There's been a mix up somewhere deep inside

With visions of sugar plums dancing in my head I'll drag my lame ass to work through the holidays once again. My patience with this sort of thing is flagging. But whatever, who wants to hear me bitch about work. I bore myself with it sometimes. Can't help it tho, it's hard to get over it when you keep getting dicked over. I mean I stayed at the office for 50+ hours last weekend thanks to snow, sleeping on the couch. Now it's Xmas and New Year's and I get to work through both. It's even supposed to freezing rain on Xmas Day so I may have another day sleeping on the couch, which will suck.

Moving on, I watched a ton of movies this weekend. Tyson, the documentary on the former heavyweight champ, which was fantastic. Mike Tyson doing some reflection and introspection punctuated by his fights, foibles and foul mouth. Good viewing. Also watched Barton Fink, which was good. Not my fav. Coen Brothers movie, think The Big Lebowski holds that title (although Raising Arizona is in the running.)

I watched a ton of other stuff too, but I think it's bed time so I can get started on my grueling finish to 2009. I'll be glad to see this year end. Aside from the Steelers and Penguins winning championships it's been a fucking dreadful year.

Stay tuned, I've been working my way through some of the 2009 albums I missed and am prepping my best of list. I know you've all been waiting to see a list of bands you don't know or care about.

One last day of freedom

Wow, so my vacation is nearly over. How did that happen? I did have a good time. Actually did some socializing. It was nice to be out on a weekend night interacting with friends. I could get used to that, although I'd better not since I won't be doing it again for months, probably.

Spent way too much money, did a bunch of Xmas shopping, watched a ton of movies (I'll get to some of those later), played some games, read a book (less than I wanted, but I still got one more night) and watched some sporting events.

The book was called Hater by David Moody and had an excellent twist that I did not really expect. Recommended for anyone who loves zombie-esque books (more 28 Days Later than Living Dead.) I'm also reading Julia Child's My Life In France and is wonderfully warm and interesting memoir. I'm reading that because I watched Julie and Julia, which was also warm, like so many of Nora Ephron's movies.

I also rewatched Star Trek (beautiful) and Sunshine (still more beautiful.) Both are awesome. Fahrenheit 451 directed by Francois Truffant, which was good. Not great, but captured the book and I liked the ending. Also watched The Host, a Korean movie about a monster. Strange, but interesting.

I just watched World's Greatest Dad, the new movie by Bobcat Goldthwait starring Robin Williams. Very dark humor... very. So good, if you are into twisted tales about suicide.

Sportswise it's been a rough week. The Steelers lost their fourth in a row to Cleveland, which is just sad. I know I'm not allowed to complain, since they won the Super Bowl last season, but it's hard to watch a my team tank like this. Especially since I know they have the talent to be good. On top of that The Evil Penguin has lost four in a row as well and removed all hope of a playoff berth in fantasy football. This last week's loss was particularly straining since I put up a huge number and would have beaten anyone else I played, except the guy I played. Lucky Breaks strike again.

One positive note is that the Pittsburgh Penguins blasted Philadelphia 6-1 last night and are on top of their division and a mere 1 point back from the top of the conference. I'm feeling the hockey love now. Here's hoping they can keep it up.

Anyway I have one more day off and I'm not sure how I'm going to spend it. I'm debating staying in and not doing a damn thing. But I may want to go out, not sure. Gonna play it by ear. I'm hoping Amazon sends me my Inglourious Basterds Blue Ray, but high volume at the post office may slow things down. I also need to wrap some Xmas gifts, which I'm kinda dreading, honestly. But it has to be done. Anyway, one day more of fun, then back to the mind numbing grind.

Bears fans will love this

Super Bowl? Nope, sex offenders.

The vacation dilemma

Soooo, I bought a PS3 the other day. Basically for the Blue Ray player, but the games potential is cool, as well. Still, I guess my 360 got jealous and decided to fuck up my Modern Warfare 2 disc and now, won't read it. I played for like three hours last night and 2.5 hours in it tells me it can't read my disc. I eject and try to play again. No problem. Play a little longer and move on. Go back tonight and, boom, it won't read it at all and I find it has some stress grooves on the inner circle. Total suckjob.

