List Season ::: Reading Material

I don't finish reading a great many books; oh, I start reading probably a dozen or so books every year, but if I finish even 3 or 4 I'm pleasantly surprised, and this year I finished 6

So here are the books I started this year, with a * denoting something I actually finished or will fiinish by the end of 2006.
Everything here comes with a recommendation:
*The Stranger by Albert Camus
*Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
*The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo
*After the Quake by Haruki Murakami
*Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville
*The Iraq Study Group Report by The Iraq Study Group
Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Candide - Voltaire
A Personal Matter - Kenzaburo Oe
Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway


I also worked an internship at a film production company, and in the course of my work I read scripts for potential films-to-be. Here is a list of films you could/should see coming to a theater near you:

Autopsy: written by Jace Anderson, Adam Gierasch, and Evan Katz
Convoy: written by Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (currently in development with John Singleton) Writers also wrote Iron Man, slated for a 2008 release starring Robert Downey Jr and 2005 it-guy Terrence Howard.
Shoot 'Em Up: written by Michael Davis (In production, directed by Davis, starring Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti, due out next year)
Born to Kill: written by Richard Dana Smith
The Big Boss: written by Jason Burinescu

List Season ::: Music '06: Year in Review

Today we look back at music in the year that was. Bear in mind, once again, I don't listen to everything, so here is a sampling of what I listened to this year. I decided to forego the whole "10" list idea after only doing 8 yesterday, so I'll decide on a cutoff point as I'm making the list.

25 Favorite Songs of 2006
In alphabetical order:
Amos Lee - Southern Girl
Anthony David - On & On
Brooks & Dunn - Believe
Corinne Bailey Rae - Breathless
David Condos - Right Where It Belongs
Decemberists - The Perfect Crime 2
James Hunter - No Smoke Without Fire
John Legend - Coming Home
John Mayer Trio - Gravity
The Killers - Bones
Lupe Fiasco & Pharell - KickPush
Mindy Smith - Peace of Mind
O.K. Go - A Million Ways
Nelly Furtado - Maneater
The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes
Radney Foster - Half My Mistakes
Ray Charles & Count Basie Orchestra - What A Beautiful Morning
Robert Randolph and the Family Band - Deliver Me
Robin Thicke ft. Lil Wayne - All Night Long
Snow Patrol - You Could Be Happy
Solomon Burke - Til I Get It Right
Sufjan Stevens - Henney Buggy Band
V - Picture This
Van Hunt - Daredevil
Weird Al - White and Nerdy


13 Favorite Albums of 2006
In order
Van Hunt - On The Jungle Floor
Robin Thicke - The Evolution of Robin Thicke
Amos Lee - Supply and Demand
John Legend - Once Again
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
Corinne Bailey Rae - Corinne Bailey Rae
Ray Charles & Count Basie Orchestra - Ray Sings, Basie Swings
Nelly Furtado - Loose
Anthony David - Red Clay Chronicles
Robert Randolph and The Family Band - Colorblind
The Killers - Sam's Town
James Hunter - People Gonna Talk
Solomon Burke - Nashville

End of the Year = List Season:: Top 10 Sports Moments of 2006

The end of the year is time to make lists, lists, and more lists of various media and news and sports goings-on of the outgoing year, and I will be joining in on the fun. Of course, not being a full-time member of the media, I don't get around to everything, so if I missed something, it's not for lack of effort. 10 seems to be the magic number, less than that is too restricting, more than that and your list seems diluted, so from today to the end of the year it will be top 10 lists every day (provided I remember).

Today's List:
Top Sports Moments of the Year:

Rose Bowl 2006
It was Vince Young, the Man-imal, against Reggie Bush and Co. playing for the college football national championship. Early game controversial calls aside, this was a well-played, well-coached effort all around between clearly the 2 best teams in the country, decided with 26 seconds left on a Vince Young 4th down scramble for a touchdown. VY did what he did best all season, put the entire state of Texas on back and carried the Longhorns to victory, just as he did the year before against Michigan, and now he's at it again in the NFL.

Mario Williams? WTF?
There were 4, 5, maybe 6 guys who could've, no should've, gone #1 in the NFL Draft back in April: Reggie Bush, Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler, D'Brickishaw Ferguson, AJ Hawk, etc. So imagine then-NFL Comissioner Paul Tagliabue's surprise when he strode to the podium to announce the 1st pick in the 2006 NFL Draft is....Mario Williams, DE from NC State.
In what may go down as the single best rookie class in NFL history, Williams may go down as one of the worst #1 picks ever. So many rookies have had such a huge impact, that taking just about any other playing drafted in the 1st round probably would have turned out better. The good news is, if the Raiders blow it with the #1 pick this year, they can always say "It could be worse, we could've taken Mario Williams in '06" and feel better about themselves.

Shani Davis vs. Team USA
It wouldn't be the Winter Olympics without a little controversy, but this time it didn't come from figure skating; no, this time it was speed skating. Shani Davis became the story as he elected to not participate in the team relay, to concentrate on his individual events, reducing the chances that Chad Hedrick could set an Olympic record with 5 speed skating golds.
The media took sides in the argument, calling him the selfish American, lacking perspective, others siding with Davis, saying he had no obligation to the relay team, especially since he told them last year he wouldn't do it and that to call him out now is cowardice and that he shouldn't be asked to sacrifice his own goals for those of another man.
Through it all Davis kept his head about him and did well in his individual events and appeared to maintain a reasonable relationship with Hedrick. It came out that two US skating officials had put Shani's name on the roster for the relay, "just in case", with full knowledge that he had no intention of doing it, irresponsibly yet inadvertently creating much ado about nothing, but it certain what quite the ado.

'roid Landis wins the Tour de Lance
Everyone (except the French) love Lance Armstrong and when he retired from competing in the Tour de France after winning it last year, we in America expected our days of caring about the event to be over. And they were. Until it came to our attention, about 10 stages in, that American and former Armstrong teammate Floyd Landis was in the lead and had a shot at winning. We all got behind him. Then he had a disastrous stage in the final week, falling off the pace and, presumably, out of contention. Then one night something magical happened, and he woke up with superhuman pedaling ability and he went on to be the first one down the Champs-Elysee on that fateful Sunday morning in July. Then, just when it seemed we were unbeatable, America emerging as the world cycling juggernaut, the drug test came back positive. Landis had apparently cheated. The night before his comeback ride Floyd, or as sports radio host Jim Rome dubbed him, 'Roid Landis" had ingested something illegal. The French finally had the upper-hand on an American that they never could get on Lance Armstrong, the Teflon Don of cycling. Landis blamed it on everything from whiskey, to poppy seeds, to naturally high levels of testosterone, but none of it seemed true, they just seemed like desperation, grasping at straws. Ultimately, I believe he was allowed to keep the title after accusations of sloppy handling of lab samples and what not, but the accusations of cheating are just as strong as being guilty, and such has been the fate of Floyd Landis.

George Mason to the Final 4
We all print out those brackets and fill them out, guessing at games for teams we've never seen play, with players we've never heard of, in hopes that we will get more right than the next person, seeking praise for our prescience. But as soon as the games start, we all root for the underdog. The brackets get tossed aside after that #4 seed that you had going all the way loses to an upstart WAC team in the first round. This year we got to see George Mason, a #10 seed, go all the way to the final four. Led by their 6-7 center they beat pre-season favorite UConn in the Elite 8 and before losing to champ-to-be Florida in the Final 4. One thing we learned from this "Cinderella" story of GMU is that the networks really hate the "Cinderella" story. They want the big names. People tune in to watch Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, and UCLA because they've heard of them in basketball. No one cares to watch George Mason or Wichita State, even if they are a feel-good story. In the end, we got Florida and UCLA in a forgettable championship game, unless you're Les Moonves running CBS, then it was great. And I'd tell him to get ready for rematch the upcoming tournament the way those 2 teams are playing right now.


Federer-Nadal
A new men's tennis rivalry is born. It took nearly a decade for 2 men's tennis players to emerge as legit contenders at the same time, but Roger Federer, the 25-year old Swiss wizard, is virtually unbeatable....except against the capri-wearing Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Nadal beat Federer in 4 tournament finals, inculding the French Open, Federer beat Nadal for Wimbeldon. With the resurgence of Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt, and the rise of James Blake, men's tennis could be on it's way back to competing with the sliding women's side.


Zinedine Zidane and the Headbutt Heard Round the World
I remember two things about this year's World Cup and neither of them is which country won. I remember the USA scoring 0 goals and I remember one of the all-time classic sports moments, Zinedine Zidane unleashing pure, unadulterated hatred on Materazzi.



End of the Line
Andre Agassi ended his illustrious tennis career at the US Open, falling in the 3rd round to fellow old-schooler Boris Becker. He won his first Grand Slam title 14 years ago, and the fact that he was in the US Open Final last year, 20 years in to his pro career, is a testament to his abilities. Professional sports careers rarely last 20 years, and when they do, they certainly don't contain so many productive years as Agassi's. He is indeed one of the best ever, and gave us countless classic matches with "Pistol" Pete Sampras, the best tennis player I've ever seen. And he made it possible for white guys to shave their heads and not be considered members of the Klan.

Jerome Bettis also called it a career after his Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl in Detroit back in February. Retiring at #4 on the all-time rushing list in a career that split time between the LA Rams and Steelers, Bettis was popular because he a beastly 260 pound bruising runner who still had the same foot speed and agility of any other back. Nicknamed The Bus, Bettis became a fan favorite and all-around role model for the league and can now be seen Sunday nights as part of NBC's football coverage, alongside another legend, Bob Costas.


