lack of weight loss potential. Anyway I hope it's as entertaining as the first.

It's pretty cool. Other than that I've been doing a fair amount of reading. I finished David Eddings' Belgariad, which wasn't bad. It was light reading and kept me entertained. Can't compare to Robert Jordan or George R.R. Martin. I'd give it a +1 chainmail all told.

I've now started reading Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, bascially because I saw him on the Daily Show and his wit was incredibly sharp. His comments about evolution and American Democracy were sidesplitting. I bought the book years ago and never got around to it, but with a renewed interest I'm going to delve into it. So far, so good.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Hip deep in football

Oh man what a great day. Opening weekend of football and all is right with the world. The Steelers looked absolutely wonderful. Big Ben ends the day with a perfect passer rating and Willie Parker answered any questions about his abilities. My only complaint is that Hines Ward didn't make more catches (fantasy football).

I spent the whole day Sunday watching sports (although I did a bit of multitasking with WoW after the opening games.) Opened with the Steelers win, switched back and forth between the Cowboys vs. Chargers and the U.S. Open final. I so wanted Agassi to win, but man, now I know why they do all that talk about Federer. He can just end a point at will sometimes. I wrapped up with the evening game and was rooting for Indy (fuck the Ravens). Their defense looked good, especially Dwight Freeney.

Hmm what else did I do this weekend. Went to Trip's Saturday night and we watched Ong Bak, which was pretty cool. It was a little slow at times, but the action was fun. I'd say it was +1 chainmail overall. Basically it was an 80s action movie as told by Thailand. After I got home Saturday I played a bunch of Def Jam: Fight for NY after watching Trip play for a bit. It's a really good game. The only "wrestling" game I have any interest in playing since Pro Wrestling for the NES.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

a week in brief

So it's been almost a week since I posted. What can I say, I've been distracted. Anyway a quick recap:

Movies watched
Alexander (+chainmail, it was too long and a little indulgent, but had certain epic qualities. If I was in a worse mood it could be meh.)
After the Sunset (foot massage, a nice little caper movie with Salma Hayek in a bikini most of the time, how can that be bad?)
A Lot Like Love (+1 chainmail, Decent romantic comedy type movie, nothing special tho, although I do like Amanda Peet. hmm me liking an attractive woman, fancy that.)

Books read
Stiff by Mary Roach (filet mignon, the funniest book about cadavers you're ever likely to read. It's nonfiction about what happens to bodies after death, with amusing anecdotes and interesting facts thrown in. I highly recommend it if youre not easily offended.)
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings (+1 chainmail, another foray into the fantasy genre. Not bad and a fairly quick read. It's the first book in a series and I'm probably gonna keep going.)

So yeah, I've found ways to stay busy. I applied for a job and I'm hopeful. We'll see.


Friday, September 02, 2005

Way to go bench

Go Steelers! I had a fabulous time yesterday seeing the Steelers. I have to give another big shout out to Nick for hooking me up with a ticket and driving me there. We had good time. While it was the final preseason game and has no real bearing on anything it was still cool to see my boys on the field. When they came out of the tunnel it was a great moment.

Bank of America Stadium is really nice too. It had a nice atmosphere, most of the people were pretty pleasant (except the asshole behind me, every football game I go to there is some prick behind me who has to be as obnoxious as possible). We got there early so we could kick back, grab a bite and watch warmups. There were a ton of Steelers fans there as well and I had to stop myself from buying a Terrible towel.

The first team offense looked like they really didn't care. The Panthers defense took apart the O-Line at will (making me suspect that the first team wasn't really starting there). The only first downs we got were when Ben Roethlisberger scrambled for em. That had my heart in my throat.

But in the second quarter the second team came in and I got to see some of the up and comers play. Heath Miller looked pretty sharp. He's got some definite potential. The fifth string running back Noah Herron looked like he might have some potential too, if he can keep his hands on the ball. We left about midway through the 3rd quarter to avoid traffic and because you only need to see so much of the 5th string guys.

All in all, it was awesome. My first actual live NFL experience. Thanks again Nick, you da man.