So now I'm faced with a conundrum. Should I go ahead and trade in my current XBox and get a new one or should I hold off on it. Scared it may fuckup my other games, so I can't really see playing my stuff on it. But it's Xmas and I'm not sure I need to drop the cash I'd have to shell out to get a new one. It's frustrating. Also I'm probably not gonna be able to trade in my MW2 disc and a $60 game becomes a coaster. Bummer.

But at least I'm on vacation... where I have nothing major to do and have to decide between staying in and spending little cash or going out and entertaining myself and dropping major funds. If I don't go out I feel like I have no life whatsoever. If I do I feel guilty for spending too much money. It's no win.

Silenced FAMAS to the dome

I'm now hooked on the Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer. I finally beat the single player, which was fun, but such a goofy plot. But tonight the multiplayer roped me in good. Crushing my enemies, seeing them driven before me and hearing the lamentation of thier women was nice. Although I was actually listening to my Ipod and not the lamentation. What can you do.

Now I get to work through the holiday, wooo. My cold has struck again, or maybe I've got a new one. Either way my face is a fountain of mucus. It's unpleasant. Bleh.

Wall of cocks sequence woulda blown peoples minds.

Been quiet here. Between my constant hacking cough and the mind-numbing nature of my life it's been pretty quiet. I've been mostly keeping a low profile, work, sleep, work, sleep. Throw in a couple of movies here and there and that's it. Shit, what the hell have I been doing? I don't even remember. I did speak of the mind-numbing before and here's an illustration.

I did pick up Modern Warfare 2, which is good, so far, but I haven't been much in the mood for shooting things. Video games just haven't been doing it for me lately. Been more in the book mode, of late. I re-read the last couple of Wheel of Time novels and am halfway through the most recent, The Gathering Storm. It's good, although I do have some questions about the way things are going and how they would be different if Robert Jordan were still alive. But all told, it's not too different from what I'd expect from him. Although turning the final novel into the final three novels does still annoy me a little.

I'm watching Californication, season 2, which is good so far. And I've been watching season 2 of My Name is Earl, which I'm enjoying. I am trying to wring the enjoyment out of the DVDs before syndication annoys the fuck out of me at work, which will take less than three months, I promise. Both the first five seasons of Scrubs and Two and A Half Men are really hard to watch these days. It's even worse with shows that I didn't like initially.

I have been listening to a lot of music. Loads of end of decade lists with stuff I hadn't heard of before that I've been exploring, plus a ton of new releases that merit interest. A few notables are:

• Them Crooked Vultures: Such a Trip album. It's good. I enjoy it a lot.
  
• The Avalanches - Since I Left You: Quality electronic album. Loads of samples jammed together into a glorious hodgepodge.
• Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport: The more I listen to it, the more it grows on me, although I still prefer Street Horrrsing.
• Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy: Magnificent. Love the guitar.
• Jay Z - The Blueprint: I'm working my way up to the new album, Blueprint 3.
  
• The Naked Trucker and T-Bones: Love me some Dave Koechner and I decided to download this gem this week on a whim.
• Vivian Girls - Everything Goes Wrong: Might have mentioned this before, but I love this album and the girls who made it.
  

There is more on the way in this vein coming. I got a lot of new music to peruse. So stay tuned for my useless bullshit.

Bed ridden

I'm just starting to recover from either a cold or the flu, whatever. Some debilitating illness that has made me feel like shit since Friday night. I'm definitely not over it and it's been a pain in the ass. It's been teasing me, I'll spend most of the evening thinking I'm recovering then, WHAM!, next thing I know I'm shivering uncontrollably and feeling like total shit. But hopefully, I'm coming back from it now. Just in time to go back to work.

The funny thing about being sick is how it affects your thought processes. I went to vote yesterday (not that it mattered) and I walk up to the table. The people there look at me, I look back and they are like "We need to see some ID." Der, like I didn't know that. Totally out of it. Synapses refuse to fire. Even they must be congested.