That's only 8, because I don't care to right out any more. The other 2 that made the list before I decided to pare it down were Raja Bell attempting to decapitate Kobe Bryant in Game 5 of the first round of the NBA playoffs, and Team USA losing to CANA-freaking-DA at the World BASEBALL Classic. Classic indeed.

A Less Than Merry Take on Christmas

I was thinking last night about the notion "gift cards" and how much I generally dislike them. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it when people give gifts, but there is something very impersonal about it. It says "I don't know you or what you might like, so here is some cash." Obviously, you can't know everyone well enough to find the "perfect present", but since when did anyone need a perfect present? Andy Rooney had an interesting take on the difference between "presents" and "gifts" in his Christmas column, writing:
"The word "gift" is used frequently at this time of year and I don't care much for it. I'm suspicious of anything called "a gift." What I like at Christmas is a present. A "Christmas present" is the real thing. "A Christmas gift" is something you give to someone you don't know very well. And please don't give me anything from a "gift shop." Anything designed specifically to be a "gift" is usually useless. You give presents to friends. "

I think that says it pretty well. Between gift cards and the phenomenon of "re-gifting", one can foresee a Christmas in the not-too-distant future in which people buy gift cards to stores they like themselves, and give them to people who they know won't shop there, in hopes that the recipient with "re-gift" them in their direction. After all, according to the media this is the "me" generation, and what better way is there to love yourself at Christmas than to buy your Christmas presents for other people to give them to you.

To Blog or Not to Blog, That is the Question

After Time Magazine named "You" as 2006 Person of the Year, several members of the mainstream media, including Brian Williams and George Will, were quick to jump all over Time, decrying the amount of worthless content being posted in many blogs and Youtube videos, while extolling the professionalism of their own media outlets. On the other side, bloggers declare themselves the last true bastion of truly free press, without the need to appease advertisers or gain wide circulations/readerships and breaking down the old maxim "The press is free, as long as you can afford one"

In a level-headed, measured defense of "You" on Time.com, recognizing there is indeed a place for all of us in the world of publication, Steven Johnson writes:
"...there's no avoiding the reality that the shift from pro to am comes at some cost. There is undeniably a vast increase in the sheer quantity and accessibility of pure crap, even when measured against the dregs of the newsstand and the cable spectrum...The problem with spending so much time hashing out these issues is that it overstates the importance of amateur journalism and encyclopedia authoring in the vast marketplace of ideas that the Web has opened up. The fact is that most user-created content on the Web is not challenging the authority of a traditional expert. It's working in a zone where there are no experts or where the users themselves are the experts.

It may very well be that, as George Will wrote, that you won't find any Ben Franklin's or Thomas Paine's online blogging today, but by giving everyone a forum to potentially be discovered, maybe you will. Brian Williams splits the difference, "The larger dynamic at work is the celebration of self. The implied message is that if it has to do with you, or your life, it's important enough to tell someone. Publish it, record it ... but for goodness' sake, share it— get it out there...The assumption is that an audience of strangers will be somehow interested, or at the very worst not offended...The danger just might be that we miss the next great book or the next great idea, or that we fail to meet the next great challenge ... because we are too busy celebrating ourselves."

Are you, in fact, the new e-Benjamin Franklin? Is your blog the next "On Liberty"? If so, send your link to George Will to shut him up...and send it to me, so I can crib material from your site for posting here.

In Case You Didn't Know, tha Hood Is A Dangerous Place

For the last week we've all been kept abreast of the search (or inability thereof) for 3 missing hikers on Oregon's Mt. Hood....and I can't help but ask why it is such a big story.

For the first 4-5 days it was in the news, the story was "3 men missing on Mt. Hood, search crews can't go up due to weather" There was nothing to report, there was nothing anyone could do, and yet it was given plenty of air-time. It's not like the Natalee Holloway bonanza from last year when it may have been possible that someone had been in Aruba and seen something and keeping it in the media kept pressure on law enforcement to try to find her (although why and how we decided to focus on her particular case is another question altogether). In this situation, there was nothing we could do but wait for the weather to clear up.

When it did, the rangers found the first body. And the Sheriff held a press conference and said "We failed them."

What?

You failed them? You didn't tell them to go up on that mountain in the middle of December, you didn't create a winter snowstorm, the likes of which crop up every winter, you didn't do anything but get prepared to try to help them as soon as you could. You, sir, didn't fail anyone; they failed themselves. They failed their families. They are to blame, not you, Sheriff. These guys were not James Kim, braving the elements in attempt to save his family. That guy proudly went to his death, and is deserving of the hero label applied to him. They knew the risks of the task they were undertaking and they chose to go anyway. Not out necessity, it was for fun, for recreation. These guys were selfish.

It is selfish to take a trip up to one of the more dangerous peaks in the Western US in the middle of December with a storm on the horizon. It's not like it came out of nowhere, the northwest has been pounded by storm after storm all fall; Washington and Oregon are reporting record rainfall, and as temperatures drop, rain becomes snow, which makes traversing a mountain particularly difficult. To not consider that you could get stranded and leave your families alone, and force rescue workers to give up their Christmas and put themselves in harm's way to try to find you is incredibly myopic.

These guys should have had some restraint and common sense and climbed the mountain in the summer. Leaving behind families, wives, children, etc is just unacceptable. Oh, but they wanted to climb it in winter. Big deal, you don't always get to do what you want to do. That's part of being a grown up. You have to be responsible.

Don't get me wrong, I was hoping they would come out of it alive somehow, I wish death on no person, but I don't think what they chose to do was responsible and whatever befell/befalls them, it is of their own doing.

Should We Cut The NBA Some Slack?

There is a single NFL team that has 8, count them, 8, arrests in the last 12 months, a Chicago Bears lineman was arrested for having 6 unregistered guns in his home, one player stomped on another's head with his cleats, and countless other incidents, and yet...it is the NBA that has the public image of being a league of thugs and goons. This past weekend, there was an on-court brawl involving half a dozen players from the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets, resulting in over 50 combined games in suspensions and $1,000,000 in fines betwixt the two teams.

This should be a golden age for the league; last season's NBA playoffs were the best and had the highest ratings in nearly a decade, almost all of the major stars in the leauge are under 30 and on winning teams, and they instituted a dress code and a "no-whining" rule in attempt to tighten up appearances. David Stern, the commisioner, should be on top of the world, and yet, once again he's gotta do damage control to try to clean up the inexplicably negative image of his league.

I say it is inexplicable because the conduct really is nothing egregious, relatively speaking. Granted, in most lines of work, fighting on the job would get you fired (and probably sued/arrested), but this sports, and in sports this is nothing to write home about. There are on-field fights in baseball every week, with a batter charging the pitchers mound followed by the dugouts clearing. In hockey, the officials allow the players to fight, they will literally stand back and watch, then penalize them a whopping 5 minutes off the ice. But somehow, when there is a fight on the court in basketball, it merits overblown media coverage across all networks and news programs, as if it were the most newsworthy item of the day.

Am I saying we should just let is pass? No, I don't think fighting should be tolerated in any professional sports, save boxing and billiards; but if we are going to let every other sport get a free pass for miscreancy, then I see no reason to hold the NBA to a higher standard, as if basketball had some hard earned reputation as the sport of the moral paragon.

Maybe it's because the league decided earlier this decade to become the "hip-hop" league, and now it's reaping what it's sown as the media have conflated basketball players and rappers, or if it's because we can see the players with their tatoos and corn rows and baggy pants and assume they are all "gangsters", while the NFL gets away because we can't see it's players underneath helmets and pads and such. It can't simply be a race issue because the NFL and MLB consist of a majority of black players, but somehow or other the NBA is denigrated with a mishap like this, even if it only happens once or twice out of nearly 2500 games in a season, while every other sport sees it happen with much higher frequency and no one seems to notice or care. Why?

And now, a little NBA humor, courtesy of Argus Hamilton:
"NBA Commissioner David Stern agreed Monday to replace the synthetic basketball he forced on the league. He had vowed to stay the course but finally saw he was wrong. It looks like James Baker got better results with his Basketball Study Group."

PETA Don't Play That

I had to come back early just to post this. PETA is enraged that the NBA is going back to using a leather ball after trying out a new synthetic-composite ball the first 2 months of the season. Players complained that it was too slippery and somehow caused cuts and scrapes, presumably by picking up and holding on to dirt/debris off the floors.

Whatever the case, PETA responded by sending the NBA a brilliantly scathing memo, excerpted below:

"As excruciating as these 'injuries' must be for a world-class athlete, thousands of cows stand to suffer far worse if the NBA goes back to a leather basketball — so we'd like to suggest a compromise.

PETA would like to offer a lifetime supply of cruelty-free hand cream to any NBA siss … excuse me, superstar who'd be willing to give the composite ball another shot. Recreational players and NCAA athletes have been using composite balls for years without experiencing scratches or scrapes — but we understand that the delicate hands of pampered NBA superstars are far more sensitive than those of your average Joe who actually has to work for a living.

The hand cream comes in a variety of scents, including "Filthy Rich Organic" (perfect for any overpaid millionaire) and "Peaceful Patchouli" — Nash, we have a whole case of that set aside for you. Maybe by taking care of your own skin a bit better, you can allow cows who would otherwise meet their end in the slaughterhouse to keep theirs."

To Shaq: "as one of the players who has been most critical of the composite ball, you could volunteer to be our test case — since you've only played four games all season, surely you have time to work a moisturizing routine into your schedule."

