Grizzly dude

We watched Grizzly Man last night. Timothy Treadwell was a freak. A good natured freak. A freak who thought he was helping grizzlies by violating national park regulations. A bipolar freak whose monologues directed toward his video camera are priceless. A freak whose summer hobby of living among grizzlies ended the only way it possibly could have, by his being eaten alive by an hungry bear.

Watching the movie you really can't help but come to the conclusion that living among those gizzlies for thirteen summers that Treadwell didn't necessarily help the grizzlies all that much. He probably helped himself a great deal. It's too bad he couldn't just be satisfied by camping in the wilderness every summer and moving around instead of attatching himself to these bears in one particular valley. He needed to feel important, I reckon. If he needed to be validated that badly he probably should have just joined a church, it works for most people.

Newish blog

I have bought one underage person a drink in a club in all the years I've been going to see bands. It was this young lady named Beth. That happened at an Ani Difranco show at Tremont Music Hall a few months before Ani released Dilate. Beth lives in Seattle now. She's awesome. So awesome that she called to rag on us while her Seahawks were raping my Panthers. Wait'll next year, shorty.

Futbol

I suppose a good lot of you that read this watched that horrible Panthers game this last Sunday. I don't know if I have ever seen an NFL team get dominated as thoroughly as the Panthers were by the Seahawks a few days ago. Our offensive line was porous, the running backs we had available were back ups and ineffective, our quarterback was panicky and threw like a girl for most of the game. It was like they threw a bunch of guys they found in a bar out there. The defense didn't play bad, they were just on the field for the whole game and, when that happens, even a great defense will eventually buckle.

How bad was the offense? Let me count the ways: they didn't have a single drive of more than six plays, their first four drives netted a total of 11 yards (5 of those yards from a penalty), the deepest line of scrimmage into our opponents territory was at their 44 yard line, the Panthers first drive with more than one first down came during their last drive of the third quarter, Jake Delhomme's passing rating was 34.9 and we only ran the ball twelve times (three of those being scrambles by Jake). That is bad.

What I do want to know is what in the hell happened to our punter during the game? He must have completely spazzed out because he booted a few of the worst punts I've seen all year. The guy was barely kicking the ball over the line of scrimmage, let alone hoping for any kind of yardage down the field. Somebody needed to give him some smelling salts or a shot of Jaeger.

Of course I don't want to sound too critical, that Seahawks team was pumped the fuck up and those fans were extremely loud. I've always watched a good number of games and have always followed the team but this was the first year in a while that I took the time and watched a majority of the Panthers' games. I'm glad I did, it was a nice little ride there for a while. I was getting to the point that I was recognizing players and appreciating what it is they brought to the team. Sunday's trouncing won't cause me to stop rooting for my team. I decided several years ago that the Carolina Panthers were my team they will be for a while. I figure you can only follow so many sports and right now the Panthers and NASCAR races at my favorite tracks are enough for me.

Desperate measures

Since I have lost all those hits from the bleeding demised 42short I have had to resort to getting my blog into the Technorati network. That hasn't helped to make up for the lack of nerdy librarian type girls that 42short sent this way.

Poor Cinderella

Last night I finally got a chance to watch Cinderella Man. I didn't realize until today that last night was the first time I had watched a Ron Howard directed movie since Apollo back in 1995. How can that be?

The movie was good. I was impressed that the pace of the movie was so relaxed. The time where Braddock and his family are living hand to mouth drags on for a good long time. Most movies of this type only give cursory attention to the set up which then doesn't allow the main character's rise to resonate with the audience. Not Cinderella Man. Here the down and out bouncer hits rock bottom financially before the movie shifts into its second half which is about his improbable rise and eventual shot at the heavyweight title. In fact the first half works so well that by the time Braddock is fighting Max Baer for the title I found myself rooting for this character more than I had for a movie character in a while. Probably not since Million Dollar Baby.

I did some reading on Max Baer today and I found that he was not nearly as asshole-ly as he was portrayed in the film. I don't know if I should be disappointed or not because he was such an effective asshole. Maybe it was a little much because you can be a dangerous fighter and not be a complete dick. It worked but after reading about Baer today I can't help but feel he was given a short shrift by the movie.

So, the movie was no Raging Bull but if you enjoy uplifting boxing movies you can't go wrong with this baby.

Is it just me but does Russell Crowe sound just like Mel Gibson? I swear if I closed my eyes last night I could hear Mel Gibson. Aren't the both Australian? Maybe that's it. Probably not. Angus Young is Australian and he doesn't sound a bit like Russell Crowe or Mel Gibson.

My Senator

Every now and then I submit an electronic form to the office of Senator Elizabeth Dole. I guess I enjoy getting form letters from her office informing me why I am wrong and she is going to vote the opposite way I asked. I'm probably wasting my time writing these things but somebody is looking at them because the letters I receive address the issue on which I commented, even when I choose "other" on the menu of her form. At the very least a Repulican intern is reading my letter. That's probably the best I can hope for.

Today I wrote to her and asked her to vote against the nomination of Alito to the supreme court. Fat chance of that happening, I know. As I was scrolling through the menu options on the email form on her website I noticed an option that read "Support the troops." I was surprised by that. You would think that if you support the troops you wouldn't really have to write Dole just to tell her that. Maybe that category is there for you to write to her if she isn't supporting the troops enough. Hard to believe a Republican senator could ever possibly make the mistake of not professing her support for the troops sufficiently but it could happen. Actual support of the troops, like sufficient armor and medical care, not being important enough to enter the public debate.