So my weekend has been pretty low key, laying around, watching television (again I endorse both the NFL and NHL Networks) and playing games. I'm almost finished with Brutal Legend, but the last level is quite annoying and I'm not sure I'm gonna finish it. I also played several hours of Torchlight, which is a new Diablo-esque game made by some of the same people who brought you the first two Diablo games. Only $20 on Steam. So worth it.

disheveled brain blast

Random thoughts for this week:

• This week in sports has a high probability to suck, between the World Series, the Steelers' bye week and all the Favre nonsense, I'm expecting to be exasperated before Sunday.
• That said, the Penguins are fucking rolling the NHL currently and I'm enjoying it. Crosby dropped some science last night, banging out a hat trick in two periods against Montreal.
  
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is very good. Watched the first two seasons this weekend and it's awesome.
• I have to work on Halloween... and every other holiday until the end of this year. My good will at work is eroding and we need to hire someone new or I may snap.
• Read Jeff Ross' book "I Only Roast the Ones I Love" tonight and it's amusing. A lot of the stuff I've already seen in roasts rehashed, but still enjoyable.
  
• Flight of the Living Dead is the most dull zombie film I've ever seen. I figured it was going to be bad, but am compelled to watch any movie with the suffix "...of the Living Dead."
  
• Finally all caught up with Lost. Now I'm left feeling lost without more episodes to watch. Yesh, that's a horrible line. Still this show is amazing, I'm both happy and sad I waited this long to watch it. On one hand, woulda been cool to always be in on the zeitgeist. On the other, watching it weekly may have broken me.
  
• Met Trip's girlfriend Tamara and she seems cool. They seem to be good together. Definitely a step up from his dating past. Maybe now people will stop thinking we're gay. Although Trip will have to stop blowing me for that to be totally true.
• The Evil Penguin is ailing, losing two straight. We still have a share a spot at the top of the TLB South Conference, but it is precarious.
  
• Here you will find a nice Halloween mixtape to download for free that has a nice creepy edge without being too scary or annoying. It's worth a listen.
• Bernardo Bertollicci's film The Dreamers is worth a watch. It is a love letter to the cinema (particularly French film), a tale of a brother and sister with a disturbingly close relationship and a lot of Eve Green being naked and looking amazing.
• I am in love with the NFL and NHL Networks. I always have something to watch now. When we finally get the high def. issue solved it will be heavenly.
  

Signs your NFL career is over

Living according to dharma, or maybe just the others

Been a while since I posted, but between work and me being lazy it's been a busy time. Mostly I've been watching a lot of Lost. That show is like crack and I always seem to need another hit. Last week I watched 10 episodes in a row in a single sitting. My tendency toward slothlike behavior is astounding, I know. But yeah, I finally finished Season 4 tonight. Only one more to go and I'm all caught up. Then I'll be in the situation to have to watch the final season week to week, which will be painful, I'm sure.

I discovered tonight that I have Vs., The NHL Network and, most importantly, The NFL Network. This seems like something I should have known, but I didn't. Basically because I can't get the HD feeds and this annoyed me to the point where I stopped looking in frustration. So now I have even more things to waste my time. Woohoo.

I finished this book called The Men Who Stare At Goats, which is about the US governments research into paranormal solutions to military/intelligence problems. It's a very strange account. Lots of things brought up that seem just absurd enough to be true. It's being made into a movie and the trailer interested me and I saw the book and picked it up.

Makes you curious which of the paranormal things in the book actually work. Making goats die with your mind, psychic locating, invisibility, the death touch. Some of the products of this type of research is real. That foam they use to immobilize people, blaring loud music and flashing lights as an interrogation tactic. The idea that the whole Abu Ghraib photo debacle was actually ordered by high level intelligence officers as leverage against detained Arabs. So strange. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors... doors that require serious security clearance.

Watch hockey you bastards

I'm in the middle of a very long work period and it kinda sucks. Ten out of eleven days... I get Tuesday off. A Place to Bury Strangers is playing in Chapel Hill that night and I want to go, but I don't know if I'll be up for that drive in the midst of all this crap. Also I'd be going alone. Oh and I have another meeting on Wed. so I get to go in early for a 13.5 hour work day. Lovely.