To Lebron James: "the NCAA has used the composite ball for years — so it's not only an education you missed out on. Maybe you just need some more time to adjust."

Another Vacation

Once again, I will take a vacation from writing ye olde blog, though this time, not entirely of my own accord. My computer is out of comission for a while since the power adapter decided to become a raging fire hazard and the Apple website says it takes 3-4 weeks to ship a new one and there is no Apple store in Fresno I'll have to find some way of getting a new one. Also, with the Christmas play at church coming up this weekend, I'll be over there 5 of the next 6 nights in preparation, which would leave me precious little time to write as it is. So, I should be back next Monday.

In the meantime, I would like to recommend you read a little Herman Melville in your spare time. I would recommend against attempting to trudge through the Iraq Study Group Report, though I advocated it earlier in the week for members of the media and punditry (which I stand by for them, if they are going to discuss it). It is a challenge which I suffered through, if for no other reason, to be able to save you the time.

And if you're in the mood to make charitable donations this holiday season, but don't necessarily want to give to the Salvation Army/Red Cross brigade of bell ringers, you might consider Nothing But Nets. A foundation started by Sports Illustrated senior writer/editor Rick Reilly that buys and delivers mosquito-proof bed nets to children in West Africa, where mosquito-borne malaria is the leading cause of death in children in many nations. $10 buys a net, potentially saves a life.

Well, see ya later.

Contemplating (Stranger Than) Fiction

Stranger Than Fiction

Here is a film that I almost skipped over, imagining its premise a little too cutesy to be worth the price of admission. That would've been a grave mistake, as the film is one of the more interesting, thought-provoking films to be released this year.

The film poses essentially two questions:
1) How would you respond if you were told your death was "imminent"?
2) What is the responsibility of the artist to both the audience, himself/herself, and the characters in their work?

The film avoids taking itself too seriously and trying to preach a philosophy of life. Rather, it treats it all very matter-of-factly, and the characters do about what we would expect these characters to do were they real people. Ferrell does what we expect anyone to do when they find out they'll die: he takes a vacation from work, finds love, and does all the things he always wanted to do, but was too afraid to break his routine and find time for them, such as buying and learning to play a sea foam green Stratocaster.
I often wonder how many people's lives are so entrenched, so hopeless, so self-defeated that even were they to be told their death was imminent, they would do nothing out of the ordinary until they perished.

The respect for the characters exhibited by the very talented director Mark Forster (of Finding Neverland and Monster's Ball fame) is exactly one of the ideas of the film. Karen Eiffel (played by Emma Thompson) is an author writing the story of Harold Crick, an IRS drone played by Will Ferrell, who one day begins hearing her narrating his life, but only he can hear it and he hears her say some about his "imminent death" (I know what you're thinking, and no, Charlie Kauffman did not write this). He enlists the help of lit professor Dustin Hoffman to help him figure out what's going on. Through a series of tests they determines that he is in a tragedy. Hoffman compiles a list of possible authors who could be writing his story. In the meantime, Ferrell, takes a vacation from work for the first time, falls in love with a baker he was supposed to be auditing, played by Maggie Gyllenhall, and starts "living" his life for the first time. He sees Emma Thompson on TV and realizes she is the author narrating his life. He tracks her down and asks her why she is going to kill him and asks her not to write the end of his story yet, because he is finally happy, for the first time in his life. She tells him she's already written it, but because she hasn't typed it yet, it hasn't happened. She feels the only proper thing to do is to show it to him.

He reads it and acknowledges that it is a masterpiece of tragedy and tells her that he accepts his fate because it is her penultimate piece of fiction. Eiffel has a contradiction in conscience. She know Crick is just a character in her book, and yet here he is, also a living man who's existence she completley controls. She has to decide between killing him and killing her book. What about the audience/publisher? Does she owe them the best book possible, no matter what?
At the beginning of the film her problem is "I can't kill Harold Crick", because she has writer's block. At the climax of the film her problem is still "I can't kill Harold Crick", but now the statement takes on a new significance, in a sort of narrative symmetry that displays a fine grasp of storytelling technique.

She makes a decision (which should be no surprise to anyone who is familiar with American cinema) and while it may seem unsatisfying to some, I think it is the best possible ending.

The idea of the artist's responsibilities is rarely discussed, let alone in a work of art itself. I recall a conversation about whether Kill Bill or Sin City had more responsible depictions of violence. I was in the camp that Kill Bill did because it presents violence in a cartoonish fashion with no real attachment to reality, while Sin City presents its violence with a certain grisly realism, which I argued would be apt to sensitize the audience. Realistic violence played for entertainment value is, in my estimation, less responsible than over-the-top violence reminiscent of Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons.


In this case, the author character has to decide whether or not to kill off her Harold Crick character. She has never thought about it before, but now it is thrust in her face. What right does she have to create and then take away a life, she asks herself.
Societally, we willfully accept the killing of characters in books/tv/movies, but not so in real life. Why is it that we are so indifferent toward a fictional character? Murder is still murder, whether it happens on screen/page or on the street, isn't it? We allow ourselves to question the actions of characters on a moral level, we tend be queasy when too many characters are killed, or the deaths are elaborate, but what is the difference between this author killing one man, Shakespeare killing off a dozen characters in Hamlet, and Spielberg killing thousands, if not millions, in War of the Worlds? The taking of life is the taking of life is it not? Granted, it's not taking a "real" physical life, but it is taking a life, and for one reason or another we are okay with it as long as we call it tragedy, comedy, or drama.

The creator of that work of art has rationalized in his/her own mind that for the purpose of their work of art, the taking of a life is justifiable and I think that deserves examination.

The responsibility to the audience is another idea at work. Does the creator of a work have a responsibility to put forth the best possible end result for the intended audience, even at a compromise of their own original vision, ideals, or values? If the author finds killing reprehensible, how can he/she right that within himself/herself to kill off characters without remorse for the sake of a profit/success? Do the ends justify the means? WWJSMD? (What Would John Stuart Mill Do?)

I suppose, as a converse, you could ask what right the artist has to create life and then leave it incomplete. Life is a cycle of birth to death, and if the author does not kill the character, he/she is left in a state of constant being with no end and is thus never really alive because death can never come. Or does the character go on living independent of the story as written?

Either way, in some sense, it's playing God. Then we get into questions of whether or not fiction is at all justifiable and I don't want to go there right now; mainly because that's a discussion in which I would be out of my league.

Eat It Rest of the Lower 48

First it was lettuce, then spinach, now it's green onions at Taco Bell. Every state in the contiguous USA is at risk of being contaminated by tainted California produce...except California. You know what, Every Other State, it's your own fault.

Everyone in California knows better than to eat anything grown in Southern California. Heck, we know there's e-Coli in the AIR in So-Cal, you don't even wanna know what's in the groundwater (probably cholera....and more e-Coli).

So, if you all wanna go ahead and keep importing those irresistable LA greens, go ahead, but don't come over here to the Golden state trying to file lawsuits against negligent farmers for your own mistakes.....besides, all of our prisons are full anyway, and we're sending you our prisoners as it is.

Hurray, Responsibility! or: I Wish I Had Been Wrong On This One

Back on Oct. 2, I surmised of the Mark Foley scandal:
"There will be an "investigation" on the taxpayer dime that will render no results of consequence, we'll all forget in 2-3 weeks anyway, and this unfortunate episode will be under rug swept."

Well, here we are some 2 months later, this event a distant memory (if a memory at all), and today the Investigative Subcommittee report on this matter was released sans fanfare.

What I read of the report (which was primarily the summation/conclusion/last 20 pages (no pun intended)), said: 1) the committee had no jurisdiction to fully investigate the actions of Foley as he had resigned from the House 2) though several members of the House did not act responsibly in this matter, they failed to suitably transgress House Rule 23 ("a member...of the House, shall conduct himself at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House") or Clause 9 of the Code of Ethics for Government Service ("any person in government service...should expose corruption wherever discovered") so as to require further inquiry and pursuance of this matter, stating "the Subcommittee is mindful of the ease with which decisions and conduct can be questioned in hindsight with the benefit of later discovered facts."
This little disclaimer, gives them a pass to go on for several pages (non sequitur not intended) browbeating the Republican House members for doing next to nothing, while at the same time letting them off the hook.

In the words of a classic Red Stripe commerical: Hurray, responsibility!

While I Haven't Actually Read It Yet, Let Me Tell You What It Says

All day, across all media outlets, regardless of partisan affiliations, the talk was "So the Baker-Hamilton report...blah blah blah....well I haven't read it "cover to cover yet" (said as smugly as possible) but I can tell you this about what they propose...."

Wait. Stop. I have an idea....how about you go ahead and read it first. Cover to cover. It's a brisk 96 pages, with 10 pages of foreword (which you can usually skip anyway). You can read it in an afternoon. Please, just read it before you make your pronouncements. Seriously. Don't get on a mic or in front of a camera and tell me your conclusions about it until you've read it. I'm sure as a member of the media you can rustle up a free copy. If not, it cost $10 at Borders, I know, because that's what I paid for it. Heck, write it off as a business expense. Just do yourself a favor, do your listeners a favor, do us all a favor and go ahead and read it first.

Surprise!

