Wednesday, June 30, 2010

New Blogroll Link: The Oily Pelican

I've got a new site in my blogroll section, and it's one that I'm reading daily: The Oily Pelican. It's written by a friend of mine who, in her own words, "decided to trade in her cushy desk job for chest waders, snake boots, and 90-degree heat to go help with the environmental effort on the Louisiana coast." It's a firsthand account, not filtered through some PR department or condensed into a press release, and that's really important if you care at all about what's going on down there. (And if you don't, then you're a sorry excuse for a human being, and I pray for your death.)

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Craig Kilborn Must Die

Or his new show must be canceled. I'm not a picky man.

No, I've never seen it. But here in the greater Philly area, the local Fox affiliate has removed their last syndicated Simpsons slot in favor of this dreck that appears to be, based on the commercials, the gawdawful TMZ-on-TV meets the admittedly-funny early Daily Show. The nightly Simpsons rerun is what I'd relied on to watch/listen to as I drift off to sleep every night. I'd seen them all a hundred times, so I never worried about missing anything, and hey, anything's better than being alone in the dark with only your own thoughts trying to go to sleep, right?

I guess it's on to House reruns as a replacement, at least for the time being. But I shudder to think about the effect on my brain absorbing that guy into my subconscious as I teeter on the edge of sleep. I just hope it doesn't turn me into a cynical, sarcastic jerk.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Vu-Vu-Zao

In the same vein as yesterday's post, here's yet another reason why I'm a lifelong Yankee fan. They know enough to nip this vuvuzela nonsense in the bud. What an idiot this guy is, too. "Duh, OK, I'll give up my twenty dollar seat so that I can hold onto a $2 piece of plastic that's been down the front of my pants. Not so much because I like blowing a horn as much as because the mouthpiece tastes like Funyuns." At least, I assume this is the typical mindset of an American vuvuzela-blower.

If you ask me, they didn't treat him harshly enough. Security would have been more than justified in giving him the Philly treatment. Or the Seattle treatment. Or just put it back into his pants...from a slightly different angle. (Yeah, I hate vuvuzelas.) On the other hand, that probably isn't the best solution. If anything, it might just make the noise louder.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Vu-Vu-Ka-Choo

I've been watching a little bit of World Cup this year, despite the fact that the extent of my knowledge of the sport is what I can remember from playing on my elementary school club teams from the ages of 8 through 12. It really is interesting to watch....like hockey without the sticks, played on a field the size of a small U.S. state. And even though I found the vuvuzelas somewhat....off-putting, I was against banning them, at least at first. After all, part of international competitions is experiencing the host country's local "flavor" and traditions, right? But then I read a little bit about them, and it turns out that there's nothing local or traditional about them, at least where it comes to soccer games. See, the idea was "borrowed" from Central and South American countries, and wasn't introduced in South Africa until sometime in the 1990s. So I've changed my mind--get rid of the freakin' things. Or at least filter them out of the broadcast audio.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Kicking Kissing Ass

One week, the political talking heads and polls are saying that Obama isn't showing enough emotion, and specifically anger, in dealing with the BP situation. Meanwhile, the headlines are all about the allegations that the White House offered PA Democrat Senate nominee Joe Sestak a cushy White House job in order to stay out of the primary against ex-Republican Arlen Specter.

Then, yesterday morning, we get this:



So is this the our courageous leader getting tough on those polluters, or a career politician putting a wet finger in the air to see which way the political winds are blowing? I know which way I'm leaning, but I'll leave it up to you, the reader, to decide. Personally, I don't want my president ranting like Carlo from The Godfather, screaming at BP to "clean it up!" I tend to agree with White House press secretary Robert Gibbs--the administration will be judged on how it performs rather than what it says during this crisis. I hope that ends up being more good than bad, but based on what I've seen so far, I'm not optimistic.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

A Sad Day For Baseball

No, I'm not talking about Jim Joyce, although I do think he should be given a prostate exam with a cactus. I'm talking about The Kid, Ken Griffey Jr., and his retirement. It truly is the end of an era, and not just for the Mariners and Reds. (Not just for the White Sox era, though for them, the Ken Griffey Jr. era lasted for about two months back in 2008, so I think they're over it by now.) No, this is the end of an era for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant All-Star Team, for the last of Mr. Burns's All-Stars has hung up his spikes and called it a career.