But that bitching is not why I'm here. I've decided to stand up and be heard. I'm going to defend hockey! The NHL season started last Thursday and it's time you took note. That's right all you haters, hockey is a great sport and here's why:

• First of all, it's a great game. Lots of whiners complain they don't score enough, but that's what makes it exciting. That anticipation when your team gets itself into position to score and you know it may happen.
  
• This goes in tandem with that great game argument, but there are some fantastic hits in hockey. These guys drill each other constantly. There's no rule that a burly defenseman can't hammer those dainty forwards, in fact it's a big part of most team's game plan to plow over those guys. Not like the NFL, of late, where you breathe heavy on a QB and it's a flag.
  
• Some young players that are in the game now are showing some serious skills. Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin. Those guys are gonna be legendary names one day and they are playing now. Enjoy it.
• These are literally big guys with stick and blades strapped to their feet whacking a piece of frozen rubber at one another. How can that be bad?

So there ya go. I admit my enthusiasm is running high after the Penguins' Stanley Cup run last season and all the young talent on the team now. Hard not to love that, especially after so many years of no talent in Pittsburgh. It seems like feast or famine, but maybe Mario Lemieux has finally righted the ship and things will be good there.

One complaint I do have tho, is the TV contract. I hate the fact that Versus has the rights to NHL games. It seems like they'd blow that out, have games on all the time and promote the hell out of it. Do they? Nope, maybe two games a week and fucking rodeo on Saturday. Really? Fuck. The NHL would do better to simply give the rights to a couple of games a week to air on ESPN just to help ticket sales. Bah.

Anyway I'm off to fiddle with my fantasy team and hope for a win over the dreaded Danglers.

Solar Surf

The Fuck Buttons are one of my favorite new artists. Not for the faint of heart, but they do have penguins in the video! Think I may try to check them out in Chapel Hill on Nov. 5, although this will require a night off work. Maybe I'll just take a week's vacation for my birthday or something. Open invite to one and all, but I'm not sure anyone else I know will enjoy it. Philistines.

The emerging science of teledildonics

Been a good weekend. Saw a jazz legend. Sonny Rollins was amazing. That man is 79 years old! He blows it out. His band was amazing too. Such a good time. To set the mood, we went to Mama Dip's and had soul food for the ages. So tasty. The only downside was the drive. It's just a pain in the ass to go to Chapel Hill and back. Didn't help it was rainy and foggy on the drive back. Still was good to get out of my usual routine and we had a good time. Hopefully we can do something like that again.

I have to admit I was out of my depth as far as jazz knowledge went. I basically know the old school A-list names and not much more, whereas Kevin, Jason and Jimmy know that shit back and forth. It was interesting to listen to them talk about it, but I didn't have much to add.

I picked up the new Halo game and it's ok. I miss being the Master Chief, but this game has some cool stuff. Still, having only played it a little it seems like kind of game Bungie made to satisfy a contract requirement, rather than one they were excited about. I'll give it a little more time.

I've also been watching a lot of Lost, which continues to captivate. I'm fighting the urge to go watch it now, but I think I'll catch The Ultimate Fighter and Top Chef first. I also need to watch Gran Torino, which I've had from Netflix for over a week.

Oh I've been trying to maintain a pace of reading one book a week and may have fallen a bit behind on that recently, just because of a lot of distractions. That, of course, is not counting graphic novels and it's just not the same thing. I did finish Johannes Cabal the Necromancer and it was ok, not great. Evil carnival tales are always fun.

Something that made me smile

Remember when Pittsburgh had a running game?

Bitch fest

I can not describe how much working on Sundays make my life suck. I used to have this bright beacon of hope, as Sunday started my weekend and I could spend the whole day relaxing and watching football. Now, I try to "fit in" the early game with lack of sleep and then drive to work as the second game opens and half the time I will be forced to run the late game. Then during the night game I get to watch on a 10 inch screen and try to divide my attention between it and what I'm actually supposed to be doing.

Look, I know I'm not working in a salt mine or anything, but these days it seems I have fewer and fewer things to genuinely look forward to and this takes away another of them. So now I just get to work (watch television), kill my days off (watching television) and then go back to work. Pathetic.