The Iraq Study Group Report came out today, and by all accounts, it says..........exactly what everyone expected it to say 2-3 months ago. I don't know that anything will change necessarily as a result of the report now being official (especially with several other such "reports" expected in the coming "weeks, not months"). Several of the proposed recommendations: phased re-deployment, gradual drawing down, engaging Iran and Syria, were declared "non-starters" by Tony Snow just last month (although he did some back-tracking and double-speaking regarding Iran today). Much of this seems to be what Democrats had been calling for in the run-up to the election, all the while being labeled "defeatocrats" and "the party of cut-and-run", and yet here it comes from a "bipartisan" (or is it nonpartisan...whatever the difference is) group and all of a sudden much of this is in line with the administration's policies? Are they being serious? Do they think people don't have memories (or video tape) to recognize hypocrisy?

In other news, it looks like we're "going back" to the moon, this time for good, by the year 2020. Anyone know why?

The "Youtubing" of the News

Of late, there has a been a drastic uptick in news stories generated by Youtube, TMZ, or other home video/cell-phone video user-generated content websites. The public now has a forum for putting events that would otherwise be missed out to the masses, while it gives lazy news producers easy copy. It seems like a win-win situation.

The problem which arises is that often these videos are posted without context or explanation, so what you see is what you get, and often inferences have to be made to come to any conclusion about the content. This weekend, there was a great example. A video was posted on Youtube of a cop telling 2 black guys they could get out of a littering ticket if they rapped about littering for him. They did their pathetic 2 or 3 lines and left. That's all that was on the website. Civil rights leaders and civic leaders were up in arms, decrying the act as yet another example of racist cops playing up stereotypes. However, with a little research, one learns that the incident last nearly 15 minutes, the men offered up the information that they were rappers, and that the cop told them they would get out of the ticket if they picked up the trash, which they did, then they decided to play it up for the camera and the rap about littering episode that ended up on the web took place, but none of that other stuff is in the video. Of course, none of the follow-up ever makes it to air, you have to find that buried on the station website somewhere, three days later.

The "Youtubing" of the news has added this extra level of subjectivity to the stories. It is a fair resource, but it should be used as a starting point for looking into a story, especially if you want to be considered a credible news outlet. When the story starts and stops with what is posted in a Youtube video, then we have problem.

Another video posted showed 2 little children fighting in a backyard, while a group of adults watched, cheering them on. Now, when Hannity and Colmes decided to discuss this video, they made the assumption that the parents of the two children were among the group, that they were drunk or on drugs, unemployed (possibly unemployable) and irresponsible. It's possible that all of that is true, but there's no actual proof that any of it is, because they are just guessing, it's not in the video. They brought on an "expert", failed to mention his credentials, and he did little more than agree with everything Sean Hannity said (as most of their guests do) and that was the end of the segment. Do we know what actually happened, why the kids were fighting, who the adults were, or where this happened? Nope. But they sure made it sound like they knew what they did.

Making it up as you go along is fine policy for the "War on Terror" or singing sea shanties, but for TV news "journalists", you gotta do better.

The BCS does it again

For the 8th time in 9 years, the BCS has given us the two most deserving teams in the national championship. (This is college football talk for those who may not know). Big 10 champ vs. SEC champ playing for the title. The tie to college hoop is interesting too, because Florida won the national championship in college basketball last season, and Ohio State is one of the favorites to win it this year (heck we could see OSU-Florida in the final four in 4 months, a Greg Oden-Joakim Noah match-up in the post would be an NBA scouts dream).

The BCS gets it right just about every year, and yet every year the clowns come out yelling about a playoff, until they realize the best team in the country continues to win the national championship, which is, I believe, what we all want. So if you're a playoff honk, go ahead and get it out now, because after the national championship there will be no room to complain, because the best team in college football will win the title yet again this year.

I'm taking the safe bet this year, so unless Troy Smith starts hanging out with the Cincinnati Bengals, (which would guarantee him AT LEAST 1 arrest between now and January 8) Ohio State will win the national championship.

Reviews in Brief: The Queen, Flushed Away, Turistas

While I'd like to take the time to write at length about each of these, there are other things I would like to get to as well, so I'll condense and if you want more go to Rotten Tomatoes linked on the right of the page. Now, on with the show:

The Queen:
For my money, the best movie I've seen in theaters this year. All the buzz around the film has been Helen Mirren's performance as Queen Elizabeth II. Well, all the hype is completely merited. She plays the role so well, completely immersed and able to convey her stoicism and humanity equally effectively. The film centers around the royal response to Princess Diana's death, dealing with the massive public mourning.

The film is able to showcase the theme of tradition vs progress without taking a side with either perspective, instead showing how they co-exist within the British society. The people were outraged that the queen was not responding publicly to Diana's death, yet she didn't think it was the place of the monarchy to be publicly emotional, particularly in regard to a private citizen (as Diana and Charles were divorced). Blair is stuck between the people and the palace, as he had recently been elected PM as a champion of progress, while at the same time having respect for the monarchy and realizing that he could use her support in the future should the public turn on him. It is more entertaining than I anticipated, with tone shifts from comedy of manners to weighty drama being so well-crafted that it all flows together without seeming forced. Prince Charles is realistically portrayed as the aloof goof that he is.

Flushed Away:
Flushed Away may be the most fun movie this year, right alongside Little Miss Sunshine and Thank You For Smoking. It has that classic Aardman charm and humor (think Chicken Run or Wallce and Gromit) while picking up some of the pop culture humor on which Dreamworks Animation tends to overdose. Any film that can find a way to work in a joke or gag about Finding Nemo, the Greek chorus, Franz Kafka, the World Cup, Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, and a detective named Le Frog voiced by Jean Reno, all while remaining a breezy, entertaining animated adventure is a small miracle.

Meet Le Frog

The film finds a way to bridge the British sensibilities with the American and succeeds on every level. The animation is crisp, while not taking on the creepy realism that was Happy Feet. This is animation that is gloriously exaggerated. This is Aardman's first foray into digital animation, but you wouldn't know that if someone hadn't told you. It is excellently rendered and takes advantage of the possibilities of the technique quite well.

Turistas:
The latest film from 20th Century Fox's newest imprint, Fox Atomic, the horror/gore/slasher division of the studio. The film takes a chance and I think it succeeds. I say it takes a chance because it is advertised as being in the vein of a film like Hostel or Saw, but in reality it is more of a thriller than a slasher-type film, so I think the audience may be disappointed due to misplaced expectations. It is an interesting twist on the genre with the beautiful Brazilian locales and the villain with well-articulated motives for his sadistic cutting up of American tourists, explained in a scene of gory brilliance. The main problem with the film is that once the characters get trapped and then try to make their escape (as is always the case in these films) we lose them in the dark and then in the water. We see only flashes of what actually takes place (other than one well timed hook to the foot) and as a result it loses some steam. The male lead and one of the male baddies look similar, so when they are filmed underwater, they can be difficult to distinguish. The majority of the criticisms decry either the violence or the portrayal of the "ugly American abroad". First, the violence, in my opinion is overstated. There is one really gory scene, and other than that it is largely implicit or buried under murky cinematography. As for the comments about American arrogance on display, try going on vacation anywhere in the world and not finding that (not to mention the most arrogant character in the film is an Englishman). It exists and I think it is fair game in a film. Although, there is a certain symmetry in talking about the "ugly" American, in a film filled with beautiful people.

The director, John Stockwell, also directed Blue Crush and Into the Blue, so I think it's safe to say if he's helming a project, expect hot girls (in the minimal amount of clothing required to avoid an NC17 rating) aplenty. The line this film will undoubtedly be remembered for (if it is remembered at all) is Olivia Wilde's character Bea saying "I forgot my top in Rio; does anybody mind if I go topless?"

Happy Feet: The Most Bizarre Animated Film Ever?

I can honestly say I've never in my life seen a film quite like George Miller's Happy Feet. I can't imagine writing a proper review of it ( I know, I said that about The Fountain too, but really these are 2 of the most original (if not bizarre) films you'll see this year, maybe ever). I just wrote a synopsis of it, that ended up taking forever because it is that complex. Reading what is it about will determine for you whether you should see it or not because it is impossible to understand what it's gonna be without seeing it, and after reading it you may think you know what you're in for when you do see it, but as they say, "You think you know...but you have no idea"

Before I get to explaining, I have to say the animation is incredible and eerie. The penguins are rendered wonderfully, each one unique, but they are almost too life-like and at times can be creepy. And Robin Williams voices a Latino penguin and a Barry White type character and is the narrator in another Barry White type voice, but not the same one, so he is sort of ever-present, but neither of his characters is the narrator, so that's odd too.

The film itself is bizarre because it plays as about 4 different films in one.
It starts as a standard animated film, with the outsider character, Mumble, trying to earn respect while still being himself, incorporating rousing musical numbers (originals and covers of Beach Boys, Queen, Ricky Martin, Boyz 2 Men, and more... a real mish-mash of top 40 history). In this case, all the penguins can sing, yet Mumble can't sing at all despite the fact that his parents are penguin equivalents of Madonna and Elvis, and he is shunned, despite his incredible dancing skills (hence the title). After his graduation from penguin high school where he is given the ultimate brush off because of his poor singing, Mumble is chased away by a sea lion and ends up in another part of Antarctica with small pengiuns (led by Robin Williams' 2 characters) where he gains a small group of apostles who tell him his dancing is awesome and he gains the courage to eventually returns to his own part of the continent. Upon his return, he is declared a curse because the fish have started to disappear and the elder penguins say it is because of him.