I'm sitting at my desk looking at this form and it's option to send Elizabeth Dole a electronical mail message on the subject of 'support the troops' and I realize that there is no option available for someone who doesn't support the troops. What if you live in North Carolina and you want to inform Elizabeth Dole that you think the American troops are cannibalistic baby killing butt pirates? You have no options on Senator Dole's webpage. You'll just have to state those wacky opinions in a letter that bears the subject of 'other,' pal. That's fucking bullshit. It's exclusionary and wrong. How can she and her party hope to bring America together with a web menu that is obviously prejudiced? Shame.

Sweet Jesus

I just saw a news story that the Buttafuoco's and Amy Fisher have signed an agreement to appear together on television. It looks like they have yet to sign a contract with a network. Whatever network broadcasts the reunion between these dinks I will never watch again for the rest of my life. Hopefully it will get picked up by the Family Channel.

Dennis Miller

For a while Dennis Miller was one of my favorite performers. His "Off-White Album" that came out in 1987 (has it been that long?) is still one of my favorite stand up albums. Good stand up, like good music, holds up to repeated listenings. I remember the album has a good line about Ronald Reagan's age. It went something like "Reagan is that old and he has access to the button? Folks, my grandfather is that old and we don't let him use the remote control for the the TV." Good stuff.

And, of course, there was his stint doing the news on SNL which was wonderful and then he had that show on HBO that started out great and petered out in the end.

Then came 9/11 and he became a Bush supporter which shocked me. Yeah, so we were attacked and we supposedly need a forceful president so Miller takes the gloves off and supports the guy. A guy he admitted last night on his new HBO special isn't too bright or a good decision maker and in other less-weird times he would tear to shreds during such a performance. What a fucked up world we live in.

Yeah, so last night I sat and watched the new Dennis Miller HBO special. I really wanted to see it. I was wondering which Dennis Miller would show up. The one I used to love or the one that confused me. It turns out both were there. He still is the same old Dennis Miller. His delivery is the same, he still makes obscure references that are hysterical if you get them and he is still funny. I guess that is all that matters.

I laughed more than I thought I would. Most of my big chuckles came when he wasn't being political and just trying to make his audience laugh. He lost me when he tried to rationalize his support of Bush. His attitude seems to be that we should kill before we are killed. I'm surprised someone who can be as inciteful as Dennis Miller can't look deeper into the problem of terrorism and international relations and see that there should be more than hunting and killing involved and that isn't it possible that our policies and attitudes help lead to such hatred. It seems to me that he knows the American people and their society and business are not going to change so the only possible foreign policies are what we are following right now. If you want to live the way we do then we have to be aggressive militarily and we have to force our culture on the world. Maybe Dennis isn't a conservative, he's just realistic. There is that quote that people get the government they deserve and Miller just has read the writing on the wall. He's gittin' 'er done and he's better than that and judging by how he phrased his rationalizations he knows it.

His dodgy prance around being doubtful about global warming was the low point of the evening for me. I couldn't believe he used the tired old pro-pollution talking point of "we don't know for sure." That's just using the language of careful science against careful science. We don't know for sure how electricity or gravity works but no one doubts either of those. I'll try to pretend that five minutes of the show wansn't there.

I was pleased that he ended strong. The last twenty minutes he skewered politicians from both parties, including Bush and the Clintons. He showed his more progressive social side and he went all out with the world play. It was classic Miller and it almost made up for the middle portion where he licked the hiney of middle America. Maybe when Bush is in jail a few years from now Dennis will come back. I can't wait because he's the kind of guy that will eat shit on TV and admit he was wrong. I hope to see it someday.

Howdy, again

I may be way behind and everyone who is in the know may already know about this website but the bossman has turned me on to the site called Digg.com. It's full of nerdy goodness. I haven't joined the site but it has joined the list of sites I check every day. Here's how they describe themselves: "Digg is a technology news website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allow an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do." Check it out. They claim they are a technology news site but there is semi-technical stuff in there for the garden variety nerd to enjoy also.

Howdy

I apologize for the graphic sexual nature of the following post

I had "Asshole for Christ" as the top headline of my blog for so long I thought I should write something just to move it down a bit.

I'm still getting hits from 42short but they are really starting to space out. It won't be long before that blog becomes like Batman in the "The Dark Knight Returns" where people will begin to doubt he even existed. I imagine with the internet that will take about six weeks.

How about them Panthers, eh? I predict we will go into Seattle and we will stomp them like a librarian at a South Carolina dirt track.

You know the best thing about having the apartment to myself is that for the next couple of days the only hair I will pull out of the drain in the bath tub will be mine. It's funny, I don't mind pulling a woman's pubic hair out of my teeth but I blanch at pulling the body hair of my roommate out of the tub's drain. Isn't life strange?

Asshole for Christ

I see that Pat Robertson apologized for being a total cock the other day when he said that Sharon's stroke was revenge from god. I hope someday before I die these dishonest religous leaders lose their influence. You'd figure after what happened to that crowd over ten years ago would have cut into their prominence. Somehow they hung around. In case you missed here is a summary of what happened from a USA Today article: "The day after Sharon's stroke, Robertson suggested he was being punished for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip last summer. The pullout was seen by many evangelical groups as a retreat from biblical prophecy of Jewish sovereignty over the area.

"God considers this land to be his," Robertson said on his TV program "The 700 Club." "You read the Bible and he says 'This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No, this is mine.'""