This feeling is exacerbated by the fact that this week I get to drive in to work on Wednesday for a meeting. Hooray. Oh and today was fucking terrible. Got my oil changed and inspection and found out I need new brake pads (and possibly rotors). Waited 45 minutes at Comcast to get a digital cable box and they don't give me the cable I need to get HD channels and got a haircut and had to listen to my stylist's baby daddy issues.

Oh and my fantasy receivers crapped out on me and Jake Delhomme helped screw me over two different ways (I started Steve Smith and Nick started the Philly D.) so the Evil Penguin starts off slow. Well assuming Nate Kaeding doesn't get nine more points tonight, which seems unlikely.

Oh and Week 2 beard update: I have trimmed it a little to make me look less homeless. It's not filling in fast enough and I still look white trashy. Also still itchy. But I will not be give in and will continue my quest to grow a decent looking beard and earn the name Beardo.

Accelerating constantly toward some null point

Today was the last Sunday of the year without NFL football. Mike described it as the worst week of the year and I'd have trouble arguing with him about it. Work tonight was mind-numbing. I know I say that a lot, but it just seemed to be moving in slow motion all night. I had a hard time focusing and was disinterested in pretty much everything on television. Brutal.

Next week I won't have enough time to keep up with everything. I never seem to tire of highlights and analysis of football. In fact, I seem to be growing ever more caught up in sports. I think this is because it's the one interest of mine that I find people to talk to about. Other stuff I enjoy I find the people I interact with to have not only no interest in them, but, often, downright dislike for them. You can't discuss a song with someone when they won't even concede it's music. But whatever, it's just a issue with my feelings of isolation. No surprises considering my job and overall lifestyle.

So I finally endured my way through work and have made it home and stuffed myself with Canadian beer and chili. Others will probably be thankful if I stay isolated tomorrow. Not gonna be pretty. Not sure what I'm gonna occupy myself with otherwise the next coupla days.

I'm currently watching this documentary "No Maps for these Territories" as I write this. Which is about the author William Gibson, his life and thoughts. He's amazing and I urge everyone to read all his books. He's got a futurist mind and some really interesting things going on in his head. He coined the term cyberspace in the 80s. That's just the start of his genius. But I think I've covered this before.

Fall approaches

A very low key weekend. Monday I bummed around then watched True Blood with Trip. That episode was a little blah, I'm over the crazed town thing, but the show overall is pretty awesome. Only one more new episode this season, tho.

After that I came home and watched Sword of Doom. A samurai movie starring the inimitable Toshiro Mifune. That guy is awesome. The movie was a little confusing, which may have been partly due to translation problems, but had some quality sword battles. Worth checking out if you're into such things.

I got to spend the next night at Trip's with an old friend, who has assumed the role of functional alcoholic. It's not pretty and hanging wasn't that fun. It sounds cruel, but I've spent too much time dealing with drunks to volunteer for more. Not really sure what to do about this...

Today my big project was going to Gamestop to preorder Halo:ODST and then hitting the library. Picked out a couple of interesting books. I decided to plunge into Norman Mailer's "The Executioner's Song" which is a little intimidating as it's a modern classic and like 1,000 pages long. I'm 50 pages in and so far it's good, but it's very early on.

I also finished George Mann's "The Affinity Bridge" and I loved it. Nice steampunk vibe, set in the 1800's but doesn't try to emulate the 19th century style, which I tend to find quite dry. Ohh and it has zombies, which is almost never a bad thing. I think it may be the start of a series and that seems like a good thing to me.

Now I'm watching Top Chef and sipping a nice glass of Jameson's on ice. A nice stress reliever before I head back to work tomorrow. At least I get to watch the Steelers final preseason game. Not too exciting, but preseason football is better than no football. Plus the final preseason game means we are just a breath away from the kickoff of regular season. I'm ready to make a run at a second TLB title and hopefully the Steelers can repeat as well. Not sure which one I'd like more at this point. Probably the Steelers, but I'd be fine either way. Super fine with both.