Mumble vows to clear his name and find out what has happened to the fish, beginning the second film within the film: his quixotic journey to discover what has happened to the fish. He goes across the whole continent with his little penguin friends, passes through the land of the elephant seals (which are not as convincingly rendered as the penguins) and ends up finding a large fishing vessel. He is determined to go talk to the people on the boat to tell them to stop stealing the fish. He can't get up on the boat (no surprise) but won't give up. His character is something of a Christ-like figure in sacrificing himself to save the other penguins who had cast him out as a heretic, even his father, the Elvis penguin, had turned his back on him. Now, stay with me. Where was I, oh yes, the fishing boat.

He chases the boat all across the ocean to no avail, long after it disappears from sight, and he eventually winds up on a beach somewhere in what looks like the U.S. Which leads into the 3rd phase of the film: a Twilight Zone episode. Mumble finds himself in a zoo where he tries to talk to the other penguins on display, but they are all catatonic or lobotomized into malaise, and he starts to go crazy. He tries to talk ("speaking perfect penguin") but all the people visiting his exhibit hear is squawking. It is effectively eerie and heartbreaking and would have been an incredibly interesting way to end the film. But it doesn't end there. He hears a little girl trying to get his attention tapping on the glass rhythmically and it gets him to dancing and pretty soon he is a main attraction and somehow ends up getting taken back to Antarctica with a homing device implanted so they can see if he comes from a herd of dancing penguins. He ends up finding his way back home where the traditional old penguins are angered that he's led "aliens" to them, but when they arrive, they are fearful and all start dancing in hopes that it will make the people leave them alone or be friendly.

The human explorers transmit video of the penguins singing and dancing back to the US via satellite/internet (I guess) and it sets off a brief non-animated 4th segment of the film that is eco-propoganda with the UN and congress and newspaper headlines saying things like "We need to stop stealing their fish" and "we must stop overfishing in the Antarctic" or some such. It comes out of nowhere and is completely over the top......
I guess they managed to work it out diplomatically, because the film ultimately ends with the penguins all singing and dancing together, with fish aplenty in the ocean for them to feast.

Like I said, fascinatingly curious with everything possible thrown in. I recommend everyone see it, just because you've never seen anything like it, and probably never will again. Oh, and Mumble gets the girl in the end, too.

The Fountain

I’ve spent 3 days waiting for some sort of lucidity for discussing The Fountain, but it hasn’t come. I think this is one of those rare films that sort of defy synopsizing and effective analysis. If you go home after this movie and try to break it down or make all the disparate pieces fit together, I think you’ve missed it altogether. It’s not a film that is the sum of its parts; it is strictly to be experienced in a comprehensive manner, because when you try to piece it together it will probably fall apart within its own labyrinthine logic, but it all works, so it's not a failure despite being messy.

Darren Aronofsky (writer-director) definitely over-reached on just about every level with this one, bringing together conquistadors, Mayan religion, Christianity, animal testing, 26th century space travel, complex non-computer-generated visual effects, and more, only rarely completely achieving what he is aiming for (though the vfx are stunning most of the time); and yet it is all done with such earnestness and passion that you have to appreciate the effort, if not the finished product. There is something to be said for a filmmaker reaching for the stars (literally) even if he doesn't quite get there, especially in comparison to the number of “safe” efforts that come through the cinemas these days.

One thing everyone should agree on, regardless of their thoughts to the material, is that Clint Mansell, the Kronos Quartet, and Mogwai create a hauntingly magnificent score for the film. The music is just perfect all the way through.

I highly recommend this film if for no other reason than to see no less than one man's display of just about everything he knows/thinks he knows about life, love, death, and his medium of creative expression poured out with incredible energy. Not everyone will be entertained and not everyone will like it, but all should be able to appreciate it.


Coming up:
Discussions of Happy Feet, Flushed Away, and The Queen

In Response:

I was responding to a comment in regards to a post yesterday and I figured I might as well post it for all to see:

Excerpted from the inciting post:
There are too many movies being released these days. It seems every weekend there are 4,5,6 new movies...this week we saw the wide release of Bobby, Deja Vu, Deck the Halls, The Fountain, Tenacious D, and For Your Consideration...This..has contributed to mass amounts of DVD sales/rentals; it's not that people don't want to go to theater, it's that the movies are in and out so quick there's no chance if you don't go in the first 2 or 3 weekends.

The comment incited:
arent their so many more movies becaue there are so many more niches. like borat is for one crowd, bobby is for another. No longer are film studios trying to make movies for everyone its niche marketing. In order to maximize profits they realease movies for short time in theater to get the die hards and the recoup the rest in DVD sales.

And now, the rebuttal:
The studios don't make much money on theatrical runs unless a film is a mainstream hit so they need movies that appeal to as wide a base as possible. And they don't make as much on DVD's if a film isn't a hit in theaters (or at least pushed by strong word of mouth a la Fight Club and The Boondock Saints). If they don't make it in the theater, odds are it won't play on DVD either. I don't imagine there will be too many people rushing out to rent/buy DVD's of You, Me, and Dupree, The Ant Bully, or even Snakes on a Plane this winter.

Besides, the studios don't really decide what plays in theaters, the theaters do. If it's playing well, they will keep renting the print, if it bombs, they'll try to get something else. Theater owners (at least outside of LA and NY) tend to only rent the prints for the films that are most broadly marketed, which is why in Fresno we won't get to see Half Nelson, Last King of Scotland, we got Marie Antoinette and The Queen on 1 screen out 50+ in the city for 3 weeks each, etc. The individual theater owner needs to make a profit, independent of the studios, and since they make the majority of their profits off concession sales anyway, they need as many people as possible in theaters, eschewing as many niche films as possible in favor of the next Denzel/Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts/Will Smith movie, because those actors appeal beyond any niche.

Of course, there is no way for them to know what is going to appeal. Who would've guessed Titanic would be the highest grossing movie of all-time? Who would've guessed Brokeback Mountain would've played so well in Montana, Idaho, and the Dakotas? Fox didn't expect Borat to be a hit, so they cut the number of theaters it released in from over 2000 down to about 800 in the first weekend; it killed and still opened #1. Someone over the summer expected "My Super ex-Girlfirend" to make more than $20mil return (less the cost of prints and advertising) on a $100+million investment. So the studios/theaters don't know, it's all guesswork.

Also, at least 2 major studios announced they are cutting back their production slate for the coming years from 18 to 15 or 12, so the studios are clearly seeing some downside to the film bonanza as well.

Various Things That Occured to Me at the Cinema

I went to see The Fountain this afternoon (I'll write about it tomorrow) and in regards to the experience, there are 3 or 4 points I'd like to make if I may:

1) There are a lot of people out and about in the middle of day during the week. I never really thought about it before, but there is a large portion of our population (at least here in Fresno) that does not work the regular M-F 8/9-5/6.

2) Movie theaters would probably sell more "combo packs" if they were discounted. Selling me a "Medium Combo" that is a regular priced popcorn and a regular priced medium drink does not constitute a "combo". And while I'm at it, there is no reason anyone should pay $5 for a soda, $4 for a bag of skittles, or $8 for popcorn, regardless of size or how hungry/thirsty you may be.

3) There are too many movies being released these days. It seems every weekend there are 4,5,6 new movies, it's impossible for anyone to keep up. Just this week we saw the wide release of Bobby, Deja Vu, Deck the Halls, The Fountain, Tenacious D, and For Your Consideration, not to mention various other indies/docs that come out every week in LA/NY.
I saw a stat last week that said the average American goes to the movies 4.77 times per year (2nd only to Iceland), but at the rate we release movies, that's not even enough times in one year to see all the movies released this past week. This, I think more than anything else has contributed to mass amounts of DVD sales/rentals; it's not that people don't want to go to theater, it's that the movies are in and out so quick there's no chance if you don't go in the first 2 or 3 weekends.

4) Jennifer Connelly.....wow

now, 5) There needs to be a way to soundproof theaters so that if I am watching a relatively quiet movie I'm being bothered by the incessant blasts coming from the action movie in the theater adjacent. And there is readily available technology to block cell phone signals from coming into the theater, and it is ridiculous that theaters don't take advantage.

6) Generally speaking, the better the movie, the better the audience.

(for those who didn't catch the obvious Dr. Strangelove reference in this post...shame on you for your cinematic illiteracy)

Music Binge 2006: Episode #2

I recently went on a second fall music binge (the first was covered at the end of this post back in October), collecting 6 more new CD's the last week or so:

The modern tunes:
V - The Revelation Is Now Televised
The album was recommended by Amazon, and executive produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff, so I took a chance on it. It's one of those neo-soul records where all of the songs are mediocre attempts at poetry with 5-6 minute running times with about 2-3 minutes worth of actual content, filled out with repeating and looping the track and you can't tell when one track ends and the next one begins because it all sounds the same. V is a decent singer, and with better production he could be a good artist, but as it stands he is a poor man's Dwele, and Dwele is a poor man's Musiq.

Anthony David - The Red Clay Chronicles
Anthony David made one of my favorite albums of the decade thus far with "3 Chords and the Truth", so I had high expectations for this one, and he subverted them by working in a slightly different direction. He moved toward a more studio produced sound, opposed to the more acoustic sound of his debut. I was unsure about it upon first listen, but it has since convinced me that those reservations are unmerited. The album is solid, with 3 songs (Words ft. India Arie and On & On, and the title track, which sounds like a bona fide Curtis Mayfield song) being better than just about any on his first disc. The rest of the album meets with varying degrees of success. The only misfire is the song "ATL Sunshine", his ode to summer out on the block in Atlanta, which would probably mean more to me if I were from the area, but even then it would still be tepid. I respect the effort though, giving love to his hometown.