Mind infestation

So here's a quick rundown of the stuff Ive been checking out lately. I'll open with Inglourious Basterds because it's amazing. I'm a Tarantino fan from way back, and this rates as one of his best, in my opinion. I'd say third overall, after Pulp Fiction and Reservior Dogs. Kill Bill is close, but I think I prefer the Basterds. It's not the movie I expected, but it's still amazing. I could rant for hours, but I'll let it go at that.

I read a bunch of Green Lantern comics. Historically I haven't been that hyped about Green Lantern, but some of the newer stuff is pretty good. The Green Lantern Corps and Sinestro War stuff was excellent. I know, I'm approaching the highest level of nerdity here, but what can I do. Not like I have a life, may as well nerd out.

Watched Bobcat Goldthwait's Sleeping Dogs Lie. He describes it as a film with a "tasteful amount of bestiality." I'd agree. It's kinda funny and pretty fucked up. What else would you expect? Worth a watch if you're into weird.

I got the Japandroids' album Post Nothing, which I recommend. It's a duo that sounds like a full five piece rock band and they hit you with a wall of sound. I dig the frenetic pacing. I've also been giving a lot of my listening time to Patton Oswalt's new album My Weakness is Strong, which is beyond my ability to describe how funny it is.

I've also been listening to Adam Corolla's podcast, which is amusing. He's got this amusing, curmudgeonly humor I'm partial to, being a complete bastard myself.

This is how I spent three hours on a Friday night

This gets harder every year. Every team had a solid draft. Even the autodraft didn't completely screw over VA Sixpack (although it wasn't good to him either.) Toughest draft we've had so far, easily.

But I'll put forth my best effort to make my picks relevant. In the past I've done pretty well. My first year of doing these rankings was less informative, but dead on. I believe I nailed the top three performers that season. Boom! And look that was when Adam was The Vendetta... intimidation tactic that did not pan out. Haha, good times. The 2007 rankings did not turn out near as well. Way off. Last year I got the top three correct, but had Hudson Street dead last and he was probably the top team all season (but I managed to nab him in the playoffs and then take the title, which brings me so much joy.) You'll note I've ranked myself third every year, consistency is key.

So there's your historical precedent. I'm not completely full of shit, but have been known to miss the mark plenty. It's also important to note that a good draft doesn't give you a title. It takes hours of dedication, wasting your life following NFL minutia and plugging in the right player at the right time. And, of course, the lucky breaks. I'll finish by saying that these are purely based on how I rank players, which is certainly not always (or maybe even often) correct. So here we go.

1. Team Anderson - Apparently Mr. Anderson has forsaken his Hellraising ways, but he still had the devil's luck in the draft. His RBs are potent (probably half the league moaned when he took Steve Slaton.) He's kinda married to San Diego's passing game, but that may not be a bad thing (playing Oakland, KC and Denver is probably gonna help those rankings huh.) Personally I think TO isn't gonna be great in Buffalo, but who can say with that nutbag? So Anderson nudges out the top spot by the narrowest of margins.
2. LEESBURG LEGHOUNDS - I gotta tell you, I'd have ranked Adam first if he hadda taken a real player instead of Knowshon Moreno. Ok, that's a little harsh, but Denver has like 10 RBs and no commitment to anyone of them. I don't believe in him. I don't. Also with only three RBs on his roster that could be a concern, but pretty nitpicky. Love his WRs (wanted Desean Jackson, you bastard.) Gonna be dangerous. Naturally he hates his draft, because he's never happy with what he's got in fantasy.
   
3. FSU WARCHANT - I suspect the warchant will be heard all over the TLB field this season. Cal makes his triumphant return to the TLB league after a brief hiatus with a undeniably good draft. His WRs are impressive all the way down, his RBs all have solid upside, he starts Peyton Manning, solid bench. Damn, I keep looking for a hole to poke in this draft, but can't find one. No weaknesses.
   