James Hunter - People Gonna Talk
Van Morrison declared him the best kept secret in British music, and he may be right. This guy sounds as you would expect Van Morrison to sound if he had been making music in the 1950's. That Little Richard-era R&B sound. A lot of horns and 2.5 minute songs. 14 Straightforward, simple tales about love/relationships without an ounce of pretense. It's fun music, and one of my favorite albums of the year.

Mindy Smith - Long Island Shores
I read about this album in the paper on Sunday and just happened to see it at Target, on sale for $9, so I decided what the heck, I'll give it a shot. She falls somewhere in between Norah and Sheryl Crow, with a nod to her Nashville roots. It's only got one true country song, the rest is pleasant sounding pop-folk with a slight country flavor. She has a good voice, and is musically competent enough to make it worth the purchase price. The lyrics are so-so, but she sings them so well.

And now, the throwback records:
The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo
I have in the last 2 years or so become a fan of all this hippie-era music, and while writing this post about country music I was doing a little research and found this album was considered maybe the best country-rock album ever made, and since just about every other album I have from the 66-69 era (Sgt. Pepper, Odyssey and Oracle, Forever Changes, Pet Sounds, Velvet Underground and Nico) are among my favorites, I figured I should give this a shot, and the album didn't disappoint. Classic rock crossed with classic country = classic music. This album is definitely a pre-cursor to The Eagles, (and probably many other bands I don't know who made similar music). The harmonies, compositions, and arrangements all work astonishingly well. Consider it added to that aforementioned litany of my favorite hippie music. As with several of these vintage albums, the alternate versions/previously unreleased songs are just as good as those on the original album.

The Men of the Robert Shaw Chorale - Sea Shanties
This is the showpiece of the new additions to the collection. This is an album of good ol fashioned sailor's tunes, sung by an all-male chamber chorus that treats them as serious pieces of choral composition. It is one of my favorite music purchases ever. I walked into Borders intending to buy Mozart's Requiem (K. 626). I picked it up, and as I was on my way to the register I saw an album sitting out of place in the Bluegrass section that said in bold letters "Sea Shanties." I turned it over to see what qualified as a "sea shanty". I recognized the songs "Blow the Man Down" and "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor" and immediately thought to myself "Forget Mozart, I must posses these glorious sea shanties." And, oh, what a marvelous idea it was. No offense, Mozart.

The Joy of Minor League Hockey....and the San Diego Chicken

Last night I made my way down to the Save Mart Center to see a little minor league hockey action. Out on the ice, it was the Fresno Falcons vs. Idaho Steelheads, an early season slugfest in the ECHL (how Fresno and Idaho, not mention Alaska, play in the East Coast Hockey League is beyond me).

Watching the game I was once again reminded why there are many people who love hockey. It's a great game to watch live, but it just doesn't translate to the television, and I think part of it is where they have to put the cameras. Watching hockey from the side is like watching tennis from the side, you can do it, but the game makes more sense watching from one of the ends, behind the goal if you ask me. But I digress. What I also noticed was how poorly both teams played the game of hockey.

It was exciting 3-2 game, with Idaho scoring the game-winning goal as the guy who scored it got hammered into the boards, but they didn't play well. The games can be thrilling, but they don't play the game as well as we're used to seeing it played; and minor league hockey is not like minor league baseball, where the best players are good enough to get called up to the pros and just about all pros played at least one season in the minors. No, these guys are as high up the hockey ladder as they'll ever get. At what point to you have to tell these guys to give it up. I mean, it's not like they can be making too much money playing in front of 2-3 thousand people a night, and hockey is a violent game and it takes a toll on you physically. I understand love of the game, but I would think love of the ability to walk when you're 45 would be preferable. Anyway, I won't begrudge these men their game, as it provided me with a night's entertainment.

Although, last night, the entertainment was provided by none other than the legendary San Diego Chicken



For the uninitiated, the San Diego Chicken was the first pro sports mascot and has been, for the last 30 years, THE great vaudevillian of American sports. He was recently ranked as one of the 100 Most Influential Figures in Sports for the 20th Century by TSN, and was invited by President Bush to appear at the first game of the White House T-Ball League. Simply put, The Chicken is a legend. Now, he is getting up in age, so his antics have been scaled back a bit in recent years, but even so, he's still got that irreverent, irascible spirit going, and any time he makes an appearance it's a treat for anyone in attendance who cares about American sports history and/or has a sense of humor. Go see him if he's coming to your area any time soon, he is allegedly looking toward retirement in the coming year(s) and obviously can't make it to every city in the country on an official farewell tour.

Here's a nice sampling of some classic Chicken moments, courtesy of Youtube. Enjoy

Thanksgiving is Here (almost) or: There's A Reason Most People Eat Turkey Only Once A Year

Thanksgiving is a wonderful American tradition, dating back to the Massachussets pilgrims, thanking Squanto and the local injuns for teaching them farming techniques in the New England climate through the winter of 1620-21, while the tribes thanked the pilgrims for introducing malaria and other such maladies to the region. All in all, a delightful display of reciprocity.

Today, Thanksgiving is little more than an excuse to overeat and ring in the "Christmas shopping season". Of course, for many in this country, overeating and overspending is business as usual; nevertheless, we continue to "give thanks" with a parade courtesy of Macy's, a Cowboys football game, and a giant family feast every November.

And oh what a feast it is: mac & cheese, cornbread, ham, black eyed peas, cranberry sauce, "pillowy mounds of mashed po-ta-toes, butter drenched dressing, tiny onions swimming in a sea of cream sauce", and of course.... turkey.

Ahhh, turkey. The one fowl deemed fit to serve as the Thanksgiving piece d'resistance. Why? Who knows. There is apparently some evidence that the pilgrims may have eaten, among other items, swan and seal (really think about that for a second....now read on) at the first Thanksgiving, but turkey has evolved into the role of centerpiece. And what a sad thing that is, and you know why:
Turkey is dreadful.

Of all the meats out there, they (whomever "they" are/were) decided the biggest feast of the year would have turkey as its cornerstone. What were they thinking? The driest, blandest, arguably the most boring food there is. Pretty much everything capable of being ingested and digested in the human body tastes better than turkey. I've had good turkey and I've had bad turkey, and it's all the same: Awful. Same goes for pumpkin-based products. Anything that is "pumpkin _____" = terrible. I know this reads like heresy for those of you T'Day purists out there, but I'm just telling the truth. Those items are woeful, and should have no place on your table come Thursday. Think about it, for a week after Thanksgiving there is leftover turkey sitting in the fridge. Is there ever leftover barbecue sitting in the fridge for a week? No sir, it's too delicious to just let is sit there. It's not because there's just more turkey. It's because it's bad and we just don't want to admit it. I tend to be all for traditions, but this is one I would be glad to see fall by the wayside.

Then again, if turkey wasn't such a big deal on Thanksgiving, people might serve it more frequently throughout the year and that would be tragic. Just think if chicken and turkey switched roles in the American food culture. Kentucky Fried Turkey, anyone? Ol' Col. Sanders would need more than his trademark 16 herbs and spices. He'd be better off serving up Kentucky Fried Swan.

A Second Thought on Borat

While I will not recant my recommendation of the film, because I still think it is by turns funny and intelligent (while also at times overly vulgar), something bugged me earlier this week (or last week, I forget which, the days all run together) and I aim to speak on it.

In the film, the one thing that makes it all palatable is that we know the interviewees/subjects are not in on the joke, so it is funny as a comedy of manners; everyone in America (outside of New York, I guess) is too polite to tell Borat that he is a vile human being because we assume Kazakhstan (or any "-stan" suffixed country for that matter) produces naught but bigots. The anti-Semitism, unfamiliarity with toilets, misogyny and other crassness are excused by those in the film because they are under the impression he doesn't know any better, and we in the audience laugh because we get the joke (I hope). Two grown men get into a hotel elevator buck nekkid and no one says a word; we laugh because we expect someone to say something; maybe a "Get the #%&* off this elevator naked!, perhaps the softer, "Where are you clothes?". Them not saying anything is a classic example of comedy of manners.

What bothered me was seeing "Borat" the character on Jay Leno. In that setting, there is no joke on anyone. Everyone there knows it's an act, and since there is no one playing it straight other than this character, his routine lacks the key ingredient necessary to propel it toward being real comedy. In that situation, his barbs come across as meanness and the laughter is more of a tacit approval of what he says rather than laughing at a joke, because in the comedy of manners, the joke is the affectations of those being pranked. I guess on some level, the fact that calling Madonna a transvestite is met with laughter instead of, I don't know, not laughing, could be seen as the audience carrying forward the idea that they, too, are too afraid to call him out, even when they know it's a ruse.

So, I guess the question is, at this point, in the talk show setting with Borat, what is the joke? Are we at to sit at home laughing at the fact that this audience still laughs at this reprehensible character even when they know it's a gag, or do we laugh because we think it is genuinely funny to tell Martha Stewart she should be in her cage or pulling her plow?

That's what bugged me, I think on some level, we are the joke and either we don't realize it or we are in a state of denial.

Christmas Movie Marathon

This past week, I spent a fair amount of time contemplating a relatively hair-brained idea: Holding the ultimate Christmas-movie marathon; Several days, several sites, nothing but Holiday double-features the entire week leading up to Christmas.

Will this ambitious project will be pulled together? I'm on a maybe, leaning towards a no, especially since I'll be working tirelessly on the church Christmas production until the the 17th, and there may be a limit to how many sappy holiday films a person can stand, even at Christmas, but in the words of those old McDonalds commercials, hey, it could happen.

If by some unfortunate twist of fate you find yourself in Fresno the week of Christmas, come join in.

Currently on the slate:
Home Alone
Love Actually (if I can find my copy)
Holiday Inn
Noel
Last Holiday
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Also in consideration: Elf, The Santa Clause, White Christmas, The Preacher's Wife, Beyond Christmas, All I Want for Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, Prancer, A Christmas Carol, It's A Wonderful Life, Joyeux Noel

Am I missing any Christmas classics?

Dan Rather Reports

There is a new show on HDNet, "Dan Rather Reports", and it is quite good, at least based on the first [or possibly second] episode. Dan Rather is out in the field, doing investigative journalism, and with an hour show and given that it airs weekly, he is able to attain a depth and breadth unattainable to him as a network anchor. Check it out if you've got HDNet, it airs Tuesday at 5pm.
The episode I saw was all about the subject of our treatment of our troops when they come home: VA funding, PTSD therapies, Foreign nationals in the Army (or other branch), amputees/artificial limbs, veterans running for office, etc. I'm sure it'll be on again, that channel recycles content constantly.

Dan Rather Reports

"When I first talked to Mark Cuban, he told he that he was prepared to give me total, complete and absolute editorial and creative control. Now stop and think about that for a moment: do you know any journalists past and present (with such an arrangement)?"
-Dan Rather

"We're thrilled that Dan is now part of HDNet. Now that he is finally released from the ratings driven and limited depth confines of broadcast television, I am excited about the impact Dan can have on the future of news."
-Mark Cuban

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veteran's Day...kudos and thanks to all troops out there, past and present. We appreciate your efforts and sacrifices for those of us too young/old/cowardly/unfit/educated/openly gay to serve. Remember, 110th Congress, supporting the troops does not mean just giving big checks for "discretionary" defense spending that will never reach most combatant soldiers, it also means supporting veterans benefits for them once they get back, for this war you voted to put them in.
I know it is set on this day in memoriam of the ending of WW1, but it is very fitting that Veterans Day is the same week as our elections

I called it again!

Georgia 37
Auburn 15

I knew Auburn was a pretender, and they just got blown out for the second time at home this season.

If you recall, earlier in the week I called it.

The First Line Says it All

Sometimes you're scouring the net for something entertaining and you find a headline that seems to have promise, then you read the first line of the story...and that's all you need. That one sentence perfectly tells the whole ridiculous story and there is no need to read on. I give you examples from just the last 24 hours or so:

Exhibit A:
Headline: Guns N Roses cancels show over booze law

Now, I see this headline and I am interested because I figure maybe it is about some city banning alcohol at its concert venue and the band is protesting such nonsense laws, or something of that nature. Then I read the first line:

"Guns N' Roses canceled a performance in Portland, Maine this week after being told by state officials that the band could not drink on stage."

Axl, you drunk. Need there be any more to the article than that? If you want to read more of it, go ahead, but I didn't, and I see no reason for you too either.

Exhibit B:
Headline: Actress hits elderly woman in wheelchair

Well, naturally I had to find out who, and why anyone would assault and old lady in a wheel chair, so I read the first line and get:

"Hollywood actress Denise Richards hit an 80-year-old woman in a wheelchair with at least one flying laptop Wednesday while battling paparazzi during the filming of her new movie at the River Rock Casino in Richmond.."

Hahahaha, not only did she throw AT LEAST ONE laptop, not only did it somehow manage to hit someone, not only did that person turn out to be an old lady, but she is also in a wheelchair...celebrity news doesn't get much better than that. Read it if you want but I got the whole story in one line.

Finally,
Exhibit C:
Headline: Will The Real Borat Please Stand Up?

I think to myself, could it be possible, Sasha B. Cohen cribbed the idea for this Borat character from some other comedian? Then, the first line:

"Turkish Internet celebrity Mahir Cagri is in London to press his case that he is the inspiration for the spoof Kazakh journalist, the creation of British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen whose Borat movie is taking the world's box office by storm."

The only thing more ridiculous than the possibility of there being 2 comedians playing a "naive", anti-Semitic, misogynistic Kazakh reporter is that there is actually a person willing to proclaim himself the real deal. I'm sure he goes on to defend himself as not being exactly like the character, but why bother reading on.

The Most Popular Musician of the Decade thus far...

is probably unrecognizable to half of the country.


Do you know this man?



If not, would it help if I mentioned that since 2000 he's sold 20 million albums, 5+ million concert tickets (becoming the first artist to ever sell 1+million tickets in 4 straight years) and won around a dozen awards from various organizations including an American Music Award as Artist of the Year in 2004?

That good friends, is Kenny Chesney, biggest name in music today and it's entirely possible you've never heard his music.

Country is the most popular music format on the radio airwaves and on the concert circuit, and yet MTV and top 40 radio refuse to play their music despite impressive record sales and concert attendance. It's amazing to me that the most popular singer out today is so marginalized to a specific group. I can't think of any other time when the mainstream was so afraid to embrace something so clearly popular and bankable. It's not like these artists don't have crossover appeal; this isn't Merle Haggard or Hank Williams, this is Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, and Tim McGraw, they're not cowboys, they're pop stars in cowboy boots.

Basically, rap has stopped being as fun as it was in the Timbaland, Irv Gotti, Manny Fresh, Neptunes-produced era and the casual fan has sort of moved on which caused the surge in the pop-punk trash heap that included Yellowcard, Fall Out Boy, and the like. Now there is a nu-pop on the charts, with Justin Timberlake, Pussycat Dolls, and Fergie leading the charge, although you couldn't pay me enough money to sit through the entire song "Fergalicious" (oh how I wish I had made that up). The top 40 ground is ripe for the taking and country has the artists to take it over if they were given the opening.

Geez, talking about football and country music...I'm feeling very American right now

I called it...

Rutgers 28
Louisville 25

Louisville forgot how to play offense in the 2nd half, and the Rutgers blitz destroyed them. Great game all around. Rutgers missed the potential game-winning field goal, except Louisville jumped offside so they go a 2nd crack at it. Great finish, good riddance to Louisville, they would be championship caliber if they had Michael Bush, but without him, they are just another good team that is one great player away.

I'm usually good for one or two upset picks each year, and that was my 2nd one, I also picked Arkansas over Auburn, but I didn't really tell anyone else that one, so I need to publicize a second one, and I'll make it Georgia over Auburn on Saturday.

Nor-Cal Sports Exodus

Reports this week have the 49ers leaving San Fransisco for Santa Clara, the Kings leaving Sacramento for Vegas or Kansas City, and the A's leaving Oakland for Fremont all because their cities refuse to build modern facilities for the teams.

What gives Nor-Cal?

Smorgasbord

Hallelujah, this is the most glorious time of the year. Political ads and the MLB season are as far away as they will be all year. Glory be!

There has been an inexplicably noticeable proliferation of lizards in our front yard this fall. The squirrels moved from the back yard to the front, and I guess they invited the lizards to come with them. It's bizarre.

It's the start of the foggy season in Fresno, and for anyone who has never experienced the fog of Central California...I suggest you never do, it is incredibly dangerous and people get injured/killed every year because of it. You literally cannot see anything out there on the freeways in the country. It's bad. I can't wait for it to go away.

Speaking of getting killed, I had to run audio at the church today for a funeral for a 13 year old boy who was killed in an after school fight with an 8th grade (alleged) bully. They say the fight lasted only 20-30 seconds. It's so sad to see a child lying in a casket, but I don't know that there are many things more heartbreaking to see than a grown man completely breaking down in tears despite all his efforts to hold it in, especially when you just know he's one of those otherwise macho guys who hasn't cried in like 15 years. I always think funerals are a strange event, the solemnity of it all makes me uneasy and I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe I just don't like seeing people cry.

Those parents/family members of that kid get a pass on not voting today if they miss it. Every one else, no excuses. You should have been to the polls by now, although, I think it is silly that we vote on a week day and there is no holiday from work or requirement to let workers off to go vote, or at least let people vote close to work rather than close to home so it is more convenient. It's bad enough in some places that certain parties are calling people telling them if they vote they or their family will be deported, roads are mysteriously closed around polling places to make them less accessible, voting machines mysteriously malfunction, people get called and told their polling place has been changed, polling places have 1 or 2 voting machines for 3-4 thousand constituent voters, etc. If people want to vote, we should make it possible, and this election fraud/wrangling that happens every time the polls open has to, HAS TO stop. It is ridiculous and it makes a mockery of the system. It's bad enough that the politicians are crooked, but when even the machinery of the democracy stops working, it's time to start over. If this is the endgame of our form of government, if this is what newly liberated Iraq, the former Soviet bloc, the central African nations, and other fledgling democracies around the world have to look forward to in the coming century, I'd tell them to find a new model of government because this is pathetic.

Blog Discussions for Make Benefit Glorious Sport of College Football

This year in college football has been wacky. As is usually the case, there are two teams generally agreed upon as the best two, Michigan and Ohio State. Unfortunately, this time they'll play each other in 2 weeks, so one of them will likely be out of the running come Thanksgiving. Which will leave a mess if things continue to go the way they are going. Fortunately, things never do in college football.

There are several games left that can clear up the glut of 1-loss teams (plus Louisville) clamoring for a crack at the national championship:
Ohio State-Michigan: duh

Rutgers-Louisville/West Virginia: A loss by Louisville shuts up the Big East and its fans as no one will make a case for Rutgers to play in the title game, even if they beat both Louisville and West Virginia.