4. DALLAS DANGLERS - I will not make a dick joke. I will not make a dick joke. I will not make a dick joke. Okay, now that that's out of the way. Mike and I usually seem to rank players the same way. That said I won't be trading for the cursed Cedric Benson again this year. What was I thinking? Hate that he took Megatron one pick ahead of me in the second round. The big questions for the Danglers are can Warner and Tomlinson stay healthy despite Father Time knocking on their door.
5. Evil Penguin - Tough to rate my own draft. This is the lowest I've given myself ever! What am I thinking? Gah... But, sadly, I think 5 is about right, but Kev. or Nick could easily take this spot. Dig my starting wideouts, but need MJD to come on full bore as the man in Jacksonville and Ryan Grant to stay healthy. Also wouldn't hurt to have one or two of the late round guys I took flyers on to pan out. Never know about those guys.
   
6. Heavens Own - Kev's gonna bitch about not being in the top five again, but I'm not gonna rate him ahead of me (just to fuck with him basically.) I'm not sold on Ochocinco after his lackluster season last year, but I also hate the Bengals. (AFC North enmity.) His receivers are solid otherwise and his running backs are serviceable if not spectacular. Also a lot of potential upside on his bench, although Michael Crabtree has screwed his value in my opinion.
   
7. Team Vipperman - Feels weird ranking Nick this low, but I don't care for a lot of his players. Reggie Bush has done nothing but disappoint and I'll have to see that change to believe it. (Of course, me writing that sentence makes it a certainty this season.) Also a big ol' ick to Braylon Edwards. He couldn't catch a cold last season. S Jax is also a injury risk (and plays in St. Louis), but I can't blame him for taking him with all that potential. The bench does hold several potential goodies that may come to fruition, so the jury is still out.
   
8. Innsmouth Fisheyes - I think I may be ranking ye olde Fisheyes this low more out of habit than actual talent. He's got a nice stable of RBs (although Fred Jackson gives me a little pause after Marshawn Lynch's three game suspension.) His wides are pretty solid, although Roy Williams needs to fill TOs shoes if Innsmouth is to cast it's horrible shadow over the TLB ranks.
   
9. greenlando mojens - Someone has to explain what this team name means. I got nothing and I feel like half a retard. The two-headed monster of the league up and committed themselves to the Falcons with Michael Turner and Matt Ryan. It could work out for them, but Atlanta's schedule looks pretty brutal. If I go down their roster player by player I couldn't say I dislike any particular player, but all told I just don't feel good about this draft. Just a gut feeling and clearly I listen to my gut way too much.
   
10. VA Sixpack - Ahh the Sixpack, the newest member of our lovable league of lowlifes. Called away to protect and serve during the draft and forced into auto draft picks. Not what he wanted I'm sure. It coulda turned out worse. I actually kinda like his bevy of backs and would be willing to break him into the league with a nice trade for one of them for some magic beans (I'm trying to beat Mike and Adam to the punch.) His WRs scare me tho. He has three and counts Brandon Marshall (with talks of being suspended for being difficult) and Antonio Bryant (who also always seems to be difficult only with less talent) as two of them. Still, a coupla tweeks and things could turn his way.

Well that's it. I always feel like a prick rating people low, but someone has to be there. I reiterate these are just my bullshit rankings so don't go all bitchcakes on me. Here's to a good season, good fun, close games and me winning a second title. (Had to sneak that in there.)

Prawns and prejudice

I don't know why but I can't get over the feeling that it's Monday. This suck as I feel like my weekend is going way too fast. Whatever.

I went to see District 9 and it was fantastic. Very well done and I loved the lead guy's transformation. Both literally and figuratively. I'm worried there may be a sequel and ruin it, but it was damn good by itself. A nice allegory on racism with cool special effects that didn't feel silly.

Gearing up for the TLB Draft this Friday. Feel a little unprepared, but I'm not sure what else to do. It's probably more nerves than anything, as I really would love to repeat (and become the first ever repeat champion.) But I would also like to not suck ass, that's my first goal. Also still conflicted about who I'm gonna take with the fourth overall pick. Got a coupla ideas, but no strong commitment, plus someone I don't expect to fall to me could. Argh, so much uncertainty.

I also finished this book Breathers by S. G. Browne. It's really good. Makes you empathize with the lead zombie character and his struggles. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys zombies with a tinge of humor and romance.