Texas-Texas A&M: Texas hasn't played very well in big games this year, and A&M is quietly 8-2 thus far. As the last regular season game and with a chance to play spoiler (potentially) A&M could take down the 'Horns. Probably not, but hey, it could happen.

USC-Notre Dame/Cal/Oregon: If USC wins all 3 they deserve to go to the national championship, hands down. Wins over Arkansas, Nebraska, Oregon, Cal, Notre Dame, and Washington State would make them the only team in the country with 6 wins over top 25 teams. None of those other teams have a shot without a lot of help (Oregon having no shot), but USC has their chance. A case can be made that USC has the toughest schedule in the country.

Arkansas v. LSU/Tennessee: Win both games and Arkansas is in the SEC title games against Florida, win that game and they deserve a shot with wins over LSU, Tennessee, Florida, and Auburn. It'll be tough because they rely on McFadden and LSU and Tennessee both play solid run defense. If Arkansas loses both, Auburn goes to the SEC championship for a rematch against Florida. The winner of that game has the best shot at making it in as a one loss team, unless USC runs the table (which I doubt they will). I probably shouldn't discount that Florida-South Carolina game coming up this weekend, if SC gets a reliable QB in there who will throw the ball to Sidney Rice, they can give Florida fits.

Florida-Florida State: Florida is definitely more talented than FSU, but a rivalry game is always a challenge.

Those games all take place in the next month and somewhere in there the national championship picture will be cleared up fairly well. This year has the playoff nuts screaming "Playoff! This is why we need a playoff!" but they don't see why it wouldn't help. There has been one year when there was a "controversy" because 3 teams finished unbeaten, back in the 2004-05 season, when USC beat Oklahoma in the title game, but Auburn and Utah both finished undefeated as well. Of course that season, USC was better than any college team in the last decade other than that '01-02 Miami team that included Clinton Portis, Frank Gore, Willis McGahee, Najeh Davenport, Bryant McKinnie, Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow Jr, Andre Johnson, Mike Rumph Sean Taylor, Philip Buchanon, Ed Reed, DJ Williams, Jonathan Vilma, Vince Wilfork (my goodness Butch Davis was a monster recruiter).

A playoff system every year would cheapen a season like last year when everyone wanted to see USC-Texas and only USC-Texas. A playoff would have given us 2 or 3 unnecessary USC-West Virginia, Texas-Penn State games, delaying the inevitable. You see, by not having a playoff, we are guaranteed that the team that wins the title can legitimately claim to have been the best team all season. In college basketball, this rarely happens. Last season UCONN was generally considered the best team, yet the title game was UCLA-Florida, but both of those teams started slow, and hit their stride in about February, which isn't a bad thing when you play a 30-35 game season, but in college football you get 11-12 games, so you have to be great from the outset, or you are at the mercy of the system. Remember back to the aforementioned 01-02 season: Colorado got hot in mid-October, and rode Chris Brown and Bobby Purify to a stunner over then #1 Nebraska and Heisman winner Eric Crouch by 35 points the day after Thanksgiving, then beat Chris 'can't win the big game' Simms and Texas in the Big 12 title game, but an early season home loss to Fresno State reminded us that this was just a team on a streak, and not necessarily that great, which bore itself out when they got blown out by Joey Harrington and Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl some 4 weeks later.
You have to have it from the beginning in college football.

An 8 team playoff this year would likely give us OSU, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Louisville, USC or Cal, and likely one of Notre Dame-Auburn-West Virginia. Now, of those teams, in my opinion, Auburn, Notre Dame, West Virginia, and to some extent Cal and Texas, deserve no shot at the title. There are 4-6 teams that could potentially be the best, but 2 or 3 teams would backdoor their way in, get a fluke big play, a fluke injury and all of a sudden we have Louisville-Notre Dame as the championship, which just about every fan (other than homers for those two schools) would agree would not be a match-up of the two best teams.

So, with a playoff being impractical, we work with the system we have. I have devised my own system of how to pare down the teams to determine who should play in for the title in the absence of 2 clearly superior, unbeaten teams:


1. No home losses
2. No losses by more than 14 points
3. Win at least 2 games against top 25 teams, with at least one on the road


Applying this system, right now we have:
Michigan, Florida, and USC
Ohio State and Louisville can get in the mix too if they run the table.

I think that is reasonable. (Texas, Auburn, and Notre Dame fans will be bemused, but when I see L 24-7 @ home, L 27-10 @ home, and L 47-21 @ home respectively....take a hike, that's not good enough)

So, in summation (for now, because 21 waking hours have made me weary, even though included in there was a Madden2006 Super Bowl victory in a 35-21 classic against the Cowboys) this is the time you should look forward to every year if you are a college football fan. The season is just starting in some ways.

I'l hold back on repeating my rant against preseason polls and preseason Heisman Watch until next time.

College Football

With one month left in the college football regular season, I think it's time for some prognostication and discussion (read: ranting)

Let's start with my own top 10:
1. Michigan - The defense can be the best in the country when they want to, especially on the D-Line, and the offense is better than I expected, mostly because of Mike Hart. That blowout of ND is good enough for the #1 spot. Mario Manningham came out of nowhere to become a beast of a receiver.

2. Ohio State - Troy Smith is having a great year, and has the highlight plays, but James Laurenitis is my Heisman winner thus far, anchoring that defense. That win at Texas was impressive, but they beat a freshman QB making his 2nd start. Other than that, they haven't been challenged. Northwestern this wekend could be a trap game, with that spread offense, NW has a solid young QB.

3. Cal - I know I'll be called a west coast homer for this, but they were my preseason pick to win the Pac-10 and since that loss in the first game at Tennessee no team has been more consistent offensively (well, maybe Boise State). The defense is capable of making enough plays to keep them in the game for that offense with Lynch, Forsythe, and Longshore. That early loss was bad, but I give them a bit of a pass on it because it was Longshore's first game back from an injury and only his 5th or so start, which ruined any chance for Marshawn Lynch to get going.

4. Florida - Best team in the SEC, with their only loss coming because Urban Meyer undermined Chris Leak's confidence against Auburn in the 2nd half by bringing in Tebow in critical situations. I don't understand this SEC practice of cycling through QBs. Florida is the most complete, consistent team in the SEC.

5. USC - Big wins against Arkansas (who hasn't lost since) and Nebraska. The run game needs to improve, but the Carroll seems to have finally opened up the playbook for JD Booty to make use of Smith and Jarrett, both in the top 10 of college receivers. If they get healthy they have a chance to run the table in their brutal next month with games against Cal, Oregon, Notre Dame, and cross-town rival UCLA. If they win all of those games, they deserve to be in the title game.

6. Louisville - Big wins over a down Miami and West Virginia. With Brohm back in the lineup, they could finish up unbeaten, lest Rutgers pull the upset. They've managed well in the absence of Michael Bush.

7. Texas - If Cal gets a pass for an inexperienced QB, so does Texas, but they go lower because they lost at home. Sweed is one of the top 4 or 5 receivers in college football, and the defense can be staunch when they need to be. That fluke win over Nebraska keeps them out of the top 5, especially compared with what USC did against Nebraska. Big 12 title game should be a rematch with Nebraska in Kansas City means Texas is playing them on the road again, and Nebraska will be out for revenge, so we'll see where McCoy is in his development at that point.

8. Notre Dame - One big home loss ruined their chances at the national championship. Brady Quinn has occasionally looked great, but has looked mediocre against elite defenses. Samardijza and Zibikowski are about as good as a wide receiver and safety, respectively, can be at the college level.

9. Auburn - Blown out at home against Arkansas, but big wins against LSU and Florida get them in the top 10. The SEC keeps this whole thing screwy because Auburn beat Florida, but lost to Arkansas, but Arkansas is not as good as Florida, so it's a challenge to rank them. Auburn would be better with a better QB, but as it stands, they rely a little too much on Kenny Irons to be an elite team.

10. Arkansas - Since getting blown out against USC in the first game they're undefeated, and they played a different QB in that first game, and gave Darren McFadden, who's turned into an All-American caliber back, 9 carries. That blowout win at Auburn was impressive. Upcoming home games against LSU and Tennesee and then a potential SEC title game against Florida will show us how good (or not that good) this team is.



Just outside the top 10-
West Virginia - Slaton and White are a dangerous backfield and that offense can go point for point with just about every team in the country, but the defense looks like it was built by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Rutgers - The Scarlet Knights get little respect, but I think they can beat West Virginia and Louisville down the stretch with their defense and ball control ability with Ray Rice. An undefeated Rutgers is a scary thing, just because its Rutgers football.

Wisconsin - They look like they could be a great team, but the schedule was too easy for them, and they lost the one tough game they had against Michigan, so they'll finish with a very inflated 11-1 record.

Boise State - They need to schedule at least one tough out of conference game, because they smash every team they play by 25-30 points. Ian Johnson is a great running back and Jared Zabransky avoids making big mistakes.

LSU/Tennesee - Two SEC teams with 2 losses, due largely to coaching/injuries, because both of these defenses are every bit as good as Michigan when they play to potential. LSU beat Tennessee, but I imagine Tennessee would've won if Erik Ainge hadn't gotten injured early, and if Tennessee had won that game, they'd be #5 or 6, but they lost twice at home, so they slide.


Well, that top 10 took longer than I wanted it to, so I'm not gonna get into predictions tonight because now the Raider game is on. Maybe I'll come back to it after I go vote tomorrow morning.